San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2012: Full Schedule and Preview
Just four months after blowing everyone away with the awesome spectacle that was Abel Gance’s Napoleon, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) returns for its 17th annual event at the Castro Theatre from July 12 to 15. When the line-up was first announced I heard a few people grouse about it having a”greatest hits” vibe. But the reality is only two of this year’s 17 programs are repeats – Wings from back in 1999 and Pandora’s Box, shown in 2003. Personally, I’ve never seen any of them on a big screen andam therefore completely psyched. Big Names from the silent era are much in evidence, both in front of the camera (Clara Bow, Emil Jannings, Felix the Cat, Pola Negri, Louise Brooks, Douglas Fairbanks, Roland Colman, Buster Keaton) and behind it (Ernst Lubitsch, Victor Fleming, Georg Wihelm Pabst, Josephvon Sternberg, William A. Wellman). There are several tempting, unfamiliar rarities as well. I searched for films I might skip out on – if only to get a breath of air and a decent meal – but came up empty handed.
An issue that’s sure to be a subject of discussion this year – and it’s one the festival isn’t shying away from – is that of digital exhibition. SFSFF dipped its toe in the digital waters two years ago with the restoration of Metropolis, saying it was the only option available. This year they’re wading ankle deep with two DCP presentations, Lubitsch’s The Loves of Pharaoh and Wellman’s Wings. The latter is SFSFF17′s opening night film, which isclearly making a statement. The great digital vs. 35mm divide is also the focus of this year’s Amazing Tales from the Archivespresentation (see below for details). So no matter which side you’re on – if a side needs to be taken at all – there should be plenty here to chew on.
Plain and simple, if you’ve never attended the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, you owe yourself the experience of seeing a silent film the way it was meant to be seen, in a landmark 1922 movie palace with accomplished live musical accompaniment. What follows is a stroll through SFSFF17′s line-up with some hopefully interesting facts, figures, gossip and trivia – a bit more than what’s available on the festival’s website and brochure, but considerably less than what we’ll find in the scholarly essays that appear in the complementary program guide during the festival. Read More…






Once again silent film enthusiasts have a reason to cheer, as the Castro Theatre plays host to the 16th Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival. From July 14th to July 17th expect professional musical accompaniment by those wonderful organ players that you see performing before every movie doing their thing to some great silent films. Of course, what would a silent film festival be without at least one Charlie Chaplin film.
















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