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Ithaca College's Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) To Offer Original Music For Three Silent Films

ITHACA, NY — A trademark of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) is commissioning original music as audio complement to silent films, and this year, “FLEFF 2009: A Different Environment” will make three such offerings available at Cinemapolis, located in Center Ithaca. Tickets for the screenings are available at the door.

Friday April 3, 7 p.m., Cinemapolis

“Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror” (F.W. Murnau, Germany, 1922)

Tickets are $8.50

An unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” “Noferatu” is the quintessential silent vampire film, crafted by legendary German director F.W. Murnau. Rather than depicting Dracula as a shape-shifting monster or debonair gentleman, Murnau’s Graf Orlok (as portrayed by Max Schreck) is a nightmarish, spidery creature with a bulbous head and taloned claws — perhaps the most genuinely disturbing incarnation of vampirism yet envisioned.

“Nosferatu” was an atypical expressionist film in that much of it was shot on location. While directors such as Lang and Lubitsch built vast forests and entire towns within the studio, the landscapes, villages and castle in “Nosferatu” were actual locations in the Carpathian mountains. Murnau was thus able to infuse the story with the subtle tones of nature, both pure and fresh as well as twisted and sinister.

The live, original, improvised, experimental music is based on German expressionist musical forms and will be performed by two School of Music faculty members — Rick Faria (clarinet) and Nicholas Walker (double bass), and John Stetch (piano).

Saturday April 4, 2:30 p.m., Cinemapolis

 “The Black Pirate” (Albert Parker, USA, 1926)

Tickets are $6.50

In the first grand-scale epic shot entirely in Technicolor, the sole survivor of a ship pillaged by buccaneers poses as the mysterious Black Pirate and infiltrates the nest of bandits. Michel (Douglas Fairbanks) mounts an elaborate ploy to recover the brigands’ treasure, reclaim the ship and rescue the divine Princess (Billie Dove) held captive there.

With a live jazz score performed by Fe Nunn and Friends, and some other surprises along the way, this show is perfect for the family.

Sunday April 5, 7 p.m., Cinemapolis

“The Wildcat” (Die Bergkatze) (Ernst Lubitsch, Germany, 1921)

Tickets are $8.50

Ernst Lubitsch has long been recognized as the director of some of Hollywood’s greatest comedies, including “Trouble in Paradise” (1932) and “Ninotchka” (1939). However, he made one of his best films while he was still an emerging filmmaker in his native Germany. “The Wildcat,” which was never released in the U.S., is a playfully subversive satire of military life that makes Robert Altman’s “M*A*S*H” look positively tame by comparison. It’s also a rarity: a German expressionist comedy.

“The Wildcat” looks ahead to Lubitsch’s later comedies, but can also be seen as an ancestor to Monty Python and the early, anarchic films of Woody Allen. The film’s refreshingly unhinged approach is also reflected in its visual style, including a fortress that looks like a giant toy box and the film’s frame, which continuously changes size and shape.

The original experimental soundscape will be performed by Robby Aceto (color guitar), Peter Dodge (percussion and keyboards) and Chris White (cello).

FLEFF 2009 will run Monday–Sunday, March 30–April 5. A complete list of events is available at www.ithaca.edu/fleff. All events on the Ithaca College campus are free and open to the public.

The Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies is the major presenting sponsor of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival. The festival has also been made possible in part by a grant from the Park Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Experimental Television Center Technical Assistance Fund, supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, a public agency and by the Strebel Foundation.

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