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Shhh! Toronto Silent Film Festival Starting This Week
Poster of the closing night film, F. W. Murnau’s Faust (1926). Image courtesy of the Toronto Silent Film Festival.
It can be frustrating to try to preview a film festival without screeners. In the case of the Toronto Silent Film Festival though, it’s more than understandable. Every year, accessing silent films becomes increasingly difficult as the films were shot on a cellulose nitrate film base, a highly flammable material (think Inglourious Basterds or Cinema Paradiso, depending on your taste) and one not made to last. A huge number of films were destroyed before digitization processes were introduced and have been lost forever. And even with the resurgence of interest in the era—spurred by the re-release of Battleship Potemkin, the buzz around the found footage of Metropolis, and here in Toronto by the ongoing Mary Pickford exhibit—showcasing and screening silent film is no easy task.
When Shirley Hughes started the festival last year, she wondered if the audience would consist of herself and, as she puts it, her “twenty-five film geek friends.” Turns out Torontonians have a lot more film geek in them than she expected. The festival brought in people she didn’t know at all, from children to octogenarians, and the demand was enough to bring the festival back for another year.
Notably, the TSFF is currently the only silent film festival in Canada (the curtain fell on Ottawa’s in 2006). When asked about this, Hughes credits the vibrant, though small, Toronto silent film community. With a network of independent theatres such as the Fox and the Revue, the Toronto Film Society (which for a long time held the record for longest-running silent film series in North America), and groups such as the Toronto Theatre Organ Society, the TSFF had an established base to reach out to when it debuted.
Still from Maciste in Hell, the festival’s opening night film.
Renowned silent film accompanist Bill O’Meara sees a similar trend in the city. When it comes to silent film in Toronto, he says, between the Cinematheque and the TFS there has been a “decades-long momentum building.” And there’s always been something for all types of fans. While the Cinematheque has filled the important role of educating film audiences, independent theatres tended to program more crowd pleasers. Luckily for both camps, the TSFF’s programming embraces the best of both worlds, with seminal classics and comedies alike.
Of course, silent film has never been silent. It’s always featured live musical accompaniment, and one of the festival’s highlights is the fact that Hughes doesn’t “believe in canned music.” All the films will be scored by silent film musicians—many of whom might be familiar faces if you’ve attended silent film screenings around the city before. Regulars at the Cinematheque will recognize O’Meara, though he makes sure to note: “People aren’t there to hear me, they are there for the film. I’m there to help them emotionally through the film.”
The festival opens on March 30 with Maciste in Hell (1926). One of Federico Fellini’s biggest inspirations, it’s a morality tale in which the devil lures Maciste to the underworld to corrupt him. Considered a visual masterpiece, it’s an extremely difficult film to find (the 16mm print is all but destroyed, and the 35mm print is in Italy). Not only that, it’s also quite spicy: Hughes jokingly notes there are “boobs hanging out everywhere” (ocular proof in the image above).
Gratuitous nudity aside, this is the spirit of the TSFF. While the history and cultural impact of these films will be discussed with special presentations, Hughes emphasizes that the TSFF isn’t about taking notes—“It’s about having fun at the movies.” And that, at the very least, hasn’t changed since 1895.
The Toronto Silent Film Festival runs from March 30–April 7 at various locations in Toronto. Full screening information is available on the festival’s website.
Images courtesy of the Toronto Silent Film Festival