In the organizer's words:

The Mother - Мать - Soviet feature film (88 minutes), directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin from 1926, based on the novel by Maxim Gorky.

The film shows a working-class family in St. Petersburg in 1905, the year of the revolution. There are tensions within the family between the alcoholic father and the son of the Vlasov family, and both are politically active on different sides. Son Pavel hides firearms in the house and prepares a strike in the workers' movement, while his father is against the revolutionaries.

The novel by Maxim Gorky (1886-1936) is considered the first and one of the most important novels of Socialist Realism. The author deals with St. Petersburg's Bloody Sunday and calls on the working class to fight against the existing rule of the tsar and the nobility

"Pudovkin's silent film adaptation of Gorky's novel makes ingenious use of dramatic, lyrical and agitational means of expression, which are organized into musical structures and culminate in a furious hymn to the power of revolutionary change. Although the private story is stylized into a political parable with symbolic brevity, the impressive visual metaphors remain an integral part of the plot and give the actors room to psychologically deepen the characters, who are far more than mere socialist model types." Dictionary of International Film

"The film adaptation of Gorky's novel of the same name is one of the pioneering works of Russian silent cinema." Evangelischer Filmbeobachter

Tickets at the box office: normal €10 / reduced €8

Richard Siedhoff has been accompanying silent film classics with his own compositions and improvisations on the piano since 2008 and is considered one of the most sought-after talents in his field. In addition to countless smaller events, he regularly performs at the Bonn International Silent Film Festival, the Munich Film Museum, the Zurich Filmpodium, the Zeughaus Kino Berlin and numerous other silent film events in Germany and abroad. He has already recorded some of his music for DVD releases. He has performed at festivals in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Scotland, Thailand, South Korea and China. Siedhoff is also increasingly writing accompaniments to silent films for chamber ensembles and orchestras. Richard Siedhoff is the house pianist at the Lichthaus Kino Weimar, whose silent film program he curates. Further information about Richard Siedhoff: Website

>>> Series of events at the Musical Instrument Museum: It's silent movie time at GRASSI! <<<

In 2025/26, the Musical Instrument Museum will be showing a series of silent films with live soundtracks on the historic cinema organ from 1929.

Silent film concerts are a matter of the moment and always unique: from the organ console, music and sound effects merge directly with the film action. Contemporary analog technology and 16mm film reels complete the film screenings to create a complete experience of original cinema practice. You can also expect introductions to the cinema organ and the film.