Mauro Colombis

Mauro Colombis will accompany the screenings with his own composed and improvised piano music, a blend of varying styles of classical music and jazz.

Mauro is a Sydney based versatile pianist and composer. He started learning the piano in

Italy, his country of birth, and he completed his musical studies obtaining two masters in classical

piano performance (P.I. Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatorium, Russia and B. Marcello Venice

Conservatorium, Italy) and a Bachelor in Drama, Arts & Music Studies (DAMS – University of

Bologna).

For more than twenty years he has specialised in silent films live piano accompaniment, combining together improvisation and composition. He has collaborated with major film festivals and institutions and has performed in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane and Winton), Italy (Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, the leading silent film festival internationally), Thailand and China. His piano score features in the digital restoration of the first world feature film ever made, the Australian “The Story of the Kelly Gang” (Charles Tait, 1906), released on DVD in 2007 by The National Film and Sound Archive. Mauro’s most recent performance in Brisbane was in June 2022, when he accompanied the screening of The General (1926) starring Buster Keaton.

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Film Details

Manhatta

  • Directors: Paul Strand, Charles Sheeler
  • Based on: the poem 'Mannahatta' by Walt Whitman
  • Cinematographer: Paul Strand, Charles Sheeler
  • Editor: Paul Strand, Charles Sheeler
  • Print Source/Rights: Light Cone
  • Shooting Format: 35mm
  • Screening Format: 16mm
  • Year: 1921
  • Runtime: 12 minutes
  • Country: United States
  • Language: English
  • Sound: Mono
  • Colour: Black and White

Melbhattan

  • Director: Oslo Davis
  • Script: Oslo Davis
  • Cinematographer: Oslo Davis
  • Editor: Oslo Davis
  • Print Source/Rights: Oslo Davis
  • Year: 2012
  • Runtime: 5 minutes
  • Country: Australia
  • Language: English
  • Sound: Stereo
  • Colour: Black and White

Douro, Faina Fluvial (Labor on the Douro River)

  • Director: Manoel de Oliveira
  • Script: Manoel de Oliveira
  • Cinematographer: António Mendes
  • Editor: Manoel de Oliveira
  • Print Source/Rights: Cinemateca Portuguesa - Museu do Cinema, IP
  • Year: 1931
  • Runtime: 18 minutes
  • Country: Portugal
  • Languages: Portuguese, (with English subtitles)
  • Sound: Mono
  • Colour: Black and White

Rien que les heures (Nothing But Time)

  • Director: Alberto Cavalcanti
  • Script: Alberto Cavalcanti
  • Cinematographer: James E. Rogers
  • Editor: Alberto Cavalcanti
  • Print Source/Rights: Les Films du Jeudi
  • Shooting Format: 35mm
  • Screening Format: DCP
  • Year: 1926
  • Runtime: 43 minutes
  • Country: France
  • Languages: French, (with English subtitles)
  • Sound: Mono
  • Colour: Black and White