Interview

Published in conjunction with the screening of The Merry Widow at SFSFF 2023 When Dutch composer and pianist Maud Nelissen was commissioned to write accompaniment for Erich von Stroheim’s The Merry Widow, the first thing she did was look for the original score. But the music by William Axt and … [Read more...] about Crossover Artist: Maud Nelissen Plays It All

Stefan Drössler received the 2023 SFSFF Award for commitment to the preservation and presentation of silent cinema at the screening of A Daughter of Destiny at SFSFF 2023 World cinema owes an incalculable debt to Germany. Some of the greatest and most iconic treasures ever committed to film come … [Read more...] about Stefan Drössler Works His Magic

Look at any review of Stephen Horne’s performances and you frequently find the words “exhilarating” and “sublime,” typically in the same sentence. This speaks to Horne’s facility and sensitivity, how his accompaniments create true cinematic experiences. But if you’re a devoted fan of the Silent Film … [Read more...] about Stephen Horne: The Re-Animator

Mike Mashon of the Library of Congress Silent films, TV shows, screwball comedies, instructional films—they’re all welcome at the Library of Congress, the de facto national library of the United States. Mike Mashon, head of the library’s Moving Image Section, is the person who oversees the … [Read more...] about The State of Preservation

Robert Byrne on Restoring Silent Films in the Digital Age Robert Byrne, longtime president of the board of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, remembers when he first got his hands on the original camera negatives of Italian Straw Hat and Les Deux Timides, two René Clair films he recently … [Read more...] about The State of Preservation

An Interview with Jon Wengström of the Swedish Film Institute Home to the masterpieces of Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller, among other treasures of Sweden’s Golden Age of silent cinema, the Swedish Film Institute (SFI) has been a vital ally for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival for … [Read more...] about The State of Preservation

In 2018, Guenter Buchwald celebrates his fortieth anniversary as a film accompanist. Since 1978, this acclaimed composer, conductor, musical director, and multi-instrumentalist has played for some three thousand films, making him both a pioneer and a veteran. He has performed as a solo artist, as … [Read more...] about The Musical Mind of Guenter Buchwald

2015 SF Silent Film Festival Awardee Serge Bromberg Serge Bromberg is an impresario, a ballyhooer of cinema in the best tradition of Barnum and Bailey. Fortunate audiences around the world know him for his Retour de Flamme clip shows, during which he may burn a bit of nitrate film stock on stage … [Read more...] about The Man in the Center Ring: Serge Bromberg Saves Cinema