Silent Cinema Pioneers: From Alice Guy-Blaché to Lois Weber

September 14–25, 2024

A chance to see works by four pioneering directors of the silent era: Alice Guy-Blaché, Louis Feuillade, Cecil B. DeMille, and Lois Weber. Professor Anne Nesbet will give short lectures for the film programs on September 18 and 25, both of which are presented with live piano accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg. Also screening is Pamela B. Green’s 2018 documentary on Guy-Blaché, which helps reclaim her place in film history.

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  • Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché

  • Where Are My Children?

  • Les vampires, Episode 2: The Ring That Kills

  • Cabbage Fairy

  • The Cheat

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Past Films

  • Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché

    Pamela B. Green
    United States, 2018
    Saturday, September 14 3:30 PM

    “Critic’s Pick! Tremendously moving. . . . By the end of Be Natural, you won’t only have a clear idea of who this remarkable woman [Alice Guy-Blaché] was; you may well have acquired a new taste in old movies” (A. O. Scott, New York Times).

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  • Alice Guy-Blaché & Louis Feuillade: Silent Cinema Pioneers

    Wednesday, September 18 2:10 PM
    Introduced by Anne Nesbet; Judith Rosenberg on Piano

    This screening features examples of Alice Guy-Blaché’s early films at Gaumont Studios, as well as from her period in the United States, after she formed the production company Solax Films. Shown with the first two episodes of Louis Feuillade’s serial crime film Les vampires. 

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  • Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché

    Pamela B. Green
    United States, 2018
    Friday, September 20 4:00 PM

    “Critic’s Pick! Tremendously moving. . . . By the end of Be Natural, you won’t only have a clear idea of who this remarkable woman [Alice Guy-Blaché] was; you may well have acquired a new taste in old movies” (A. O. Scott, New York Times).

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  • Cecil B. DeMille & Lois Weber: Silent Cinema Pioneers

    Wednesday, September 25 2:10 PM
    Introduced by Anne Nesbet; Judith Rosenberg on Piano

    Cecile B. DeMille’s The Cheat set standards of acting, decor, frame composition, and lighting that were not surpassed for years. Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley’s Where Are My Children? manages a curious balance, defending birth control while condemning abortion.

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