The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Dir: Robert Wiene | Germany | 1920 | 76 mins | Cert. U

Made in the aftermath of the First World War, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is the quintessential German Expressionist film masterpiece. Robert Wiene’s distorted sets, sinister shadows and unnerving characters created a paranoid, unreal world at a time of despair throughout Europe.

Formed in 2006, Minima are a Bristol-based four-piece band specialising in live accompaniment to screenings of classic silent films. Their instrumentation includes cello, double bass, guitars, dulcimer, mandolin, synthesiser and drum kit, creating a bold and unique live sound. Minima’s original scores strike up a thrilling relationship with the images and narratives of some of the most iconic silent films of 1920s, creating a truly immersive audio-visual experience. Minima specialise in the gothic horrors and thrillers of the era, performing to Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Phantom of the Opera and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger.

Minima’s electrifying original soundtrack to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari stalks the film, complementing its unsettling depiction of mistrust and madness.

This soundtrack was first performed in London in 2008, as part of an exhibition “Sleeping & Dreaming” which explored “sleep, the mysterious state we all inhabit for a third of our lives.” Having performed this score many times since, Minima presented a newly reworked version of the soundtrack in 2020 for the centenary of the film’s first screening.

In 2013, the Compass Presents group devised a multi-media event based around the film and Minima’s soundtrack. The Caligari Experience had its first shows in 2014 at Motion, Bristol and was performed most recently as part of the Three Palaces Festival in Malta in 2022.

Images of the band and the film can be found on our Flickr site.

“Minima are one of the leading bands accompanying silent film in Europe.” (Barbican Centre, London)
“Minima’s spine-tingling music clung to each twist of the movie… spellbinding accompaniment.” (The Guardian)
“One of the spring’s coolest events… they capture the film’s disturbing mood perfectly.” (The Daily Telegraph)