It’s time once again for San Francisco’s silent era Castro Theatre to do what it was made to do and show eager audiences once again why silent films define what movie magic really is. Starting tomorrow, Thursday May 29th, and running through Sunday, June 1st, the San Francisco International Film Festival will emanate from the Castro, harboring some of the rarest, most beautiful, classic films from the early days of cinema, before color, before sound, and before our computer screens and smartphones became plastered with shameless ads for movies we don’t care about. These are films from a time when filmmakers helmed their cameras with love.

The festival is bookended this year by two essential works in the story of early film. Rex Ingram’s sweeping epic The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, starring Rudolph Valentino, will open up the festival, a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Great War. Closing out the festival is Buster Keaton’s aquatic ballet The Navigator. Keaton’s fourth film contains some of his most intricately staged stunts, including a gorgeous underwater sequence. Also playing at the festival are films by Carl Dreyer, Yasujiro Ozu, Max Linder, the always entertaining Amazing Tales From the Archives program, an in-depth look into the world of film preservation, and many more.

We spoke to the festival Artistic Director Anita Monga about converting silent film newbies by getting them in the theater, the importance of thoughtful musical accompaniment, the genius of Keaton, the festival line-up, and more.

For tickets and more information, visit silentfilm.org

For every lover of silent film, there’s this constant struggle you have with your friends and family, trying to get them to give silents a try and get them into that theater.

Anita: It’s really hard to describe silent film. It’s so difficult. It’s a whole experience, with these beautiful, beautiful images that are lying dormant, because you can’t really watch a film without sound. I mean, you can, but it’s a very academic experience. A lot of the silent films on the internet have been badly transferred and paired with horrible music. We pay a lot of attention to the musical aspect of silent film. The films at the festival are examples of live cinema events, bringing these ancient texts to life. Film is the only medium where people think the past is not worth dredging up. People read books from the 17th century, read Shakespeare, and put on Shakespeare plays. That’s what we’re doing: making these films accessible to people who think that these films have nothing to say to modern audiences. We have a hindsight of 100 years to pick the very best. People transform when they see them, but it’s hard to get them into that auditorium.

What does silent film offer that modern film doesn’t?

Anita: Silent film is different. You can’t watch it on your cell phone and get everything there is to get about it. It requires having thoughtful music to be able to see these images. It gains a lot from being presented in the theater.

You’ll never see a modern film presented with live musical accompaniment. Silent films are an event.

Anita: Right. What we’re doing is really different. People understand that you can see something like Avatar on your computer screen months down the line after it hits theaters, but if you want to partake in this experience, you need to go to the theater and be immersed. People think silent films are boring because they’re old, but they are NOT! It’s the opposite. If we can get them in the door with an open mind, they’re converts. It’s a simple as that.

There’s something for everyone in this program. Harbor Drift is a story that’s so moving and harsh. It doesn’t sugarcoat the horrible economic reality that was Germany [in 1929.] We could use a little dose of that from our artists, too, with our world economy not on its firm footing.

Well, let’s get into the films playing at this year’s festival, starting off with Mr. Buster Keaton. Last year, I asked you to rank him, Chaplin, and Lloyd as far as who your favorite is, and it was an easy, quick answer from you.

Anita: Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd.

You’ve got Keaton’s The Navigator playing at this year’s festival, which is right up there with my favorites from him. Where does it rank for you in his catalogue?

Anita: I love it. It’s one of the top ones for me, too. I think I love The Cameraman most…[trails off] Wait. No. I can’t even rank Keaton. Everything is so beautiful. Sherlock Jr. is so beautiful.

That was my jumping on point. It’s an easy one to get into, Sherlock Jr. The imagination on display in that film is unbelievable, and in The Navigator, you have the underwater sequence, which is incredibly cinematic.

Anita: Yes, incredibly cinematic! That was Keaton. He thought in cinema. He understood how to make the story move cinematically. He was the most cinematic of the comedians.

The underwater bit perhaps isn’t his most spectacular feat, but it’s easily one of his most challenging. You’ve also got The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse playing.

Anita: Yes. The Four Horseman is our commemoration of The Great War. It’s kind of remarkable. The film was made not far after World War I concluded. It was the first major world event that cinema commented on. Cinema and the history of that war are really intertwined. The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra are doing the accompaniment, and it’s their 25th anniversary of being a group. They started out as The Mont Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra, and for people who don’t know, The Four Horsemen starts in Argentina, and it’s where Rudolph Valentino became “the Latin lover.” The whole idea of “the Latin lover” came from The Four Horsemen.

It’s his first starring role.

Anita: Yes, and it’s really what made him a star.

You’ve got an Ozu film as well, Dragnet Girl, which is actually a gangster film. It’s a bit of a departure from the style he’s known for, and there’s also a film from the great Carl Dreyer that’s a departure for him as well, The Parson’s Widow.

Anita:  People know Dreyer from The Passion of Joan of Arc and from later, very beautiful, very somber work. This is a light-hearted departure for him, but it’s quintessentially Dreyer in its beautiful imagery and thoughtful filmmaking. It has a very funny sense of humor.

That’s atypical of him, but it’s funny that we say “departure”, because these films were actually early works in Ozu and Dreyer’s careers.

Anita: Right. They’re departures from what we know about them today. The other day, I re-watched Herb Ross’ Pennies From Heaven, and I knew Christopher Walken from later roles with David Cronenberg and others. Seeing him as a song-and-dance man felt like a departure from him, but it’s not. It’s a departure from what I thought I knew about him.

You also have on the line-up the Amazing Tales From the Archives program, which is always exciting.

Anita: Yes, and also along that line we have Serge Bromberg’s Treasure Trove. Serge Bromberg is a great raconteur, and he’s bringing some real surprises from his archive. If people are interested in seeing real rarities, presented by a cinema lover and great communicator, the Treasure Trove can’t be missed.

Seeing a Keaton film in the Castro Theatre is a wonderful experience, but what’s great about these rarity programs is that they’re truly a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

Anita: I really encourage people to stretch themselves. There’s not a film in here that I would say isn’t worth seeing. The Girl in Tails is hilarious. The early Sherlock Holmes film, The Sign of Four, was filmed in London, which is extraordinary. The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks was filmed all around Moscow in the ’20s. Think about that. think about Red Square in the ’20s. How amazing is that?

I think the festival is best experienced as an all-day thing. You need to see at least two films in a row to get how truly fun it can be.

Anita: I’ve had people express it this way, and I think it’s true: It’s like entering a dream state. We balance the program very carefully; we’re not just showing one very dark, deep film after another. We’re not showing one comedy after another. It’s a varied experience and rewards sticking around.

It requires a lot of thought to present these films well. We’re presenting The Good Bad Man, which is a restoration. We’re running it at 17 frames per second. If you see the film at 24 frames per second, it’s going to seem extremely sped up and jerky. It requires thoughtfulness to present these things to express what the filmmaker had in mind. We also have to be thoughtful about the musical accompaniment so that it embraces and enhances the image.

What’s the state of film preservation?

Anita: There’s amazing work being done in preservation, aided by many things, like the internet. BFI put out a list of the “top lost films”, and those films are being found because of communication around the world. Ramona is a title that people were looking for for years and was found in the Czech archives and was recently restored. We have archivists coming to the festival from around the world.

Let’s run through what this year’s festival has to offer once more. For someone who enjoys action and adventure, they should watch…

Anita: The Good Bad Man. Also, the documentary The Epic of Everest, an actual attempt at reaching the summit of Everest. It’s the first look at Tibetan culture on film. Extraordinary. Also, Cosmic Voyage, which is a sci-fi film where they go to the moon.

For those who enjoy comedy…

Anita: Oh! Buster Keaton. Also, The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks is highly hilarious.

For those who love dark dramas…

Anita: Harbor Drift and Under the Lantern are two German, expressionist titles that are so incredibly beautiful.

For kids?

Anita: Seven Years Bad Luck is by Max Linder, who a lot of comedians credited as an influence, including Charles Chaplin, who was a huge fan. Max Linder originated that mirror scene that the Marx Brothers used so effectively. A very funny French comedian. I’d advise some kids to come to Cosmic Voyage and The Navigator, but they’re late!

At least one of them isn’t a school night!

Anita: Right! Stay up late and come to Cosmic Voyage and The Navigator. Also, kids will love the Serge Bromberg program on Saturday afternoon.

This Saturday, January 11th at San Francisco’s Castro Theater, there’s going to be an all-day, 100-Year Anniversary celebration of one of the most essential, irreplaceable, and beloved characters in the history of film, Charlie Chaplin’s “The Tramp”. The bumbling, infectiously good-hearted fellow has been a prototype for comic protagonists to this day, and anyone who’s familiar with him has fond memories of watching him evade the authorities with hilarious, cartoonish flair.

The program will include classic shorts and full-length features starring the comic idol set to live music accompaniment. There’s no better place to experience Chaplin in the Bay Area than the silent-era Castro Theater, and whether you’re a long-time Chaplin devotee or a silent film beginner, it’s sure to be a blast.

Here’s the program, via silentfilm.org :

Our Mutual Friend: Three Chaplin Shorts at 1PM 
Charlie Chaplain made some of his greatest comedies at the Mutual Film Corporation. Chaplin acknowledged his time at Mutual as the most inventive and liberating period of his career. Approximately 90 minutes total. The shorts program includes:

• The Vagabond (1916, with Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell). Charlie Chaplin plays is a musician who rescues a girl from a band of gypsies.
• The Cure (1917, with Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman). An inebriated Charlie Chaplin checks into a sanitarium to take the cure, but brings a cabinet of liquor with him.
• Easy Street (1917, with Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell). Blending comedy and social commentary Charlie Chaplin’s character goes from tramp to police constable.

Accompanied by Jon Mirsalis on piano.

THE KID at 4PM 
Chaplin’s Little Tramp character becomes a surrogate father to an abandoned child in this eloquent marriage of comedy and sentiment. One of his most personal films, Chaplin himself was placed in a home for destitute children at age seven, THE KID is considered by many to be his most perfect. Additionally, celebrate the centennial of with Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), the first appearance of Chaplin’s Tramp character. Approximately 70 minutes total.
Accompanied by San Francisco Chamber Orchestra with Timothy Brock conducting Chaplin’s score. 

Preceding THE KID, there will be Charlie Chaplin Look-Alike contest. Come dressed as the Little Tramp and win a prize!

THE GOLD RUSH at 7:30PM 
Charlie Chaplin, inspired by images of the 1896 Klondike gold rush and the Donner Party disaster of 1846 (in which snowbound immigrants resorted to eating their shoes—and their dead companions—to survive), manages to turn a story of cold, hunger, and loneliness into a sublime comedy. The Little Tramp becomes a prospector who sets out for the Klondike to strike it rich, battling starvation, bears, and other prospectors along the way. THE GOLD RUSH contains some of the most iconic images in cinema, including the famous scene in which Charlie makes a gourmet feast of his boot! Georgia Hale plays the beautiful dance hall entertainer who steals Charlie’s heart. Approximately 80 minutes.
Accompanied by San Francisco Chamber Orchestra with Timothy Brock conducting Chaplin’s score. 

Some of the greatest directors of all time—F.W. Murnau, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, and Carl Dreyer, to name a few—thrived in the silent era, and the best directors of today constantly refer to their work for inspiration and guidance. Knowledge of the silent era is essential to every true cinephile and greatly enhances the pleasures of movie-watching. The problem is, the only way to truly experience a silent film is by seeing it in a theater with live musical accompaniment, which isn’t necessarily doable for most of us.

But fear not! If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend, you’re in luck: From Thursday, July 18^th to Sunday, July 21^st at the Castro theater, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival is going to be presenting an amazing lineup of beautifully restored silent films accompanied by gorgeous live music. This is the only way to truly enjoy these classic movies, and the experience will be a treasure you’ll never forget.

Festival director Anita Monga sat with us to talk about the festival’s history, why silent film isn’t “boring”, Alexander Payne, Citizen Kane, her favorite silent comedy star, and much more.

For festival information and ticket info, visit silentfilm.org

Let’s talk a bit about the history of the festival. How long has it been going on?
The festival started 18 years ago as a one day event. Steve Salmons and Melissa Chittick invented it. It was a success from the beginning. It’s now grown into a four day event, and we have events year round also. It’s probably the biggest and most successful event of its kind in the Americas.

How long have you been involved in the festival personally?
I think this will be my fourth festival.

I assume one of the main goals of the festival is to get people excited about silent film. Over the past four years, have you seen a growth in enthusiasm from the community?
My major focus is to get people into the theater. I think when people think of silent film, they think it’s going to be boring or that it’s something their college professor thought would be good for them to complete their education. Consequently, a lot of people saw their only silent films done silently or with horrible accompaniment, at the wrong frame rate, or they’ve seen a horrible print. A lot of these films are amazingly modern and have a lot to say about modern audiences. We always take great care to pair [these films] with musical accompaniment, and we don’t dictate to the musicians, but we pick them carefully, ones that have to have respect for films. We work with them closely to pair them with films that we think they can bring to life.

With silent film, there’s this hump to get over. Like you said, a lot of people view silent film as boring or irrelevant. I had the same apprehensions, but when I saw Murnau’s Sunrise, it was a revelation. How do you get people over that hump and get them in the theater?
That is really, really difficult. You just keep hounding. Really, it’s word of mouth. People who have been [to the festival] realize how extraordinary it is. We kind of have a reputation of making things fun so that people are willing to take a little bit of a chance on us, and once they do, they see how beautiful it is. We started an initiative which we are not doing this year because we asked several people who are too busy, but we do this thing called “The Director’s Pick” which we’ve renamed “The Filmmaker’s Pick”. We’re trying to draw this connection between modern filmmakers and the silent era. Filmmakers are well aware of what happened in the silent era. People who work, particularly people who have a strong visual sense, are very cognizant of the amazing strides that were made from the birth of cinema to Sunrise. It was all there. It was a way of telling a story visually and you had to supply your own music. It was an amazing art form that led to everything that happens today.

We’ve had Alexander Payne, Terry Zwigoff, Phillip Kaufman, and Pete Doctor come to introduce a show and talk about the filmmaking, something about the direction or the acting that draws for our audience that this was something that inspired them. Audiences appreciate that from a craft-person’s point of view.

People talk about silent film like it’s this ancient thing, but it’s only 100 years old. The techniques Murnau, Chaplin, and Keaton were utilizing are still just as effective today.
They’re very effective and they’re very informative for people making films now. Shakespeare’s plays have something for modern audiences. Our festival is not what I like to call an “etched in amber” approach. We’re not trying to recreate a historical moment. What we’re trying to do is bring these movies to life. I programmed the Castro for many years, and at one point there was a restoration of Citizen Kane. I showed it for a week and people were coming up to the box office and saying, “Is this really a good movie?” I think the feeling that, “This is a classic! You must see this!” make people think, “Boring!” When you see Citizen Kane, it’s unbelievable. It deserves every accolade you could possibly give it, but it’s like when people are force-fed Ivanhoe in school. People think, “This is good for me. It must not be entertaining.”

San Francisco is a very film-friendly place. The audience is the best in the world. But for silent films, you can’t do this at home. You can’t. You can stream any number of films, but you can’t recreate what we’re doing with live music. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience.

You’ve got a great lineup for this year’s festival, a lot of excellent films.
They’re all so amazing, but one that I hope doesn’t get lost in the fray is The Weavers. It’s based on an incident that happened in the 1840’s, an uprising. They ran the manufacturer out of town, they smashed the factory. It was known as the Potemkin of Germany. Prix de Beuté is wonderful for Louise Brooks. It was always considered a lesser film, but it’s actually pretty great. It has one of cinema’s most famous endings, but I’m not going to give it away! [Brooks] is spectacular in it. It was her last starring role. We’ve got a beautiful print of The Golden Clown from Denmark. The Outlaw and his Wife is hot off the presses. The Swedish Film Institute just did its complete restoration. I don’t think anybody has seen it in the United States. It’s exquisite, with Victor Sjöström directing. The script is so beautiful.

Who’s performing the musical accompaniment for that one?
The Matti Bye Ensemble from Sweden. They’re also doing The Golden Clown and The Joyless Street. Everyone needs to see The Joyless Street! We’re also doing two restorations that we had a hand in—The Half Breed, a Douglass Fairbanks film that was thought lost for many years. The restoration just happened in collaboration with Cinemateque Francaise. We’re giving the Silent Film Festival Award to the Cinemateque. The second film we had a hand in the restoration of is The Last Edition, which was filmed in San Francisco. It has this amazing footage of San Francisco in 1925. It’s all along Market Street , the Civic Center, in the Chronicle building. It’s a lovely, action packed film.

Then, there’s a last minute addition that we’re going to show before The Weavers. I got an email from Ken Winokur of the LA Orchestra. He was traveling in the Ukraine and went to the Dovzhenko Centre where they showed him a Dziga Vertov trailer for The 11^th Year. He was so excited about it that he and Beth Custer created a score they’re going to be presenting the world premiere of. The trailer is animated in this insane way. You wouldn’t believe that it was made in 1928.

You’ve got Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in your “Kings of Silent Comedy” shorts program and Harold Lloyd in Safety Last!, which is your closing night film. Can you rank them from best to worst?
Oh, that’s easy. Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd, Chase.

Ah, Charlie Chase in last place?
Between Chase and Lloyd, I don’t know how to rank them. Keaton is tops. Chaplin is amazing.

What’s your favorite Keaton? Sherlock Jr. is mine.
It’s hard. There are so many wonderful things in all of them.

I think Keaton is one of the best ways to bait somebody into watching silent movies. It’s easy to appreciate his work.
His films are so modern. Knowing that he did all of his stunts is amazing. Nobody does better or more amazing stunts than he. I love the whole Rube Goldberg [feel.] I think he’s very observant of human nature. For me, Chaplin is amazing, but there’s a little sentimentality that I don’t love. But, I think he’s absolutely genius. Next year we’re going to be doing major Chaplin stuff because it’s the centennial of the Tramp character.

The image of Lloyd dangling on the minute hand of the clock in Safety Last! is one of the most enduring images in cinema, but very few people have actually seen the film.
It’s so wonderful. Those effects are pretty amazing. In the ’20s, people did these extraordinary stunts, and one of the big stunts in New York City was “The Human Fly.” These people would scale the sides of buildings, and that’s where Lloyd got the idea for the stunt.

I think a lot of the visual discipline that was so key to the silent era is lost in a lot of modern cinema.
The great filmmakers have all learned from the silents. Take Alexander Payne. His scripts are so much about the script and the dialog, but the reason I grew to see his incredible eye is because I saw him at a silent film event in Los Angeles. I was like, “Oh! He loves this!” When I contacted him, he was incredibly enthusiastic because he does go to silent film events.

Not every film made in the silent era was great. There are people working today who have that discipline. As technology makes it easier for people to make films, I think you get more and more people who may not understand what goes into a film. You can make an adequate film. Your first film might be ok, but your second film might not unless you’ve learned these skills. The really spectacular filmmakers of today are still doing what the filmmakers of the silent era did in terms of thinking about their stories in visual terms. What Hitchcock did pretty obsessively was storyboard his films within an inch of their lives.

You’ve got a couple animated features included in the program.
Well, we have the Winsor McCay show. John Canemaker is this great writer and showman, and he’s going to present the program. McCay’s most famous characters were Little Nemo and Gertie the Dinosaur. Filmmakers were always thinking about how to incorporate drawing into moving image. You see this trope in Tex Avery bits where the animator’s hand will be bringing something to life. In Gertie, there are a couple of live action tricks with the person on stage interacting with the character. John is going to be interacting with Gertie. Then, of course, there’s Felix the Cat. He’s going to be in our Kings of Silent Comedy program which might be the best entry point for newcomers to silent film.