On September 3, 2025, the Cinema Galleggiante / Acque sconosciute program will host a special film concert organized by Bru Zane at the Sacca Fisola sports fields. The evening, featuring pianist Gabriele Dal Santo, will pair two milestones in early cinema with a new live musical accompaniment: Jean Vigo’s À propos de Nice (1930) and Georges Méliès’s Le Royaume des fées (The Kingdom of the Fairies, 1903).
Between the 1920s and 1930s, filmmakers began to experiment with a new way of portraying cities, often described as the “symphony of a city”. This cinematic form wove together glimpses of landscapes, labor, and transportation into a rhythm that echoed urban life itself. Vigo’s À propos de Nice, one of the most important examples of this genre, captures the contrasts of the French Riviera in the interwar years, presenting both its elegant leisure and its social inequalities. For this performance, the film will be set to a fresh score drawn from the French Romantic repertoire, highlighting the lyricism of Vigo’s vision.
The program then turns to Méliès, the magician of early cinema, whose fantastical imagination revolutionized the medium. The Kingdom of the Fairies offers a dazzling fairy-tale adventure in which Prince Bel-Azor braves enchanted caves, magical realms, and otherworldly creatures to rescue his beloved princess. Rich in elaborate sets and pioneering special effects, it remains a quintessential example of Méliès’s craft.
Together, these two films reveal cinema’s dual power: to capture the pulse of reality and to transport us into dreamlike worlds.
Website: www.bru-zane.com
Location: Sacca Fisola Island, Venice
Schedule: Sep. 3, 2025
