Body and Soul

The plot has all the hallmarks of a melodramatic spectacle – a hard-drinking fraud, gambler and sex fiend who threatens to ruin the life a beautiful young woman – but the film is a fascinating classic and an early example of black cinema, with a brilliant actor in the lead role.

Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951) was one of the first African American filmmakers to create an oeuvre focusing on stories from the black community, especially its middle classes. Of the c. forty films that he independently produced and directed only a few have survived, including Body and Soul, in which Paul Robeson (1898-1976) stars as a fake minster and a seductive and sweet-talking fraud.

There wasn”t only praise for Robeson”s dazzling performance – the outstanding football player, actor, singer and civil rights activist was mesmerizing on screen. The live musical accompaniment also added extra appeal and spark to the film. Jazz trombonist Wycliffe Gordon wrote a score that responds to the rhythm of the successive images. The orchestra erupted in gospel songs and accompanied the film with rhythmic hand clapping, so that screenings regularly turned into jazzy spirituals.

The celebrated Cuban jazz pianist Ramón Valle will accompany the film using inprovisation. Valle previously played in Amsterdam”s Bimhuis and is universally acclaimed for his expressive performance.