#7. Soundtracking the End of an Era | 'The Prologue' with Cyrill Lachauer & Rhyw

Artist and filmmaker Cyrill Lachauer and producer/DJ Rhyw sit down to unpack their new short film The Prologue, woven throughout with footage and sound straight from the film itself.

Content note: this video includes mention of drug overdose and death.

Lachauer traces the film's origins back to hopping freight trains for his earlier film Slack, and how this led him to Bosnia, home to some of the last still-running steam engines. Here, trains dating back to the Nazi era are in use today for coal-mining. Lachauer describes the overwhelming thick smog, and a haunting sense of an industry clinging to its final years. He went back twice more, and The Prologue was born.

Rhyw takes us inside the score. Built from distorted percussion, warm lo-fi textures, and gear like the Sherman Filterbank and Strymon Big Sky, Rhyw discusses the process of creating a soundtrack that responds to the film's striking 16mm black and white imagery. It's a sharp left turn from making club music, and Rhyw reflects on what changes when you're scoring for a set of eyes on a screen, rather than a room full of dancing bodies.

Lachauer closes by reflecting on what it means to see all three films of the trilogy together in one exhibition space, and why, for him, that's where the full picture comes into focus.

The Prologue is co-produced by Sammlung Goetz and Autotelic Foundation, and is on view as part of The Sunset Route at Kunstpalais Erlangen until 27 September 2026.
More info: www.kunstpalais.de

The Prologue executive producer: Nils Petersen / Flipping the Coin, Berlin

Thanks to MONA Productions.