SF’s Silent Film Festival 2024 at Palace of Fine Arts (April 10-14)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) announces its 27th edition to happen at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, April 10–14, 2024. SFSFF celebrates the art of live cinema (silent-era films with live musical accompaniment) with five days of programs at San Francisco’s historic Palace of Fine Arts.

The largest, most prestigious festival devoted to silent film in the Americas, SFSFF will present twenty-two programs, all with live musical accompaniment, including many recent film restorations. Three of those restorations (see below) are SFSFF projects that will make their world premieres at the festival.

Seven countries are represented at the festival with films from Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United States, with 17 extraordinary musicians from around the world to accompany. Musicians include: Wayne Barker (US), Frank Bockius (Germany), Guenter Buchwald (Germany), Stephen Horne (UK), Sascha Jacobsen (Argentina), Mas Koga (US), Utsav Lal (UK/US), Matti Bye Ensemble (Sweden/Finland) Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra (US), and Donald Sosin (US).

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival Award for commitment to the preservation and presentation of silent cinema will be given to Hisashi Okajima, Director of the National Film Archive of Japan. The award will be presented at the Saturday, April 13, 2:00 pm screening of Yasujiro Ozu’s I Was Born, But… (Umarete wa mita keredo), part of NFAJ’s collection.

The festival begins on Wednesday, April 10, with the beautiful two-color Technicolor restoration of Albert Parker’s swashbuckling masterpiece THE BLACK PIRATE starring Douglas Fairbanks, with musical accompaniment by the Donald Sosin Ensemble.

Three SFSFF restorations will have their world premieres at the festival: DANCING MOTHERS plus THE PILL POUNDER (Thursday, April 11, 2:00 pm) with musical accompaniment by Wayne Barker, and SFSFF’s closing night film THE RED MARK (Sunday, April 14, 8:00 pm) with musical accompaniment by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

Complete information, tickets, and passes at www.silentfilm.org

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.