San Francisco Silent Film Festival

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about silent film as an art form and as a culturally valuable historical record.

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Shoes

“When the history of the dramatic early development of motion pictures is written,” declared Motion Picture magazine in 1921, “Lois Weber will occupy a unique position.” Lois Weber was not only America’s first major female film director, she was a true pioneer. She began her career when the longest … [Read more...] about Shoes

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Shiraz: A Romance of India

You can read the program essay for our 2019 screening of Shiraz: A Romance of India here Movies took root in India in much the same way as they did in many European countries: from the sensation caused by the Lumière brothers, whose actualités were shown in Bombay on July 7, 1896, just six months … [Read more...] about Shiraz: A Romance of India

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Sherlock Jr.

From the destruction of a railroad bridge―with a train on top―in The General (1926) to the collapse of a house around his ears in Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928), Buster Keaton went to great lengths to entertain his public. While his characters walked away stone-faced and unharmed, the actor often … [Read more...] about Sherlock Jr.

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Sherlock Holmes

The earth moved a year ago when film curator Céline Ruivo broke the news that William Gillette’s Sherlock Holmes had been discovered in the vaults of the Cinémathèque française. The 1916 film, starring Gillette and based on his play, had long been considered the great missing link in the history of … [Read more...] about Sherlock Holmes

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The Shakedown

“Each boxing match is a story,” Joyce Carol Oates wrote about the enduring appeal of the centuries-old blood sport. “A highly condensed, highly dramatic story ….” Long a popular subject for writers, from Homer to Colette, these compact dramas also drew the attention of cinema’s pioneers who sought … [Read more...] about The Shakedown

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Sex in Chains

The author of Eros im Zuchthaus, the basis for Sex in Chains, wasn’t going to wait around for the world to change. Karl Plättner was well known to authorities as a troublemaker from his rebellious adolescence through his years as an ironworker and political organizer. Drafted at the start of World … [Read more...] about Sex in Chains

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Seventh Heaven

You can read the program essay for our 2018 screening of Seventh Heaven here Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell were one of the great romantic teams in movie history. Their first film together, Seventh Heaven, is the transcendent film romance of the silent era, and is also the first of three films … [Read more...] about Seventh Heaven