Linden Hall Studio presents THE SOUND OF CINEMA, a curated programme of five landmark films selected for their iconic and innovative use of sound. From improvised jazz scores and minimalist sound design to carefully constructed silences and heightened sonic realism, each film demonstrates how sound and music shape mood, psychology, and narrative tension. Together, these works reveal cinema not only as a visual art form, but as an immersive auditory experience.
THURSDAY 26 MARCH - EVENING SCREENING
LE SAMOURAÏ (1967)
Director - Jean-Pierre Melville
1967 / 1hr 33min
Melville’s minimalist masterpiece employs sound with surgical precision. Sparse dialogue, ambient city noise, and an understated score heighten the film’s sense of isolation and ritual, reinforcing the rigid code of its lone assassin and the quiet menace that permeates every frame.
View trailer HERE
“...A film of pure control and style, every sound, silence and gesture perfectly placed... A masterclass in cinematic restraint, where silence speaks louder than words...” - The Guardian
Doors open: 6:00pm
Film begins: 6:30pm
FRIDAY 27 MARCH - MATINEE SCREENING
BLACKMAIL (1929)
Director - Alfred Hitchcock
1929 / 1hr 25min
Hitchcock’s first sound film stands as a landmark in cinema history and a daring early exploration of how audio could shape meaning, memory, and fear. Moving between silent-era visual language and newly emergent dialogue and effects, Blackmail uses exaggerated everyday sounds, distorted voices, and strategic silence to place the audience inside its heroine’s fractured psychological state following a violent crime.
View trailer HERE
“...Astonishingly inventive - Hitchcock turns sound into a weapon, a conscience, and a source of terror... A pioneering work of early sound cinema, where whispered words and ordinary noises become instruments of suspense...” - BFI
Doors open: 1:00pm
Film begins: 1:30pm
FRIDAY 27 MARCH - EVENING SCREENING
ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (ASCENSEUR POUR L’ÉCHAFAUD) (1958)
Director - Louis Malle
1958 / 1hr 28min
Celebrated for its legendary Miles Davis soundtrack, improvised live while watching the film, Elevator to the Gallows remains one of cinema’s most influential marriages of image and sound. The haunting jazz score drifts through nocturnal Paris, amplifying tension, melancholy, and moral ambiguity.
View trailer HERE
“...Miles Davis’s score doesn’t accompany the film, it transforms it into something timeless... A landmark fusion of jazz and cinema, cool, tragic, and endlessly atmospheric..." - The New Yorker
Doors open: 6:00pm
Film begins: 6:30pm
SATURDAY 28 MARCH - MATINEE SCREENING
PICKPOCKET (1959)
Director - Robert Bresson
1959 / 1hr 20min
Doors open: 1:00pm
Film begins: 1:30pm
Bresson’s austere use of sound rejects excess, favouring precise effects, restrained music, and expressive silence. Every footstep, rustle, and clink is carefully calibrated, transforming ordinary sounds into a disciplined rhythm that mirrors the protagonist’s moral and emotional journey.
View trailer HERE
“...A work of extraordinary purity - austere, hypnotic and profoundly moving...A quietly devastating film that rewards deep attention and careful listening...” - The Guardian
Doors open: 1:00pm
Film begins: 1:30pm
SATURDAY 28 MARCH - EVENING SCREENING
THE CONVERSATION (1974)
Director - Francis Ford Coppola
1974 / 1hr 53min
Sound is both subject and structure in Coppola’s paranoid thriller. Fragmented audio recordings, mechanical hums, and unsettling repetitions pull the viewer into the mind of a surveillance expert whose obsession with listening ultimately erodes his grasp on truth and reality.
View trailer HERE
“...One of the greatest films ever made about sound, surveillance and the terror of listening too closely... A gripping, unnerving experience that turns sound itself into a source of dread...” - The Guardian
Doors open: 6:00pm
Film begins: 6:30pm
Each of these films will have a guest speaker to introduce them (TBA), with accompanying literature and a complimentary drink.
The ticket options are variable, with the choice of purchasing tickets to individual screenings as well as festival passes which offer discounts on attending more than one film. The gallery team will be in touch to confirm which films you would like to see, should you purchase a multiple screening pass.
(Important Notice to Ticket Holders - Tickets are non-refundable/exchangable)