“A Page of Madness” (1926)
- Film
- Ticket Required
Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Masuo Inoue and Yoshie Nakagawa in A Page of Madness. Image courtesy of the Cleveland Silent Film Festival
About The Event
Directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa in collaboration with artists of Japan’s experimental “School of New Perceptions” (Shinkankakuha), A Page of Madness draws on German Expressionism, Noh theater, and melodrama. Rapid montage, superimposition, and distorted imagery immerse the viewer in the troubled inner world of its characters. Set in a psychiatric hospital, the film follows a woman who has lost her mental bearings. Her guilt-ridden husband, now unknown to her, works at the hospital as a janitor. Long believed lost, the film resurfaced in Kinugasa’s warehouse in 1971. Although roughly a third of the original version remains missing, its beauty and disturbing psychological force are undiminished.
A 2018 BBC preview of the film described it as “a balletic musing on our subconscious nightmares.” The CSFF screening features an original score by James Praznik performed by a quintet drawn from No Exit New Music Ensemble.
More information about the Cleveland Silent Film Festival can be found on the organization’s website (opens in a new tab).
The views expressed by performers during this event are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Ticket Prices
Festival Pass
Guests have the option to purchase tickets to individual screenings or to buy a festival pass, which allows purchasers to attend all screenings at the Cleveland Museum of Art at a discounted fee. In addition, the festival pass includes admission to the screening of East and West on September 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque and The General on September 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Cleveland Grays Armory Museum. Festival pass holders must bring their festival pass to the Cinematheque box office to receive their ticket for the East and West screening. Festival pass holders must bring their festival pass to the Cleveland Grays Armory Museum to receive their ticket for The General screening.
A festival pass costs $120 for nonmembers and $100 for members.
Sponsors
The 2026–27 Performing Arts Series is sponsored by the Musart Society. This program is made possible in part by the Ernest L. and Louise M. Gartner Fund, the P. J. McMyler Musical Endowment Fund, and the Anton and Rose Zverina Music Fund.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
Performing arts programs are supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.
