There were 3 core people involved in the festival Tummfilmid Tõstavad Häält – Silent Pictures Go Loud. It is a combination of our dreams. Silent pictures are still relevant even though we have reached the 3D age. Also there is an importance of sound in films and the way sound alters perception. A silent movie remains the same but how you feel during the moment of watching depends a lot on the music. Of course the best music is the music you don’t notice, but that gives you a deeper idea of what is going on. After all, the images you create in your mind while watching the movie also depend on the music, it’s not only what the cameras catches. I deeply believe it is the sound in your mind.
Noored Kotkad (Young Eagles) is a movie made by one of the earliest recognised Estonian film directors, Theodor Luts, one who received some education in Paris. Perhaps because he participated in the Estonian War of Independence is what makes the scenes so real, it was not so common in 1927 to see this kind of reality in films. Young Eagles even pre-dates All Quiet on the Western Front by some 3 years. We invited Cincinatti beatbox Napoleon Maddox and Estonia’s Meelis Vind to interpret.
The Benshi (Japanese narrator) gives live narration to the movie, doing all the voices throughout. We were introducing a form of silent picture, so we were introducing the Japanese silent picture era and how they were watched at the beginning of the 20th century. Orochi (The Snake), by Futagawa Buntaro, is a jewel because it has a beautiful idea of destiny; that you can fight against something but it will happen anyway. The ending of the film is wonderfully unpredictable.
Of course the Cinematic Orchestra’s live score for Dziga Vertov’s – Man with a Movie Camera was excellent inspiration for many people to refer back to silent movies once more, so they have done a lot for popularising silent pictures again. During this festival it will be Dead Combo from Portugal who are providing the live score. Man with a Movie Camera is the classic Soviet Russian film set in Odessa by Dziga Vertov and his brother Mikhail Kaufmann. It’s an uncompromised look at cinema. Dziga did not compromise anything to get a good shot.
All of films are carefully selected, I deeply cherish every night of the festival. I am looking forward with most interest to Berlin, Symphony of a Great City, where the live score is from ÖÄK. I love the band and the movie and would never have imagined them together…we gave them a list of classical and contemporary pictures and Berlin was ÖÄK’s choice. Both members, Erkki Tero & Allan Amberg, are really fond of it and wanted to express their emotions towards the film.
I would be happy if at the end of 2011 not only me but everyone could say that this year was full of cinema, that we could enjoy different types of cinematic experiences, that the appreciation for the art of cinema would grow, so any possibility or means to achieve that objective is acceptable to me. So the idea is not only to create some spot to watch the cinema but take the love for cinema to the next level so people can appreciate different types of cinema.
I would love to see more silent pictures from other continents besides Europe and North Amercia. What about Asia and South America? All this seems like an area to explore because they have made thousands of silent pictures, many of them very good. Of course I am happy that we have in this years programme one contemporary silent picture from Argentina – The Ariel. Even this year we managed to cover all the continents.
The Ariel, by Esteban Sapir, is an contemporary Argentine movie all about simple details made powerful. It has so many invisible details which altogether makes the film huge. Aesthetically one of the most beautiful films I have seen in my life, one which has touched me deeply. Musical accompaniment is from Argento Tango Fusion from Spain.
I am really looking forwards to the legendary Murnau’s film- Taboo. The live score is done by one of the stars of world music, Kinono No 1 from Congo. Both the movie and the band give a very hot touch to the evening. How one part of the South goes with another part of the South. Both the movie and band are so strong and powerful, In a way I am almost afraid that there will be a competition between the film and the sound, but let’s see what happens.
While Murnau may be best known for Nosferatu, a curious and sad detail is that Murnau himself died before the premier of the screening of Taboo in a car accident. Taboo contains a powerful story inside and out. All those thousands who have seen the movie while the director has not. The final cut was made without him. It has a visual power, a lot of emotion and an incredible setting.
In Taboo the shots were made on location in Bora Bora which is not so common. Usually films were shot in the studio lots and scenes were created there. So it’s officially a US movie but it has a different flavour, I would not consider it as a typical Hollywood movie from those days.
The programme is not about alternative vs mainstream. It’s about pure cultural spirit. It can be taken two ways, it’s a play on words to mean either alcohol or a metaphysical spirit. We are exploring new lands and new ways of perceiving movies. If the artist is inspired by something mainstream then we would say go for it, we have never questioned the quality of the well know artists. Of course Charlie Chaplin is the king, it’s just too little time and possibility to include more movies, if we could we would include so much more, and Hollywood is just amazing. The amount of good movies made in Hollywood in the 20′s. Both Hollywood and Bollywood did feature in the list of films that the artists could choose from.
Feb 19
Kumu auditorium 19.00
Napoleon Maddox (USA), Meelis Vind (Estonia) – “Young Eagles” (Estonia 1927, director Theodor Luts)
Feb 20
Cinema Artis 19.00
Lecture on Japanese benshi culture + screening of “Snake”, the 1925 film by Futagawa Buntaro)
Feb 25
Kumu auditorium 19.00
Dead Combo (Portugal) – “Man With a Movie Camera” (Soviet Russia 1929, directed by Dziga Vertov)
Feb 26
Kumu auditorium 19.00
ÖÄK (Estonia) – “Berlin, Symphony of a Great City” (Germany 1927, directed by Walther Ruttmann)
March 4
Russian Culture Centre 19.00
Argento Tango Fusion (Spain) – “Antenna” (Argentina 2007, directed by Esteban Sapir)
March 5
Russian Culture Centre 19.00
Konono No 1 (Congo) – “Taboo” (USA 1930, directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau)
The festival is part of the Culture Capital Tallinn 2011 program.
www.tallinn2011.ee/
Ave Ungro is film programme coordinator of the project Tallinn 2011, European Capital of Culture. She has written a book about her life in Colombia and sometimes (quite seldom though) she posts opinions on movies to her film blog: http://zavujutud.wordpress.com/
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Benshi Fredrich Wilhelm Murnau Kino Artis Konono No 1 Kumu Meelis Vind Mikhail Kaufmann Napoleon Maddox Noored Kotkad ÖÄK Tallinn Tallinn 2011 Vene Kultuurikeskus Walther Ruthman
