Queer silent film with live scoring by Martti Winkler and Andi Lechner

At the dawn of the film era in the early 20th century, courageous filmmakers made queer perspectives visible in silent films, which were usually accompanied by musical scores.

In times of extremism, hostility, and polarization, accordionist Martti Winkler and guitarist Andi Lechner have made it their mission to set forgotten queer silent film classics to contemporary music and make them accessible to a new generation.

The duo, who met while working together musically at the Burgtheater and have already set silent films to music at the International Accordion Festival 2024, among other events, explore this valuable cultural asset in the context of gender, non-verbal visibility, and sound design as part of the film series they have curated, and then invite the audience to join in a discussion.

Andi Lechner, a freelance musician from Vienna, studied jazz guitar with Karl Ratzer. He also received lessons from Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, Mike Stern, and others.
He is also involved in the dark/indie folk project The Ghost And The Machine, the indie/no wave band Operation Silberfisch, and the heavy psych band Great Rift. He has shared the stage and studio with Walther Soyka, Son Of The Velvet Rat, Reinhold Bilgeri, Andreas Vitasek, Alex Miksch, Karl Ratzer, Danny Frankel, and Janie Cowan.

Martti Winkler plays the accordion as her main instrument, but she also enjoys playing the synthesizer or simply carving her own instruments with the Gemüseorchester [Vegetable orchestra]—literally from vegetables.
She is a member of the queer pop band POP:SCH and Tanz Baby! and has shared the stage with Adam Green, Dota Kehr, Amanda Palmer, Clara Luzia, Fijuka, and many more.