2 responses

1. Bill Shaffer, the festival organizer, has informed me that the LAUGH-O-GRAMS and THUNDERING FLEAS have been replaced by a Mary Pickford documentary. I don’t have the title, but the filmmaker will be in attendance.

2. Additions to the program:

   Saturday – February 28th, 2009
   Morning session –
   9:00 am –
   Feature: THE POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL (1917 – Mary Pickford – 65 min.)
   Music by Marvin Faulwell (organ)

   This is the feature film that put little Mary Pickford on the map as a star. She was known before, but this one put her name above the title and fans came to see her pictures after this no matter what the title was. It was also a role that typecast her forever as a child afterwards. Even when she was 33-years old, she was still playing little girls and was known as ‘America’s Sweetheart’. This delightful yet important story is about family and the importance of family. The little girl here (Mary Pickford) has everything that money can buy except time with her parents. It was just what a war weary nation needed at the time.

   Special Kansas Premiere – MARY PICKFORD: THE MUSE OF THE MOVIES
   (2008 Documentary by Nicholas Eliopoulos – 101 min.)
   Film-maker will be here in person for Introduction and Q & A

   This new documentary traces the life and work of the legendary silent film star, movie pioneer, and keen business woman who co-created United Artists Studios. Pickford’s life (1892-1979) also parallels an even larger story, the telling of the “birth of the cinema” itself. Mary, known as “America’s Sweetheart” was the first actress to earn one million dollars during a single year, and the only star to ever receive a 50% profit share of her movies. Through restored vintage audio recordings, Pickford narrates her own story along with actor Michael York. Cameo interviews with Adolph Zukor, famed aviator Amelia Earhart, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Buddy Rogers, Lillian Gish, and rare home movies give the viewer an in depth look into the early world of American cinema.

   5:15 pm
   The first ever
   KANSAS SILENT FILM FESTIVAL
   CINEMA-DINNER

   Saturday – February 28, 2009 – 5:15 to 6:45pm
   Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center (17th & Jewell) – Washburn University campus

   This special Dinner Event will begin with a reception followed by a buffet. Guests will be seated and have dinner in the Thompson Center’s banquet room on the main floor.

   Special guest David Shepard – film restoration expert will be speaking about his recent film projects including our main feature for the evening – the previously ‘lost’ BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT. Attendees will receive a special gift before departing for White Concert Hall and the Cinema Event of the Season – the first U.S.A. screening of the newly restored BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT and the conclusion of KSFF 13

   PLEASE NOTE:
   This is an informal dinner, but reservations with appropriate fees are required. Since this event is scheduled tightly between the afternoon shows and the evening performances, we want to do it as efficiently as possible. We would like for everyone to meet our special guests and musicians, but please respect their time constraints by letting them get back to the Concert Hall before they have to ‘go on’.

   Total cost: $20 per person (non-refundable)
   (a portion of this fee will go to the KSFF)
   Send your reservation requests to:
   KSFF Cinema-Dinner
   P.O. Box 2032
   Topeka, Kansas 66601-2032
   (We must receive your check for reservations no later than February 10th, 2009)
   -Tickets are first come, first served –