Journal of Film Preservation N° 60/61 - FIAF

question and answer session confirmed that both her memory and
her sense of humor were still very much intact.
The Griffith Project, in which all surviving films of the pioneer director
are being screened, marked its third year with the sixty-six titles
shot in the second half of 1909. The program notes of the first three
years, vital to following some of the many films that have yet to have
their intertitles restored, have been revised and published in one volume
by the Giornate together with BFI Publications. I hope my subjective
impression is false, but it seemed that the rich diet of early
cinema mentioned above was eclipsing the steady progress being
made with Griffith, which would be a pity.
The Giornate has never been content to rest on its laurels and David
Robinson is anything but a figurehead in his role as Director. One
innovation of the 1999 Giornate that may retrospectively be seen as
extremely influential is the “Collegium Sacilense.” While the majority
of those who attend the Giornate are concerned in one way or
another with preserving the films of the period in question, the
Collegium’s task is to bridge the gap between the veteran experts and
the youngsters who will one day have to take their place. What was
announced as a hand-picked class of twelve seemed to swell over the
course of the week as word of mouth spread about the enrichment
provided by the Collegium. I believe its value as a framework for
intergenerational transmission of knowledge cannot be
overestimated.
All in all, over 300 titles were screened at the Giornate; a couple of
dozen seems to be about the maximum a brief report such as this
can accommodate. One of the most memorable experiences of the
“Rediscoveries and Restorations” section, however, is hard to omit:
Shigeyoshi Suzuki’s What Made her Do It?, which was lost for 60
years before surfacing in Russia. It was easy to see why the film had
been so successful on its original release, playing transparently on all
the social injustices inflicted on the suffering but finally rebellious
heroine. Gunter Buchwald’s accompanying score was stylized and
contained unusual rhythms that lingered long after the performance.
The handful of regular pianists, Neil Brand, Phil Carli, Antonio
Coppola, Margaret Ogilvie and Donald Sosin, without whose efforts
even the greatest silent film can become a chore to watch, were all at,
or above, their usual high level.
The Giornate is a festival in which the prizes are won not by films,
but by the people and organizations who have furthered preservation,
restoration and interest in silent films. Swedish director and
critic Gosta Werner, a familiar face at the Festival whose career goes
back to early talkies, shared the 1999 Jean Mitry Award with the
French-German broadcaster ARTE, which has done sterling work in
bringing silents to mass audiences in recent years.
Mention should also be made of Giovanni Schiano Lomoriello, the L.
Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation student chosen to receive
61 Journal of Film Preservation / 60/61 / 2000
Las Giornate del Cinema Muto de 1999
fueron las más ricas de todas, a pesar de
que no se celebraron en Pordenone, como de
costumbre, sino en Sacile. Este cambio
ocasionó problemas de transporte (que los
organizadores prometen resolver en el
futuro). Tampoco fue posible asistir a todas
las proyecciones ya que los programas
transcurrían en dos salas ubicadas en sitios
distintos de la ciudad. El programa principal
se dedicó al cine nórdico de los años 20. La
película restaurada The Growth of the Soil
(1921), de Gunnar Sommerfeldt, es el mejor
ejemplo de la belleza de los filmes de la
época que, por otra parte, nos dan una idea
del clima social y del lugar en fueron
rodados. La restauración de Sumurun de
Lubitsch es la culminación de numerosos
años de trabajo y de cooperación entre
varios archivos. El centenario de Hitchcock
fue celebrado con la proyección de todas sus
películas mudas conservadas. La proyección
de The Kid Brother de Harold Lloyd fue la
joya de la clausura del festival. Bajo el título
de “Rebels of the Twenties” se mostraron
películas de la primera vanguardia
americana. Unas 90 películas de la primera
década del cine, incluyendo 17 cintas
perdidas de Méliès, fueron presentadas por
Lobster Films. Rick Schmidlin presentó su
reconstrucción en video de Greed,
posibilitando así la restitución de las intrigas
secundarias perdidas en la versión conocida.
También se festejó a Erich von Stroheim con
la proyección de una copia restaurada de
The Wedding March, y presentada por Fay
Wray, su actriz principal. Las notas de la
primera parte del proyecto Griffith fueron
publicadas en forma de libro. Hubo una
importante innovación: el “Collegium
Sacilense”, dirigiéndose a los jóvenes
presentes, expresó su intención de invertir
para mejorar la calidad de las proyecciones.
El Premio Jean Mitry fue otorgado al
director y crítico sueco Gosta Werner y a la
televisión franco-alemana ARTE. El
laureado 1999 de Haghefilm fue Giovanni
Schiano Lomoriello quien sorprendió a los
espectadores al pedirles que se pongan gafas
3-D para mirar una de las más antiguas
películas realizadas con este procedimiento y
restaurada por él.