Category Archives: Festivals

Killruddery returns

February 14, 2010 By in Festivals, Modern silents Tags:

http://killrudderyarts.com

The Killruddery Film Festival has announced its 2010 programme. This excellent venture, now in its fourth year, is held in the delightful location of Killruddery House in Co. Wicklow, Ireland, close by Bray and a short journey from Dublin. To date the festival has been dedicated to silent films, but for this year they have introduced some sound films to what looks a well-rounded and effective programme. The theme of the festival, which runs 11-14 March, is Celebrating Lost, Overlooked & Forgotten Cinema. One might argue that not all of the titles on show fall into those categories, but every film screening is new to someone in the audience, so there are discoveries come what may. Here’s the line-up:

Thursday 11th March

Down Wicklow Way @ 6.15pm
Programme from the IFI Irish Film Archive, presented by Sunniva O’Flynn. With live musical accompaniment by Josh Johnston

A Cottage on Dartmoor (UK 1929 d. Anthony Asquith) @ 8.15pm
Introduced by Kevin Brownlow. With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne

Friday 12th March

Los Angeles Plays Itself (US 2003 d. Thom Anderssen) @ 2pm
With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne

Back Down Wicklow Way @ 6pm
More archive films presented by Sunniva O’Flynn

The New World (US 2005 d. Terence Malick) @ 7pm

Lucky Star (US 1929 d. Frank Borzage) @ 8pm

The Parallax View (US 1974 d. Alan Pakula) @ 10pm

Saturday 13th March

A Future Past @ 12am
Programme of science-fiction films presented Andrew Legge, including High Treason (UK 1929 d. Maurice Elvey)

Children’s Shorts Programme @ 12.30am

Poil de Carrotte (France 1925 d. Julien Duvivier) @ 2pm

Sita Sings the Blues (US 1008 d. Nina Paley) @ 2.15pm

Talk: On the developing art of the video essay @ 4pm
Given by video artist Matt Zoller Seitz

City Girl (US 1930 d. F.W. Murnau) @ 4.15pm
Introduced by Kevin Brownlow

Chang (US 1927 d. Merian C. Copper /Ernest Schoedsack) @ 6pm
With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. Introduced by Kevin Brownlow

Seven Days to Noon (UK 1950 d. John and Roy Boulting) @ 6.15pm
Presented by John Boorman

I Know Where I’m Going (UK 1945 d. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger) @ 8.30pm

Sunday 14th March

Talk: Unknown Chaplin @ 12pm
Illustrated lecture given by Kevin Brownlow

Britannica & other stories @ 1pm
Programme of artists’ films, including the work of John Latham

Ingeborg Holm (Sweden 1917 d. Victor Sjostrom) @ 2.15pm
Introduced by Charles Barr, with live music accompaniment by Stephen Horne

Budawanny (Ireland 1987 d. Bob Quinn) @ 4pm
Modern silent film about a young priest (played by Donal McCann) who becomes romantically entangled with his housekeeper

Red Dust (US 1932 d. Victor Fleming) @ 4.15pm
Introduced by Kevin Brownlow

The Patsy (US 1928 d. King Vidor) @ 6pm
Introduced by Kevin Brownlow, with live musical accompaniment by
Josh Johnston

Goddess/Devi (India 1960 d. Satyajit Ray) @ 6.15pm
Presented by Rebecca Miller

The Wind (US 1928 d. Victor Sjostrom) @ 8pm
With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne

Now that’s what I call an eclectic programme. Tickets are now on sale (you pay for individual screenings), and full details can be found on the festival site. Hope it does well.

The world before you

February 11, 2010 By in Festivals Tags: 3 Comments

J.B.L. Noel, cinematographer for The Epic of Everest (1924), from http://britishsilents.wordpress.com

No doubt taking its title from Charles Urban’s slogan “We put the world before you”, the British Silent Festival has announced the theme of its upcoming festival as being ‘The World Before You’: Exploration, Science and Nature in British Silent Film.

The festival is being held 15-18 April 2010 at the Phoenix Square Cinema, Leicester (home of the very first British Silent Film Festival, several moons ago). This, the thirteenth such festival, will focus on the relationship between the natural world and cinema before 1930, and will include films about the following:

  • science and nature
  • exploration and discovery of polar regions, mountains, jungles and oceans
  • early ethnography
  • natural phenomena, climate and weather
  • the British coast, maritime activities and natural history on film

The festival organisers promise us a four-day packed programme filled with many rare and re-discovered films, presentations and social events. All films will have live musical accompaniment from a star-studded array of the finest silent cinema musicians.

The festival has moved from its strictly British focus of past years to cast a wider net, and this year highlights will include screenings of The Lost World (US 1925), Drifters (UK 1929), The Bridal Party of Hardanger (Norway 1926), the Dodge Brothers performing to Beggars of Life (US 1928), Damian Coldwell’s new score for Tol’able David (US 1921) with more new music for The Battle of the Ancre and the Advance of the Tanks (UK 1917) and Ernest Shackleton’s epic South (UK 1919). Special presentations will include Everest on Film, The Perilous Life of the Wildlife Cameraman, Around the British Coast in Film, and the Race to the South Pole: Britain and Norway (so I hope that includes the film that exists of Amundsen’s team as well has Herbert Ponting’s record of Scott’s doomed party).

Full programme and timetable information are promised shortly. For bookings contact Phoenix Square Box Office (+44) 0116 242 2800. Ticket prices (which include lunch each day and tea/coffee) are Festival 4 day pass £95 (£70 concession) or Festival 1 day pass £45 (£30 concession).

Accommodation is available at the discounted rate of £45 pp per night (including breakfast) at the Ibis Hotel, Leicester. Please telephone the Hotel directly and quote ‘Phoenix Square’. The address is Ibis Hotel Leicester, St George’s Way, Constitution Hill, Leicester LE1 1PL tel. 0116 248 7200.

For any information contact the Festival Directors Laraine Porter (lporter [at] dmu.ac.uk) or Bryony Dixon (bryony.dixon [at] bfi.org.uk), or visit http://britishsilents.wordpress.com.

From the deep

February 10, 2010 By in Festivals Tags: 9 Comments

http://www.kurzfilmtage.de

From the Deep: The Great Experiment 1898-1918 is being billed as the biggest ever programme of early films in Germany (i.e. early films overall, not just those made in Germany). It’s been put together by curators Mariann Lewinsky and Eric de Kuyper as part of the 56th International Short Film Festival at Oberhausen, Germany, 29 April-4 May 2010. This is how the festival website describes the theme:

This programme invites audiences to discover and experience early cinema as a forgotten but very topical production and presentation practice and a real alternative to today’s cinema and museum. Out of the depths of the days before 1918, a wild short film continent is pulled up to the surface of the present day. Early cinema developed participatory and hybrid forms of presentation that seem eerily modern. With no access restrictions at all in its first years, cinema up to 1910 was a public space shared by all age groups and classes, and created the first worldwide web: for the first time in history, people in far-flung regions of the world were able to watch identical shows.

The individual programmes illustrate the versatility of these experiments, which run the gamut from applied colour processes that may involve pure experimentation with coloured light or the illuminated fountains at Versailles, to the discovery of the possibilities of space and movement, all the way to the eager dismantling of authority in the countless films featuring rebellious servants or bad girls and boys who go unpunished. Tribute is paid to both the innovation productions by the era’s world-market leader, Pathé-frères, as well as to works by its rivals Gaumont, Lux and Star-Film, or the Italian competition with its comic series like “Cretinetti”.

The festival will bring together more than one hundred films, as well as discussions and other related events. As festival director Lars Henrik Gass puts it:

These are productions from an age when all films were short films, when movie theatres were the first public space shared by all age groups and classes, the first worldwide web in a way: for the first time in history, people in far flung regions of the world were able to watch the same shows. It was an exhibition practice which for us is also a continuation of our research into an imaginary Kinomuseum, where museum is re-invented by cinema.

Accreditation for this particular contribution to the imaginary Kinomuseum is open until April 6th, and further details (though no list of films as yet) can be found on the festival website (in English and German).

All of which leaves us with one small question. If all of the films of this period were short, were they really short at all?

The slapstick wars

January 29, 2010 By in Comedy, Festivals Tags: 2 Comments

The custard pie fight from Laurel and Hardy’s The Battle of the Century (1927), from http://www.laurel-and-hardy-online.com

The Bioscope is dedicated to peace. Here at Bioscope Towers birds twitter contentedly from the ivy-clad turrets, the sun shines daily down upon the freshly-mown lawns over which butterflies play. A babbling brooks burbles in the distance, and the only sound not gently offered up by nature is the occasional tinkling of piano (or indeed strumming of guitar) and whirr of the hand-cranked projector as another silent plays upon the screen. Likewise the Bioscope’s view upon the world is an evenly-balanced one. It observes; it does not challenge. It does not take sides.

So it is with sorrow, and not a little bemusement, that we report – because it is news from our world and so we feel compelled to report it – of an extraordinary war of words raging at present around the Slapstick festival in Bristol, UK. Slapstick is a festival of comedy, silent and beyond, which each January brings together classic comedy with the live comedians of today in an imaginative concoction of popular entertainments. So, running alongside Keaton, Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy and so forth, audiences over the past five years have seen Neil Innes, Barry Cryer, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Phill Jupitus, Eric Sykes, and Paul Merton, the television comedian who has been such a fervent advocate for the art of silent film comedy.

Merton has been the host of past gala events at the festival, but for this year the festival announced that its gala event would feature Michael Palin, the globe-trotting Python. Just before the 2010 festival opened, an open letter appeared on Merton’s website, entitled ‘A Explanation to the People of Bristol‘. Merton writes of his shock at being dropped from the festival:

Over the past five years, I’ve taken great pride and pleasure in presenting the best silent comedies with live musical accompaniment at the Colston Hall as part of the Bristol Silents Slapstick Festival.

Every January, I came to Bristol to host the Gala night featuring some of the best films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy. Every year we attracted a large and enthusiastic audience; over a thousand people every single Gala night. The applause at the end of the evening was always deafening …

The continued loyalty of the Bristol audience was very special to me and was matched by my loyalty to them. At the end of every exceptional Gala evening, I’ve stood on the stage and promised to return with more delights the following year. I’m proud that my name has played such a large part in building up the Slapstick Festival’s reputation. I have programmed many events and have been happy to do the lions share of publicity.

So you could have knocked me down with a custard pie last August when Chris Daniels, the self appointed Director of Bristol Silents, emailed my agent to say he was dropping my Gala Night because he believed that we would struggle to sell tickets!!

Merton goes on in some detail about his contributions, personal and financial, to past Slapstick festivals, and details what he feels has been mistreatment by the festival organisers now and in the past.

Not surprisingly with such a public figure taking umbrage in such a public form, the story has spread. The BBC news website has covered it, as have Private Eye (reproduced on Merton’s site) and numerous blogs and other news sources. All was silent for a while from Bristol Silents, organisers of the festival, until a message appeared on the Slapstick site on 27 January from festival director Chris Daniels. This is part of his reply:

We … need to make it clear that Paul most certainly has not been “sacked” by Slapstick. To keep the festival fresh and attract new audiences, we suggested to Paul, through his agent, that we vary the format of the opening Gala for 2010 and offered him several other ideas and venues during the festival, in case the changes didn’t suit him. The exact words of my email to his agent in July were: “Of course, as you know, Paul would be welcome to do almost anything with us, either at Slapstick or at any other time of the year, so if Paul wants to explore other shows or ideas I’m sure we could accommodate most things, for this January or beyond”. To this, I added: “If it’s really only the Gala show that Paul would like to host then I do hope he will want to be on board with us once more in 2011 and on into the future.”

To our dismay, Paul’s agent’s reply was that not only did Paul not like our various proposals, but that “he has asked me to let you know that he hereby withdraws from any future involvement with the Slapstick Festival.” Since then, we have made various efforts to reassure Paul that we value him but, as he insisted that all correspondence had to go through his agent, lack of direct contact may explain why Paul has formed some inaccurate impressions about the day-to-day running of the festival.

Unlike the big budget, well-staffed, production companies with whom Paul usually works, Slapstick is run mostly by unpaid volunteers whose main qualification is that they love silent films and visual comedy and are willing to put in the hours, energy and passion that enable others to enjoy them, too.

The festival is run by a bona fide not-for-profit film society – Bristol Silents – which meets all of the standards of governance required by public funding bodies and sponsors, and has a steering group who advise on festival appointments and plans.

To get to the bottom of this matter and come to your own conclusions, you will need to pursue the various threads of this story for yourselves (the debate on Nitrateville is instructive). What is sad to see is that people who believe in the same thing, namely the preservation of the art of silent comedy, should be falling out so publicly and bitterly. It is unnecessary, it is just a little bit ridiculous, and it should not have been aired so openly when it might have been resolved properly by diplomacy and mutual understanding.

The Bioscope suggests that perhaps a leaf might be taken out of the Python book and to have the contest sorted out by a fish-slapping duel, which we have long thought believed to be a good way of sorting out wars large and small. Or it could be custard pies.

http://www.clown-ministry.com

Silents with accordions

January 28, 2010 By in Festivals, Music Tags: 6 Comments

Falconetti in La passion de Jeanne d’Arc with Austrian accordionist Maria Düchler

The Bioscope is unremittingly keen to see new forms of musical accompaniment for silent films, so news of the Akkordeon Festival in Vienna is most welcome. The annual festival is pretty much what you would expect it to be – a festival of accordion music, and quite possibly something of a challenge to the senses were you to attend it in its entirety from 15 February to 23 March 2010. But the festival has assorted strands, and this year one of these is a series of matinees featuring the screening of silent films accompanied by accordionists. Clearly the choice of films has been made to demonstrate the range of the instrument and challenge preconceptions.

On 21 February Buster Keaton in Sherlock Jr. (1924) and Fatty Arbuckle and Keaton in Back Stage (1919) will be accompanied by Sascha Shevchenko on the accordion and Maciej Gloebiowski on clarinet.

On 28 February D.W. Griffith’s Broken Blossoms (1919) will be accompanied by accordionist Christian Bakanic.

On 7 March Carl Th. Dreyer’s La passion de Jeanne d’Arc is accompanied by accordionist Maria Düchler.

On 14 March there is Conrad Veidt in Robert Weine’s Orlacs Hände (1924), accompanied by Stefan Sterzinger on accordion and Franz Schaden bass.

On 21 March there’s Harold Lloyd in Safety Last (1923), with Lothar Lässer accompanying on the accordion.

More information (in German only), including ticket details, can be found on the Akkordeon Festival website. All the silent film screenings take place at the Filmcasino, Margaretenstrasse 78, A-1050, Vienna, Austria.

Silent film/live guitars

January 19, 2010 By in Festivals, Music Tags: 2 Comments

(L-R) Gyan Riley, Steve Kimock and Alex de Grassi, from http://www.newyorkguitarfestival.org

For some while now the Bioscope has been championing the guitar as accompaniment for silent film, with such notable figures as Bill Frisell and Gary Lucas having taken up the challenge. So it is pleasing to see that this year’s New York Guitar Festival includes a strand entitled Silent Film/Live Guitars. The Festival is halfway through, but the first of the combination of silent films with guitar music is on 21 January, with two further concerts on 28 January and 4 February. Here are extracts from the festival schedule:

21 JAN Thu
Charlie Chaplin’s One A.M. and Easy Street + Buster Keaton’s Cops
featuring music by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Steve Kimock
—
Bon Iver is the nom-de-guerre of musician Justin Vernon. His album For Emma, Forever Ago was a critical and commercial hit, making him one of the most talked-about indie artists of 2008. For his scores to One A.M. & Easy Street, he’s joined by Chris Rosenau, of Collection of Colonies of Bees, whom Justin calls his “guitar mentor.” Steve Kimock is best known as co-founder and guitarist for the San Francisco band Zero. He’s recorded and performed with Bruce Hornsby and members of the Grateful Dead—Jerry Garcia once hailed him as his favorite guitarist. He performs music for Buster Keaton’s Cops.

28 JAN Thu
Charlie Chaplin’s Shoulder Arms and The Fall of the House of Usher (directed by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber
featuring music by Alex de Grassi + James Blackshaw

One of the top fingerstyle, steel-string guitarists, Grammy nominee Alex de Grassi is renowned for his impeccable technique and compelling compositions. He’s explored a variety of world music influences and drawn acclaim for his 14 recordings on Windham Hill and other labels. He presents his original score for Chaplin’s 1918 masterpiece Shoulder Arms. James Blackshaw is a London-based prodigy who’s released seven albums of mesmerizing 12-string compositions. His style is often described as “American primitive” and incorporates elements of Indian raga, improvisation, and psychedelia.

04 FEB Thu
Charlie Chaplin’s Pay Day & The Idle Class plus short animations from Harry Smith’s Early Abstractions
featuring music by Chicha Libre + Gyan Riley

The Peruvian-influenced psychedelic pop of Chicha Libre mixes Colombian cumbia, dreamy surf guitar, and Andean melodies. They present their scores to Chaplin’s Pay Day (1922) and The Idle Class (1921). Gyan Riley is an equally strong presence in the worlds of classical guitar and contemporary music. He’s performed throughout Europe and the U.S., both as a soloist and in ensembles with Zakir Hussain, the San Francisco Symphony, the Falla Guitar Trio, and his father, the composer/pianist/vocalist Terry Riley.

The concerts take place 8pm at the Merkin Concert Hall, Goodman House, 129 W. 67th Street, New York. The first is sold out.

StummFilmMusikTage 2010

January 7, 2010 By in Festivals Tags: 2 Comments

Die Carmen von St. Pauli, from http://www.stummfilmmusiktage.de

StummFilmMusikTage is a festival of silent film and music which takes place each January, held in Erlangen, Germany. This year’s festival takes place 28-31 January, and takes as its theme ‘Tough Guys and Easy Girls’. Here’s what they mean by that:

Friday, January 29th

6pm Film Historian Kevin Brownlow introduces Josef von Sternberg and Underworld

7pm Underworld (USA 1927, 80 min, Dir: Josef von Sternberg) – Score and accompaniment: Helmut Nieberle Trio

Saturday, January 30th

4pm Buster Keaton goes crime (short Films, USA 1921 – 22, 60 min, Dir: Buster Keaton u.a.) – Score and accompaniment: Yogo Pausch

6pm Introduction Sadie Thompson and Gloria Swanson by Film Scholar Ursula von Keitz

7pm Sadie Thompson (USA 1928, 94 min, Dir: Raoul Walsh) – Score: Joseph Turrin; Accompaniment: ensemble KONTRASTE conducted by Frank Strobel

9pm Introduction to Asphalt and the German Crime film

10pm Asphalt (GER 1929, 90 min, Dir: Joe May) – Score and accompaniment: Interzone Perceptible

Sunday, January 31st

11am In the beginning there was the hold-up – treasures from the BFI Archive (GB/USA/F 1900 – 10, 60 min) – Score and accompaniment: Miller the Killer

12.30pm Slapstick-Lunch – Snacks and Short Films in the Upper Foyer

3pm Die Carmen von St. Pauli (GER 1929, 114 min, Dir: Erich Waschneck) – Score and Accompaniment: Miller the Killer con Conny Corretto

6pm Reading from the novel Dr. Mabuse by Norbert Jacques
7pm Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler – Part 1 (GER 1922, 95 min, Dir: Fritz Lang) – Score and accompaniment: Aljoscha Zimmermann Ensemble

A fine programme, though a slapstick lunch sounds a bit hazardous. The festival is being held as usual in the Markgrafentheater Erlangen, a baroque theatre built in 1719 and still in use. Details, including advance tickets, are now available from the festival site (in German and English).

For your diaries

December 27, 2009 By in Conferences, Festivals Tags: 3 Comments

The Jornada Brasileira de Cinema Silencioso in São Paulo, from http://www.cinemateca.gov.br/jornada

With 2010 all but upon us, naturally you’ll be thinking how you can fill the year ahead with silents-related activities, and here to assist you is a guide to the festivals and conferences that are coming up over the next twelve months. Information on these is given in greater detail in the Bioscope’s Conferences and Festivals sections, while a summary listing of all events coming up is maintained in the Calendar section.

Things kick off in January with Slapstick, the annual festival of slapstick film celebrated in Bristol, UK. This year’s event takes place 21st-24th and features Buster Keaton’s The Navigator, René Clair’s An Italian Straw Hat and Boris Barnet’s The House on Trubnaya Street, plus W.C. Fields, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy, along with appearances by present-day comic stars Michael Palin, Phill Jupitus and Neil Innes. The StummFilmMusikTage Erlangen is a festival of silent film music held in Erlangen, Germany. The 2010 festival has as its motto Tough Guys and Easy Girls and will include Louise Brooks in Diary of a Lost Girl, German gangster film classic Asphalt and Fritz Lang’s masterpieces Dr. Mabuse Part I and II as a double feature. It takes place 28th-31st.

February sees the Niles Essanay Film Silent Film Museum’s Midwinter Comedy Festival, running 12th-14th, in Niles, California. Keaton, Griffith, Langdon, Pollard, Chase, Davidson and much more. The Kansas Silent Film Festival is an event held annually in Topeka, Kansas. This year’s festival takes place 26th-27th and has as its special guest Melissa Talmadge Cox, grand-daughter of Buster Keaton and Natalie Talmadge, so Keaton (Our Hospitality) and Talmadge (Norma, in Smilin’ Through) feature, as well as William Boyd and Elinor Fair in The Yankee Clipper and various comedy shorts.

Killruddery silent film festival, from http://killrudderyarts.wordpress.com

With March there is the Karlsruher Stummfilmtage in Karlsruhe, Germany, which takes place 11th-14th and is devoted to René Clair and Jean Renoir; or you may journey to Syracuse, New York for the annual Cinefest, scheduled for 25th-28th, programme to be announced. Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic, the Killruddery Silent Film Festival takes place 11th-14th in Bray, Ireland. The programme has yet to be announced, but the theme is ‘Overlooked & Forgotten Cinema’ and Kevin Brownlow is the guest of honour.

April 7th-11th features the Filmmuseum Biënnale in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a festival of music, art and film which has a strong silent film element, including a programme of films from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. April is the new month for the British Silent Film Festival. No longer held in its traditional Nottingham home in June, the peripatetic festival now finds itself taking place at the Phoenix Square Cinema, Leicester, over the 15th-18th. The theme will be the relationship between the natural world and cinema before 1930.

In May there’s the festival of silent cinema held annually at Hautes-Pyrénées, France, the Festival d’Anères. Despite rumours that the festival’s future is in some doubt, dates have been announced for the 19th-23rd, though no details of a programme as yet. Or States-side you could head for the classic film convention Cinevent, held as always in Columbus, Ohio. 2010’s convention takes place 28th-31st.

The Piazza Maggiore, Bologna, from http://www.filmfestivaltourism.com

June 13th-17th sees Beyond the Screen: Institutions, Networks and Publics of Early Cinema – 11th International DOMITOR conference. The bi-annual conference on the study of early cinema is taking place in Toronto, Canada. Silent film scholars will then have to jet off to Bologna, Italy for the Sixth International Women and Film History Conference, taking place 24th-26th. The theme of the conference is women’s involvement in the silent film industry and culture across the globe. Immediately after, and in the same city, there is Il Cinema Ritrovato, the festival of restored films (always with a strong silent element). The festival takes place 26th June-3rd July, but no details of the programme have been released as yet. The Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival will be held at Fremont, California in June, but exact dates haven’t been given as yet.

In July the BFI in London hosts a conference Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire, 1895-1939 over 8th-9th (a second strand takes place in Pittsburgh in September covering 1939-1965). San Francisco hosts the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, this year over 15th-18th. The programme will be announced in late May. At the same time (15th-16th), Slapsticon, the annual festival of silent and early sound film comedy, held as ever in Arlington, Virginia, promises us Ben Turpin, Monty Banks, Mr and Mrs Sidney Drew, Billy Richie, John Bunny, Billy Bevan, Edward Everett Horton and a whole lot more. Or you could look further afield and consider the International Silent Film Festival, a festival of classic silent films held each July in Manila – no exacts dates or programme available as yet.

Bonner Sommerkino, from http://www.film-ist-kultur.de

August is clearly the month when the programmers are expecting us to combine holidays with silents. So, you might consider central New York’s Capitolfest, its annual summer classic and silent movie festival, taking place 13th-15th. Or why not sample Aosta in the Italian Alps for Strade del Cinema, a silent film festival with a strong emphasis on musical acompaniment (no exact dates or programme released as yet). Or be bold and head for São Paulo, Brazil to enjoy the highly-impressive (at least to judge by past programmes) Jornada Brasileira de Cinema Silencioso, a silent film festival now in its fourth year (no exact dates or programme details as yet). Or maybe Bonn in Germany will tempt you, with its Bonner Sommerkino, a festival of silent film which is yearly growing in importance (no dates or programme as yet). Or you could escape from some of the summer’s heat by sampling Finland’s Forssa Silent Film Festival, also more challengingly known as Mykkäelokuvafestivaalit, which in 2010 takes place 27th-28th.

If it’s September then it must be Cinecon, annual classic film festival held in Hollywood, which will run 2nd-6th. The charming Opitiki Silent Film Festival will be held this month in Opitiki, New Zealand. Over 23rd-26th there’s the silent and early sound film festival Cinesation in Massillon, Ohio, USA, while over the 24th-26th we have the Annual Buster Keaton Celebration, the Buster Keaton-themed festival held in Iola, Kansas. Silents of a different, modern kind feature in the Toronto Urban Film Festival, a public film festival of one-minute silent films held in Toronto, Canada. No dates as yet, but the films are ew productions entered in competition.

Pordenone audience

October is of course Pordenone month. The Giornate del Cinema Muto, or Pordenone Silent Film Festival, is generally considered the world’s leading silent film festival, takes place in Pordenone, northern Italy, and in 2010 runs 2nd-9th. We await the first details of 2010’s programme. October also sees Charlie in the Heartland: An International Charlie Chaplin Conference, which takes place 28th-30th at Ohio University Zanesville, Zanesville, Ohio,and which takes as its theme anything to do with Chaplin and his relationship with, influence on, or evocation of America. Also in October, but no dates or programme announced as yet, will be Australia's Silent Film Festival, held in Sydney.

Nothing of any particular relevance seems lined up for November (as yet), but in December there will be the 1910 Centenary Conference, hosted by the University of Glasgow. It’s not about silent cinema itself as its theme is 1910 as an arguably watershed year for the ushering in of modernism, but it includes film amongst its areas of interest, so in it goes (precise dates have yet to be announced). December will also see the San Francisco Silent Film Festival‘s ‘mini’ festival, its Winter Event.

If you know of other festivals or conferences I should be including, please us know through the comments. I’ll be adding new events (or updated information) to the Conferences and Festivals sections in any case, and will publicise individual events nearer to their start times in any case. Of course, silents turn up as special screenings in other kinds of festival, such as the London Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival, but I’ve kept this listing to those events largely dedicated to silent films themsleves. Such festivals and conferences are a labour of love and a huge challenge to put on, logistically and financially – do support them if you can.

Finally, I recommend the Stummfilm.info site (in English and German) for its handy directory of silent film festivals worldwide.

Kansas Silent Film Festival 2010

December 18, 2009 By in Festivals Tags:

Norman Talmadge in Smilin’ Through, from Alt Film Guide, http://www.altfg.com

The Kansas Silent film Festival takes place 26-27 February 2010 at White Concert Hall, Washburn University campus, Topeka, Kansas. This is the advertised programme (subject to change, of course):

Fri. Feb. 26, 2010, starts at 7 p.m.

Overture by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Opening Titles performed by the Mont Alton Motion Picture Orchestra
Intros by Denise Morrison

Angora Love (1929) 20 min.
with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
—Organ music by Greg Foreman

The Vagabond (1916) 20 min.
with Charlie Chaplin
—Organ music by Marvin Faulwell

Short Break
Intermission slides featuring Phil Figgs on piano

Special Guest: MELISSA TALMADGE COX, grand-daughter of Buster Keaton and Natalie Talmadge. Ms. Cox will discuss why OUR HOSPITALITY is her favorite Keaton film because it features her grandparents, her great grandfather (Joe Keaton) and her own father (James) playing Buster as an infant.

Our Hospitality (1923) 75 min.
with Buster Keaton
—Music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

Sat. Feb. 27, 2010, starts at 10 a.m.

Overture by Jeff Rapsis
Opening Titles – Music by Jeff Rapsis
Welcome and Intros by Denise Morrison

Rescued by Rover (1905) 8 min.
with Blair, the collie
—Piano music by Jeff Rapsis

The Iron Mule (1925) 16 min.
with Al St. John
—Piano music by Jeff Rapsis

Thundering Fleas (1926) 20 min.
with Our Gang
—Piano music by Jeff Rapsis

The Magic Clock (1928) 30 min.
A magical color-tinted animated feature, directed by Wladyslaw Starewicz
—Music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

Lunch Break (on your own), resuming at 1:00 p.m.

Sat. Feb. 27, 2010, starts at 1:00 p.m.

Overture by Marvin Faulwell
Opening Titles – Music by Marvin Faulwell
Intros by Denise Morrison

Flaming Fathers (1927) 20 min.
with Max Davidson
—Music by Jeff Rapsis

The Matrimaniac (1916) 46 min.
with Douglas Fairbanks Sr. & Constance Tamadge
—Organ music by Marvin Faulwell

Short Break
Intermission slides featuring Jeff Rapsis on piano
— Cookies and Punch served in the lobby —

Special Guest: MELISSA TALMADGE COX
Melissa, the grand-niece of movie stars Norma and Constance Talmadge
will speak about her aunties and their lives after their careers had ended.

Smilin’ Through (1922) 90 min.
with Norma Talmadge & Harrison Ford
—Organ music by Greg Foreman
(DVD Presentation)

Supper Break, resuming at 7:00 p.m.

CINEMA-DINNER
Served buffet-style
Featuring our special guest Melissa Talmadge Cox
Bradbury Thompson Alumni Ctr., Washburn University, Topeka, KS
—Total cost: $25 per person (non-refundable) —
Tickets will be on sale at the event, but seating is limited.
Why not make reservations early? Send reservation requests to:

KSFF Cinema-Dinner
P.O. Box 2032
Topeka, Kansas 66601-2032

Sat. Feb. 27, 2010, starts at 7 p.m.

Overture – Music by Greg Foreman
Opening Titles – Music by Greg Foreman
Intros by Denise Morrison

The Unchanging Sea (1910) 14 min.
by D.W. Griffith, with Linda Arvidson and Mary Pickford
—Organ music by Greg Foreman

The Moony Mariner (1927) 20 min.
with Billy Dooley
—Organ music by Jeff Rapsis

The Yankee Clipper (1926) 80 min.
with William Boyd, Elinor Fair and Junior Coghlan
—Organ music by Marvin Faulwell & Bob Keckeisen, Percussion
(DVD Presentation of a Restored Film)

There will be an intermission in the Feature Film

More details, including detailed programme notes, directions and accommodation information, can be found on the festival site.

And now for something almost completely different

December 9, 2009 By in Comedy, Festivals Tags:

http://www.slapstick.org.uk

The sixth edition of Bristol’s Slapstick festival takes place 21-24 January 2010. As in past years, the programme combines classic comedy from the past with the comedians of today. This year the star attraction is former Python Michael Palin, who will be featured in Michael Palin: Something Almost Completely Different and who will introduce a screening of Buster Keaton’s The Navigator. Other comedy giants on show include W.C. Fields, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy, plus screenings of René Clair’s sublime An Italian Straw Hat and Boris Barnet’s Soviet hit from this year’s Pordenone, The House on Trubnaya Street.

Featured comedians from the sound through to television era include Will Hay, Kenny Everett, Barry Cryer, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Phill Jupitus and former Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band member Neil Innes. There will be the world premiere of a recently rediscovered college film by Innes, featuring the inimitable head Bonzo Vivian Stanshall, and featured in “The Bonzo Dog Scrapbook Show”.

The full festival brochure is here (warning – it’s a 2.5MB PDF), but the ever-obliging Bioscope brings you the main contents anyway:

THURSDAY

SLAPSTICK GALA WITH MICHAEL PALIN
Something Almost Completely Different

THURS 21 JAN 1930hrs Venue: Colston Hall

Bristol’s Slapstick Silent Comedy Festival invites you to a star-studded evening of classic comedy and live entertainment for its Sixth Slapstick Gala. This unique event presents comedy legend and national treasure Michael Palin onstage to discuss his illustrious career in comedy with fellow writer/performer Graeme Garden. On screen – in homage to Palin’s traveling legacy – we present one of Buster Keaton’s greatest omedies THE NAVIGATOR (1924), set to the world premiere live musical accompaniment by The European Silent Screen Virtuosi. This newly formed five-piece musical ensemble features triple Oscar winning film animator and jazz cornetist Richard Williams and world-acclaimed silent film maestro Günter Buchwald on violin and piano, along with their international friends.

With other celebrity guests both on stage and on screen including Neil Innes, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event not to be missed! Early booking is recommended to avoid disappointment.

Tickets: £16.00/£12.00 concessions and Bristol Silents members
Book via Colston Hall: 0117 922 3686 or visit www.colstonhall.org.uk.

FRIDAY

THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT (U)
with live accompaniment by Barbara Lenz

FRI 22 JAN 1740hrs Venue: Arnolfini
Dir. René Clair, France / Germany, 1928, 1h 25m

A hilarious misadventure, heralding the beginning of ‘screwball comedy’, this early classic of French cinema is full of wonderful character gags and situation comedy. On the way to his wedding Ferdinand (Albert Préjean) discovers that his horse has eaten the straw hat of a married woman (Olga Tschechowa) canoodling in the bushes with her lover, Lieutenant Tavernier (Geymond Vital), and his big day begins to go rapidly downhill.

Tickets: £7.00/£5.00 concessions and Bristol Silents members

GIRL SHY (U)
with live accompaniment from The Slapstick Boys

FRI 22 JAN 2000hrs Venue: Arnolfini
Dir: Fred Newmeyer, USA, 1924, 1h 22m

One of Harold Lloyd’s finest and funniest, this rich character comedy about a bashful stutterer who is chronically shy of women is packed with extraordinary sight gags, brilliant intertitles and hilarious performances. Including live musical accompaniment from The Slapstick Boys, four of the finest musicians in Europe for silent film accompaniment, this screening will also feature an onstage discussion with film historian and filmmaker Kevin Brownlow and avid Lloyd fan, Withnail and I actor Paul McGann. An unmissable medley of
fine silent comedy, exhilarating music and discussion!

Tickets: £7.00/£5.00 concessions and Bristol Silents members

SATURDAY

SLAPSTICK INTERNATIONAL: PORDENONE SILENT FILM
FESTIVAL ITALY: THE HOUSE ON TRUBNAIA STREET PG
With live accompaniment by Günter Buchwald and Lee Mottram

SAT 23 JAN 1100hrs Venue: Watershed Cinema 1
Dir: Boris Barnet, Russia, 1928, 1h 04m

The big surprise hit of the 2009 Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy was this delicious comedy from (improbably) the classic era of Soviet cinema. True to melodrama tradition, a simple peasant girl (along with an obstreperous duck) arrives from the country, a ripe victim for all the perils of the big city. Exploited by a stingey hair-dresser and his odious wife, she uses the new social order to turn the tables. A uniquely entertaining piece of work. With special introduction from the Director of Pordenone Festival, David Robinson.

Tickets: £6.50/£5.00 concessions and Bristol Silents members

LAUREL & HARDY: CLASSICS & RARITIES
SAT 23 JAN 1400hrs Venue: Arnolfini

With an eclectic programme of classics & rarities from the ‘two minds without a single thought’, Graeme Garden (The Goodies) & silent comedy expert David Wyatt demonstrate why Stan and Ollie are now considered amongst the best comedy teams ever. They will divulge the duo’s influence on other comedy teams including ‘The Goodies’, and introduce films and clips of the rarest of all L & H appearances in Charley Chase’s Now I’ll Tell One (1927) and a complete screening of their classic silent short Putting Pants on Philip (1927).

Tickets: £7.00/£5.00 concessions and Bristol Silents members

THE REAL FRED KARNO
SAT 23 JAN 1600hrs Venue: Watershed Cinema 1

Tim Brooke-Taylor and Tony Staveacre (author of ‘Slapstick!’) investigate the legacy of the Exeter-born showman and impresario, Fred Karno. Credited with discovering Chaplin, Stan Laurel and even the pie-in-the-face gag, he has pioneered a tradition of physical comedy which still flourishes today. Their presentation will include rare archive footage of the great man himself as well as clips of his alumni, including Sandy Powell, Flanagan & Allen, Will Hay, Denny Dennis, George Carl, Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin. A rare opportunity to discover the genius of this master showman.

Tickets: £6.50/£5.00 concs and Bristol Silents members
Slapstick Festival Special event

An evening with Neil Innes THE SEVENTH PYTHON (PG)

SAT 23 JAN 1850hrs Venue: Arnolfini
Dir: Burt Kearns, USA, 2008, 1h 34m

This UK premiere is a recent documentary based on the life, work and
unplanned career of musical satirist Neil Innes. The Seventh Python traces one man’s winding path of whimsy as he flirts with destiny at the edge of fame with incredibly influential and unusually lasting work that keeps one foot planted in the worlds of comedy and the other in rock ‘n’ roll. Neil Innes has proven to be the greatest musical comedy satirist of the past fifty years. He has brought us delights from the Bonzo Dog Doo – Dah Band, Monty Python and The Rutles. With contributions from John Cleese, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Slapstick regular Phill Jupitus.

Tickets: £3.00/£2.00 concessions and Bristol Silents members

‘An evening with Neil Innes’ is followed by:
THE BONZO DOG BAND FILM AND TV SCRAPBOOK
with NEIL INNES
SAT 23 JAN 2040hrs Venue: Arnolfini

40 years on from the split of the original Bonzos Slapstick 2010 welcomes you to a celebration of all things ‘Innes’ with a special focus on the visual and musical lunacy of The Bonzo Dog Do-Dah Band. Celebrating the Dadaist creative insanity of the Bonzo’s, Neil Innes is the inspired creator of many of their best known numbers including Equestrian Statue, Urban Spaceman and Death Cab for Cutie. Neil is joined onstage by Culture Show’s Matthew Sweet and using extracts from the band’s anthology will together explore the incredible influence of this one band revolutionary force on both music and comedy. As if all this wasn’t enough, Neil will be screening the premiere of his recently discovered student art film from 1965 featuring footage of Viv Stanshall performing his famous mock striptease. An evening of the finest filmic and musical hilarity not to miss!

Tickets: £7.00/£5.00 concessions and Bristol Silents members

SUNDAY

WILL HAY – MASTER OF COMEDY
SUN 24 JAN 1100hrs Venue: Watershed Cinema 1

Will Hay was Britain’s best known film comedian of the 1930s and 40s and his film OH MR PORTER one of the funniest of the period. Join David Wyatt and Graham Rinaldi, author of the recent Will Hay biography, as they discuss and explore his films and theories while showing extracts starring Hay, and some of his favourite comedians such as Chaplin, W.C. Fields, and Laurel & Hardy. Rarities will include silent footage from Hay’s 1922 revue show, on the set outtakes and their new unfinished documentary on the making of OH MR. PORTER – NEXT TRAIN’S GONE. Discover the delights of one of Britain’s finest comedians. A book signing will follow the event.

Tickets: £6.50/£5.00 concessions and Bristol Silents members

BARRY CRYER: THE LOST GENIUS OF KENNY EVERETT
SUN 24 JAN 1400hrs Venue: Arnolfini

Already one of Britain’s most successful radio DJs, Everett rose to national acclaim with the Kenny Everett video show, showcasing his unique, anarchic humour. As part of Slapstick after Silents, this is a special event with one of his closest working collaborators, the legendary comedy writer and Sorry I Haven’t a Clue Star, Barry Cryer. With insights from Cryer, who was Everett’s comedy writing partner for over a decade, and onscreen footage of Kenny, join Slapstick 2010 in celebrating the work of this innovative visual comedian.

Tickets: £7.00/£5.00 concessions and Bristol Silents members

SLAPSTICK INTERNATIONAL: SAN FRANCISCO:
SO’S YOUR OLD MAN PG
Introduction by Chris Serle

SUN 24 JAN 1600hrs Venue: Watershed Cinema 1
Dir. Gregory la Cava, USA, 1926, 1h 07m

Another festival triumph, this time from the 2009 San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Mostly remembered for his nasal wheeze and acidulous one-liners, W.C. Fields is here revealed as one of the great silent visual comics, just as funny without sound. He plays the bibulous Mr. Bisbee whose plans to launch his unbreakable windscreen are somewhat complicated by a glamorous visiting princess, a pony, a demanding family and his own taste for sarsaparilla and spirits. Great characters make up a sharp view of small-town life – and Fields manages to slip in his famous vaudeville golf routine. A real discovery!

Tickets: £6.00/£4.50 concessions and Bristol Silents members

SLAPSTICK at JESTERS NEW VENUE
SUN 24 JAN Doors open from 5.45pm Venue: Jesters

1830hrs Desert Island Slapstick 12
2115hrs The Rutles: All you Need is Cash

Bristol’s Slapstick Silent Comedy Festival proudly present a double bill evening of classic comedy, film, music and special guests at Jesters, a delightful silent cinema, built in 1914 and now home to Bristol’s premier music and comedy venue. Make sure you pre-order your food before the first act and you can enjoy the fine food and drink of Jesters during the break between performances. Also available are meal inclusive tickets through Jester’s website and box office. In between, please enjoy Jester’s fantastic food and drink menus.

Tickets: £12.00/£10.00 concessions and Bristol Silents members – Includes both events.
Book via Jesters: 0117 909 6655 or visit www.jesterscomedyclub.co.uk

DESERT ISLAND SLAPSTICK
Chaired by David Robinson

If you were stuck on a desert island with only one silent comedy to keep you company, which would you choose? The first act of Slapstick’s hilarious double bill is our ever popular celebrity panel show Desert Island Slapstick. Join three of Britain’s best loved television and radio personalities as they each in turn choose their favourite silent comedies for our viewing pleasure. This year’s panel features three members of Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t Clue team including festival regulars Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden plus for the first time at Slapstick festival illustrious comedy writer and performer Barry Cryer. What will they choose?

THE RUTLES: ALL YOU NEED IS CASH 12
Dir: Eric Idle & Gary Weis, UK / USA, 1978, 1h 16m

One of the first films of its kind, The Rutles is primarily a series of skits and gags that each illustrate a different part of the fictional Rutles story, closely following the chronology of The Beatles’ story. The cohesive glue of the film is the acclaimed soundtrack by Neil Innes, who created 19 more songs for the film, each an affectionate pastiche of a different Beatles song or genre of songs. Introduced in person by Neil Innes AKA Rutle Ron Nasty, this is a unique opportunity to see the inspiration for successful Rob Reiner cult comedy film, This Is Spinal Tap which followed in 1984. And as a grand finale to the festival, if we can persuade him, Neil Innes may just play us a Rutle hit or two live!

All events are held at Arnolfini and Watershed except the Gala event, Michael Palin: Something Almost Completely Different which is at Colston Hall and Desert Island Slapstick and The Rutles: All you Need is Cash which are at Jesters Comedy Club.

More information, including a special festival pass priced £55 (£40 concessions), is available from the festival website.