With Le Giornate Del Cinema Muto just around the corner it can only mean that the summer is nearly over (or is it already? We can’t really tell with the weather at the moment). But don’t worry if it is, our schedule for Autumn/Winter 2014 will keep you entertained through the dark nights.
Please find below a number of major events that we have coming up in the next few months, as well as listings for our final two club screenings for this year. But don’t forget, it is always worth checking our Events Calendar regularly as well as following us on Twitter and Facebook for daily updates on what is coming up and what is happening in the world of silent film.
So as the dark nights begin to draw in… we’re all running off to sunny Italy for a few weeks! See you in mid-October! Ciao!
WEDNESDAY 22nd OCTOBER: BRISTOL SILENTS CLUB SCREENING:
AFRIKA EYE FILM FESTIVAL SPECIAL
Location: Lansdown Pub, Clifton: 7:30pm: Free Entry
Only two more regular Bristol Silents Club Screenings to go for 2014 and we have pulled out the big guns for our final two.
The October Club Screening is one of those unique chances which don’t always appear when it comes to watching silent film. This special Club Screening (in collaboration with the Afrika Eye Film Festival) will take us through a journey of the early years of film on Africa with a screening of the first ever feature film ever to be made in Nigeria. The screening will be introduced by Dr.Emma Sandon (Birkbeck, University of London) Project Team Member of The Colonial Film Database.
This particular Club Screening is tied in with Afika Eye Film Festival 2014, in particular with the two special events which are taking place over the Friday 31st October and Saturday 1st November.
FRIDAY 31st OCTOBER: AFRIKA EYE FESTIVAL:
BREAKING THE SILENCE: JOINING THE DOTS’ MUSIC & FILM WORKSHOP
Location: Watershed, Bristol: Time: 3:00pm: Prices Vary
London-based English Nigerian musician and composer Juwon Ogungbe invites you to join him for a participatory workshop exploring the exciting opportunities and challenges that arise when composing music for film. Juwon will share examples of his work and the basic principles involved in scoring a piece of music for film. Juwon is a renowned pianist and vocalist drawing influences from African folk traditions, western art music and urban dance scores. This is a great opportunity to ‘have a go’ and also gain insight into this rarely discussed art form.
Bring an instrument if you have one - some percussion will be provided. A workshop for musicians and non-musicians alike! Young people aged 11+ are welcome but should be accompanied by an adult.
SATURDAY 1st NOVEMBER: AFRIKA EYE FESTIVAL:
BREAKING THE SILENCE: SILIVA THE ZULU (1927)
Dir: Attilio Gatti; 60 mins, Italy, South Africa, Subtitled
Location: Watershed, Bristol: Time: 1:30pm: Prices Vary
Afrika Eye, in collaboration with the University of Bristol, Screen Journal and Bristol Silents presents a rare opportunity to see the remarkable silent film Siliva the Zulu (1927) with a unique live score performed by London-based English Nigerian musician and composer Juwon Ogungbe.
Made by the Italian explorer and filmmaker, Attilio Gatti, the film is a dramatised fictional narrative of romantic rivalry set within rural Zulu life and culture in the late 1920s. Filmed on location in South Africa, Siliva the Zulu adopts documentary techniques to present impressions of everyday life, rituals, and beliefs.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A and Roundtable discussion with Juwon Ogungbe, Dr Jacqueline Maingard (Reader in Film at the University of Bristol), and other experts in the fields of film and African studies, discussing the film’s fascinating history, and Juwon Ogungbe’s unique score.
SUNDAY 16th NOVEMBER: BRISTOL SILENTS & BRISTOL 2014 PRESENTS:
THE FOUR HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE (Rex Ingram / 1921)
Location: Watershed, Bristol: Time: 12:00pm: Prices Vary
Intro by Kevin Brownlow
The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse is presented with The Big Parade in this special afternoon show. A rare opportunity to see two classic silent films on the First World War on the big screen, with accompanying scores by Carl Davis.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) is an epic war drama directed by Rex Ingram starring, among others, Rudolph Valentino. It had a huge cultural impact, is among the highest grossing silent films of all time and made Valentino – the tango-dancing Latin Lover – a superstar. Based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez and adapted for the screen by June Mathis (who became one of the most powerful women in Hollywood at that time), it tells the story of an extended family split between France and Germany who find themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield during the First World War.
In association with Photoplay Productions, Bristol Silents and Watershed.
SUNDAY 16th NOVEMBER: BRISTOL SILENTS & BRISTOL 2014 PRESENTS:
THE BIG PARADE (King Vidor / 1925)
Location: Watershed, Bristol: Time: 3:25pm: Prices Vary
Intro by Kevin Brownlow
The Big Parade (1925) directed by King Vidor and adapted from the work of veteran Laurence Stallings, tells the story of an idle rich boy, played by matinee idol John Gilbert, who joins the US Army’s Rainbow Division and is sent to France to fight in the First World War. He befriends two working-class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, falls in love with a French girl and loses his leg from battle wounds. Unhappy with life back in the US, he returns to France after the war to be reunited with his love. The film did not glorify war or ignore its human costs, and was an inspiration to many other film makers, including Lewis Milestone, director of All Quiet on the Western Front (to be shown on 30 November). It was the highest grossing MGM film until Gone with the Wind.
Wednesday 19th November: Bristol Silents Club Screening: Rex Ingram Night
Intro by Mark Fuller (Bristol Silents)
Location: Lansdown Pub, Clifton: 7:15pm: Free Entry
To tie in with the special screening of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on 16th November, our final Club Screening for 2014 celebrates the work of the superb Irish born film director Rex Ingram.
Rex Ingram (1892 – 1950) was very much everything thing when it came to filmmaking, he was a film director, producer, writer and actor.
Intro by our fellow colleague Mark Fuller who will not only tell us about the early work of Ingram but tell us about his work with a young filmmaker called… Michael Powell.
TBC DECEMBER 2014: THE FLICKS KINO! THE BRISTOL SILENTS CLUB SCREENING CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
Location: 20th Century Flicks, Christmas Steps Arts Quarter, Bristol: Time: TBC: Free Entry
We usually don’t do Christmas Club Screenings, not because we hate Christmas or anything, but we are usually too busy to run a Club Screening in the holiday season. However, due to the fact that our dear friends at 20th Century Flicks should settled into their new location on the Christmas Steps in the centre of Bristol by the time the Christmas decorations are up, we thought it would be rude not to invade their space for one night and screen some classic Christmas themed silent films. More info closer to the time.
WEDNESDAY 15th JANUARY 2015: BRISTOL SILENTS CLUB SCREENING: SLAPSTICK 2015 SPECIAL
Intro: TBC
Location: Lansdown Pub, Clifton: 7:15pm: Free Entry
As always with our January Club Screening we are gearing up for our SLAPSTICK FESTIVAL. More info to come on this, but most certainly save the date!
