Film Details

Founded in 2007 by Martin Scorsese and other filmmakers, the World Cinema Foundation (WCF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and restoring neglected films from around the world—specifically films from countries lacking the financial and technical ability to do so. So far the WCF has restored 17 masterpieces from around the world; Trances was the first. (It’s also the first WCF restoration to show in Cleveland.) Trances is a documentary on Nass El Ghiwane (People of Song), a popular music ensemble that took Northern Africa by storm in the 1970s. (You can hear them on the soundtrack of The Last Temptation of Christ.) Interviews and concert footage shed light on the group and their efforts to blend traditional trance music with contemporary electronica. “An unusual musical documentary to Western eyes and ears…Shows not only a Third World Beatlemania, but analyzes the group’s appeal and sets them in a historical and cultural context.” –The Holt Foreign Film Guide. A 1981 New York Film Festival selection. Cleveland revival premiere.

Subtitles. 35mm. 87 min. worldcinemafoundation.org/films/transes Special admission $12; Cinematheque members and those with CIA I.D. $9; age 25 & under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners. Special thanks to Florence Almozini & Nellie Killian, BAMcinématek and Doug Laible, WCF. Print courtesy Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna.