The festival is just two weekends away, and we have a few reminders – and some exciting updates!

We want to thank everyone who contributed to our first Annual Fund Challenge in response to Leonard Maltin’s appeal. With your enthusiastic support, we nearly tripled our $5,000 goal!

Another way to show your support for The Silent Film Festival is to buy a ticket for our first-ever raffle. We will give away eleven generously-donated prizes over the course of the festival weekend – one at every program – with a truly fabulous grand prize: a $5,000 shopping spree at San Francisco’s own McRoskey Mattress Company! Raffle tickets are on sale now, and you can also buy them during the festival. If you aren’t able to join us this year but you’d still like to take part in the raffle, no problem – you don’t have to be present to win. To learn more about the raffle, visit our website.

We also hope you plan to attend our Opening Night Party on Friday, July 13, following THE STUDENT PRINCE IN OLD HEIDELBERG. We’ll celebrate in true beer garden spirit with tasty German food and drink, and you’ll rub elbows with our special guests in 2/4 time to the lively beat of Big Lou’s Polka Casserole. A good time is guaranteed for all!

We’re very pleased to announce that Mike Mashon of The Library of Congress will join Patrick Loughney of George Eastman House and Rob Stone of the UCLA Film & Television Archive for our free-admission program MORE AMAZING TALES FROM THE ARCHIVES on Sunday, July 15 at 10:30am. These Champions of Celluloid will pick up where last year’s program left off and demonstrate, through clips and slide presentations, the incredible challenges that today’s film preservationists face. Mike Mashon will also introduce William DeMille’s masterfully observed kitchen-sink drama MISS LULU BETT (soon-to-be a darling of yours).

The Italian Strongman melodrama MACISTE, which screens on Saturday July 14 at 3:30pm, will be presented with a live English translation of the Italian intertitles by not one, but two special guests: Olivia Sears, Founder and President of The Center for the Art of Translation, and, as Maciste, our own Frank Buxton – the voice of 1960s cartoon crime fighter Batfink! And what’s even better – Frank and Olivia are Father and Daughter!

Expand your silent film smarts and your library, and pick up some new books from the cornucopia of delights offered at The Booksmith table, which will be located on the mezzanine this year. The Booksmith will host author appearances and book signings throughout the festival; among those slated to sign books are two of your favorite film historians, Robert Osborne and Leonard Maltin. The complete list of author appearances is available on our website.

Tickets are now on sale by phone, mail, fax and online, or you can drop by our box office at 833 Market Street, Suite 812 on Thursdays and Fridays between 11:30am-5:30pm and buy tickets (both for the films and the raffle!) in person.

We look forward to seeing you at the festival!

Warm Regards,
Stacey and Stephen

Stacey Wisnia, Executive Director
Stephen Salmons, Artistic Director and Co-Founder
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival
833 Market Street, Suite 812
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel 415-777-4908; fax 415-777-4904
stacey@silentfilm.org 12th Annual Silent Film FestivalFriday, July 13
7:00 THE STUDENT PRINCE IN OLD HEIDELBERG (1927, Ernst Lubitsch) with Ramon Novarro, Norma Shearer, Jean Hersholt, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Philipe de Lacy
Introduced by Mick LaSalle
With short 28MM to 35MM– BEAUTY SPOTS IN AMERICA: CASTLE HOT SPRINGS, ARIZONA (1916)
Co-Presented by Goethe-Institut
Live accompaniment on the Mighty Wurlitzer by Dennis James

Saturday, July 14
10:30am HAL ROACH: KING OF COMEDY
FAST COMPANY (1924) Directed by Robert F. McGowan with Our Gang
JUST A GOOD GUY (1924) Directed by Hampton Del Ruth with Arthur Stone
THE BOY FRIEND (1928) Directed by Fred Guiol with Max Davidson
MOVIE NIGHT (1929) Directed by Lewis R. Foster with Charley Chase
Special guests: Rob Stone of the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Leonard Maltin
Live piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin

1:15 THE VALLEY OF THE GIANTS (1927, Charles Brabin) with Milton Sills, Doris Kenyon, Arthur Stone, George Fawcett, Paul Hurst, Phil Brady
With short 28MM to 35MM – HOW THE COWBOY MAKES HS LARIAT (1917)
Sponsored by Wells Fargo
Live piano accompaniment by Stephen Horne

3:30 MACISTE (1915, Luigi Romano Borgnetto) with Bartolomeo Pagano, Ada Marangoni, Arline Costello, Louise Farnsworth, Robert Ormand
With short 28MM to 35MM – HIS WIFE’S HERO (1917)
Co-Presented by Center for the Art of Translation
With the generous assistance of Istituto Italiano di Cultura
Live piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin
(in Italian with live reading of English translation by Olivia Sears and Frank Buxton)

Special Tribute to Turner Classic Movies!
5:45 CAMILLE (1921, Ray C. Smallwood) with Alla Nazimova, Rudolph Valentino, Patsy Ruth Miller, Rex Cherryman, Arthur Hoyt, Consuelo Flowerton
Special guests: Charles Tabesh and Robert Osborn of Turner Classic Movies
With short 28MM to 35MM – HER OBSESSION (1917)
Sponsored by McRoskey Mattress Company
Live accompaniment on the Mighty Wurlitzer by Clark Wilson

8:45 BEGGARS OF LIFE (1928, William Wellman) with Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen, Louise Brooks, Edgar ‘Blue’ Washington
Special guests: Patrick Loughney of George Eastman House and William Wellman, Jr.!
With short 28MM to 35MM – HOODWINKING THE POLICE (1917)
Live accompaniment by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

Sunday, July 15 10:30am MORE AMAZING TALES FROM THE ARCHIVES
With Patrick Loughney of George Eastman House,
Mike Mashon of the Library of Congress, and
Rob Stone of UCLA Film and Television Archive
Live piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin

12:45 RETOUR DE FLAMME (Saved from the Flames)
French rarities by George Méliès, Gaston Velle, Ferdinand Zecca and more from I900-I928 presented by Serge Bromberg.
Co-Presented by Alliance Française
With the generous assistance of Consulate General of France in San Francisco
Live piano accompaniment by Serge Bromberg

3:35 MISS LULU BETT (1921, William DeMille) with Lois Wilson, Milton Sills, Theodore Roberts, Helen Ferguson, Clarence Burton
Introduced by Mike Mashon of the Library of Congress
With short 28MM to 35MM – IN THE SHADOW OF THE PYRAMIDS (1915)
Live accompaniment by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

6:00 A COTTAGE ON DARTMOOR (1929, Anthony Asquith) with Uno Henning, Norah Baring, Hans Schlettow, Judd Green, Anthony Asquith
Introduced by Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation
With short 28MM to 35MM – LONESOME LUKE’S LIVELY LIFE (1917)
Co-Presented by Film Noir Foundation
Live piano accompaniment by Stephen Horne

8:45 THE GODLESS GIRL (1929, Cecil B. DeMille) with Lina Basquette, Marie Prevost, James Duryea, Noah Beery, Eddie Quillan
Introduced by Scott Simmon of the National Film Preservation Foundation
With short 28MM to 35MM –MUSHROOM GROWING (1915)
Live accompaniment on the Mighty Wurlitzer by Dennis James ADVANCE TICKETSThrough July 12
ONLINE/ MAIL/ FAX

PHONE 925-866-9530
Mon-Fri 9AM-5PM

IN PERSON
Festival Box Office
Thurs-Fri 11:30AM-5:30PM
833 Market Street Suite 811 (between 4th and 5th Streets)
San FranciscoTickets will also be available during the festival weekend at the Castro Theatre