Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2005 Sommario / Contents

Crainquebille as the opening show; while Raymond Alessandrini’s 1984 score for L’Hirondelle et la Mésange closes the 24th festival on 15 October.
In all, this year offers an unprecedented eight orchestral shows, with scores composed or arranged by nine musicians, from Italy, France, Britain,
the United States, Holland, Japan, Australia, Canada, and Germany (see “Musicians at the Giornate 2005”, pp. 151-156).
On Sunday 3 March 1985, one or two of us were present at the Goethe Institute in Trieste for the screening – introduced by Enno Patalas and
Frieda Grafe – of Das Weib des Pharao. It was a 16mm print, black and white, running only 80 minutes – yet it represented a remarkable work
of resurrecting all that was then believed to remain of Lubitsch’s “Kolossal” production from 1922. Thrilled by what we saw then, we could not
have imagined that on another Sunday, twenty years in the future, our own festival would be able to present a magnificent new restoration of
this spectacular work, as a world premiere. Running two hours, and with the original colour, it has been made possible by a combination of new
discoveries of hitherto unknown material, the most recent technologies, and an admirable collaborative restoration centred on Munich. In addition
it will be possible to hear the original musical score composed for the Berlin première by Eduard Künneke (1885-1953).
In commemoration of the 112th anniversary of the birth of Lillian Gish, the serata of 14 October (her birthday) is dedicated to a screening of the
new restoration of one of her finest but least-seen films, Victor Sjöstöm’s The Scarlet Letter (1926). The world of the romantic novelist Elinor
Glyn (for King Vidor, “the most weird person I’ve ever come across”) is explored in the rediscovered and restored (by the Nederlands
Filmmuseum) Beyond the Rocks and the Hungarian version of the (for its day) scandalous Three Weeks.
We are delighted to welcome a second visit – as friend now, as well as honoured guest – of Diana Serra Cary, recalling her years as Baby Peggy.
Never before in the history of the Giornate has a silent movie star contributed catalogue notes for her own films: Diana does so with the unique
mixture of critical analysis and intimate personal involvement that has distinguished her books about the Hollywood of 80 years ago.
Of the regular features of the festival, the Griffith Project reaches its ninth instalment and the great features, Intolerance, Hearts of the World,
and Broken Blossoms. The latest evidence in the rediscovery of the silent films of Hans Steinhoff is a stylish thriller, The Man Who Sold Himself.
Eight animated cartoons will perforce mark the farewell appearance in Sacile of Jerry the Troublesome Tyke, since, for Jerry, That’s All, Folks!
We hope that “21st Century Silents” will offer a surprise or two.
In inviting participants for this year’s Collegium Sacilense we have concentrated on young people working or hoping to work in the archive world,
with the aim of discussing the accelerating changes in techniques and politics of film conservation. We anticipate that this series of dialogues
will be of wide general interest to a majority of guests. The FilmFair – this year sited closer to the Festival centre – presents the latest film
books, along with DVDs, collectors’ items, and memorabilia; and will provide a centre for personal meetings with film authors.
We confidently predict that our guests will succumb to exhaustion rather than boredom. We also know that they will join us in reiterating our
unceasing gratitude to our friends in FIAF and public and private archives across the world, whose unstinting support alone makes possible the
Giornate del Cinema Muto.
Livio Jacob, David Robinson
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