The International Silent Film Festival (ISFF) Manila, the first and oldest silent film festival in Asia has always been a unique movie viewing experience for the past 13 years. Screened during the festival are films from the silent era (with a few exceptions now and then) featuring a live score performed by different music acts from a wide variety of genres.
The ISFF’s 14th edition, presented by the Embassy of France to the Philippines, the Japan Foundation, Manila, the Philippine Italian Association, the Goethe Institut, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines, in partnership with iWatchMore.com, has also made the move to go online, a decision that surprises no one since the world is still under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.
So on December 4-6, 2020, a selection of 10 silent films from Japan, Italy, France, and Germany with music scores by Filipino musicians will be streamed online for free at www.iwatchmore.com. And in keeping with the tradition of single screenings since the festival’s inception, the films will be available for viewing on the scheduled time only.
The Japan Foundation Manila opens the festival on December 4, 2020, 6:00 PM with six silent animated shorts from the Japanese Animation classics collection, digitized and subtitled in English by the National Film Archive of Japan (NFAJ). Leading the selection is The Dull Sword (1917) by Junichi Kouchi which is the oldest existing Japanese animated film.
The other animated shorts include Burglars of “Baghdad” Castle (1926), The Animal Olympics (1928), Two Worlds (1929), Old Man Goichi (1931), and A Day after a Hundred Years (1933).
The music score for these animated classics will be by the HJH Composers Collective composed of Hiroko Nagai, Jordan Peralta, and Harold Andre Santos. The collective is made up of contemporary music composers with a diverse musical palette of pop, classical, folk, jazz, electronic music, and traditional Philippine and Japanese music.
On December 5, the films from Italy will be screened. First to be shown at 11:00 AM is The Silent Killer (2020), directed by Ruben Maria Soriquez and produced by See Thru Pictures. With a score by Franco Eco, this timely film narrates a mother’s journey back home admist the Covid-19 pandemic and is alternated with interviews with scientists, politicians, ordinary people, and Covid-19 chronicles from all over the world.
The second Italian offering, presented by the Philippine Italian Association, in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna, is Malombra (1917) by Carmine Gallone. The film, showing at 6:00 PM will feature music composed and performed by internationally renowned pianist Raul Sunico who for me is probably the most surprising music act in the festival’s 14 year history.
On December 6, 2020, 11:00 AM, the Embassy of France presents Le Manoir de la peur/The Manor of Fear (1927) by Alfred Machin. The silent noir film will be scored by Michael Mark Guevarra, one the country’s top saxophone players.
At 6:00 PM, the festival will be capped by a classic from Germany that is one of the major releases from the silent film era: Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). Presented by the Goethe Institut, this monumental movie will be scored by Alyana Cabral aka Teenage Granny composed of Kent Pesito, Miguel Nuñez, Jon Olarte, Joee Mejias, Tristan Ortega, and Kiko Nuñez.
An educational component has always been part of the ISFF. For this year, a webinar about film and cultural preservation will be offered to film institutions, schools, and the general public.
Billed as Saving Memory: Making Silent Films Talk to Us, the webinar happening on December 4, 2020, 3:00 PM, will feature experts from Japan, Italy, France, Germany, and the Philippines discussing the practices and initiatives done to preserve film heritage like archiving and restoration.
Speakers at the webinar will include Don Gervin Arawan, lead officer Philippine Film Archive at the Film Development Council of the Philippines; Daibo Masaki, Head of Film Collections at the National Film Archive of Japan (NFAJ); Andrea Meneghelli, Curator of the Film Collections at Cineteca di Bologna (Italy); Beatrice de Pastre, Photographic and Cinematographic Archive Specialist of France’s Centre National du Cinéma (CNC); and Luciano Palumbo, Filmrestaurator at FW Murnau Foundation (Germany). Filipino filmmaker Doy del Mundo serves as the webinar’s moderator. Interested participants can pre-register here.
The 14th International Silent Film Festival Manila is presented by the Embassy of France to the Philippines, the Japan Foundation Manila, the Philippine Italian Association, the Goethe Institut, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines, in partnership with iWatchMore.com.
