SEGUNDO DE CHOMÓN. THE ALCHEMY OF SILENCE A musical, choreographic and film research project by Pere Faura, investigation for the scenic reactivation of Segundo de Chomón's visual legacy.
This project immerses itself in the visual heritage of the filmmaker Segundo de Chomón (Teruel, October 17, 1871 – Paris, May 2, 1929) in order to generate a future performance artifact that merges the projection of several of his films with the interaction of scenic and choreographic materials activated live by Pere Faura.
The objective of the research is, therefore, to investigate different performance possibilities, both musical, theatrical and choreographic, while reactivating the visual heritage of Segundo de Chomón. The research sees Chomón's work not so much as mere silent film footage to be viewed on the big screen, but as visual, historiographic and poetic material to be (re)activated on stage in dialogue with other theatrical disciplines.
About Segundo de Chomón:
A photographic technician, inventor of special effects, cameraman, painter, producer and director, Segundo de Chomón is considered one of the pioneers of cinema and special effects. Specializing in magic and fantasy cinema, his films are full of phantasmagoria, sorcerers, devils, improbable transformations, dance and wonderful substitutions; worlds of unbridled imagination that captivated the audience with their innovative visual effects and innovative trick techniques, which made him known as the “Spanish Méliès”.
After his death he fell into oblivion, and it would not be until the late 1940s that different film historians would become interested in his work and begin to disseminate his work and his great influence that is still very much in force in contemporary cinema today.
