Ensemble PHACE _ Film Concert

Film concert | Nacho de Paz | Music by Olga Neuwirth

The City Without Jews is an Austrian silent film directed by Hans Karl Breslauer in 1924 and based on the novel of the same name by Jewish writer and journalist Hugo Bettauer, published in 1922.

The story imagines a city where, in response to rising antisemitism, a decision is made to expel the entire Jewish population. From that moment on, the film shows how the city gradually changes and declines, both economically and culturally. The film thus offers a remarkably prescient portrayal of the consequences of hatred and persecution.

Considered one of the most outstanding Austrian productions of the interwar period, The City Without Jews is also a work shaped by its own history. For decades, only a fragmentary version survived, with parts of the original content softened. In 2015, the missing fragments were discovered in France, making it possible to recover and restore the film.

To mark this restoration, Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth created a new score for the film in 2017. The result is a performance in which cinema and music coexist live: as the 1924 film is screened, PHACE performs Neuwirth’s composition under the direction of Nacho de Paz.

Almost a century after its premiere, The City Without Jews regains its full force as both a historical document and an artistic experience, bringing a film from the past into dialogue with contemporary music and the perspective of the present.