Silent Cinema Showcase
October 24–November 23
2014 has been a silent film bonanza at AFI Silver, with many silent classics prominently featured in series dedicated to Raoul Walsh, Charlie Chaplin and the first World War. And now, the Silent Cinema Showcase returns! It’s your chance to get acquainted with the unique art of silent cinema, as well as the dedicated and talented modern musicians who bring these films to life with their inventive accompaniment.
This year’s exciting program features musical accompaniment choices ranging from solo guitar to 40-person orchestra. Whether you prefer traditional organ accompaniment or experimental soundscapes, there’s something here sure to surprise and delight.
No passes accepted.
Psychedelic Cinema: Light Show Films by Ken Brown, 1967–1969
Live musical accompaniment by The Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra
Between 1967 and 1969, Ken Brown created short Super 8 films to be projected with the light show at the premiere rock club in Boston, Massachusetts, The Boston Tea Party. The resulting films, collected here as the “Psychedelic Cinema” program, stand today as an amazing window on another time. Swirling colors and lights, clip art animations, cinéma vérité images of ‘60s youth culture and fashions, flickering candle flames and flowers in bloom meld together in fluid, dream-like montage. The films originally illuminated the stage for Jimi Hendrix, The Velvet Underground, The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, Sly and the Family Stone, Neil Young, The Who, Pink Floyd and the Hallucinations (soon to become the J. Giles Band). The Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra are Boston-based musicians Ken Winokur (Alloy Orchestra), Jonathan LaMaster (Cul de Sac) and Dana Colley (Morphine).
Total program approx. 60 min. DCP.
About Ken Brown
Ken Brown is an animator, cartoonist, graphic artist and filmmaker. His film and video work has been broadcast on MTV, VH-1, AMC and Public Television’s SESAME STREET, while his artwork has received gallery exhibitions in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, Zurich and Tokyo. A 40-year retrospective of Brown’s film and video work was screened in 2007 at Anthology Film Archives in New York.
About the Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra
Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra is comprised of some of the Boston area's most respected independent musicians and soundtrack composers. The three members combine composed melodies with improvisation, reacting to the images on the screen.
The group is led by Alloy Orchestra's Ken Winokur, who has been at the helm of the band Roger Ebert called, "the best in the world at accompanying silent films." Winokur will play a more conventional drum kit for this show, as well as hand drums and his signature "junk." Winokur has collected a backing track of sound bites from some the psychedelic era's most influential figures: Timothy Leary, Spiro Agnew, Alan Watts, Bella Abzug, Martin Luther King, Jr., LBJ and many others.
Dana Colley contributes his signature seductive melodies on bass clarinet and baritone saxophone. Colley's horns will be heavily processed by electronics to create an otherworldly sound that the original ‘60s psychedelic musicians could only dream of achieving. Colley is best known as one of the founding members of Morphine, one of Boston's most respected and best-loved rock bands from recent decades.
Jonathan LaMaster performs on electric violin, guitar, bass guitar and electronics. Again, these conventional instruments will be routed through a complex chain of electronic effects to create an otherworldly sound. LaMaster has worked with Cul de Sac, perhaps Boston’s second-most prominent silent film accompanists. He fronted the band Saturnalia, an improvisational ensemble of strings, theremin and horns.
No passes accepted.
Fri, Oct 24, 7:30
THE LODGER: A STORY OF THE LONDON FOG
Live musical accompaniment by Not So Silent Cinema
A killer stalks a London neighborhood, murdering fair-haired lovelies every Tuesday night for the past several months and leaving behind a mysterious calling card signed "The Avenger." Could it be Ivor Novello, the spooky new tenant at the local rooming house? Hitchcock's first thriller, while not the first movie he directed, was the first one he considered to bear his artistic signature. (It's also the first in which Hitchcock appears in a cameo, which would became a standard practice.)
DIR/SCR Alfred Hitchcock; SCR Eliot Stannard, from the novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes; PROD Michael Balcon, Carlyle Blackwell. UK, 1927, b&w, 80 min, DCP. NOT RATED
About Not So Silent Cinema
Not So Silent Cinema is a film score project led by Philadelphia-based composer Brendan Cooney which creates innovative and original live scores for classic silent films. Cooney's NSSC quintet features some of the finest musicians from today's Klezmer, Balkan, jazz, tango and classical scenes. The group's original score to NOSFERATU features a haunting tapestry of klezmer motifs, gypsy grooves, avant-garde textures and classic horror effects, while Cooney's new score to Alfred Hitchcock's THE LODGER owes much to the influence of Bernard Herman's classic scores to Hitchcock films like PSYCHO and VERTIGO. This is a rare opportunity to see an early Hitchcock film as it would have been seen by audiences 90 years ago!
notsosilentcinema.com.
No passes accepted.
Sat, Nov 1, 3:00
VAMPYR
World premiere of new live score by Gary Lucas
Screening followed by "Gary Lucas Cinefantastique" mini-concert, solo guitar versions of music from the films of Fellini, Tarr, Herzog, Tati and more
Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer’s singular horror film traces a young man’s dawning realization that the mysterious doings in the village of Courtempierre in fact have a supernatural explanation — a withered old crone of a vampire is preying upon the local populace. Inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla.”
DIR/SCR/PROD Carl Theodor Dreyer; SCR Christen Jul, from “Carmilla” by Sheridan Le Fanu; PROD Julian West. Germany/France, 1932, b&w, 75 min, DCP. German intertitles with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Tickets $15/$12 AFI Members
About Gary Lucas
A Grammy-nominated songwriter and composer, an international recording artist with more than 20 acclaimed solo albums and a soundtrack composer for film and television, Gary Lucas is on the move in 2014. Dubbed "the thinking man's guitar hero" by The New Yorker, "the world's most popular avant-rock guitarist" by The Independent (UK), "one of the 100 greatest living guitarists" (Classic Rock) by The Guardian (UK), "guitarist of 1000 ideas" by The New York Times, "a true axe God" by Melody Maker and "one of the five best guitarists in the world" by the national Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny, the British world music magazine fRoots recently described Gary Lucas as, "without question, the most innovative and challenging guitarist playing today." Rolling Stone's David Fricke writes, "Gary Lucas is one of the best and most original guitarists in America...a modern guitar miracle." Best-selling author/producer Dan Levitin ("This Is Your Brain On Music") recently cited Gary as "the greatest living electric guitarist." Gary was also dubbed "one of the world's greatest guitar players" by HITS Magazine.
garylucas.com.
No passes accepted.
Sat, Nov 1, 5:00
NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF HORROR (1922)
Live musical accompaniment by Not So Silent Cinema
Casting a long and terrifying shadow over the genre, German silent film master F. W. Murnau's uncredited appropriation of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" set the standard for all vampire flicks to come. Max Schreck's monstrous Count Orlok is singularly frightening, repulsive and beastly, where Bela Lugosi was courtly and Christopher Lee seductive.
DIR F. W. Murnau; SCR Henrik Galeen, from the novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker; PROD Enrico Dieckmann, Albin Grau. Germany, 1922, b&w/hand-tinted color, 85 min, digibeta. NOT RATED
Tickets $20/$18 AFI Members
About Not So Silent Cinema
Not So Silent Cinema is a film score project led by Philadelphia-based composer Brendan Cooney which creates innovative and original live scores for classic silent films. Cooney's NSSC quintet features some of the finest musicians from today's Klezmer, Balkan, jazz, tango and classical scenes. The group's original score to NOSFERATU features a haunting tapestry of klezmer motifs, gypsy grooves, avant-garde textures and classic horror effects, while Cooney's new score to Alfred Hitchcock's THE LODGER owes much to the influence of Bernard Herman's classic scores to Hitchcock films like PSYCHO and VERTIGO. This is a rare opportunity to see an Hitchcock film as it would have been seen by audiences 90 years ago!
notsosilentcinema.com.
No passes accepted.
Sat, Nov 1, 7:30
DRACULA (1931 Spanish language version)
Live musical accompaniment by Gary Lucas
Horror aficionados have long sung the praises of Universal’s 1931 Spanish language version of DRACULA, shot simultaneously and on the same sets as Tod Browning’s celebrated English-language original starring Bela Lugosi. Directed by George Melford and starring Carlos Villarías as the vampire “Conde Drácula,” this version boasts a better-sustained atmosphere of eeriness throughout, stronger continuity (perhaps due to it running a half hour longer than the Browning version) and much more erotic charge between Drácula and his comely victims, notably Lupita Tovar as Eva (Mina in the original) Seward.
DIR George Melford; SCR Baltasar Fernández Cué, from the novel by Bram Stoker and the play by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston; PROD Carl Laemmle, Jr. US, 1931, b&w, 104 min, DCP. In Spanish and Hungarian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Tickets $15/$12 AFI Members
About Gary Lucas
A Grammy-nominated songwriter and composer, an international recording artist with more than 20 acclaimed solo albums and a soundtrack composer for film and television, Gary Lucas is on the move in 2014. Dubbed "the thinking man's guitar hero" by The New Yorker, "the world's most popular avant-rock guitarist" by The Independent (UK), "one of the 100 greatest living guitarists" (Classic Rock) by The Guardian (UK), "guitarist of 1000 ideas" by The New York Times, "a true axe God" by Melody Maker and "one of the five best guitarists in the world" by the national Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny, the British world music magazine fRoots recently described Gary Lucas as, "without question, the most innovative and challenging guitarist playing today." Rolling Stone's David Fricke writes, "Gary Lucas is one of the best and most original guitarists in America...a modern guitar miracle." Best-selling author/producer Dan Levitin ("This Is Your Brain On Music") recently cited Gary as "the greatest living electric guitarist." Gary was also dubbed "one of the world's greatest guitar players" by HITS Magazine.
garylucas.com.
No passes accepted.
Sat, Nov 1, 10:00--note new time!
INTOLERANCE: LOVE’S STRUGGLE THROUGHOUT THE AGES
Live musical accompaniment by Boister
Strange, sentimental and stirring, D. W. Griffith’s epic extravaganza tells four stories across four millennia, each illustrating the destructiveness of mankind’s hatred and intolerance. Griffith’s three-hours-plus opus cross-cuts the action from ancient Babylon to 20th-century California, from Jesus on the cross to Catherine de Medici persecuting Huguenots in 15th-century France. Among the cast of thousands are Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Bessie Love, Miriam Cooper, Constance Talmadge and Eugene Pallette, not to mention bit players like Erich von Stroheim, King Vidor, Wallace Reid, Douglas Fairbanks, Tod Browning, Frank Borzage and W. S. Van Dyke.
DIR/SCR/PROD D. W. Griffith. US, 1916, b&w, 183 min. incl. a 15-min. intermission, DCP. NOT RATED
About Boister
Boister's performances of original scores for classic Buster Keaton films have won widespread praise from critics including Roger Ebert. Boister's spirited live shows have quickened pulses up and down the East Coast, and the band has appeared at a variety of venues, including the World Cafe, the Kennedy Center, numerous college campuses and the NXNE Festival in Toronto.
boister.net.
No passes accepted.
Sun, Nov 2, 2:00
STEAMBOAT BILL, JR.
live musical accompaniment by Michael Britt
Buster Keaton is the sensitive son of a tough-talking steamboat captain who has waged a personal war against the wealthy owner of a ferryboat. When Keaton falls for the ferryboat owner's pretty daughter, both try to end their quarreling, but things seem irreparable when Keaton's dad punches the lady's father in the mouth. More classic sight gags abound — including a three-story house that practically crushes Keaton, who is saved only because the house's window was left open!
DIR Charles Reisner; SCR Carl Harbaugh. US, 1928, b&w, 71 min, 35mm. NOT RATED
About Michael Britt
Michael Britt is the house organist at the Wineberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, MD and the Minister of Music for the Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church in downtown Baltimore.
No passes accepted.
Fri, Nov 7, 7:30 *Program update; Sat, Nov 8, 5:30
THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920)
Live musical accompaniment by Hesperus
Douglas Fairbanks’ first departure from the contemporary comedies with which he had risen to stardom into period adventure cemented his legacy as the screen’s most iconic swashbuckler. In the Old California of New Spain, a masked swordsman combats the tyranny of Capitán Juan Ramon. Could this devil-may-care adventurer in fact be the foppish dandy Don Diego de la Vega, the playboy son of a wealthy ranchero?
DIR Fred Niblo; SCR Eugene Miller; SCR/PROD Douglas Fairbanks, from “The Curse of Capistrano” by Johnston McCulley. US, 1920, b&w, 107 min, DCP. NOT RATED
Tickets $15/$12 AFI Members/$7 Children under 12
About Hesperus
Innovative, informed and multi-cultural, Hesperus brings history alive with silent movie scores, cultural fusions and single-genre early music programs. Whatever the genre, Hesperus performs with creative energy, technical assurance and a sense of fun. Since 1979, Hesperus has appeared throughout the U.S., Southeast Asia, Latin America and Europe, most recently at the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Lincoln Center and Carmel Bach Festival and The Cloisters, as well as at festivals in Italy, Germany, Indonesia and Bolivia. Awards include the Logan Prize for Excellence in Educational Programming, the Music and Humanity Award from Music at Gretna, the Baltimore Chamber Music Award, and for Director Tina Chancey, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Early Music America.
Hesperus.org.
No passes accepted.
Sat, Nov 8, 7:45
ROBIN HOOD (1922)
Live musical accompaniment by Hesperus
Allan Dwan directs Douglas Fairbanks in one of the best of his swashbuckling epics. Filmed on a massive recreation of 12th-century Nottingham (formerly the Jesse Hampton studio in Santa Monica), this version notably begins with Fairbanks as a landed aristocrat, the Earl of Huntington, who only takes up his outlaw persona “Robin Hood” after returning from the Crusades to find King Richard’s throne usurped by Prince John and the populace subjected to cruelty and deprivations. Hearty Alan Hale plays Little John, a role he would reprise in Warner Bros.' celebrated 1938 version starring Errol Flynn.
DIR Allan Dwan; SCR/PROD Douglas Fairbanks. US, 1922, b&w, 143 min, digital presentation. NOT RATED
Tickets $15/$12 AFI Members/$7 Children under 12
About Hesperus
Innovative, informed and multi-cultural, Hesperus brings history alive with silent movie scores, cultural fusions and single-genre early music programs. Whatever the genre, Hesperus performs with creative energy, technical assurance and a sense of fun. Since 1979, Hesperus has appeared throughout the U.S., Southeast Asia, Latin America and Europe, most recently at the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Lincoln Center and Carmel Bach Festival and The Cloisters, as well as at festivals in Italy, Germany, Indonesia and Bolivia. Awards include the Logan Prize for Excellence in Educational Programming, the Music and Humanity Award from Music at Gretna, the Baltimore Chamber Music Award, and for Director Tina Chancey, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Early Music America.
Hesperus.org.
No passes accepted.
Sat, Nov 8, 2:00
HE WHO GETS SLAPPED
Live musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra
Swedish master Victor Sjöström (THE WIND) wrings great pathos from Lon Chaney at his most operatically, existentially pained, portraying a brilliant scientist who suffers the dual trauma of having his dreams shattered by a failed invention and his heart broken by a faithless wife. Now a broken man, Chaney joins the circus as a very, very sad clown, who specializes in being the butt of jokes in a cruel slapstick revue. With Norma Shearer and John Gilbert, this film was an early example of MGM star packaging, pioneered by young production chief Irving Thalberg.
DIR/SCR/PROD Victor Sjöström; SCR Carey Wilson, adapted from the play by Leonid Andreyev; PROD Irving Thalberg. US, 1924, b&w, 95 min, Blu-ray. NOT RATED
Tickets $15/$12 AFI Members
About Alloy Orchestra
Alloy Orchestra is a three-man musical ensemble that writes and performs live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources. Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the U.S. and abroad (Telluride Film Festival, the Louvre, Lincoln Center, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy Orchestra has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era.
AlloyOrchestra.com
No passes accepted.
Fri, Nov 14, 7:15
THE SON OF THE SHEIK
Live musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra
The final film of Rudolph Valentino before his untimely death at age 31 was this superior sequel to the star’s 1921 smash hit THE SHEIK. Here, Valentino plays the dual roles of that film’s hero and his son Ahmed, whose love for dancing girl Yasmin (Vilma Bánky) makes him vulnerable to the depredations of her mountebank father (George Fawcett) and his bandit boss (Montagu Love).
DIR/PROD George Fitzmaurice; SCR Frances Marion, Fred De Gresac, from the novel by Edith Maude Hull. US, 1926, b&w, 68 min, DCP. NOT RATED
Tickets $15/$12 AFI Members
About Alloy Orchestra
Alloy Orchestra is a three-man musical ensemble that writes and performs live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources. Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the U.S. and abroad (Telluride Film Festival, the Louvre, Lincoln Center, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy Orchestra has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era.
AlloyOrchestra.com
No passes accepted.
Sat, Nov 15, 3:30
THE MISHAPS OF MUSTY SUFFER
Live musical accompaniment by Ben Model
Introduction by film historian Steve Massa
THE MISHAPS OF MUSTY SUFFER was a series of comedy shorts released weekly, in three series of ten films, from 1916 to 1917. It was popular, successful and well-reviewed, and yet it is almost completely forgotten today. Playing Musty Suffer was Ziegfield Follies comic and former Ringling Bros. clown Harry Watson, Jr. — also forgotten. Of the 30 Musty short films, 24 survive and have been in the collection of the Library of Congress since 1959, but are rarely seen. The films are hilarious, full of cartoony and surreal settings and slapstick, and have a circus influence. This program presents four of the best surviving Musty shorts in new HD transfers from master material preserved by the Library of Congress. Accompanist/historian Ben Model produced the Musty Suffer DVD which was released in April 2014.
Total program approx. 75 min. DCP.
THE LIGHTNING BELLHOP, 1916
HOLD FAST (excerpt) , 1916
JUST IMAGINATION, 1916
LOCAL SHOWERS, 1916
About Ben Model
Ben Model is one of the country's leading silent film accompanists, and has been playing piano and organ for silents at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the past 28 years. Model co-curates MoMA's annual "Cruel and Unusual Comedy" series and co-curated their 2006 Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle retrospective. He also curated Shout! Factory's new "Ernie Kovacs Collection" DVD box set. A five-time recipient of the Meet The Composer grant, Model is a regular accompanist at classic film festivals around the U.S. and in Norway, and performs at universities, museums and historic theaters. He is the producer and co-founder of The Silent Clowns Film Series, now in its 14th season in NYC. Ben's recorded scores can be heard on numerous DVD releases from Kino Video and others. Model's composed ensemble scores for films by Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd are performed around the U.S. every year by orchestras and by concert bands.
silentfilmmusic.com.
No passes accepted.
Sat, Nov 15, 6:00
Silent Comedy Shorts Program
Live musical accompaniment by Ben Model
Silent cinema musician and maven Ben Model will accompany and introduce this selection of comedy shorts drawn from the collection of David Shepard and Serge Bromberg’s Lobster Films. The program includes Fleischer Studio cartoons, Georges Méliès’ innovative camera trickery and several silent comedians, both iconic (Buster Keaton) and obscure (Charlie Chase, Charlie Bowers).
Screened on DCP. Total program appox. 90 min. DCP.
THE CARTOON FACTORY with Koko the Clown, DIR Dave and Max Fleischer, 1924
ARABIANTICS with Felix the Cat, DIR Otto Messmer, 1928
THE MAGICIAN AND THE HUMAN PUMP [Excelsior!] DIR Georges Méliès, 1901
THE INFERNAL BOILING POT [Le chaudron infernal] DIR Georges Méliès, 1903
FOUR HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE [Un homme de têtes] DIR Georges Méliès, 1898
NOW YOU TELL ONE with Charlie Bowers, DIR Charles R. Bowers, Harold L. Muller, 1926
THE LOVE NEST with Buster Keaton, DIR Buster Keaton, Edward F. Cline, 1923
MIGHTY LIKE A MOOSE with Charley Chase, DIR Leo McCarey, 1926
About Ben Model
Ben Model is one of the country's leading silent film accompanists, and has been playing piano and organ for silents at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the past 28 years. Model co-curates MoMA's annual "Cruel and Unusual Comedy" series and co-curated their 2006 Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle retrospective. He also curated Shout! Factory's new "Ernie Kovacs Collection" DVD box set. A five-time recipient of the Meet The Composer grant, Model is a regular accompanist at classic film festivals around the U.S. and in Norway, and performs at universities, museums and historic theaters. He is the producer and co-founder of The Silent Clowns Film Series, now in its 14th season in NYC. Ben's recorded scores can be heard on numerous DVD releases from Kino Video and others. Model's composed ensemble scores for films by Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd are performed around the U.S. every year by orchestras and by concert bands.
silentfilmmusic.com.
No passes accepted.
Sat, Nov 15, 8:00
THE GENERAL
Live musical accompaniment by the Columbia Orchestra, score by Andrew Simpson
#18 on AFI's 100 Years…100 Laughs
When the Civil War breaks out, railroad engineer Buster Keaton tries to join the Confederate army to make his fiancée proud. Deeming his profession a valuable Southern asset, the army rejects him — and so does she. But after Union spies steal his beloved locomotive (and his girl along with it), Keaton springs into daring action. Keaton's deadpan drollery, pitch-perfect comedic timing and his incredible physical talent and bravery make this one of the greatest silent-era comedies.
DIR/SCR/PROD Buster Keaton; DIR/SCR Clyde Bruckman; PROD Joseph M. Schenck. US, 1927, b&w, 75 min, 35mm. NOT RATED
Tickets $15/$12 AFI Members/$7 Children under 12
About the Columbia Orchestra
Founded in 1977, the Columbia Orchestra is a full symphony orchestra that rehearses and performs primarily in Howard County, Maryland. The orchestra performs four classical concerts each year, plus a Young People's Orchestral Concert, a Symphonic Pops Concert, three Chamber Concerts and a host of community performances.
columbiaorchestra.org.
About Andrew Simpson
Andrew Earle Simpson, composer, pianist and organist, is ordinary professor and head of the division of Theory and Composition at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. A composer of opera, silent film, orchestral, chamber, vocal and choral music, he explores how music interacts with other arts, in concert and on stage. Both his concert and theatrical works make multifaceted connections with literature, visual art or film, reflecting his fundamental interest in linking music intimately with the wider world (an approach which Simpson calls “humanistic” music). His creative work follows four principal threads of interest: humanistic music (with a particular interest in Greco-Roman antiquity and modern Greece); silent film music; theatrical music (including opera); and folk music (with emphasis on American folk styles).
Silent film, as a nexus of drama, visual art and music, is an ideal genre for Simpson’s multi-disciplinary explorations. An increasingly active silent film musician, Simpson is Resident Film Accompanist for the National Gallery of Art and regularly featured accompanist for the Library of Congress’ Mt. Pony Theater. He has performed original film scores at the Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy, Sala Cecelia Meireles in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, AFI Silver Theatre, New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, New York, the J. Paul Getty Villa in Los Angeles, and many other venues. He is also co-founder of the Snark Ensemble, a group devoted to creating and performing new scores for silent film, theater and dance.
andrewesimpson.com.
No passes accepted.
Fri, Nov 21, 7:15; Sat, Nov 22, 7:15
THE IRON HORSE
Live musical accompaniment by Andrew Simpson
90th Anniversary!
John Ford tells the story of the building of the transcontinental railroad as an epic adventure, with idealistic railroad surveyor George O’Brien seeking to realize the dream of his railroad man father James Gordon, killed years before in a Cheyenne raid. Charles Edward Bull appears as President Abraham Lincoln (his two credited screen appearances were both as Honest Abe), who attends the ceremonial driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory Point.
DIR/PROD John Ford; SCR Charles Kenyon, John Russell. US, 1924, b&w, 160 min. incl. a 15-min. intermission, DCP. NOT RATED
About Andrew Simpson
Andrew Earle Simpson, composer, pianist and organist, is ordinary professor and head of the division of Theory and Composition at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. A composer of opera, silent film, orchestral, chamber, vocal and choral music, he explores how music interacts with other arts, in concert and on stage. Both his concert and theatrical works make multifaceted connections with literature, visual art or film, reflecting his fundamental interest in linking music intimately with the wider world (an approach which Simpson calls “humanistic” music). His creative work follows four principal threads of interest: humanistic music (with a particular interest in Greco-Roman antiquity and modern Greece); silent film music; theatrical music (including opera); and folk music (with emphasis on American folk styles).
Silent film, as a nexus of drama, visual art and music, is an ideal genre for Simpson’s multi-disciplinary explorations. An increasingly active silent film musician, Simpson is Resident Film Accompanist for the National Gallery of Art and regularly featured accompanist for the Library of Congress’ Mt. Pony Theater. He has performed original film scores at the Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy, Sala Cecelia Meireles in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, AFI Silver Theatre, New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, New York, the J. Paul Getty Villa in Los Angeles, and many other venues. He is also co-founder of the Snark Ensemble, a group devoted to creating and performing new scores for silent film, theater and dance.
andrewesimpson.com.
No passes accepted.
Sat, Nov 22, 1:00
CROSSWAYS aka CROSSROADS; SLUMS OF TOKYO; SHADOWS OF THE YOSHIWARA
[十字路 Jûjiro]
Live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne
Teinosuke Kinugasa, best known for his legendary debut, A PAGE OF MADNESS, builds upon the earlier film’s deserved reputation as a landmark of cinematic expressionism with this visually dazzling tale of lust and madness. The story follows a young man’s descent from infatuation to obsession for a geisha he meets in Tokyo’s Yoshiwara pleasure district, and his sister’s self-sacrificing efforts to save him from himself. Kinugasa, who had retreated to safer commercial-minded jidai-geki (period pieces) after giving his more daring cinematic aesthetics full rein with A PAGE OF MADNESS, described CROSSWAYS as a "chanbara (samurai film) without swordfights."
DIR/SCR/PROD Teinosuke Kinugasa. Japan, 1928, b&w, 74 min, 35mm. NOT RATED
About Stephen Horne
Based at London's BFI Southbank, but playing at all the major UK venues and many international film festivals and cinematheques, Stephen Horne has long been considered one of the world’s leading silent film accompanists. He has recorded music for DVD releases, BBC TV screenings and museum installations of silent films. Although principally a pianist, he often incorporates flute, accordion and keyboards into his performances, sometimes simultaneously.
stephenhorne.co.uk.
No passes accepted.
Sat, Nov 22, 4:00
THE EPIC OF EVEREST
Free screening!
Live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne
Co-presented with the National Gallery of Art
90th Anniversary; newly restored DCP!
The official footage of Mallory and Irvine’s tragic 1924 expedition, recorded by Captain John Noel under extreme conditions using a hand-cranked camera, was preserved in the British Film Institute’s National Archive. Working with Noel’s daughter Sandra, the British Film Institute last year restored this documentary, repairing damaged footage and bringing back the dramatic tints and tones of the first release.
DIR/SCR/PROD John Noel. UK, 1924, b&w, 85 min, DCP. NOT RATED
About Stephen Horne
Based at London's BFI Southbank, but playing at all the major UK venues and many international film festivals and cinematheques, Stephen Horne has long been considered one of the world’s leading silent film accompanists. He has recorded music for DVD releases, BBC TV screenings and museum installations of silent films. Although principally a pianist, he often incorporates flute, accordion and keyboards into his performances, sometimes simultaneously.
stephenhorne.co.uk.
Admission is FREE!
Tickets will be available on the day of the show; limit four per person. The box office opens 30 minutes before the first show of the day.
Sun, Nov 23, 4:00