Daily Archives: August 1, 2007

Films on video and DVD worldwide

August 1, 2007 By in DVD and Blu-Ray, Resources

This is worth knowing about – the Film Search page of the BuechereiWiki site (the site’s in German but the Film Search section is available in English). The site itself appears to be a wiki for library resources.

It’s a remarkable listing of video and DVD sources worldwide, put together by Peter Delin of the Central and Regional Library, Berlin. The list covers Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Scandanavia, Asia, Africa, Latin America, Middle East, South Asia, South-East Asia, East Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand – plus special areas, including film footage, amateur film, documentaries, experimental films, shorts, and … silents. There are some extraordinary individual resources there, particularly search engines which look across European library collections, which I’ll investigate further and report back. Meanwhile, it’s certainly a page to bookmark.

Strade del Cinema

August 1, 2007 By in Festivals, Music

Fred Frith

It’s a new one on me, but the Strade del Cinema festival is running 6-15 August, at Aosta, Italy. It’s a festival of music and silent film, with extra bits. This year they have a Laurel and Hardy strand, with assorted of their classic silent shorts with intriguing music accompaniment (Two Tars gets to be accompanied by cello, electric bass, electronics and a Japanese koto; You’re Darn Tootin’ is accompanied by a ‘digital performer’). There’s a screening of Pastrone’s Il Fuoco (1916) with live score by avant garde guitarists Marc Ribot and the great Fred Frith, one of my heroes. And there’s Jean Epstein’s La Belle Nivernaise (1923), with vocal accompaniment by Les Grandes Voix Bulgares, which ought to be quite something. There’s also a dramatic piece on Rudolph Valentino, L’Amante de Mondo.

Just time to pop over there, if you’re quick…