Free Silent Film Festival to be held in Warsaw — a Belarusian film will also be shown

The program includes films from the USA, France, Germany, and Belarus. Music specifically for these films was composed by Belarusian composers Volha Padhaiskaya and Kanstantsin Yaskou, and Polish composer Aleksandra Chmielewska.

The opening film — a Buster Keaton comedy — will be screened accompanied by Belarusian piano virtuoso Kanstantsin Harachy, known as a co-founder of the jazz band Apple Tea.

Program

September 1, 20.00: "The Cameraman" — USA (1928)

The first comedy by the legendary comedian Buster Keaton, one of the key figures in world cinematic comedy, made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio. Although this collaboration marked the beginning of restrictions on Keaton's creative freedom, "The Cameraman" is considered by many to be the best comedy featuring him. In the vein of "film about film," the picture tells the story of a young man who tries to get a job as a cameraman at MGM to be closer to the girl he is in love with.

Directors: Buster Keaton, Edward Sedgwick

Accompanist (pianist accompanying silent film): Kanstantsin Harachy — piano

Duration: 70 minutes

September 3, 20.00: "The Passion of Joan of Arc" — France (1928)

One of the greatest films in the history of silent cinema and filmmaking in general. Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer depicts the last days of France's national heroine, Joan of Arc. The film was banned in Great Britain due to unflattering portrayals of British soldiers. The festival will screen the film's original cut. It was long considered lost until it was found in 1981 in a closet of a psychiatric clinic in Oslo.

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer

Composer: Kanstantsin Yaskou

Performers: Kanstantsin Yaskou — piano, Palina Horbach — cello

Duration: 80 minutes

September 10, 20.00: "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" — Germany (1920)

A cult work of German Expressionism in the horror genre and one of the most influential films in world cinema history. A mysterious hypnotist asks the mayor for permission to show an unusual character, a somnambulist, at the local fair. Later, the capricious official, who showed insufficient attention and respect to the visitor, is found murdered in his bedroom. One death turns into a series of mysterious killings…

Director: Robert Wiene

Composer: Volha Padhaiskaya

Performers: Volha Padhaiskaya — organ, Kuzma Papakul — 1st violin, Anastasiya Pyatrova — 2nd violin, Vital Epau — soprano saxophone (Five-Storey Ensemble)

Duration: 75 minutes

September 17, 20.00: "The Trial Must Go On" — Belarus (1930)

This is one of a series of Belarusian films from the 1920s-1930s dedicated to the issue of women's emancipation. In the context of "Silent Fever," it will conceptually continue last year's screening of "The Prostitute." The film tells the story of a trial against five men accused of raping Alena, a laboratory assistant at an electrical plant, and also about the victim's return to a full working life.

Directors: Efim Dzigan, Boris Shreber

Composer: Aleksandra Chmielewska

Performers: Aleksandra Chmielewska — piano/electronics, Filip Sporniak — cello

Duration: 63 minutes

Admission to screenings is free. All films will be accompanied by subtitles in Belarusian and Polish.

"Silent films were not truly silent — they had sound thanks to music. Today, the era of silent cinema is almost completely excluded from public attention, and it is especially valuable to us that at our festival we give these films a new interpretation and a new life," says festival organizer Irena Katsialovich.

The festival takes place with the financial support of the Trzy Trąby Foundation, the German Marshall Fund of the United States of America (GMF), the Julius Mieroszewski Dialogue Centre, the Old Town House of Culture, and with the participation of the Museum of Free Belarus, the John Paul II Thought Centre.

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