AUSTRALIA’S SILENT FILM FESTIVAL
You may be huddled up in front of Jesus this Autumn/Winter even if you never saw yourself as a church-going type. The Pitt Street Uniting Church will host classic silent films as a lead-up to Australia’s Silent Film Festival in September. It is the perfect setting for the haunting sounds of a newly restored Hill and Son organ and a concert grand piano. “Silent films were never meant to be silent. They always had music, live music. And we are very fortunate to have young theatre organist David Bailey and the internationally acclaimed Mauro Colombis on piano. Mauro has played at sold out silent film festivals in Italy,” says festival organiser Ronnie Farrah. The lead-up kicks off with Australian short Men of Timor and a gothic horror and black comedy The Cat and the Canary. Expect classics like Nosferatu, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and 7th Heaven in high-quality digitally restored prints. If this is the appetiser, what can we expect for the main course in September? “There are three world premiers. A wonderful film by French director René Clair called An Italian Straw Hat. It’s one of the most important silent films and has not been readily available around the world for a long time. Of course, we’ll have a Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton session amongst many others,” says a tight-lipped Farrah. Silence is golden indeed.
Apr 22–Aug 24 @ 7pm, Pitt Street Uniting Church, 264 Pitt Street, Sydney, $15-20, 0419267318, ozsilentfilmfestival.com.au
