The Black Cat Orchestra has been performing in Seattle and around the West Coast since 1991. They play songs from Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, Latin America and Asia, as well as original work. The band's unusual instrumentation - cello, accordion, saxophone, French horn, double bass, guitar, voice and drums - accounts in part for its singular, dreamy sound.
Featured on this limited edition DVD tape are two early experimental silent films, each accompanied by an original Black Orchestra soundtrack.
Ghosts Before Breakfast is a dada film directed by Hans Richter in 1926. It features flying bowler hats, bearded men with pigtails, and a strong-willed tea set.
The Seashell and the Clergyman was directed in 1927 by Germaine Dulac, after a surrealist screenplay by Antonin Artaud. It follows the ups and downs of a peevish and frustrated clergyman, a stoic military officer and a beautiful, impassive young woman.
