James R | On 12, Dec 2015

Michael Nyman’s new film, War Work, has been released exclusively on MUBI.

The audio-visual composition, titled “Eight Songs with Film”, is a cycle of text, music and archive footage to mark the centennial anniversary of World War I.

Directed by the minimalist composer, whose music for the film has also been released on CD, and edited by Max Pugh, the project combines lyrics from poets of the time, as well WWI videos from France, Germany and the USA.

The movie premiered in the UK at Sheffield DocFest, before being performed by the Michael Nyman band and contralto Hilary Summers at London’s Barbican this week. The following morning, the film was released on the arthouse SVOD service. It marks the second exclusive online premiere for the site in 2015, following Paul Thomas Anderson’s similarly experimental Junun, which was added to the streaming service in October.

“It is very encouraging to see producers and directors like Paul Thomas Anderson being very trusting of VOD releases just as they would a theatrical debut,” Efe Cakarel, Founder & CEO of MUBI, told us at the time. “This combined with the ease at which our members will be able to enjoy Junun is a testament to the coming of age of VOD. It is clear that viewer habits are changing and it’s about time distribution reflects that.”

Every day a new film is added to the site, with titles available for 30 days before being removed. The site’s carousel-style system, which revolves around more world cinema and independent titles than SVOD rivals such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, has built a significant following in the UK and around the world. Indeed, earlier this year, MUBI signed deals with both Paramount and Sony for their back catalogue.

For more information on what’s new and coming soon to MUBI UK, see our weekly roundups.

A subscription to MUBI costs £4.99 a month. For more information, visit www.mubi.com.

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