Here’s some blurb on the upcoming biennial film festival in Amsterdam next month:

“From 11 until 15 April, the Filmmuseum in Amsterdam will be holding its third Filmmuseum Biennial. During this biennial film festival, the Filmmuseum will be showing silent films together with live performances of new soundtracks. Special finds from the historical film collection will also be presented. Visitors will be able to enjoy gems from film history in some forty screenings, many complete with musical accompaniment by, for example, classical ensembles, contemporary composers and DJs.

Restorers have been working behind the scenes of the Filmmuseum to safeguard films from the early period of cinema (1895-1928) and restore them to their former glory. The museum has gained international recognition with its much-discussed restorations and presentations of silent films from its collection (Beyond the Rocks, Menschen am Sonntag), complete with new soundtracks which are often performed live.

EVENING SCREENINGS ACCOMPANIED BY LIVE MUSIC
A set of five highlights resulting from the restoration efforts of both the Filmmuseum and the festival’s guest, the Österreichisches Filmmuseum, can be seen during the Filmmuseum Biennial. Under the slogan, a ‘feast for the eye and ear’, musicians and composers were invited to compose new scores. Singer, musician and composer Fay Lovsky will perform her own ‘soundscape’ during the showing of the opening film The Floor Below (C.G. Badger, 1918), a unique find from the Filmmuseum’s collection. In a performance in the Paradiso venue, a DJ will translate the energy of Dziga Vertov’s images in The Eleventh Year (Odinnadtsatii, 1928) in compelling electronic beats, bleeps en riddims. Composer and musician Corrie van Binsbergen gives Jacques Feyder’s L’Atlantide (1921) a new dimension with a mix of jazz, ‘grooves’ and ethnic music. Moreover, the Filmmuseum invited Rainer Hensel, the composer who used to create the soundtracks for Theo van Gogh’s films, to make a new score for Such Men are Dangerous (Kenneth Hawks 1930) and the Biennial curator Martin de Ruiter has written a new score for the Austrian classic, Der Mandarin (Fritz Freisler 1918), which will be performed by film and theatre orchestra Max Tak.”

Further information on the silent films and their musical accompaniment is here.