Last year an unexpected and boldly-named addition to the world’s silent film festival was the 1st International Silent Film Festival, held in Manila in the Philippines. Well, one year on and here comes the 2nd International Silent Film Festival, to be held 26 August-8 September. Films are shown accompanied by live bands and again with ‘original scores’ (whatever that might mean). Here’s the programme:
FILMS WITH LIVE MUSIC
7pm, Shang Cineplex Cinema 1, Shagrila-la PlazaAug 26 The Black Man with a White Soul (El negro que tenía el alma blanca), Spain
music by Novo Concertante Manila
Aug 27 Cascading White Threads (Taki-no-shiraito), Japan
music by Bob Aves
Sep 2 Faces of Children (Visages d’enfants), France
music by JackRufo with Yosha
Sep 3 The Oyster Princess (Die Austernprinzessin), Germany
music by Noli Aurillo (with Louie Talan, Wendel Garcia and Kakoy Legaspi
Sep 4 Cabiria (Italy)
music by Caliph8 (with Malek Lopez and Matt Deegan)FILMS WITH ORIGINAL SCORE
7pm, Shang Cineplex Cinema 1, Shagrila-la PlazaAug 28 Erotikon (Czechoslovakia)
FILMS WITH ORIGNAL SCORE
5pm, Listening In Style, 5/F Shangri-la PlazaAug 29 The Black Man with a White Soul (El negro que tenía el alma blanca), Spain
Sep 5 Cascading White Threads (Taki No Shiraito), Spain
Sep 6 Faces of Children (Visages d’enfants), France
Sep 7 The Oyster Princess (Die Austernprinzessin), Germany
Sep 8 Cabiria (Italy)The International Silent Film Festival is back with a bigger and better lineup! This year, original participants Goethe-Institut Manila, Instituto Cervantes and Japan Foundation are joined by the embassies of the Czech Republic, France and Italy in treating moviegoers to screenings of classic silent films scored live by local bands. In addition, some of the films will also be shown with the original score in Listening In Style.
The German contribution to the festival is the 1919 Ernst Lubitsch film “The Oyster Princess (Die Austernprinzessin)”. In it, a pampered American oyster tycoon (Victor Janson) decides to find a prince to marry his daughter (Ossi Oswalda),but things don’t go quite as planned. Along the way, there are mishaps, misunderstandings and a foxtrot sequence that must be seen to be believed. Director Ernst Lubitsch was said to have “the Lubitsch touch”, a hard-to-define quality that makes his films masterpieces of sophisticated comedy. As this early and rare film makes clear, the Lubitsch touch was present almost from the beginning. Accompanying the film is a live score by legendary guitarist Noli Aurillo.
Other films to watch out for in the festival are “Cabiria” from Italy, “Erotikon” from the Czech Republic [sic], “Cascading White Threads” (Taki-no-shiraito) from Japan, “The Black Man With A White Soul” (El negro que tenía el alma blanca) from Spain and “Faces of Children” (Visages d’ enfants) from France.
The festival has grown in ambition from last year when there were just three titles screened, and it is impressively cosmopolitan in its range (interestingly, no American titles have been programmed). Further details on the Goethe-Institut Manila site.
The Bioscope 