A flagship event of Filmoteka Narodowa – the 12th Silent Movies Festival will take place in the Iluzjon cinema from 23rd till 26th of April 2015. These are unique days of silent movies accompanied by live music played by the Polish and foreign artists. During four days we will present as many as ten movies: both features, documentaries and films for children.
Some of the films will be screened with the English subtitles. These are: first time shown in Poland documentaries by the Manaki brothers – pioneers of the Macedonian cinema, „The Unchastened Woman” by James Young, accompanied by live music played by Marcin Masecki. English-speaking audience will also have the chance to watch films by D.W Griffith – a monumental „The Birth of a Nation”, based on the Edgar Allan Poe’s screenplay „The Avenging Conscience or Thou Shalt Not Kill” and „A Fool There Was” – American productions of 1915.
All films will be accompanied by live music played by already mentioned pianist Marcin Masecki, saxophonist Henryk Miśkiewicz, a New York percussion player Sean Noonan and other musicians from The Czech Republic and Macedonia.
Feel welcome to invite your English-speaking friends to the 12th Silent Movies Festival!
Hollywood stars – D.W. Griffith at his 140th Birth Anniversary
The Birth of a Nation (Narodziny narodu) 192 min., USA 1915
Dir.: David Wark Griffith; screenplay: D.W. Griffith, Frank E. Woods; camera: G.W. Bitzer; cast: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper, Mary Alden
The film is a great historical epic based in the times of The American Civil War. It tells the story of two families so far at friends but divided by the war. Only after a long period of a war chaos they unite for the common future thus symbolizing the birth of the American nation. The film was shot at the times when an average movie had two rolls. „The birth…” had twelve. „It looks like drawing a history by a lightning” – commented critics expressing common impression the film made in America. The movie delighted the audience with diversity of narration elements and multitude of pioneering effects, the most important of which was stressing the role of editing. Battle scenes of the film are still regarded as classical of the genre.
music – Sean Noonan
screening: Friday, April 24th, 21.30 hrs
The Birth of a Nation
The Avenging Conscience or Thou Shalt Not Kill (Zemsta sumienia) USA 1914
Dir.: D.W. Griffith; screenplay: Edgar Allan Poe, D.W. Griffith; camera: G.W. Bitzer; cast: Henry B. Walthall, Spottiswoode Aitken, Blanche Sweet, George Siegmann, Ralph Lewis, Mae Marsh
Psychological drama based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe. A wealthy old man lives together with his nephew in a country estate. The young man meets a beautiful lady and soon falls in love with her. However, old uncle doesn’t accept the relationship as he fears the nephew will leave him to live with his sweetheart. The young man faces a difficult decision to make – to choose between an affluent life at the house of his uncle and a marriage with his beloved woman. Gradually, an idea grows in his mind to get rid of the uncle…
One of the first feature length movies of Griffith characterizes of a skillful narration, graduation of suspense with the use of parallel editing. The film contains fragments of Poe’s prose, depicted by scenes symbolizing the motives of entanglement, a trap, of inner dilemma and enslavement.
music – Soundz Good
screening: Saturday, April 25th, 23.00 hrs
The Avenging Conscience or Thou Shalt Not Kill
Hollywood stars – Theda Bara at her 130th Birth Anniversary
A Fool There Was (Głupiec tu był) 56 min., USA 1915
Dir.: Frank Powell; screenplay: Porter Emerson Browne; camera: Roy L. McCardell; cast: Runa Hodges, Mabel Frenyear, Edward José, May Allison, Theda Bara
The film tells the story of a beautiful and ruthless woman – starring Theda Bara. We meet her when she leaves one of her victims, a rich man in love with her. A desperate poor wratch is not the first one, she dumped many guys before, some of them went bunkrupt, broke down or were even jailed… At the same time an American diplomat John Schuyler receives a wire from London which urgens him to a sudden business trip. The woman and Schuyler meet on the ship to London. Will he become the next victim of the distructive plans of the heroine? The film is one of the first to vividly present the motive of femme fatale. For Theda Bara it was the starting point, the springboard for her great film career. Her image of a dangerous woman ensnaring men thus went down in the history of cinema. The film was created from the inspiration by a play by Porter Emmerson Browne, and this was based on the Rudyard Kipling’s poem „The Vampire”
music – Jerzy Małek
screening: Saturday, April 25th, 21:00 hrs
A Fool There Was
The Unchastened Woman (Bezwstydnica) 48 min., USA 1925
Dir.: James Young; screenplay.: Louis K. Anspacher, Douglas Z. Doty; camera: L. William O'Connell; cast: Theda Bara, Wyndham Standing, Eileen Percy, Dale Fuller, John Miljan
Caroline Knollys, wife of a New York businessman, expects a child. Wishing to share the joyful news with her husband, she finds him in the arms of his secretary. In despair, Caroline decides to leave for Europe. Time passes by, her son grows. Caroline spends her life travelling and socializing. A few years later the woman and her son come back to New York, where she wants to take revenge on her husband flirting with other men in his presence. However, deep in her heart, she longs for the life with her husband.
music – Marcin Masecki
screening: Sunday, April 26th, 21:30 hrs
The Unchastened Woman
Documentary section
The Manaki Brothers – pioneers of Macedonian cinema 64 min
A series of short documentaries shot in the Balkans by the Manaki Brothers in the years 1907 – 1926. The brothers filmed the most important political events of the region, such as official visits of the ruler in the provinces of the empire and the military actions of the Balkan wars. Recording daily life of inhabitants of the Balkan towns and villages, rituals and festive customs, the Manaki brothers became the chroniclers of the Balkan culture and lifestyle of their time. They travelled through the whole Balkans, however, they were strongly connected with Bitola, where most of their recordings come from. In 2012 the FilmArchive in Skopje, in collaboration with the laboratory in Budapest, digitally remastered the Manaki brothers’ film heritage.
music – Blagoj and Bojan Moltov
screening: Saturday, April 25th, 16:00 hrs
The Manaki Brothers – pioneers of Macedonian cinema
All screenings are held in the STOLICA room.
Tickets:
Discount – 20 pln; Standard – 25 pln
Reservation:
Kino Iluzjon; ul. Narbutta 50a; 02-536 Warszawa
Box office – 22 462 72 60; iluzjon.rezerwacje@fn.org.pl