Three Silent Film Classics With Live Musical Interpretations To Be Screened At Ithaca College's Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival

Dave Maley, 4/4/2008

               ITHACA, NY—Thanks to a collaborative partnership between Ithaca College’s 2008 Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) and the nonprofit 7th Art Corporation, three silent film classics will be shown at Cinemapolis theater accompanied by live musical interpretations from area musicians. The events will take place Friday–Saturday, April 4–6, and require admission fees. For more details and information, visit www.cinemapolis.org

Friday, April 4, 7 p.m.

“It” (1927)—A delightful and enticing cruise through the manners and morals of the flapper era, this engaging comedy of manners, class, sexuality and camouflage transformed Clara Bow into the first mass-market sex symbol.

• Spoken-word performance by associate professor of theater arts Cynthia Henderson.
• Live jazz score by Fe Nunn and Friends (Fe Nunn, keyboards; Mike Vitucci, guitar; Charles Leo, tenor and soprano saxophone, flute; Bill King, drums).
• Production and lighting design by Ann Michel and Phil Wilde.

 Cosponsored by the Ithaca Motion Picture Project, the art, science and history of filmmaking in Central New York.

Saturday, April 5, 2 p.m.

“Steamboat Bill, Jr.” (1928)—This tale of a competition between an old steamship and a brand new passenger vessel showcases the talents of Buster Keaton, arguably the most inventive and hilarious physical comedian of the silent era. 

• The Common Railers will provide a live musical score of American folk, alt country, bluegrass, blues and rockabilly. The Common Railers is Mike Costello, acoustic upright bass and slide dobro; Chad Crum, fiddle and banjo; Peter Glanville, acoustic guitar; and Gordon Rowland, mandolin, banjo and accordion.
• Production and lighting design by Ann Michel and Phil Wilde. 

Sponsored by the Ithaca College Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies and the 7th Art Corporation.

Sunday, April 6, 7 p.m.

“Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life” (1925)—This classic adventure documentary chronicles the twice-yearly migrations of more than 50,000 Bakhtiari nomads of Persia (now Iran) as they move herds of nearly half a million animals over deserts, mountains, rivers and snowy wastelands in search of the life-sustaining grasslands.

• Chris White (electric cello and sequencer), Peter Dodge (electronic keyboards, trumpet, soprano sax and percussion) and Robby Aceto (guitar and looping) will provide improvisational music that features jazz, post-minimalism, sequencers, rock, post rock, and tonal and textural experimentation.
• Production and lighting design by Ann Michel and Phil Wilde. 

Cosponsored by the Ithaca Motion Picture Project, the art, science and history of filmmaking in Central New York.

                 FLEFF 2008 will run Monday–Sunday, March 31–April 6. A complete list of events, along with a day-by-day calendar, is available at www.ithaca.edu/fleff.

                 Launched in 1997 as an outreach project sponsored by Ithaca College, Cornell University’s Center for the Environment and Eunadi Center for International Studies and others, FLEFF has become a major regional event in upstate New York and enjoys an international reputation as a cutting-edge, multi-arts program.

                For more information and to schedule interviews, contact Patricia Zimmermann at (607) 274-3431 or patty@ithaca.edu, or Tom Shevory at (607) 274-1347 or shevory@ithaca.edu.

Originally published in News Releases: Three Silent Film Classics With Live Musical Interpretations To Be Screened At Ithaca College's Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival.