Coral Gables Art Cinema and Dranoff 2 Piano present a live two piano performance and screening of the 1927 silent classic Siren of the Tropics, starring Josephine Baker in her feature film debut. Miami jazz piano duo Angel Perez and Devin Shaw will present their new score, which features the music of Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington, Hazel Scott, Billy Strayhorn, Dizzy Gillespie, and Nina Simone on two Steinway concert grands and original works by renowned jazz composer and pianist Martin Bejerano. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Terri Francis, Mo Beasley, and Gentry George on representation in the performing arts.
Tickets are $50 and include a reception with food and drinks at 6:00 pm, film screening and concert at 7:00 pm, and panel discussion following the film.
Josephine Baker plays Papitou, a free-spirited native girl who falls in love with Andre, a sophisticated young man who's been sent to the Parisian Antilles as a prospector —but she doesn't know that he's engaged, or that his work assignment is actually a ruse concocted by his scheming boss. As the truth begins to unravel, Papitou pursues Andre back to Paris, where she takes a job as a music hall performer and fate intervenes.
Though silent, Siren of the Tropics abounds with musical energy by virtue of Baker's innate screen magnetism. Filmed in 1927 when she was still making a splash in Paris as a Folies Bergère star, it established the rags-to-riches fairy tale template from which her subsequent films would be cut and served as the world's introduction to her phenomenal talent—including her signature frenetic "Charleston" dance. It also set the stage for Baker's iconic starring roles in Zouzou and Princesse Tam-Tam, which solidified her status as one of the most important figures in cinema history. Notably, and a young Luis Buñuel cut his teeth as assistant director on this film before going on to make his own mark.