Before the clicks, bangs and booms that accompany today's box office hits, film was simply a collection of silent still images. Together they mimicked real moving scenes and dominated the film industry for nearly four decades before the use of recorded sound was introduced in the late 1920s.
Transporting 21st century moviegoers to this era of silent movie-magic, Denver Film returns with its 10th annual Denver Silent Film Festival (DSFF) in celebration of the historical form of storytelling.
The three-day festival will run from Sept. 22-24 at the Sie Film Center, featuring 16 short and feature-length silent era films that will be packaged with live musical accompaniment.
"Silent film can be magical," said Denver Silent Film Festival Director Howie Movshovitz. "Without human speech, images become especially resonant, and the great silent films reach towards poetry and music. And with wonderful musical accompaniment, films like these in the Denver Silent Film Festival may become transcendent."
Full festival passes are $65 for Denver Film Members/$75 Non-Member, and individual film tickets are $12 for Denver Film Members/$15 Non-Member.
Tickets and full festival passes are available at denverfilm.org.
Attendees will get to experience live music by legendary silent film accompanists like jazz pianist and teacher Hank Troy and the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra led by composer and accompanist Rodney Sauer.
Other notable live musicians include Donal Sosin and Joanna Seaton, Tenia Nelson, The Dollhouse Thieves, the University of Colorado at Denver College of Arts & Media Student Orchestra, Todd Reid and Alicia Svigals.
The festival will kick-off with a presentation of the 1925 comedy-drama "Lady Windermere's Fan" directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Based on an Oscar Wilde play of the same name, the film satirizes Victorian society and marriage as it follows a glamorous woman who believes her husband is having an affair.
Established in 2010, both Troy and Sauer who have been part of the DSFF since its inception and will be presented with the David Shepard Career Achievement Award for their contributions to the silent cinema on opening night.
The festival will also show "Body and Soul," a silent film about a corrupt small town minister who leads his congregation astray. Directed by the legendary African American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, the film was controversial for its depiction of clergy and was denied by New York censor boards in 1925 until it was nearly cut in half. Micheaux faced racial discrimination during Jim Crow-era America and was widely debated between the black press and Harlem Renaissance intellectuals for his depictions of the African American community.
The festival will close on Sunday, September 24 with a presentation of 1924's Austrian film "The City Without Jews," which follows the political and personal consequences of a law forcing all Jews to leave the country. The presentation will be accompanied by Donald Sosin and Alicia Svigals, a duo that has made a name with their unique violin and piano scores for Jewish-themed silent films.
"Come and take a look," Movshovitz said. "Silent film demands no training, just a willing presence to be transported."
Click to see the full schedule and purchase tickets and passes.
