ABOUT SMD
“This is exactly the type of activist spirit we need in the world of cinema right now.”
- Martin Scorsese
Anna Pavlova on the set of The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916); Image courtesy of Milestone Films.
Silent Movie Day is an annual celebration of silent movies that anyone can take part in. We believe that silent film is a vital, beautiful, and often overlooked part of film history. Our goal is to advocate for its presentation and preservation.
This day provides an opportunity for academics, aficionados, programmers, archivists and enthusiasts to gather around their shared appreciation of this unique period in visual arts and culture. It is also a time to rally around silent film initiatives for preservation and access, as well as raise awareness of the small percentage of film that remains from this period of the motion picture industry.
GOALS
Promoting silent film access through virtual and theatrical screenings.
Growing the event so international collaborations and partnerships are possible.
Possible funding ideas that promote and preserve silent film.
Promote research into silent cinema and the persons/studios/technology that nourished and developed it.
FAQ
Lon Chaney in The Penalty (1920); Courtesy of Bruce Calvert, Silent Film Still Archive
Q. WHAT IS SILENT MOVIE DAY?
A. Silent Movie Day is a day to celebrate and enjoy silent movies.
Q. WHEN IS SILENT MOVIE DAY?
A. Silent Movie Day takes place every year on September 29th.
Q. WHY IS THIS DAY BEING CELEBRATED AND OBSERVED?
A. Motion picture film was first commercially produced in 1889, but the innovation of adding a pre-recorded soundtrack directly onto the film did not become standard until around 1930. This roughly 40-year period marks the silent film era.
Instead of soundtracks, silent movies had intertitles, which displayed character dialog or text that helped describe the events occurring up on the screen. The greatest directors of the period recognized the power of the image to convey story elements, and used intertitles only when necessary. Yet silent pictures were never truly “silent” as they regularly included live musical accompaniment on piano, theater organ or by a small orchestra.
Movies from the silent period were printed on unstable flammable nitrocellulose film stock, which can deteriorate until the film is no longer viewable; it was also common practice for studios to destroy or reclaim the silver content from prints after their theatrical runs were completed. Many more films vanished when a number of studios had disastrous vault fires or simply destroyed prints and negatives when it became too expensive to store them. An estimated 80% of all silent pictures made during this time period are now considered lost forever.
However, thousands of silent movies still survive. Archives across the world work diligently to preserve and restore these remaining treasures and share them with annual film festivals, local arthouses, and film societies as they become newly available. Specialty distributors then expand their accessibility through releases on disc, streaming platforms, and cable networks.
Q. Why watch silent movies?
A. History hasn’t been kind to films from the silent era. More often than not, these films are saddled with all types of negative stereotypes: actors’ wild gesticulations, scratchy images, fast and spastic movement, and perhaps most heinous of all—that there is no sound accompaniment. Contrary to popular belief, silent filmmaking was very sophisticated (especially by the 1920s), and many of the great directors of this era used the format to their advantage. Since the plot was primarily expressed through the use of pictorial elements, those images needed to be visually fantastic and memorable. In fact, screenwriting students study silent films for this very reason. The hope for Silent Movie Day is to inspire new audiences by presenting silent pictures as they were intended to be seen: at the appropriate speed and with a musical accompaniment (piano or otherwise). In so doing, the grandeur that the silent movie going experience brings can be transcendent and inspiring.
ORGANIZERS
BRANDEE B. COX
Brandee B. Cox is a Senior Film Archivist at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Archive and co-founder of The Silent Treatment e-digest and screening series in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation at George Eastman Museum and a former intern of Kit Parker Films. She has actively studied silent cinema through her processing of numerous collections housed at the Academy Film Archive for over 15 years, including the personal collections of Kevin Brownlow and the Frank Capra Family, to the more expansive collections of Roy Export Chaplin and Film Preservation Associates.
CHAD HUNTER
Chad Hunter is director of the Pittsburgh Silent Film Society & Festival, and is a media archivist with the Appalshop Archive. He previously worked as a film archivist at institutions such as George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY, and musician Peter Gabriel’s human rights organization WITNESS in New York City. He co-founded Home Movie Day and the Center for Home Movies in 2003. His work in film exhibition includes serving as Manager of the Little Theater in Rochester, NY, as Executive Director of the nonprofit Hollywood Theater in Pittsburgh, and as Senior Director of The Rangos Giant Cinema at Carnegie Science Center.
STEVEN K. HILL
Steven K. Hill is a motion picture curator at the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and co-founder of The Silent Treatment e-digest and screening series in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the UCLA Moving Image Archive Studies (MIAS) MA degree program, and has previously worked at Sony Pictures and Universal Television. Two of his great-uncles worked in silent Hollywood (one for screen cowboy star Tom Mix and Fox Film; the other for Keystone and Mack Sennett Comedies), and he indulged his love for silent film when he ran projectors and managed his hometown movie theatre after graduating high school.