(DIE STILLE VOR BACH, Pere Portabella, Spain/Germany 2007, 101 min., Spanish/German/subtitles)

The latest film from legendary Spanish filmmaker Portabella “brings Bach’s music to life with a mysterious, magnificent blend of drama, documentary, and quasi-surrealist whimsy. Beginning with a scene of a player piano rattling off the Goldberg Variation while rolling through a bright, bare loft, Portabella tickles the senses with a series of skits (while) a great and serious notion emerges: the construction of modern Europe on the basis of classical music”— Richard Brody, The New Yorker.