CINETOPIA SALON
Join us for the Cinetopia Salons — a new regular gathering at the Institute Francaise in Edinburgh where cinema comes alive through live performance, tasty nibbles and drinks, and great conversation. It’s more than just a screening: it’s a chance to connect, share ideas, and celebrate film in a welcoming space.
Salon 3: Finis Terrae + Live performance of a newly composed original score
First development performance: 24 March 2026
Cinetopia, in collaboration with the Edinburgh Film Guild, proudly presented a performance of the newly commissioned Finis Terrae with a newly composed live score by Edinburgh-based multi-instrumentalist Dan Abrahams and French drummer Philippe Boudot.
Shot on the windswept Breton island of Bannec using local non-actors, Jean Epstein’s poetic silent masterpiece follows a group of seaweed harvesters whose isolated existence is disrupted when a fight leaves one man gravely ill. Blending documentary realism with experimental, atmospheric imagery, Finis Terrae is a powerful portrait of human survival against the sea and elements.
Salon 2: Paris qui dort + Live musical accompaniment from Aurora Engine
Original Performance: 6th December 2025
René Clair’s Paris Qui Dort (1924), also known as The Crazy Ray, is a playful and visually inventive silent-era science-fiction film in which a mysterious ray from the Eiffel Tower freezes the citizens of Paris in place, leaving only a small group of unaffected strangers to wander the city’s empty streets. Blending surreal comedy with dreamlike atmosphere, the film transforms Paris into a strange playground while quietly exploring questions of freedom, desire and human behaviour when the structures of everyday life disappear.
This special Cinetopia Salon screening featured a live accompaniment by Edinburgh-based sonic artist Aurora Engine, whose immersive blend of harp, piano, voice and electronic textures brings new life to Clair’s mischievous cinematic fantasy.
Salon 1: Elevator to the Gallows / Ascenseur pour l’échafaud + Live Jazz Performance
Original Screening and Performance: 30th October 2025
The inaugural Cinetopia Salon brought audiences together for a special screening of Louis Malle’s cult début Ascenseur pour l’échafaud, presented alongside a live jazz performance inspired by the film’s iconic improvised score by Miles Davis. The evening opened with an introduction from the Edinburgh Film Guild, before acclaimed Scottish trumpeter Colin Steele and Edinburgh-based multi-instrumentalist Dan Abrahams performed a live set that responded to the atmosphere and musical legacy of the film. Combining cinema, live performance and discussion in an intimate setting, the event marked the launch of Cinetopia Salon’s ongoing cross-arts programme.
