Silent Film Landmark The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) to Be Screened at Tampere Cathedral during Tampere Film Festival – Live Organ Improvisation by Esa Toivola

The German silent film landmark The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, 1920) will be screened at Tampere Cathedral on Friday, 6 March, as part of the Tampere Film Festival programme.

As in previous silent film screenings held at the Cathedral, the film will be accompanied by live organ music, improvised by organist Esa Toivola. This event marks the seventh time Tampere Film Festival and the Federation of Tampere Evangelical Lutheran Parishes have jointly organised a silent film screening at Tampere Cathedral.

The screening begins on Friday 6 March 2026 at 19:00. Admission is free, and the doors of the Cathedral will open two hours before the screening.

A Timely Expressionist Masterpiece

Directed by Robert Wiene, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has secured its place in film history above all because of its striking visual design. The city streets, buildings, and even shadows are painted directly onto the sets in sharp contrasts, distorted perspectives, and asymmetrical forms. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is indeed a well-known, stylistically pure example of an Expressionist film.

According to Jukka-Pekka Laakso, Festival Director of Tampere Film Festival, the film was selected not only for its artistic merits but also for its contemporary relevance.

– The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari remains visually unique, and perhaps uncomfortably topical. The film’s central character is an irrational, megalomaniacal figure who manipulates others through lies. Viewers can draw their own conclusions about its connections to the present day, Laakso says.

The film follows the mysterious Dr. Caligari, who arrives at a small-town fair with a somnambulist, Cesare, whom he controls. Soon after their arrival, two murders take place, prompting a friend of one of the victims to investigate the disturbing events.

German films made between the First and Second World Wars have later been interpreted as foreshadowing the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is one of the most well-known examples of these films. Its significance is underscored by its appearance in the title of a classic work of film theory: German-born Siegfried Kracauer’s From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film (1947).

Organist Esa Toivola Responds to the Audience

The live musical accompaniment will be improvised by Esa Toivola, organist of Tampere Cathedral, who has also previously performed at the festival’s silent film screenings at the Cathedral.

Toivola notes that audience reactions can sometimes influence the music – unlike in traditional concerts, where musicians perform a fixed composition.

– In film screenings, the combination of image and music is central. I improvise according to the film’s script, but it also allows room to respond to the moment. When the audience becomes audibly engaged with a scene, it inspires the music as well, Toivola says.

Toivola’s talent for improvising film music has gained attention beyond Tampere. In January this year, he performed at Helsinki Music Centre, providing live accompaniment to two Charlie Chaplin films as well as a Laurel and Hardy comedy.

The first silent film screening at Tampere Cathedral during Tampere Film Festival took place in 2019 with Murtovarkaus (1926), based on a play by Minna Canth. Subsequent screenings have included Victor Sjöström’s The Phantom Carriage (1921) in 2020, Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) in 2022, and Dziga Vertov’s Ukrainian silent classic Man with a Movie Camera (1929) in 2023.

In the past two years, the programme has focused on Finnish cinema. In 2024, a trilogy of short films by Juho Kuosmanen was screened: Romu-Mattila and a Beautiful Woman (2012), Moonshiners (2017), and A Planet Far Away (2023). Last year’s programme featured The Changeling (Vaihdokas, 1927), directed by Teuvo Puro.

THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (DAS CABINET DES DR. CALIGARI)

Live organ accompaniment: Esa Toivola

Fri 6 March 2026 at 19:00
Free entry
Duration: 78 min
Age limit: 7

Germany, 1920
Director: Robert Wiene
Screenplay: Hans Janowitz, Carl Mayer
Cast: Werner Krauss (Caligari), Conrad Veidt (Cesare), Friedrich Feher (Francis), Lil Dagover (Jane), Hans Heinz von Twardowski (Alan)
Subtitles: Finnish, German

The event is organised in cooperation by Tampere Film Festival, the Federation of Tampere Evangelical Lutheran Parishes, and Creative Technology Finland.