Animated cartoons were a regular attraction at movie theaters in the silent era, yet they were appreciated for the most part as disposable novelty items of little artistic value. The vast majority of animated films produced in the first 30 years of the 20th century have been lost because of … [Read more...] about Animation Rarities
The Ancient Law
It’s not true, as some recent news articles have it, that Das alte Gesetz (The Ancient Law) was forgotten, nor was it lost. Highly praised by Lotte Eisner, the grande dame of Weimar cinema criticism, the film has received a fair amount of attention in academic circles ever since a 1984 restoration, … [Read more...] about The Ancient Law
An Inn in Tokyo
For such a professionally modest filmmaker—“I just want to make a tray of good tofu,” is the oft-quoted self-assessment—Yasujiro Ozu generates a surprising amount of critical discord. Is he a neorealist or a formalist? Radical or conservative? The most or least Japanese of Japan’s filmmakers? … [Read more...] about An Inn in Tokyo
American Symphony
This interview was published in conjunction with the screening of Within Our Gates at SFSFF 2016 Adolphus Hailstork Sets Micheaux to Music A composer faced with creating a new score for Oscar Micheaux’s landmark 1920 film Within Our Gates might be tempted to emulate the emotional and … [Read more...] about American Symphony
American Legacy
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Rosita at SFSFF 2018 Actresses have carried many films to cha-chingdom and the silent era is no exception. Pearl White fell off horses, flew airplanes, and faced fisticuffs in her many serials, rising to be 1916’s most popular star. … [Read more...] about American Legacy
Amazing Tales from the Archives 2018
Presenters: Robert Byrne, Martin Koerber, Russell Merritt, Davide Pozzi, Cynthia Walk, and Elzbieta Wysocka RESTORATION REDUX E.A. Dupont’s 1923 feature The Ancient Law, about the son of a rabbi who leaves the shtetl to become an actor, was reconstructed by the Deutsche Kinemathek in 1984 based … [Read more...] about Amazing Tales from the Archives 2018
Amazing Tales from the Archives 2017
Presenters: Heather Linville from the Academy Film Archive, Eilf Rongen-Kaynakçi from EYE Filmmuseum, and George Willeman from the Library of Congress "THE WORLD'S MOST TRAVELED GIRL" In the late 1920s Aloha Wanderwell Baker became the first woman to travel around the world by car, deploying her … [Read more...] about Amazing Tales from the Archives 2017
Amazing Tales from the Archives 2016
Presenters: Bryony Dixon, Georges Mourier, Janice Simpson, and Emily Wensel Behind the Silver Screen Bryony Dixon, senior curator of silent film for the British Film Institute, returns to present rarely seen short nonfiction films and cine-magazine items about the British film industry in the … [Read more...] about Amazing Tales from the Archives 2016