I went to see the premiere of Theda last night, a film by London artist Georgina Starr which painstakingly re-creates film scenes from the silent picture era starring Theda Bara (perhaps cinema's first sex symbol sez the Wikipedia). The London Improvisers Orchestra provided a live soundtrack. Divided into "Prelude", "Act", and "Epilogue" sections, the power of the piece stemmed from Starr's excellent solo performance. Humour restored the balance whenever the "video art" sequences got a bit lengthy for my taste. The 15-strong orchestra bounced well off the visuals, at times a cacophony, always in character. The 45 min film is a great illustration of re-mix culture and why it is so valid for our times. Here we have a contemporary artist re-interpreting scenes from cinema classics, largely from the scripts themselves, less than 100 years after the originals have been lost.

From her web site
"A chance meeting with an eccentric octogenarian film fan introduced Starr to the world of silent screen legend Theda Bara. Once the biggest silent movie star in the world, Bara appeared in over forty films, of which only two still exist today.
Through extensive research into the art of Bara and other neglected silent stars, Starr has reconstructed key scenes from the lost films, with both herself and the film fan taking on the role of Theda. The work will look at the vicarious nature of the cinematic experience and explore the silent film form through image and live sound. Experimenting with performance styles and narrative techniques Starr considers the movie screen as a mirror and how we use film fiction to explore and escape our own identity."