Feature

Outsiders and Outcasts of Silent Cinema From Chaplin’s Tramp to Hart’s good-bad man, from Pickford’s ragamuffins to Brooks’s lost girls, many of silent cinema’s most enduring images were of outcasts and outsiders. Whether portrayed with slapstick humor, grim realism, or experimental lyricism, … [Read more...] about Silent but not Silenced

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Destiny at SFSFF 2016 Thea von Harbou Writes Fritz Lang 1920 Das wandernde Bild (The Wandering Shadow) 1921 Vier um die Frau (Four Around the Woman), a.k.a. Kämpfende Herzen 1921 Der müde Tod (Destiny) 1922 Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler … [Read more...] about The Scriptwriter and the Moviemaker

At the end of the 20th century, Melissa Chittick and Stephen Salmons had a dream to share their love of silent cinema with fellow San Franciscans and they founded the Silent Film Festival. Fifteen years later, the reality of their amazing creation has outstripped their wildest dreams. Today, the … [Read more...] about Salmons Talks!

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Beggars of Life at SFSFF 2016 Female Hoboes in American Cinema Hoboes were America’s first freelance workers, rambling across the country in search of employment. Industrialization in the northern United States after the Civil War … [Read more...] about Riding the Rails

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival has lost one of its greatest friends and biggest boosters. Frank Buxton was not only a generous sponsor of this event, along with his wife, Cynthia Sears; he was an enthusiastic attendee who encouraged friends and family to join him at the Castro Theatre every … [Read more...] about Remembering Frank Buxton

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Beyond the Rocks at Silent Winter 2005 Gloria Swanson rued the fate of her lost films in her 1980 autobiography, Swanson on Swanson. “The same sad questions are always asked: Does anyone know of a print anywhere of Beyond the Rocks, … [Read more...] about Preserving Beyond the Rocks

This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Pandora's box at SFSFF 2012 Back in the mid-’90s, Martin Koerber began a project to put Pandora’s Box back together again. Researching the films of G.W. Pabst in preparation for a retrospective at the Berlin Film Festival, the film … [Read more...] about The Preservationist and the Playboy: Restoring Pandora’s Box