The Los Angeles Silent Film Festival, formerly Retroformat Silent Films, is a Los Angeles–based 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization, founded on April 11, 2018, and granted nonprofit status on April 11, 2019. Our mission is to promote education and enthusiasm about the art and history of silent film. Our vision is a future in which silent cinema is widely enjoyed and fully appreciated as a cornerstone of modern film and visual art.
Through theatrical screenings with live musical accompaniment, educational programs for public school students, and the Retroformat Vault, our online library of rare silent films, we connect contemporary audiences with one of the most influential and innovative periods in motion picture history.
Silent films laid much of the foundation for modern filmmaking, yet relatively few people today have had the opportunity to experience them as they were intended to be seen: on a big screen, accompanied by live music and shared with an audience. We believe these films remain vibrant, entertaining, and emotionally powerful works of art, capable of inspiring, challenging, and delighting audiences more than a century after they were made.
The losses from the silent era have been staggering. The Library of Congress has reported that fewer than 20 percent of American silent films survive in complete form, while a later comprehensive study found that 70 percent of American silent feature films produced between 1912 and 1929 are completely lost. One of the best ways to ensure that the films that remain continue to matter is to share them with new audiences. By presenting celebrated masterpieces alongside rare films, restorations, and rediscoveries, we seek not simply to preserve an awareness of silent cinema's past, but to demonstrate its continuing vitality in the present.
The Los Angeles Silent Film Festival is run by a dedicated team of volunteers with a shared passion for silent cinema. Musical Director Cliff Retallick is an acclaimed composer, improviser, and keyboard artist whose original scores accompany our live screenings and all films streaming in the Retroformat Vault. For our annual festival, Motion Picture Archivist Steven Hill programs feature films, while film historian Randy Haberkamp programs short films. Digital Imaging Specialist David Slaughter prepares presentations of rare silent-film materials from private collections for the Retroformat Vault. Our Board of Directors also includes internationally renowned filmmakers Allison Anders and Alexander Payne.
From free screenings for Los Angeles public school students to world-class festival presentations and online access to rare films, we are committed to introducing new audiences to silent cinema and ensuring that it remains a living art form for generations to come.
Through theatrical screenings with live musical accompaniment, educational programs for public school students, and the Retroformat Vault, our online library of rare silent films, we connect contemporary audiences with one of the most influential and innovative periods in motion picture history.
Silent films laid much of the foundation for modern filmmaking, yet relatively few people today have had the opportunity to experience them as they were intended to be seen: on a big screen, accompanied by live music and shared with an audience. We believe these films remain vibrant, entertaining, and emotionally powerful works of art, capable of inspiring, challenging, and delighting audiences more than a century after they were made.
The losses from the silent era have been staggering. The Library of Congress has reported that fewer than 20 percent of American silent films survive in complete form, while a later comprehensive study found that 70 percent of American silent feature films produced between 1912 and 1929 are completely lost. One of the best ways to ensure that the films that remain continue to matter is to share them with new audiences. By presenting celebrated masterpieces alongside rare films, restorations, and rediscoveries, we seek not simply to preserve an awareness of silent cinema's past, but to demonstrate its continuing vitality in the present.
The Los Angeles Silent Film Festival is run by a dedicated team of volunteers with a shared passion for silent cinema. Musical Director Cliff Retallick is an acclaimed composer, improviser, and keyboard artist whose original scores accompany our live screenings and all films streaming in the Retroformat Vault. For our annual festival, Motion Picture Archivist Steven Hill programs feature films, while film historian Randy Haberkamp programs short films. Digital Imaging Specialist David Slaughter prepares presentations of rare silent-film materials from private collections for the Retroformat Vault. Our Board of Directors also includes internationally renowned filmmakers Allison Anders and Alexander Payne.
From free screenings for Los Angeles public school students to world-class festival presentations and online access to rare films, we are committed to introducing new audiences to silent cinema and ensuring that it remains a living art form for generations to come.
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The Los Angeles Silent Film Festival recently had the pleasure of introducing Harold Lloyd's granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd, and screening a Harold Lloyd film for a group of 6th graders at Laurel Cinematic Arts Creative Tech Magnet School in Los Angeles. Cliff Retallick brought his keyboard and provided a live performance to accompany the film.
Pictured here, you can see the kids mesmerized by Harold Lloyd in Get Out and Get Under (1920), and Suzanne talking to the captivated students following the movie. Most of them had never seen a movie projector or reel of film before, much less a silent film with live music. The students loved the experience, and it's moments like these that remind us why we're so passionate about our mission to promote education and enthusiasm about the art of silent film. We believe that silent film is not only a crucial part of film history, but it's also a powerful and universal art form that can still resonate with audiences today. By introducing young audiences to the magic of silent film, we're helping to keep this important part of our history alive. You can help by becoming a member of the Retroformat Vault today, and gain access to dozens of rare silent films, too! |
