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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Keaton and His Cameraman

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Three Ages at SFSFF 2023 Born in 1883 in a small town in Missouri, Elgin Lessley was the son of a Civil War veteran and a milliner. In his teens he developed a keen eye for still photography and in 1911 he became a cameraman for the … [Read more...] about Keaton and His Cameraman

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Dancing in the Silents

Published in conjunction with the screening of Padlocked at SFSFF 2023 Dance and dancers have been on our screens since the very beginning. Think of the two men waltzing to the accompaniment of a violin in that early experimental Edison sound film. Performers from vaudeville, music hall, variety, … [Read more...] about Dancing in the Silents

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Edwardian-era Eye Candy

Published in conjunction with the screening of Up in Mabel’s Room at SFSFF 2023 Playful, perky, and mischievous, these swim-ready gals were the pinup models of the World War I generation, sighed over by countless young men, no doubt some young women, and probably a few of their parents, too. As … [Read more...] about Edwardian-era Eye Candy

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How to Kill a Villain

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Phantom of the Opera at A Day of Silents 2019 The version of The Phantom of the Opera that we see today does not share the melancholy ending of Gaston Leroux’s source novel. A villain dying of a broken heart did not satisfy … [Read more...] about How to Kill a Villain

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Acting Like Lubitsch

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Marriage Circle at A Day of Silents 2019 A stage actor before he was a film director Ernst Lubitsch was notorious for acting out the roles for his performers down to the smallest gesture. As exasperating as it may have been to … [Read more...] about Acting Like Lubitsch