Diary of a Lost Girl to screen in San Francisco

Diary of a Lost Girl, the acclaimed 1929 German silent film starring Louise Brooks, will be the centerpiece of this year’s San Francisco Silent Film Festival. The Festival, which is celebrating its 15th annual event in July, has announced the schedule for its 4-day summer happening held at the historic Castro Theater. Diary has been designated the Founder’s Pick film for the 2010 Festival.

The 116-minute version of Diary which will be screened on July 17 has been mastered from a restoration of the film made by the Cineteca di Bologna with approximately seven minutes of previously censored footage. This 35 mm print is courtesy of KINO International. The film will be accompanied by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. The musical group, known for their accompaniment to silent films, will debut their original score for the Brooks film.

Following this special screening, a book signing will take place at the Castro Theater which should prove of interest to fans of Louise Brooks. Ira M. Resnick, the author of Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood (Abbeville), will be signing copies of his new coffee table book. It contains, notably, a number of illustrations of posters and lobby cards of Brooks’ films, including a one-of-a-kind poster for Diary of a Lost Girl for which the author once paid $60,000.

Also signing books following Diary of a Lost Girl will be Hollywood screenwriter Samuel Bernstein, whose Lulu: A Novel, has just been published by Walford Press. The subject of this “non-fiction” novel is, of course, Louise Brooks. And as well, there will be a signing for my forthcoming edition of Böhme’s The Diary of a Lost Girl, which is being brought back into print a century after it was first published in English translation in the United States. This new, illustrated edition includes an introduction detailing the history of the book and the films made from it.

More about this special happening at http://www.examiner.com/x-48577-Louise-Brooks-Examiner~y2010m5d21-Louise-Brooks-film-centerpiece-of-2010-Silent-Film-Festival