WINGS screens in Cleveland, Ohio at Cleveland Silent Film Festival

The inaugural Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium, which kicks off this weekend, will screen Wings, one of the great films of the silent era. Along with Wings, the Festival is also set to screen Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), starring Buster Keaton, The Wedding March (1929), starring Erich von Stroheim, and Sunrise (1927), starring Janet Gaynor. Click to access the Festival's Facebook Page which contains information on the various screenings and concerts as well as ticket information.

I was honored that the Cleveland Silent Film Festival published my essay on Wings in their festival program. I also penned a piece for the local Cleveland, Ohio patch entitled "WINGS to screen at Cleveland Silent Film Festival: First Oscar winner was the most popular film in the city in the 1920s".

On Friday, February 18, the newly launched Cleveland Silent Film Festival will screen Wings, a film which holds two unique distinctions; it was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. And secondly, Wings can rightly claim to have been the most popular film shown in Cleveland in the 1920s. 

If that isn't enough to pique your interest, this blockbuster film will be shown with a newly recorded reconstruction of the lavish musical score first heard at the film's 1927 premiere. That score was composed by J.S. Zamecnik, a Cleveland-born composer widely regarded as one of the leading film composers of his time.

 

Dates and films set for first ever Cleveland Silent Film Festival

The dates and line-up of films have been announced for the first ever Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium. The multi-film, multi-day series of events begins February 13 and runs through February 20. It looks to be an impressive event. A complete listing of festival and colloquium events is below. Ticketing information is listed with each event. Consult with each venue about its COVID-19 safety policies and admission requirements. More information HERE.

A consortium of five area institutions has come together to put on the week-long Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium. The 2022 Cleveland Silent Film Festival is a new venture planning exciting programs of silent era classics accompanied by top silent film music specialists as well as workshops for area musicians interested in learning to play for silent films. 

 The newly formed Festival will screen four feature films, and a few shorts. However, the main attraction or "star" of the Festival is not a film or actor or director, but rather the Cleveland-born film score composer, J.S. Zamecnik, whose music will be featured and performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. I have seen them accompany a number of silent films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and they really are outstanding. I also own the CD pictured at the bottom of this post. If there name sounds familiar, it is likely because they provided the musical accompaniment to the KINO Lorber release of the 1928 Louise Brooks film, Beggars of Life.

FILM FESTIVAL AND COLLOQUIUM SCHEDULE

3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13
Hermit Club (1629 Dodge Ct., Cleveland)
“From Hermit Club to Hollywood: A Concert of Music by J.S. Zamecnik and Dvorak”
Featuring members of the Cleveland Orchestra, led by violinist Isabel Trautwein. Rodney Sauer, director of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, will be sitting in on piano for the Zamecnik Piano Trio.
Tickets, $40, at eventbrite.com.

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15
Birenbaum Innovation and Performance Space (10 E. College St., Oberlin)
Short silent films accompanied live by Oberlin Conservatory of Music students
Free admission.

8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16
Apollo Theater (19 E. College St., Oberlin)
Film: “Steamboat Bill, Jr.”
Free admission.

 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18
Harkness Chapel (11200 Bellflower Road, Cleveland)
“Silent Film Scoring for Working Musicians,” with Rodney Sauer, director of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and Daniel Goldmark, director of the Center for Popular Music Studies at CWRU
Free admission.

7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18
Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque (11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland)
Film: “Wings” (1927), with a newly recorded soundtrack of the score heard at the film's NYC premiere in 1927
Tickets, $12, at cia.edu/cinematheque

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19
Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque
Film concert: “The Wedding March” (1929), with live accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Tickets, $15, at cia.edu/cinematheque

3:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 20
Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque
Film concert: “Sunrise” (1927), with an original score inspired by Zamecnik’s music, performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Tickets, $15, at cia.edu/cinematheque