5th International Silent Film Fest at Shangri-la Plaza

If there’s one Shang film fest I would not miss, it would be this.

The first Silent Film Fest I watched was in 2009, Fantomas: in the shadow of the guillotine (1913). Prior to watching, I thought all along that the music was recorded. I did not expect a LIVE BAND playing vis-a-vis the colossal screen of sepia. It was Corporate Lo-fi who played that night. Somehow their hip hop jazzy funky music was perfect for the classic French silent film. It was mind-blowing. I can still remember the good shivers sent down my back, as I experienced this extraordinary audio-visual.

This unique artistry will be again accessible to everyone this August 2011 at Shang Cineplex. And for the first time the Philippines will participate with the film Brides of Sulu.

See the screening schedule and film synopsis after the jump.

August 26, 2011 Friday
7PM – Brides of Sulu (Philippines)
9PM – Nosferatu (German)

August 27, 2011 Saturday
5PM – Akeyuku Sora / The Dawning Sky (Japan)
7PM – Dante’s Inferno (Italy)

August 28, 2011 Sunday
5PM – The Greek Miracle
7PM – Pilar Guerra

BRIDES OF SULU
John Nelson,1933 (47 min.)
Drawn by their forbidden passions, a beautiful Mohammedan Moro princess and her lover, a pagan pearl diver, defy religious and moral laws and flee her arranged marriage to another. The ruler of a primitive Philippine Island has promised his daughter Benita’s hand to a nearby noble chief. As the town prepares for Benita’s planned betrothal, Asan sneaks into the royal compound and steals away with his beloved. Vowing to make the infidel pay with his life, the inflamed tribesmen launch a furious pursuit to recapture their princess.Beautifully filmed on location, using local Moro tribesmen, this forgotten 1934 film provides a rare glimpse into a lost culture.

NOSFERATU
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1922 (94 min.)
The film Nosferatu – A symphony of horror is a German silent film produced by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. The premier was on the 04 March 1922 in Berlin. For the first time Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau showed vampires in a movie thus, making it the precursor of vampire films.But only a few people recognized the innovative character of this film. The film was edited, mutilated and screened in different variations. In 1987 it was possible to restore the film, even the sound and the pictures could be repaired and it looks like the original film.

AKEYUKU SORA/ THE DAWNING SKY
Torajiro Saito, 1929 (71 min.)
A melodrama about an orphan and her mother who are separated and lose contact, but are later reunited.

DANTE’S INFERNO
Giuseppe de Liguoro, 1911 (71 min.)
The Italian epic came of age with Giuseppe de Liguoro’s imaginative silent film of the Inferno, loosely adapted from Dante and inspired by the illustrations of Gustave Doré.Full of special effects, flashbacks, monsters, appearances and disappearances, giants, dragons, demons and other hellish apparitions, it must have had a terrific impact on viewers when it was first screened in Naples in the Teatro Mercandante on 10 March 1911.
The film took over three years to make and was the first full length Italian feature film ever made. Its success was not confined to Italy, it was an international hit taki

THE GREEK MIRACLE
staged documentary film, 1921(5 min.)
The film was produced by the brothers Demetrios and Michalis Gaziadis, the sons of Anastasios Gaziadis, a well-known photographer in the Athens area. The brothers founded (D.A.G. Film) in 1918 to produce newsreels and documentaries. In 1921 they were commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to produce a “staged” documentary called “The Greek Miracle” devoted to the achievements of the Greek Army in Asia Minor. Two employees of the Ministry wrote the script. The two brothers had partly followed the action and captured some dramatic pictures of the events during the Asia Minor campaign (1919-1922).The film tells the story of an Athenian family who wants to participate in the war. The husband volunteers and the wife soon follows as a nurse. Although the film was shot with professional actors (the two stars are actually Russian actors), the locations and soldiers are real. Excerpts from real newsreels that the Gaziadis brothers produced during the Asia Minor campaign have also been used.
The Greek Miracle is a rare example of a fiction film shot before WWII in Greece with both actors and real extras and settings. It is also important as it sheds light the ideology of the period. Unfortunately, the film was not completed and was never shown because of the unsuccessful outcome of the military operations in Asia Minor.

PILAR GUERRA
José Buchs, 1926 (63 min.)
The teacher of the town of Araceli, Pilar Guerra, has romantic relations with Luciano,the son of the mayor who does not approve of this young love. In hopes of separating them, he sends Luciano on a trip and Pilar to a different destination.
See you there!