Festival focuses on riches of silent cinema

It’s the creation of Cinephile Paradiso and The Silent Cinema, uniting to celebrate, preserve and reimagine the silent film tradition.

An exhibition of rare photographs from the collection of John Dalton will run throughout.

Including original images of Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, George O’Brien and other screen legends of the silent era, this display will be at The Silent Cinema venue on Dominick Street.

An actor, theatre reviewer and former ballet dancer, who once performed with the Russian ballet in Dublin, John’s passion for silent movies began in childhood. Once he started working, he began collecting memorabilia.

“The exhibition is of black and white or sepia tone photographs that I've collected all my life,” he explains. “I am passionate about silent movies and I’ve collected from different countries all over the world.

“They're all different old photographs, some with pieces missing out of them, from different films of the era with stars like Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino and Alla Nazinoma.”

A deep love of cinema has been a constant across his life.

“I remember sitting with my mom watching old movies when I was a kid and she would say ‘Oh, it's Greta Garbo or that's Judy Garland’. I fell in love with it from there. My earliest memory is going to the cinema with my dad, my mom and my sister to see a rerun of Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe.

Spectacle and scale were all part of the experience.

“In those days, cinemas were huge,” he recalls. “When the curtains opened and I saw the images on the screen, I was hooked and I've been hooked since.

“I've collected photographs, film posters and memorabilia since I started my first job. I'm still collecting.”

This month marks his first anniversary with the Silent Cinema in Galway.

“I found the Silent Cinema by chance about a year ago. This is my first birthday with them and they can't get rid of me now,” he says.

“I'm a spectator, but I've become involved in the presentations. I perform little pieces here and there. We had a mini festival during the summer of Rudolph Valentino films and I gave the opening intro to each film.

“That was a pleasure and something I didn't expect to do. They've adopted me. I'm a Dublin guy. But I'm an honorary Galwegian and a huge supporter of Connect Rugby.

“They're a lovely crowd,” he continues. “I finally found my tribe. It's taken me half my lifetime to find them. They're not going to get rid of me anytime soon. We get each other.”

John is getting ready to tread the boards again on Friday, September 26, as part of the festival. He will present a work-in-progress monologue from Garbo ACTUALLY Talks! at Massimo Soul Garden, a piece  he co-wrote with Holly Buckley.

“I trained in acting,” he explains. “I did Guildhall London exams. Then I became a dancer quite late in life. I took up classical ballet for a few years. A lifetime ago, I was dancing in a studio in Dublin and the Chair of Ballet from Russia came to watch us.

“The Dance Master came in, placed his hand on my shoulder and I was picked to perform with them at the Point Theatre, now the Three Arena. It was the best experience ever. They were very modest, very lovely people.

“I fell into radio by chance and became a theatre reviewer in Dublin for about 20 years. Now, I've fallen into The Silent Cinema, which is like the continuation of all those things.”

John is encouraging everyone to go to the Silent Cinema Festival.

“When people think of silent movies, they think of Charlie Chaplin and the comedy elements,” he says.

“They were great, I loved them, but there was a lot of great, high art films made in the 1920s. Two being screened at the Silent Cinema Festival, Salomé and the Passion of Joan of Arc, are regarded as two of the greatest silent films ever made. Come along and experience them in a lovely atmosphere with live music,” he concludes.

The festival opens next Wednesday with the Silent Film Challenge, in collaboration with Little Cinema.  Participants will create silent films, which will be showcased on the opening night.

Rebirth of Cinema, on Thursday, September 25, will begin with the Silent Cinema & Film Studio documentary The Birth of Cinema, followed by a Silent Cinema Forum.

Dreamscapes & Dada: Live with DJ will be at The Blue Note late on Thursday. A live DJ will play while films from Maya Deren, Man Ray, Hans Richter, Fernand Léger, Marcel Duchamp, Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí are screened.

On Friday, September 26, Massimo’s Soul Garden will host a screening of Love. Based on Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, this 1927 drama starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert will be accompanied live by pianist Mila Mia. This will be preceded by an excerpt from Garbo ACTUALLY Talks! written by Holly and John.

Robert Wiene’s expressionist masterpiece The Cabinet of Dr Caligari will be at The Silent Cinema later that day, with live musical accompaniment from Antonis Kalamoutsos, Brendan Pooley and Mia Fitzgerald.

In Her Shoes. . .Lois Weber: Pioneer of Early Cinema on Saturday, September 27, explores the work of a trailblazing filmmaker.

Silent film historian Dr Veronica Johnson will discuss Weber’s powerful 1916 melodrama Shoes, accompanied live by Mia Fitzgerald.

That evening, Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop will host Alla Nazimova’s dazzling, queer 1923 adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, with live music by Thomas Quill.

The festival concludes with a screening at St Nicholas’ Church of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 masterpiece The Passion of Joan of Arc, presented with live accompaniment by Mila Maia on piano and flute and Michael Chang on violin.

■ Information and tickets at www.silentfilmfestival.ie via Eventbrite.

Pictured: John Dalton is taking part in the Silent Cinema Festival from September 24-27. An exhibition of rare photographs from his collection, including original images of Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino and George O’Brien will run at The Silent Cinema venue, Dominick Street, throughout. John will also present a work-in-progress at the event.