Voted among the world's best twelve films at the Brussels World's Fair (1958), this German silent film from 1924 tells a simple, everyday story about an elderly hotel receptionist, yet it was a pioneering work in many regards. The emphasis was laid on the acting and the intimate close shots that communicated the characters' motivations. New music was written for the restored version of the film by French composer and pianist Karol Beffa.

Beffa is a highly versatile musician, composer, pianist, and educator. He also studies music, and wrote his doctoral dissertation on György Ligeti's piano etudes. His compositions have been performed in several countries around the world, by the Cambridge Voices, the French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, among others. He is active in several genres, and has written music for fifteen feature films.

The world premiere of the piece was commissioned by BOZAR and the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival, and was a part of the UFA Film Nights.

Partners: BOZAR, Bertelsmann Brussels

Co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

Presented by: CAFe Budapest