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National

January

26 – 30 January  Slapstick Festival, Bristol   With an exceptionally strong silent film content this year, including An Old Gangster’s Molls (Dir. Svatopluk Innemann, CZ, My Grandmother (Dir. Kote Mikaberidze, USSR, 1929) 1927), The Kid Brother (Dir. Ted Wilde & Harold Lloyd, US,1927), Show People (Dir. King Vidor, US, 1928) The Patsy  (Dir. King Vidor, US, 1928) and The Cameraman (Dir. Edward Sedgwick/Buster Keaton, US, 1928). Plus lots of high profile guests introducing the films and all silent films accompanied by live music.  Watershed/Cathedral Bristol  Link

 

March

4 – 20 March – Borderlines Film Festival   Now in its twentieth year, the annual Borderlines Film Festival runs in the Shropshire, Hereford and Marches areas and this year is screening the silents  Nanook of the North (Dir. Robert J Flaherty, US, 1922) and Airship Norge’s Flight Across The Arctic Ocean  (Dir. Paul Berge, Nor, 1926) . Various venues. Link

 

16 – 20 March.HippFest –  Hippodrome Festival of Silent Film   Scotland’s premier silent film festival takes place in Scotland’s oldest purpose-built cinema, with a range of British and international silent films all with live musical accompaniment.  Its a packed programme this year, with highlights including a premier of restored The Loves Of Mary Queen Of Scots (Dir. Denison Clift, UK, 1923), rare screenings of little known British delights The Boatswain’s Mate (Dir. H. Manning Haynes,  UK, 1924) and Not For Sale (Dir. W P Kellino, UK, 1924) as well as French classic  L’Homme du Large  (Dir. Marcel L’Herbier, France, 1920) with live narration by acclaimed actor Paul McGann    Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness, Scotland Link

 

April

23 – 24 April  Kennington Bioscope Silent Comedy Weekend  The Ken Bio returns with a packed programme, including Mary Pickford in My Best Girl (Dir. Sam Taylor, US,1927),  Harry Langdon in The Strong Man (Dir. Frank Capra, US, 1926), the little known but unmissable  The Marriage Circle (Dir. Ernst Lubitsch, US, 1924), not to mention Neil Brand and his new Laurel & Hardy show, with lots more as well, all featuring  knowledgeable introductions and live musical accompaniment.  Cinema Museum, London  Link

 

July

20 – 24 July  Cinema Rediscovered The 6th annual event bringing the finest digital restorations, contemporary classics and film print rarities back where they belong – on the big screen, including a selection of silents. Highlights this year include Sunrise; A Song of Two Humans (Dir. F W Murnau, US, 1927),  The Joker (aka Jokeren, aka Der Faschingskönig) (Dir. Georg Jacoby, Dk/De, 1928) and one of the world’s first pro-gay documentaries Laws of Love (aka Gesetze der Liebe, Dir. Magnus Hirschfeld, Ger, 1927).   Various cinemas across Bristol. Link

 

October

5 – 16 October   London Film Festival   Sadly just a single silent in this year’s line up, but it is a goody.  A fully restored version of Erich von Stroheim’s  Foolish Wives (1922), Hollywood’s first million dollar epic, introduced by renowned film historian Kevin Brownlow and with accompaniment by Neil Brand.  BFI Southbank, London  Link

 

14 October – 6 November  Fifth Yorkshire Silent Film Festival   17 events happening at 10 different locations across the county (and occasionally a bit beyond!) including rarities such as Garbo in The Mysterious Lady (1928), French gem A Woman Passed By (1927) and Norwegian rural drama The Bride of Glomdal (1926) as well as some old favourites such as Nosferatu (1922) and of course loads of slapstick with Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy and Harold Lloyd.  All with top notch live musical accompaniment.  Various, Yorkshire Link

November

5 – 6 November    Kennington Bioscope Silent Film Weekend.  The sixth annual festival from KenBio features the usual packed weekend of quality and rarely screened silent gems, all with live musical accompaniment.  This year’s films include Bright Eyes (aka Champagne) (1929) featuring Betty Balfour, Erich Von Stroheim’s  The Wedding March (1929), the premiere of a new restoration  of The Gold Diggers (1923), a comedy directed by Harry Beaumont as well as Japanese classic crime drama Dragnet Girl (1933) directed by the great Yasujiro Ozu.  The Cinema Museum, Lambeth Link

 

International

January

13 – 16 January   Netherlands Silent Film Festival   With a strong emphasis on slapstick but also screening Valentino in Blood And Sand (Dir. Fred Niblo, US, 1922), Love And The Devil (Dir. Alexander Korda, US, 1929) and a session on French surrealist Germaine Dulac. Pand P and Parktheater, Eindhoven  (With an option to watch on-line also)   Link

 

19 – 23 January  Copenhagen Silent Film Festival  The third running of this festival sees a focus on Scandinavian films including Growth Of The Soil (Dir. Gunnar Sommerfeldt, Nor, 1921), Vem Donner (Dir. Victor Sjöström, Swe, 1922) and Anna-Liisa (Dir. Teuvo Puro/Jussi Snellman, Fin, 1922).  There’s also Phantom Of The Opera (Dir. Rupert Julian, US, 1925), Mother Krause’s Journey to Happiness (Dir. Phil Jutzi, Ger, 1929) and much more besides.  Most films come with live musical accompaniment. Cinematheque, Carl/Asta, Copenhagen Link

 

February

10 – 20 February  Berlin International Film Festival.  Programme to be confirmed.  Usually containing a strong element of silent film.  Berlin, Germany  Link

 

24 – 26 February    Kansas Silent Film Festival 25 silent films in 3 days, all with live accompaniment and on the big screen.  Film titles to be confirmed.  White Concert Hall, Washburn University and Jayhawk Theatre, Topeka, Kansas  Link

 

23 Feb – 6 March  Dublin International Film Festival  With a modest but quality silent film strand, not least of which this year is Neil Brand presenting on Laurel and Hardy.  Various locations Dublin, Ireland. Link

 

 April

27 – 30 April Silent Film Days _ Tromso International Film Festival  Founded by Tromsø Kino in 1991, TIFF has grown to be a cultural flagship in Norway and an important meeting point for Norwegian and international film industry.  Silent Film Days is an arena for unique collaborations between professional musicians from around the world, with specially composed music performed live to silent film classics of all genres.  This year’s programme includes Hitchcock classic The Lodger (1927), Mikhail Kaufman’s dreamy Ukrainian city symphony In Spring (1929), Lillian Gish suffering wonderfully in The Wind (1928), Gustav Machatý, steamy Czech tale of seduction and abandonment Erotikon (1929) and D W Griffith’s epic Intolerance (1916).  All with live music including by our own John Sweeney.  Verdensteatret Cinematheque, Tromso, Norway Link

 

May

5 – 11 May  San Francisco Silent Film Festival   After a two year covid hiatus, one of the best silent film festivals on the circuit returns, celebrating their 25th year.  A bumper programme includes;  Stroheim’s tale of fraud and blackmail, Foolish Wives (1922) as well as his take on marital disharmony, Blind Husbands (1919);  the Osten/Rai co-directed India-made epic Light Of Asia (1926) ;  early Danish sci-fi epic A Trip To Mars (1916); hilarious Swedish madcap comedy Sister Of Six (1926); and Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov’s remarkable early film documentary Salt For Svanetia (1930).  All performed with live musical accompaniment from some of the world’s foremost silent film musicians.      Castro Theater, San Francisco, USA  Link

 

June

2 – 5 June-  Women and the Silent Screen (WSS)  For 22 years, this biennial international conference, sponsored by Women and Film History International (WFHI), has brought together researchers focused on women’s pivotal roles in the first decades of motion picture history.  This year’s conference continues on a theme of Women, Cinema and World Migration to highlight new scholarship connecting early cinema history to the migration and social mobility that caught up women globally when motion pictures arrived more than a century ago. Films being screened during the conference include Esfir Shub’s Segodnya (Russia, 1930), By Right of Birth. (Dir. Harry A. Gant, US, 1921), Just Around the Corner (Dir/sc.: Frances Marion  US, 1921) and Love and Duty (Dir: Wangcang Bu, China, 1931)   Colombia University, New York   Link

 

2 – 5 June  The Nitrate Picture Show The Nitrate Picture Show, the world’s festival of film conservation, returns for its sixth year. The festival features screenings of vintage nitrate prints from international archives—including the Eastman Museum’s own collection.  This year’s programme includes Ukranian satirical gem A Familiar Face (aka Shkurnik, 1929), Flesh and the Devil (1926) and A Woman Of Affairs (1928), all with piano accompaniment from the superb Philip Carli.     Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York, USA Link

 

25 June – 3 July     Il Cinema Ritrovato,   A festival dedicated to the rediscovery of rare and little-known films with a particular focus on the origins of cinema and the silent movie period. It is organised every summer by the Cineteca di Bologna and is one of the world’s major festivals of film restoration. This year’s festival includes Georges Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon, his trick and fairy tale films and some lesser known imitations by Gaston Velle (chez Lumière brothers) and Ferdinand Zecca (chez Pathé) all from 1902; CT Dreyer’s Love One Another, Nazimova in Salome, Fairbanks in Robin Hood (all 1922); and a tribute to Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset (1862- 1913) who created the first ever crime and spy series, featuring the detective Nick Carter.   Bologna, Italy  Link

 

September

Pirmoji Banga15  – 18 September  Primoji Banga (Early Film) Festival   This is the seventh edition of the Pirmoji Banga Film Festival.  This year’s silent films include Victor Sjöström’s He Who Gets Slapped (1924), The Water Magician, one of the few surviving silent films by Kenji Mizoguchi and Serpent (1925) an incredibly rare screening of one of the best silent samurai films. In addition to the films there will also be a two day  virtual conference live-streamed on Facebook with participants including our own Pam Hutchinson.        Vilnius, Lithuania  Link

 

October

1 – 8 October    Pordenone Silent Film Festival   Running since 1982 as a collaborative effort between La Cineteca del Friuli in Gemona and the Cinemazero filmclub in Pordenone, the Giornate del Cinema Muto, aka Pordenone Silent Film Festival, has established itself as the leading international event dedicated to the preservation, diffusion, and study of the first thirty years of cinema.  Items to look forward to are a retrospective on Norma Talmadge, Dutch colonial films, German rarity Manolescu (1929) and Hitchcock’s Manxman (1929).  In addition, many of the films will be streamed on-line for those poor unfortunates who can’t get there in person.    Cinema Verdi, Pordenone, Italy  Link

 

6 – 16 October   Live Score Film Festival   Running since 2019, the festival this year includes Teinosuke Kinugasa’s classic A Page Of Madness (1926), works by French mother and daughter duo Élisabeth and Marie-Berthe Thuillier who hand coloured many of Melies’ films, a section on early anarchic cinema including Douglas Fairbanks in the remarkable Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1919) and the delicious cross-dressing comedy What’s The World Coming To (1926).  All films come with live musical accompaniment.  Setubal, Portugal Link

 

21 – 23 October  Marie Dressler Foundation – Vintage Film Festival   In 1992, a group of film enthusiasts involved in the restoration of the Marie Dressler house had a wild idea. Why not hold a festival showing the films in which Marie Dressler had starred? This seemingly fantastic idea grew into the present form in which they show a variety of films generally made before about 55-60 years ago, often, although not always, including a film starring Marie Dressler.   This year including Mary Pickford in Tess of the Storm Country (Edwin S. Porter, 1914) and Norma Shearer and Lon Chaney in He Who Gets Slapped (Victor Seastrom [Sjöström], 1924)  Capitol Theater, Port Hope, Ontario, Canada  Link

 

November

11 – 13 November  –  Toronto Silent Film Festival   Another festival we’re pleased to see return.  This year’s highlights include Frank Hurley’s epic documentary South (1919), noir-ish thriller The Informer (1929) starring Lars Hanson & Lya De Putti plus a whole lot of comedy surprises in their ‘1000 Laffs’ session.  Revue Cinema, Toronto, Canada Link

 

December

3 December   A Day Of Silents from the San Francisco Silent Film Festival     A packed day’s agenda includes Pola Negri in Forbidden Paradise (1924),  Musidora in (and co-directing) Pour Don Carlos (1921), Marion Davies in Show People (1928) and Anna May Wong in The Toll Of The Sea (1924).   Castro Theatre, San Francisco  Link