A new take on Vittorio de Sica’s masterpiece ‘Bicycle Thieves’, with live musical and voice accompaniment, was performed for two evenings at PuSh, the international festival in Vancouver, now in its 15th year. The Italian Consulate General, in association with the Italian Cultural Centre, organised the screening. The neorealist film was shown without sound and with English subtitles, accompanied by six musicians and four actors from the “Bella Luna” company.
The PuSh Festival specially commissioned Joelysa Pankanea to do this artistic project on the film of the much-loved director, De Sica. Pankanea was born in Canada, but she grew up in Kenya, where her family originated from. She has already won numerous awards for her original theatrical musical scores. Her music in “Bicycle Thieves” managed to engage the public as it transmitted a sense of urgency and anguish experienced by the leading character in the film. Even though the score was based on Alessandro Cicognini’s original music, it was enhanced by an increased vibrancy that was inspired by the composer’s personal experience in Nairobi. The sold-out performances were held on 26 and 27 January 2019 at the Performance Works Theatre on Granville Island in Vancouver.
