Published in conjunction with the screening of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at SFSFF 2023 As the projectionist changed reels, Valeska Gert held completely still, her arms raised. Through her Weimar-era piece “Pause,” the Berlin-born dancer associated her body with the material basis of film. Gert … [Read more...] about A Pungent Presence: Valeska Gert in Silent Film
Tsuru Aoki: Sketch of an Artist
Published in conjunction with the screening of The Dragon Painter at SFSFF 2023 Her career often overshadowed by her husband’s, Tsuru Aoki has a legacy of her own as one of the first Japanese actresses on film and the first to become a star. She comes from a rich acting pedigree: her uncle, … [Read more...] about Tsuru Aoki: Sketch of an Artist
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
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
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
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
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
History of a Location: Canyon de Chelly
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Redskin at A Day of Silents 2019 Ages before Douglas Fairbanks scrambled up its sheers to rescue a woman in 1917’s A Modern Musketeer and Richard Dix’s Wing Foot left its fertile valley to attend a white man’s college in 1929’s … [Read more...] about History of a Location: Canyon de Chelly