Although traditional cinemas are still closed, the youngest, virtual Kino Pod Baranami’s auditorium is open to viewers from all over Poland. Therefore e-kinopodbaranami.pl platform will host the 21. Silent Film Festival this year. The formula of the event changed, but its quality remains the same. Just like in the previous years, the Festival focuses on the phenomenon of silent cinema and its program includes a number of astonishing films accompanied by specially prepared music.

The theme of this year's edition, although planned many months ago, proved to be almost prophetic. The prevailing pandemic makes us think, more often than before, on the essence of our existence.

Some of the films inspire us to reflect on the status of man in the world. Marcel L'Herbier, one of the masters of French film impressionism, captures the complexity of human experience in Man of the Open Seas. The power of the sea is the key element of August Blom’s Atlantis, which depicts a sinking ship – very similar to Titanic, which sinked a year before. The theme of the uneven struggle with nature is shown in an engaging documentary The Great White Silence, which consists of the footage gathered by Herbert G. Ponting during Captain Robert Falcon Scott's tragic expedition to the South Pole. The concept of human fate is in the center of The Last Laugh, directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. It is a moving story about a degraded doorkeeper, who changes an elegant ligature into an ordinary outfit of a hotel toilet worker.

Silent melodramas are full of melancholic glances. The long list of great stars, who act in this kind of films, begins with Marlena Dietrich, who shows her wonderful acting talent in The Woman One Longs For. In Beyond the Rocks melodrama, Gloria Swanson - well known for her iconic role in Sunset Boulevard – involves herself in a complicated relationship with Rudolph Valentino. Meanwhile, popular Italian actress Lyda Borelli, in Flower of Evil, plays the role of a young girl deprived of any hope for the better future. Also The Polish Dancer - the only Polish film with Pola Negri that has survived to this day – is filled with tragedy, alongside with revenge and passion. A spectacular (in every meaning of this word) love story is told in Shiraz: A Romance of India - a dazzling and impressive blockbuster, inspired by the famous monument of timeless love: the Indian Taj Mahal.

Films presented during the Festival are connected by melancholy - understood as a look into the past, filled with gentle sorrow. An atmospheric journey through time is provided by the screening of A Dream about Old Krakow, containing images of the city from the early 20th century. On the screen: beautiful as always Krakow's Planty and snow-covered Lasek Wolski. Bill Morrison, a visual artist, known for his use of found footage technique, provides the viewers with an original take on American history. His Dawson City. Frozen Time is an epic film, based almost exclusively on archives, about the gold rush, set-up of baseball matches, beautiful Canadian nature, genesis of Donald Trump's fortune and... the birth of the cinema. An interesting story about the beginnings of film is also told in the documentary Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché, made in 2018. A film brings back the memory of the forgotten pioneer of silent cinema, who (as a director, screenwriter or producer) co-created nearly a thousand different productions.

Since the beginning of its existence, the Silent Film Festival refers to the film screenings from the early 20th century, which were accompanied with live music. This year, selected titles will be completed by concerts recorded especially for the virtual edition of the Festival. Two quartets will perform: Maciej Trifonidis, Joachim Mencel, Stanislaw Jan Klemens Slowinski and Marek "Smok" Rajss (to the film Beyond the Rocks) and Wassim Ibrahim, Kamil Kruk, Tomas Celis Sanchez, Ethan Smith (Man of the Open Sea). Musical scores to films will be presented also by: Pruski (A Dream about Old Krakow), duo Sza/Za (Flower of Evil) and the SARAPATA brothers (The Last Laugh).

Some of the films will be available with ready-made music by renowned artists, such as Grammy winner Włodek Pawlik (The Polish Dancer), American Robert Israel (Atlantis), jazz virtuoso Pascal Schumacher (The Woman One Longs For), sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar (Shiraz: A Romance of India) and Simon Fisher Turner (The Great White Silence).

The main screenings of the festival will take place on December 4-6, but most of the festival titles will remain available until December 10.

Films are available at www.e-kinopodbaranami.pl (only in Poland).

PROGRAM:

Friday, December 4, 2020

7.00 p.m. THE POLISH DANCER | BESTIA
dir. Aleksander Hertz, Poland 1916, 67’
Film with music by Włodek Pawlik.
Available only on December 4th, from 7 p.m. to 11.59 p.m.

9.00 p.m. THE LAST LAUGH | DER LETZTE MANN

dir. Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Germany 1924, 90’
Recorded concert: SARAPATA.
Available until December 10th.

Saturday, December 5, 2020

6.00 p.m. MAN OF THE OPEN SEAS | L' HOMME DU LARGE
dir. Marcel L'Herbier, France 1920, 86’
Recorded concert: 
Ethan Smith, Kamil Kruk, Tomas Celis Sanchez, Wassim Ibrahim.
Available until December 11th.

8.15 p.m. FLOWER OF EVIL | FIOR DI MALE
dir. Carmine Gallone, Italy 1915, 65’
Recorded concert: Sza/Za.
Available until December 11th.

Sunday, December 6, 2020

6.00 p.m. BEYOND THE ROCKS | POZA SKAŁAMI
dir. Sam Wood, USA 1922, 85’
Recorded concert: 
Joachim Mencel, Maciej Trifonidis, Marek “Smok” Rajss i Stanisław Jan Klemens Słowiński.
Available until December 12th.

8.15 p.m. A DREAM ABOUT OLD KRAKOW - FILM IMAGES OF OLD KRAKOW | SEN O STARYM KRAKOWIE - FILMOWE OBRAZY KRAKOWA POCZĄTKU XX W.
dir. varia, Poland 1913-1929, 61’
Recorded concert: Pruski
Available only on December 6th, from 8.15 p.m. to 11.59 p.m.

OTHER FILMS (available from December 4 to 10)

ATLANTIS | ATLANTIS 

dir. August Blom, Denmark 1913, 114’
Film with music by Robert Israel.
Available from December 4 to 10.

BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ | BĄDŹ SOBĄ, CZYLI NIEOPOWIEDZIANA HISTORIA ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ

dir. Pamela B. Green, USA 2018, 103’
Documentary film.
Available from December 4 to 10.

DAWSON CITY. FROZEN TIME | DAWSON CITY: CZAS ZATRZYMANY

dir. Bill Morrison, USA/France 2016, 120’
Documentary film.
Available from December 4 to 10.

THE WOMAN ONE LONGS FOR | DIE FRAU NACH DER MAN SICH SEHNT

dir. Kurt Bernhardt, Germany 1929, 78’
Film with music by Pascal Schumacher.
Available from December 4 to 10.

SHIRAZ: A ROMANCE OF INDIA | SHIRAZ

dir. Franz Osten, India/Great Britain/Germany 1928, 116’
Film with music by Anoushka Shankar.
Available from December 4 to 10.

THE GREAT WHITE SILENCE | THE GREAT WHITE SILENCE

dir. Herbert G. Ponting, Great Britain 1924, 108’
Film with music by Simon Fisher Turner.
Available from December 4 to 10.

TICKETS: 15 PLN

FESTIVAL PASS – films with concerts (5 films): 60 PLN

FULL FESTIVAL PASS (12 films): 120 PLN 

Available on www.e-kinopodbaranami.pl

ABOUT THE FILMS:

A DREAM ABOUT OLD KRAKOW - FILM IMAGES OF OLD KRAKOW | SEN O STARYM KRAKOWIE - FILMOWE OBRAZY KRAKOWA POCZĄTKU XX W.
dir. varia, Poland 1913-1929, 61’
Unique screening of short films depicting old Krakow. Fantastic voyage through time.
Recorded concert: Pruski
Paweł Pruski is a music producer, whose work is situated between ambient and experimental music. He has performed on Festiwal Ambientalny, Freeform Festival, Tauron Festival and WRO Festival. On Off Radio Kraków he hosts the program “Beat Tools”.
Film with intertitles in Polish, with English subtitles.

ATLANTIS | ATLANTIS 

dir. August Blom, Denmark 1913, 114’
Overwhelmed by personal and professional problems, biologist Friedrich von Kammacher decides to travel abroad in order to regain the joy of living. During his adventurous journey he will meet two very different women, one of whom will be the key to his fate…
Film with music by Robert Israel - Los Angeles-born composer and pianist, one of America's leading silent film accompanists.
Film with intertitles in Danish and English, with Polish subtitles.

BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ | BĄDŹ SOBĄ, CZYLI NIEOPOWIEDZIANA HISTORIA ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ

dir. Pamela B. Green, USA 2018, 103’ (documentary)
Pamela B. Green's energetic film about pioneer filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché is both a tribute and a detective story, tracing the circumstances by which this extraordinary artist faded from memory and the path toward her reclamation.
Film in English and French, with Polish subtitles.

BEYOND THE ROCKS | POZA SKAŁAMI

dir. Sam Wood, USA 1922, 85’
Theodora (Gloria Swanson), a young and penniless aristocrat, marries a much older man, self-made millionaire grocer Josiah Brown, so that her father and spinster sisters can live comfortably. Soon after the wedding, she finds herself falling in love with Hector (Rudolph Valentino), the Tenth Earl of Bracondale, a playboy she encounters on the social circuit of the very rich: in the Swiss Alps, Paris, London, and the English countryside. Hector is attracted to her as well. Theodora must choose between love and duty.
Recorded concert:
Joachim Mencel, Maciej Trifonidis, Marek “Smok” Rajss i Stanisław Jan Klemens
Słowiński
The quartet of Krakow musicians was created on the initiative of multi-instrumentalist and cultural animator Maciej Trifonidis, who invited acclaimed Polish artists to cooperate. Among them are: "romantic Polish jazz pianist", an extremely talented violinist and a renowned percussionist and arranger. The composition prepared for the Festival is based largely on joint improvisation.
Film with intertitles in English, with Polish subtitles.

DAWSON CITY. FROZEN TIME | DAWSON CITY: CZAS ZATRZYMANY

dir. Bill Morrison, USA/France 2016, 120’
Dawson City: Frozen Time, pieces together the bizarre true history of a collection of some 500 films dating from 1910s - 1920s, which were lost for over 50 years until being discovered buried in a sub-arctic swimming pool deep in the Yukon Territory, in Dawson City, located about 350 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Using these permafrost protected, rare silent films and newsreels, archival footage, interviews and historical photographs to tell the story, and accompanied by an enigmatic score by Sigur Rós collaborator and composer Alex Somers, Dawson City: Frozen Time depicts a unique history of a Canadian gold rush town.
Film in English, with Polish subtitles.

FLOWER OF EVIL | FIOR DI MALE

dir. Carmine Gallone, Italy 1915, 65’
Lyda (Lyda Borelli) is a prostitute with no education and no hope for the future. Unfortunately, this ungrateful job leads her to have an unwanted pregnancy, and once born the child abandons her.
Recorded concert:  Sza/Za
Paweł Szamburski and Patryk Zakrocki, who are part of the duo, are musicians who surprise the audience with their unlimited musical imagination, unobvious instruments, multilayer sound and great sense of humor.
Film with intertitles in Dutch, with double (Polish and English) subtitles.

MAN OF THE OPEN SEAS | L' HOMME DU LARGE

dir. Marcel L'Herbier, France 1920, 86’
Nolff, a tough Breton fisherman, is happy: his wife has just given birth to a son, Michel. His only wish is to make him a fisherman like him. But when he becomes a man, Michel becomes a good-for-nothing who spends his time in taverns with his evil genius friend Gwenn la Taupe. The sea will be his judge.
Recorded concert:
Ethan Smith / Kamil Kruk / Tomas Celis Sanchez / Wassim Ibrahim
An international quartet led by the Syrian composer Wassim Ibrahim, consists of musicians who live in Krakow on a daily basis and work with Polish and international artists. The soundtrack, composed especially for the Festival, features a wide range of instruments: a musical saw, saxophone, percussion instruments, Arabic oud and... vocal.
Film with intertitles in French, with double (Polish and English) subtitles.

SHIRAZ: A ROMANCE OF INDIA | SHIRAZ

dir. Franz Osten, India/Great Britain/Germany 1928, 116’
A historical romance set in the Mughal Empire. Selima (Enakashi Rama Rao) is a princess-foundling raised by a potter and loved by her brother, Shiraz (Himanshu Rai). She is abducted and sold as a slave to Prince Khurram, later Emperor Shah Jehan (Charu Roy), who falls for her, to the chagrin of the wily Dalia (Seeta Devi).
Film with music by Anoushka Shankar - composer and instrumentalist, virtuoso sitar player.
Film with intertitles in English, with Polish subtitles.

THE GREAT WHITE SILENCE | THE GREAT WHITE SILENCE

dir. Herbert G. Ponting, Great Britain 1924, 108’
This early full-length documentary from filmmaker Herbert G. Ponting follows Captain Robert F. Scott and his famed expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole. The expedition left New Zealand in 1910 and arrived at the Antarctic shelf some three months later. Ponting not only shows many sites along the way - sea life, their ship cutting through the ice pack - but also manages to explain some of his techniques by showing how he obtained a particular shot.
Film with music by Simon Fisher Turner - English musician, lyricist, composer, producer and actor who appeared in the BBC series Tom Brown's Schooldays (1971) and the films The Big Sleep (1978) and Caravaggio (1986).
Film with intertitles in English, with Polish subtitles.

THE LAST LAUGH | DER LETZTE MANN

dir. Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Germany 1924, 90’
Emil Jannings is the doorman of the elegant Atlantic Hotel. He is proud of his uniform and function, and respected by his community. When he reaches old age, he has difficulties carrying trunks and suitcases. The hotel manager decides to change his function to washroom attendant. This apparently simple action is enough to destroy him as a human being. He loses his self-respect and when his neighbor finds that he is janitor of the hotel, he loses the respect of his neighbors and friends.
Recorded concert: SARAPATA
SARAPATA is an electronic duo of brothers: Michał and Mateusz: musicians and producers, co-founders of SALK. They have performed music to theatrical performances and feature films, and have performed at Open'er Festival, Off Festival, Soundrive, Męskie Granie and Fest Festival.
Film with intertitles in German, with Polish subtitles.

THE POLISH DANCER | BESTIA

dir. Aleksander Hertz, Poland 1916, 67’
Poland’s biggest silent film star in one of her rare Polish films. Pola Negri plays a young woman who runs away from home and finds more trouble than she bargained for in the big city.
The author of the music for the film is a Grammy award winning Polish jazzman Włodek Pawlik.
Film with intertitles in English, with Polish subtitles.

THE WOMAN ONE LONGS FOR | DIE FRAU NACH DER MAN SICH SEHNT

dir. Kurt Bernhardt, Germany 1929, 78’
On his honeymoon with a bride he has wed for business reasons, a man falls for a woman (Marlene Dietrich) who is in the clutches of a sinister character. After this woman begs him to help her escape, he plots to do so using the opportunity of a masked ball.
The author of the music for the film is Pascal Schumacher, a Luxembourg-born jazz musician, composer and soloist.
Film with intertitles in German, with Polish subtitles. 

ORGANISERS:

Fundacja Dla Kina
Kino Pod Baranami

CO-FINANCED BY:

Miasto Kraków
Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego
Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej

MEDIA PATRONS:

Karnet

FESTIVAL DESIGN: 

BLEKA - www.bleka.pl
The project is co-financed by the City of Krakow.
It was co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Fund for the Promotion of Culture.
It was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

KINO POD BARANAMI

Rynek Główny 27
31-010 Kraków
12 423 07 68
www.kinopodbaranami.pl