A Silent Film Festival is to be held from October 15th at the New South Wales State Library.

Films that will be featured at the festival is a veritable list of “oh, I’ve always meant to watch that” films for any self-respecting cinephile. Instead of going down your local DVD store you’ll be able to see silent classics that feature legends such as Keaton, Charlie Chaplin or Harold Lloyd. Some examples of the films featured include:
• The Buster Keaton classic The General (1927) – remember the scene when a train is moving across a rural landscape. Up front, the hapless engineer has no idea this is happening as he quickly throws wooden logs into the oven, hoping to make the train go faster. Little does he know his logs are steadily rolling off one by one onto the tracks as a jaunty piano tune plays. Buster Keaton plays a hapless layabout who (almost accidentally) steals a train to impress a girl.
• Dziga Vertov’s Man With A Movie Camera
• Destiny by Fritz Lang
• Short films from George Melies – one of the first filmmakers

In the early days of cinema, Australia was a prolific producer of silent films and the festival is showing two of these: The Story of the Kelly Gang and The Sentimental Bloke.

Live music from Sharolyn Kimmorley and Ian Bloxsam, among others, will accompany most of the flicks – just like in the olden days – so you will be able to see these films as they’re meant to be seen

With all the ways we can communicate with one another via modern technology, silent films may seem somewhat old-hat. But the concept of moving images was an extraordinary marvel at the time, and you’re missing a vital cog in film history if you skip silent films.

So take a trip back in time and check out this thing called ‘moving pictures’. Details at www.ozsilentfilmfestival.com.au