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As part of the day dedicated to Erik Satie, Lisa Rovner’s film Sisters with Transistors (2020), which traces the history of the pioneers of electronic music, will be screened in the presence of the director.
The film highlights women who explored the possibilities of sound outside of traditional instruments, redefining the soundscape of the 20th century. Their work paved the way for a new way of listening, where technology and humanity meet.
This approach resonates with that of Erik Satie (1866-1925), a composer who broke with the conventions of his time to create a minimalist, ironic, and free form of art. At the end of the 19th century, Satie imagined music that went beyond classical forms, anticipating a conception of music as a sensory experience, a sound environment, and a conceptual gesture. His works—from Gymnopédies to Musiques d’ameublement—paved the way for a new way of perceiving and experiencing music.
This screening will weave a link between two avant-gardes: that of Satie, who brought music closer to everyday life, and that of female electronic composers, who liberated sound from the constraints of instrument and genre. Both contributed to rethinking music and the way we listen to it.
Synopsis
Sisters with Transistors is the little-known and remarkable story of the pioneers of electronic music, composers who embraced machines and their liberating technologies to radically transform the way we produce and listen to music today. The film traces a new history of electronic music through these visionary women whose radical experiments with machines redefined the boundaries of music, including Clara Rockmore, Daphne Oram, Bebe Barron, Pauline Oliveros, Delia Derbyshire, Maryanne Amacher, Eliane Radigue, Suzanne Ciani, and Laurie Spiegel.Narrated by Laurie Anderson.
Biography
Lisa Rovner is an artist and filmmaker based in London. All of her creative projects, whether short films, music videos, commercials, or art exhibitions, are linked by her fascination with archives and sound, as well as her deep desire to transform politics and philosophy into cinematic spectacle. Her films have been shown in art venues and cinemas around the world. She is currently working on a multi-episode comedy about the art world and a television series about revolutionary architecture. Sisters with Transistors is her first feature-length documentary.
Trailer
Practical information
Thursday, December 11
Salle Cinéma Michel Piccoli
8:00 pm
In the presence of director Lisa Rovner and Vittoria Bonifati, director of Villa Lontana
VO English with Italian subtitles
Free (reservation coming soon)
Vexations 840
11.12.2025
