Silent Film Organizations, Festivals & Conferences
WFPP is part of a larger community of institutions, organizations, scholars, curators, musicians, and archivists who are dedicated to studying, preserving, and exhibiting silent cinema and/or the work of early women filmmakers. This list is by no means exhaustive and will be updated regularly.
ORGANIZATIONS
Association of Moving Image Archivists: AMIA is an international nonprofit association dedicated to the preservation and use of moving image media. See also the associated Nitrate Film Interest Group, a Flickr account created “to help archives around the world identify unknown films in their collections.”
Domitor: Domitor is a film society focused on the study of early cinema from its birth to 1915. Domitor supports international dialogues in the pursuit of new methods of historical research and understanding.
Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF): FIAF is a network of international archives dedicated to the collection, preservation, restoration, and exhibition of film and related historical materials.
The Magic Lantern Society: The Magic Lantern Society is an online platform for collectors, enthusiasts, students of film, visual media, and performative culture and archival organizations from over 30 different countries. Activities include international conferences, quarterly meetings, exhibitions, publications, film preservations, etc.
NitrateVille: An online forum and thriving community dedicated to the discussion, collection, and research of film. The website has sections dedicated to silent film, film preservation, and more.
Silent Film Calendar: Calendar of silent film screenings. Mostly dedicated to United Kingdom, but features list of international film festivals.
Women and Film History International: WFHI is a network of scholars and practitioners focusing on women’s roles in film history.
Women’s Film and Television History Network- UK/Ireland: WFTHN is a scholarly group focused on women’s contribution to the cultivation and development of film and television in the UK/Ireland.
Women’s Silent British Cinema: WSBC invites discussion and shared research on women’s roles in early British cinema.
Women’s Work in British Film and Television: This project assesses the contribution women have made to film and television production in Britain, during a period of considerable social change for women and substantial institutional change for the industries spanning from the years 1933-1989.
FILM FESTIVALS, CONFERENCES & SCREENING RESOURCES
The British Silent Film Festival: The BSFF (and Symposium) is held at King’s College in London. The festival, which examines filmmaking in Britain from 1895-1930, serves to encourage scholarly discussion and research on the dawn of cinema in Britain.
Capitol Fest: “Capitolfest is Central New York’s premier summer Cinephile film festival–a place to see rarely-shown and newly-discovered films of the silent and early talkie era, held in [the] historic 1,788-seat movie palace.”
Denver Silent Film Festival: An annual festival dedicated to silent cinema taking place, since 2010, in Denver, Colorado.
Doing Women’s Film and Television History: A conference held biennially dedicated to women’s labor in media industries past and present. Each conference is held at a different location in the UK and is co-hosted by WFTHN.
Festival d’Anères: An annual festival dedicated to silent cinema taking place in Anères, France.
Festival Internacional de Cine Silente México (FIC Silente MX): This festival, founded in 2016, celebrates the art of silent film and takes place in Puebla City, Mexico.
Festival Nitratnog Filma: One of the oldest archival film festivals in Europe, this festival of nitrate film takes place every year in June at the Jugoslovenska Kinoteka in Belgrade, Serbia.
Hippodrome Silent Film Festival: Scotland’s only silent film festival, the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival was launched in 2011.
Il Cinema Ritrovato (Cinema Rediscovered): Held annually in Bologna, Italy, Il Cinema Ritrovato is a festival dedicated to the rediscovery and restoration of rare films with a particular focus on films from the silent era.
Internationale Stummfilmtage (International Days of Silent Cinema): Held every August in Bonn, Germany, this festival of silent cinema has been running since 1985.
Kansas Silent Film Festival: A film festival dedicated to silent cinema that takes place in Topeka, Kansas. Held annually since 1997.
Kennsington Bioscope: Regular silent film screenings at the Cinema Museum in London.
Le Giornate del cinema muto (Pordenone Silent Film Festival): The first and largest international film festival dedicated to the preservation, dispersion, and study of silent film. Held annually in Pordenone, Italy.
Loud Silents Festival: A festival dedicated to silent cinema and musical accompaniment. Held every April in Tampere, Finland.
Maine Silent Film Festival: A two-day festival at the historic Alamo Theatre in Bucksport, Maine. Features both comedy and drama, shorts and features, as well as live accompaniment. The festival focuses on rare and unusual titles seldom screened theatrically today.
Mostly Lost: A silent film identification workshop run by the Library of Congress. During this unique workshop each year, scholars, archivists, and fans have the opportunity to help search for clues and identify unidentified or misidentified footage and films (submitted by film archives around the world). In the past as many as 26% of the screened films have been identified during the course of the workshop.
Mykkäelokuvafestivaalit (International Silent Film Festival, Forssa): The Forssa Silent Film Festival is held in Forssa, Finland each summer. Each year focuses on a different region and that country’s films, but silent film is the overarching theme for the festival as a whole.
Nederlands Silent Film Festival: An annual festival dedicated to silent film, with live music, lectures, and more.
The Originals: Created and run by silent film accompanist Neil Brand, The Originals is a website dedicated to silent-era film music and “brings together articles, diaries and eye witness accounts which [Brand] collected over the years, to try and give at least a feel of what it was like to hear and play music for silent film, during the pre-sound era.”
The Orphan Film Symposium: A conference dedicated to “all manner of films outside the commercial mainstream: amateur, educational, ethnographic, industrial, government, experimental, censored, independent, sponsored, obsolescent, small-gauge, silent, student, medical, unreleased, and underground films, as well as kinescopes, home movies, test reels, newsreels, outtakes, fringe TV, and other ephemeral moving images.” Held biennially.
San Francisco Silent Film Festival: Held annually in San Francisco, California, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival is “is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about silent film as an art form and as a culturally valuable historical record.”
Sessiz Sinema Günleri (Istanbul Silent Cinema Days): The first and only silent film festival in Turkey, “Istanbul Silent Cinema Days aim[s] to provide unique experiences through presenting the avant-garde aspect of silent films, revealing the magical relationship between the images and the rhythm of live musical accompaniment. Recently restored films from world’s renowned archives meet the audience in this festival exclusively dedicated to silent cinema.”
The Silent Film Festival in Thailand: “The Silent Film Festival in Thailand by Film Archive (Public Organization) aims to celebrate the worldly greatness of [the] silent film era.”
Silent Film Music: Website of New York-based silent film accompanist Ben Model that includes blog posts, podcast episodes, a calendar of shows, and more.
Silent-Film-Music: Website for silent film accompanists and composers Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton.
Slapstick Festival: Since 2005, “Slapstick Festival exists to build new audiences for and appreciation of silent and visual onscreen comedy. We do this by showcasing and celebrating archive film comedy predominately from the silent era (1895-1930).” Held in Bristol, UK.
South West Silents: “South West Silents is a regional film organization that specializes in screening films from the silent era. Born out of the volunteer organization Bristol Silents, we are becoming established as a leader in screening silent film.” Held in Bristol, UK.
Stummfilm Festival Karlsruhe: Held in Karlsruhe, Germany, this film festival has been running since 2002.
Toronto Silent Film Festival: A yearly festival held in Toronto, Canada, devoted to silent cinema.
Women and the Silent Screen Conference: Organized by WFHI, “Women and the Silent Screen (WSS), [is] an international conference held biennially, [that] brings together research focusing on all forms of women’s presence in the earliest decades of motion picture history.”
Yorkshire Silent Film Festival: “Yorkshire Silent Film Festival is the largest celebration of live-scored silent film in the UK. It takes place every May in community venues, cinemas, theaters, and other spaces all around Yorkshire.”