4th Istanbul Silent Movie Days festival to bring forgotten classics to big screen

ISTANBUL

The fourth Istanbul Silent Movie Days will bring remastered international silent movies to various Istanbul art venues from Dec. 14-17, with a special focus on “dance,” state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

“Our schedule consists of remastered movies relevant to today’s world. The remastered movies first go on global tour, and then when it’s our turn they come to Istanbul,” said Nagehan Uskan, the event’s art director.

Uskan stressed that the silent movie experience, mostly consisting of short comedies, does not prohibit sound, and a smattering of live music will accompany many of the screenings.

This year’s event will also feature never-seen-before movies picked from various movie archives, she added.

“Our research focuses on following silent movie festivals across the world in order to bring films to an Istanbul audience. We have also invited musicians and archivists,” Uskan said.

Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and other silent movie legends, as well as a documentary in “The Ottoman Empire Chronicles” section of the event, will hit the screens during the event.

Istanbul Silent Movie Days Coordinator Can Koç said the experience will go beyond silent movie screenings.

Foreign and local academics, researchers and curators will make presentations for each movie, and the impact of dance – a primitive form of human expression – on cinema’s early days will be analyzed during the event.

The festival, organized by Kino Istanbul, is partnered by Italy’s famous Cineteca di Bologna and the Netherlands’ respected Eye Film Museum.

Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry Cinema Directorate supports the organization, as does Akbank Art, the Italian and French Culture Institutes and bomontiada ALT. The aforementioned organizations will welcome guests in Istanbul with a special visual and audio show.