The first International Festival of Silent Film SILENCE IS GOLDEN will be held in the Student City Cultural Center (DKSG) in New Belgrade, in the Abazija Cinema in Palić and in NKC Niš, from November 15th to 17th this year. Films can be applied until October 15th and the application is free, local authors can send links to their films and press kit to e-mail address of the festival – silenceisgolden.filmfestival@gmail.com.
The name of the festival is inspired by the film of the same name by Rene Claire, from 1947, with a plot set in the era of silent film. The epoch of silent film created an authentic means of expression with an original system of semantic codes based on procedures that belong exclusively to visual cinematic language and manipulation of diegetic space and time-editing. With the advent of sound, film also took on some forms of expression from classical dramatic forms and thus lost its purity and authenticity in an aesthetic sense, often giving preference to verbal means of expression.
SILENCE IS GOLDEN is a festival of contemporary silent film of all categories, as well as a retrospective of classic works from the silent era of film. It consists of a competition program of newly made films, as well as special screenings of historically important silent films with improvised music by several musical ensembles as accompaniment and accompanying lectures.
The festival consists of several program units:
A competition program of contemporary silent films evaluated by a three-member jury consisting of theorists and filmmakers. The jury will award the best film with a SILENCE IS GOLDEN sculpture.
Screening of a historically significant silent films and accompanying lectures on film
Performances of improvised music to silent films from the competition selection.
Round table on the topic of restoration, digitalization and development of the form of silent film today in the light of the digital age
Networking with other silent film festivals in the world
The aim of the festival is to reevaluate silent film as an original cinematic expression and a film language based on visual, symbolic and non-verbal means of expression. Exploring the perspectives of silent film in the digital age, through the presentation of restoration and digitization projects.
The target group of the festival are students of the University of Arts, residents of the Student City, film lovers, and all professionals in the field of cinematography.
Participants:
Igor M. Toholj, Artistic Director of the festival, editor of the DKSG film program, Petar Mitrić, program selector, authors of improvised music, and guests – restorers of film copies from the silent film era, film theorists.
Rules of the 1st Silent Film Festival SILENCE IS GOLDEN
The silent film festival SILENCE IS GOLD in its competition program shows domestic and international silent films that do not have dialogue and music and can have ambient noises or are completely without sound, of all categories and types.
The films can contain text boards or subtitles, or a score to perform live music.
Entries must not be older than 3 years
The duration of the films that can be submitted is up to 45 minutes.
Films from the competition program are screened with live music.
Films may be submitted by directors, producers, institutions or other legal entities with rights to represent films. Only films that do not have an audio component can participate in the Festival. Applications should be sent to the email address silenceisgold.festival@gmail.com with a link to the screener and press kit of the film.
The films for the competition program are chosen by the selector of the competition program in coordination with the artistic director of the festival.
In addition to the competition program, the festival also presents other program units in the field of film theory, history and aesthetics, namely retrospectives, lectures, panel discussions and presentations of current journalism on the topic of silent film.
The silent film festival SILENCE IS GOLDEN awards the prize for the best film according to the evaluation of the expert jury, as well as the audience award. The award consists of a plaque and the participation of the festival organizers in the production of a silent film by the awarded author, lasting up to 5 minutes until the next edition of the festival.
The organizer obliges to store all submitted films in the archives of the Festival and use them exclusively for documentary, educational and cultural purposes. In case the organizer has lost or damaged the copy, he is obliged to cover the cost of materials and the making a new copy.
The selector has the right to disqualify a film submitted on a copy of poor technical quality.
The organizer invites directors, producers and other members of the creative team of films selected for the competition program and provides them with accommodation during the three nights of the festival, but without the possibility of reimbursement of travel expenses, given the limited budget.