The George Eastman Museum announced today that it has been awarded a grant of $5,000 from The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences through its FilmWatch program. Grant funds will support live musical accompaniment for 20 curated silent films to be screened in the museum’s Dryden Theatre as part of the 2016-2017 Silent Cinema Tuesdays program.
“The museum is committed to presenting films as close to the way audiences would have seen them on their original release,” said Jurij Meden, curator of film exhibition, Moving Image Department, George Eastman Museum. “We exhibit rare silent film titles and classics so that audiences can expand their knowledge and enjoyment of cinema in the best way possible.”
The screening of the silent film heritage has been a mainstay of Dryden Theatre programming since the theatre first opened to the public in 1951. Dryden audiences experience archival projection of silent films at the correct speed, the correct aspect ratio, and accompanied by one of the most talented, knowledgeable, and versatile musicians in the field.
The Dryden’s Silent Cinema Tuesdays builds on the historic silent era of cinema which saw films accompanied by solo artists on piano or violin, and sometimes, with full orchestras. Today the Dryden’s principal musician is Dr. Philip Carli, a film historian, pianist,music theory instructor, and composer. Dr. Carli also performs regularly at the Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy, and other venues worldwide that screen silent films.
As part of the museum’s commitment to bringing the best of the international silent film repertoire to the Rochester audience, the Dryden partners with the University of Rochester to offer a Silent Cinema course augmented by twelve screenings in the fall semester, all of which are taught,accompanied, and introduced by Dr. Carli, and financially supported by the university.
The 2016-2017 schedule for Silent Cinema Tuesdays at the Dryden Theatre currently include:
Tues.,Sept. 6, 8 p.m.
The Iron Horse (John Ford, 1924)
Tues.,Sept. 13, 8 p.m.
Kindling (Cecil B. DeMille, 1915
Tues.,Sept. 20, 8 p.m.
The Blizzard (Mauritz Stiller, 1923)
Tues.,Sept. 27, 8 p.m.
The Lost World (Harry O. Hoyt, 1925)
Tues.,Oct. 4, 8 p.m.
The Monkey Talks (Raoul Walsh, 1927)
Tues., Oct. 18, 8 p.m.
Show Girl (Alfred Santell, 1928)
Tues.,Oct. 25, 8 p.m.
The Golmen (Der Golem) (Carl Boese, Paul Wegener,1920)
Plus, a special screening on:
Fri., Nov. 18, 8 p.m.
Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)
Tickets for Silent Cinema Tuesday screenings are $8 general, $6 members, and $4 students (with ID). They are available at the Dryden box office 45 minutes before screening. For more information, visit eastman.org/dryden.
About The Academy Grants Program
The Academy Grants program provides financial support to qualifying film festivals, educational institutions and film scholars and supports the Academy’s over all mission: to recognize and uphold excellence in the motion picture arts and sciences, inspire imagination, and connect the world through the medium of motion pictures. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s FilmWatch Grants support curated screening programs at North America-based film festivals, film societies and other film related organizations.
About the George Eastman Museum
Founded in 1947, the George Eastman Museum is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the largest film archives in the United States, located on the historic Rochester estate of entrepreneur and philanthropist George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography. Its holdings comprise more than 400,000 photographs, 28,000 motion picture films, the world’s preeminent collection of photographic and cinematographic technology, one of the leading libraries of books related to photography and cinema, and extensive holdings of documents and other objects related to George Eastman. As a research and teaching institution, the Eastman Museum has an active publishing program and, through its two joint master’s degree programs with the University of Rochester, makes critical contributions to the fields of film preservation and of photographic preservation and collection management. For more information, visit eastman.org.
