3 September

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Groβtadt) (Dir. Walter Ruttman, Ger, 1927) (Screening format – not known,   mins)  This is a visual symphony in five movements celebrating the Berlin of 1927: the people, the place, the everyday details of life on the streets. Director Walter Ruttman, an experimental filmmaker, approached cinema in similar ways to his Russian contemporary Dziga Vertoz, mixing documentary, abstract, and expressionist modes for a nonnarrative style that captured the life of his countrymen. But where Vertov mixed his observations with examples of the communist dream in action, Ruttman re-creates documentary as, in his own words, “a melody of pictures.” Within the loose structure of a day in the life of the city (with a prologue that travels from the country into the city on a barreling train), the film takes us from dawn to dusk, observing the silent city as it awakens with a bustle of activity, then the action builds and calms until the city settles back into sleep. But the city is as much the architecture, the streets, and the machinery of industry as it is people, and Ruttman weaves all these elements together to create a portrait in montage, the poetic document of a great European city captured in action. Held together by rhythm, movement, and theme, Ruttman creates a documentary that is both involving and beautiful to behold. Find out more at  sensesofcinema.com .  With live piano accompaniment by Darius Battiwalla.  Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds  Link

8 September

Laurel & Hardy Afternoon A collection of Laurel & Hardy classics with live accompaniment from pianist Jonny Best.  Presented as part of the Leeds International Beer Festival.  Leeds Town Hall, Leeds Link

15 September

A Throw Of Dice (Dir. Franz Osten, In/Ger, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 74mins) After the beautiful Sunita nurses Ranjit back to health following dramatic events during a royal tiger hunt, his wicked rival Sohat persuades him to risk his kingdom and his love in a fateful game of dice. A Throw of Dice (Prapancha Pash) is the third film in a pioneering trilogy of silent films made through a unique partnership between German director Franz Osten and Indian actor-producer Himansu Rai, whose films combined documentary techniques with narratives derived from Indian myths and legends. Shot on location in Rajasthan, the film features over 10,000 extras and an impressive array of horses, elephants and tigers. Its star actors all had major careers in Indian cinema and remain legendary and much-loved figures. Find out more at memsaabstory.com .With recorded orchestral score composed by Nitin Sawhney.  Edge Hill Railway Station, Liverpool Link

16 September

The End of St. Petersburg (Konets Sankt-Peterburga) (Dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin, USSR, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 87mins) A peasant comes to St. Petersburg to find work. He unwittingly helps in the arrest of an old village friend who is now a labor leader. The unemployed peasant is also arrested and sent to fight in World War I. After three years, he returns ready for revolution…..Commissioned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, The End of St Petersburg secured Vsevolod Pudovkin’s place as one of the foremost Soviet film directors. His sophisticated analysis of the Revolution sits within a brilliant and dramatic reconstruction of the major events.  Find out more at  sensesofcinema.com .  With live musical accompaniment by Harmonieband.  Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds Link

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –not known , 149 mins ) Made in Germany during the Weimar period, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and follows the attempts of Freder (Gustav Frohlich), the wealthy son of the city’s ruler, and Maria (Brigitte Helm), a poor worker, to overcome the vast gulf separating the classes of their city. Filming took place in 1925 at a cost of approximately five million Reichmarks, making it the most expensive film ever released up to that point. It is regarded as a pioneering work of science fiction and is among the most influential films of all time. Following its world premiere in 1927, half an hour was cut from Fritz Lang’s masterpiece and lost to the world. Eighty years later a spectacular discovery was made when the footage was found in a small, dusty museum in Buenos Aires. The film was then painstakingly reconstructed and digitally restored so that at last audiences could see the iconic futuristic fairy tale as Lang had envisioned it. Find out more at silentfilm.org .  With live piano accompaniment by Darius Battiwalla.  Square Chapel, Halifax    Link

22 September

Drifters (Dir. John Griersen, UK, 1929) (Screening format – not known,   61 mins) Drifters, the story of the North Sea herring fleets from Yarmouth and Lowestoft to Shetland, broke new ground in 1929. Filmed mainly at sea in all weathers, but with studio sets for some interior scenes, it established Grierson’s style of “creative interpretation of actuality” which came to characterise the British school of documentary film-making. Directed and edited by Grierson and photographed by Basil Emmott. The film was successful both critically and commercially and helped kick off Grierson’s documentary film movement.  Find out more at imdb.com . With atmospheric live vocal score by  internationally renowned beatboxer and sound artist Jason Singh. Plus a rare big screen presentation of archive films of Seahouses with live accompaniment from local singer/songwriter Andy Craig.  HUB Seahouses, Northumberland  Link

23 September

Man With A Movie Camera (Dir. Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 68mins)  “An experiment in the creative communication of visible events without the aid of inter-titles, a scenario or theatre “aiming at creating a truly international absolute language of cinema,” is how the inter-titles describe what is about to be seen. Bold claims indeed, but in its awesome sophistication The Man with a Movie Camera does live up to them, making it one of the most contemporary of silent movies. The subject, the life of a city from dawn to dusk, was not original even for 1928, but its treatment was–the cameraman as voyeur, social commentator and prankster, exploiting every trick permissible with the technology of the day (slow motion, dissolves, split screens, freeze frames, stop motion animation, etc). A young woman stirs in her bed, apparently fighting a nightmare in which a cameraman is about to be crushed by an oncoming train. She wakes up, and the sequence is revealed to be a simple trick shot. As she blinks her weary eyes, the shutters of her window mimic her viewpoint, and the iris of the camera spins open. Self-reflexive wit like this abounds here–there’s even a delicious counterpoint made between the splicing of film and the painting of a woman’s nails.  Find out more at  openculture.com .  With live musical accompaniment of a new score performed by Jonny Best (piano), Susie Green (electronics) and Trevor Bartlett (marimba/percussion).  Picture House, Hebden Bridge, West Yorks.  Link

London Symphony (Dir.  Alex Barrett, UK, 2017) (Screening format – not known)  London Symphony  is a brand new silent film – a city symphony – which offers a poetic journey through London, a cosmopolitan city facing a challenge to its identity in the current political climate.  It is an artistic portrait of the city as it stands today, and a celebration of its culture and diversity. Find out more at londonsymphfilm.com .  With recorded James McWilliam soundtrack.  Square Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax Link

Drifters (Dir. John Griersen, UK, 1929) (Screening format – not known,   61 mins) Drifters, the story of the North Sea herring fleets from Yarmouth and Lowestoft to Shetland, broke new ground in 1929. Filmed mainly at sea in all weathers, but with studio sets for some interior scenes, it established Grierson’s style of “creative interpretation of actuality” which came to characterise the British school of documentary film-making. Directed and edited by Grierson and photographed by Basil Emmott. The film was successful both critically and commercially and helped kick off Grierson’s documentary film movement.  Find out more at imdb.com . With atmospheric live vocal score by  internationally renowned beatboxer and sound artist Jason Singh. Also being screened are archive films of North  and South Shields with live musical accompaniment by Aaron Duff and Eve Simpson. The Customs House, South Shields  Link

27 September

London Symphony (Dir.  Alex Barrett, UK, 2017) (Screening format – not known)  London Symphony  is a brand new silent film – a city symphony – which offers a poetic journey through London, a cosmopolitan city facing a challenge to its identity in the current political climate.  It is an artistic portrait of the city as it stands today, and a celebration of its culture and diversity. Find out more at londonsymphfilm.com .  With recorded James McWilliam soundtrack.  Square Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax Link

28 September

London Symphony (Dir.  Alex Barrett, UK, 2017) (Screening format – not known)  London Symphony  is a brand new silent film – a city symphony – which offers a poetic journey through London, a cosmopolitan city facing a challenge to its identity in the current political climate.  It is an artistic portrait of the city as it stands today, and a celebration of its culture and diversity. Find out more at londonsymphfilm.com .  Featuring an original musical composition by James McWilliam. Left Bank Cinema, Leeds Link

29 September

October: Ten Days That Shook The World (Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1928) (Screening format – 35mm, 104mins) Borrowing its title from a book by American journalist John Reed, Sergei Eisenstein’s Ten Days That Shook the World reenacts the crucial week-and-a-half in October, 1918, when the Russian Kerensky regime was toppled by the Bolsheviks.  Eisenstein used the film to further develop his theories of film structure, using a concept he described as “intellectual montage”, the editing together of shots of apparently unconnected objects in order to create and encourage intellectual comparisons between them.  A largely non-professional cast was employed, the “actor” playing Lenin, a nonprofessional cement factory worker named Nikandrov, so closely resembles the genuine article that the effect is striking while a University student took on the role of Kerensky and Zinoviev was played by his real brother. The film was not as successful or influential in the Soviet Union as Battleship Potemkin with audiences finding the film stilted and artificial.  Eisenstein’s montage experiments met with official disapproval; the authorities complained that October was unintelligible to the masses and he was also required to re-edit the work to expurgate references to  Trotsky, who had recently been purged by Stalin.  Nevertheless, film historians now consider it to be an important film, a sweeping historical epic of vast scale, and a powerful testament to Eisenstein’s creativity and artistry.  Find out more at imdb.com.  Introduced by Dr Dusan Radunovic (Durham University).  With live piano score  by pianist and founder and artistic director of the Ives Ensemble John Snijders. Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle   Link

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