A mole at Le Giornate has advised me that three titles listed as DCP are in fact screening from 35mm prints. These are from the excellent Czech Archive. They include on  Sunday The Fox USA 1921 and starring the great Harry Carey, a feature length 62 minutes. On Tuesday Rudi Na Zåletech, Hungary 1911, slightly shorter at 4 minutes. And on Friday Circe the Enchantress, USA 1924, starring Mae Murray, a feature length 66 minutes. Two extra features in their original format, allowing for their not being nitrate. This happy amendment brings the total of 35mm prints in the Festival Progr ..read more

The 42nd Silent Film Festival will take place in Pordenone from Saturday October 7th till Saturday October 14th. For some of us this is a welcome return after missing several Festivals following the pandemic and lockdowns. The detailed programme is now available on the Festival Web Pages. Just under a third of the screenings will be from 35mm prints; the rest will be digital facsimiles. Happily some of the key titles will be on 35mm. On the opening Saturday there is the start of a programme dedicated to the films of the great Western star, Harry Carey. Carey is a fascinating figure: often a r ..read more

One of the premier Festivals for fans of early cinema in its original format, 35mm. This year the Festival runs from Saturday June 24th until Sunday July 2nd. And there are a several programmes featuring films from the first decades of cinema – The Time Machine. The majority of these will be screened in the Sala Mastroianni at the Cineteca. For several years Il Cinema Ritrovato has featured a selection of titles from one hundred years ago, here 1923. Every day there will be at least one episode from a serial in ten parts, La Maison du mystère. The film features two Russian émigrés, Alexandre ..read more

This is a film classic from Weimar cinema and I was able to revisit it in its original 35mm format as part of the Centenary Celebrations of the Hebden Bridge Picture House.  The film has become memorable for a number of reasons. One is the star, Louise Brooks, who worked in the burgeoning Hollywood studio system but also in Europe; and here film-makers bought out a luminous quality to her screen presence. Brooks was an attractive and vivacious and smart actress; her ‘Lulu in Hollywood’ (1974), recording her experiences in the film world, is a great and informative read. Here she plays a ..read more

Solax – The House Built by Alice Guy Blaché. June 2nd at 7.30 p.m. and available until June 30th on Kennington Bioscope You Tube Channel. ‘Women and the Silent Screen’ is a conference held bi-annually in New York City. Number 11 this year was on line between June 4th and June 6th. A series of programmes had papers and discussion on the work and art of women film-makers in early cinema; the central theme this year was ‘Women, Cinema and World Migration’. Before the Conference there was tribute screening to the important pioneer of early cinema, Alice Guy Blaché and this was made ..read more

Wednesday May 5th at 7.30 p.m. [BST] and subsequently on line on You Tube May 5th is one hundred years since the death of this British film inventor and pioneer. The Kennington Bioscope is streaming a discussion on his life and work by three researcher/historians; Ian Christie: Peter Domankiewicz: Stephen Herbert. Friese-Greene was one of  a number of people in the 1880s experimenting on techniques to produce the illusion of a moving image from projected photographic film. He produced several working cameras between 1888 and 1891 and issued a patent for these. However, like some of ..read more

This is a streaming programme available on several platforms including You Tube. It is provided by Filmoteca UNAM which is an annexe based in London offering ‘A Centre for Méxican Studies’ on behalf of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Their home web page gives information on their variety of services and studies. This programme is titled; ‘The Golden Age of Méxican Cinema. A Prelude.’ This ‘golden age’ is generally considered to have run from 1930 into the 1950s. This was a period on increased production, high production values, and films made by distinguished directors and craft ..read more

As with a number of other film festivals Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2020 could not meet in the new Verdi theatre in Pordenone and relied on streaming a series of programmes. The week opened with ‘The Urge to Travel’ / ‘Voglia di Viaggiare’’ this was a programme of nine short films made between 1911 and 1939. They were all interesting but I most enjoyed Over Bessegen på Motorcykkel, Norway 1932; here two unskilled cyclist created chaos for a series of road users, pedestrians and workmen. The music was by José María Serralde Ruiz. The opening feature was Penrod and Sam, directed by William Bea ..read more

This is a New York based streaming programme that uploads weekly examples of the comedy of the silent era.  It is found on the major Web Site of Ben Model a composer and film historian dedicated mainly to the Silent Era. He is also involved in distributing titles on Blu-Ray and DVDs. To date there are 33 episodes which include introductions and usually two or three one or two reel titles. There are introductions on the titles, background and source material. Ben is accompanied by Steve Massa. A list of the episodes can be found on the ‘vault page’ of the website: One of the regular fans ..read more

A ..read more