French drummer brings a 100 year old silent film alive with his drumming

A century-old French silent film

Paris qui dort

(The Crazy Ray) came alive in Chandigarh at

Alliance Française as t

he screening was accompanied by a live performance by

Stéphane Scharlé

, celebrated French drummer, composer, and founder of the jazz collective

OZMA

. Presented by the

French Institute in India

in collaboration with the

Alliance Française network

, the cine-concert offered audiences a dreamlike fusion of cinema and music. Scharlé’s self-invented

Augmented Drum

, blending percussion, loops, and electronic textures, gave new life to René Clair’s 1924 masterpiece — one of the earliest science fiction films in French cinema.

The restored 4K print of the film, by

Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé Foundation

, retained its haunting charm while the live score added a fresh contemporary pulse."We were thrilled to welcome Stéphane Scharlé and his poetic reinterpretation of Paris qui dort as the first event in our newly refurbished theatre. It was a meaningful way to reopen this space to Chandigarh’s audiences and to celebrate the vitality of French creativity”, said, Fiona Guerra, Director, Alliance Française de ChandigarhThe Chandigarh showcase was part of Scharlé’s

India Tour

, which includes performances across New Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, and other cities. He has performed over

500 concerts across 40 countries.

The evening concluded with resounding applause as audiences celebrated this meeting of nostalgia and innovation — a vivid reminder of how art continues to transcend time, language, and form.