IT IS regarded as a masterpiece but you suspect that even that didn’t prepare composer Barry Russell for what he saw on screen.

“It’s probably one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen,” said Barry, who is internationally renowned as a composer.

He admits it’s also pretty harrowing but then we are talking about The Passion of Joan of Arc. It is silent and shot in black and white.

Next week, La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 classic about the trial of Joan of Arc, will be shown as part of the Holmfirth Film Festival.

It will have music written by Barry Russell, played and sung by musicians and singers drawn both from the Holmfirth area and further afield. One singer, visiting from Australia, has been unable to resist what looks set to be a talking point of the festival.

Last year, Barry, who lives in Holmfirth, created a soundtrack to accompany Herbert Ponting’s 1924 documentary The Great White Silence about Captain Scott’s doomed race to the Antarctic South Pole.

It offered some of the most moving images and sounds of the festival. No wonder Barry was invited back to recreate that excitement of combining stunning images with a new, original score.

But I think even Barry will admit he’s had his work cut out with this film.

“It’s 82 minutes and it’s a harrowing work. The immolation scene is extraordinary,” he said.

“It looks like they are using a real body.

“The actress Renée Jeanne Falconetti who plays Joan of Arc is exquisitely beautiful. She acts with her eyes.

“Stephen Dorril gave me the publicity clip and I thought yes, I like this. It is very stylised, the sets are very stylised as is the acting. I can make music that fits this.

“I watched it and then went away and thought about it for three or four weeks.

“How do you make music for this. I’ve thought about it like the Bach Passions, after all it is the Passion of Joan of Arc.

Barry has brought together a large ensemble of professional musicians as well as students.

There will be a choir which will include singers from Holmfirth High School where Barry used to teach and from Leeds College of Music. They will act a bit like a Greek chorus. There’s also a solo soprano who will sing as Joan.

Add to that an organ, a brass octet, a percussionist, a clarinet and live electronics which will bounce the sound around Holmfirth Parish Church where the event will be held on May 23 at 8pm .

“It’s almost an installation. It has been a very exciting thing to work on.”

“People are coming from all over the place to put this together. After this performance at Holmfirth, I’m hoping it will be seen elsewhere.”

It has clearly been a huge emotional journey for Barry as he has composed the music – and for all those now preparing to perform it for an audience at the Film Festival next week.

“I knew the piece by reputation, but that hadn’t prepared me for how strong the emotions are.

“Most of the film is shot in close-ups of the faces and that’s very strong as facial expressions are what we all respond to as human beings.

“It is heart-rending when Joan, under duress signs the confession. And then there is the expression of joy and delight when she is finally given the sacrament.”

The film is based on trial transcripts from 1431 and follows Joan’s final days.

Don’t miss next week’s memorable showing.