Lost for decades until its rediscovery by director Teinosuke Kinugasa in his granary, the 1926 avant-garde milestone A Page of Madness remains one of the most visually radical and influential films of the silent era. Set entirely within a rural psychiatric hospital, the narrative follows a retired sailor who takes a job as a janitor at the asylum to be near his wife, who was committed following a tragic family grievance.
Produced in collaboration with the Shinkankakuha (School of New Perceptions) avant-garde writers’ group, Kinugasa entirely rejects traditional intertitles, choosing instead to convey the subjective psychological states of the patients through pure, kinetic cinema. Utilising dazzling superimpositions, rapid-fire editing, distorting lenses, and expressionistic lighting, the film creates an immersive, hallucinatory portrait of trauma and fractured reality.
This special screening features a live, improvised accompaniment on solo viola by London-based filmmaker, painter, and musician Hugo Max.