To Pordenone, a lovely town in the north-east region of Friuli Venezia Giulia for the 43rd edition of the Giornate del Cinema Muto, the annual festival of silent film. We had dipped a toe in the event two years ago, and enjoyed it so much that we decided to register for the whole week this time. As expected, it was a very enjoyable experience: fun, entertaining, educational in equal measure.
The schedule is punishing, with screenings starting each day at 9:00 a.m. or even earlier, and the final tranche of films beginning at 11:00 p.m., meaning that some days were concluding around half past one in the morning. You need to be selective about what to watch, otherwise you are likely to be overwhelmed. As in previous years, there were a number of themes running through the programme. This year, the major strands were films from Uzbekistan, the work of cinematographer Ben Carré, and films featuring Anna May Wong. Our film choices were guided by the excellent catalogue that all attendees are given: a massive, well-illustrated book really, that presents all the relevant information about every film, in Italian and English.
One of the joys of the festival is that each film, whether it’s a three-hour epic, or a two-minute fragment, is accompanied by live music, usually piano, but often augmented by other instruments too. And the musicians are world-class. Neil Brand, for instance, last seen by me in 2023 at an event in Manchester where he explored the world of piano players in early British silent cinema, using Burgess’s The Pianoplayers as a starting point. At Pordenone, the highlight was his score for Susi Saxophon, a light-hearted romp about a Viennese girl who comes to London to train as a Tiller Girl. Brand was joined by virtuoso percussionist Frank Bockius and, appropriately, saxophone by Francesco Bearzatti. The special event shows were accompanied by a full orchestra, while Uzbek musicians playing traditional instruments were on hand for their country’s films.
There’s also a programme of discussions and lectures, and a film fair, selling books and memorabilia. It all takes place in the well-appointed Teatro Verdi, right in the centre of the delightful town of Pordenone, whose burghers seem to have seized on a surefire way to attract people: put on a festival. Apart from the Cinema Muto, I noted festivals of blues, literature, food, and music on the comune’s calendar.
This is a great experience for anyone interested in film and its history. I wish there were something on these lines in the UK.
Cinema Muto at Pordenone by Dr Rob Spence is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.