On 7 December starts the oldest review of silent films in Poland, presented with live music!

From the Far North

Justyna Skalska
Kraków Culture

Did you know that Kraków hosts Poland’s longest-running review of silent films with live music accompaniment? This special event is held during the second week of December and forms a part of many pre-Christmas cultural events in our city.

This year’s Silent Film Festival is held under the banner “From the Far North”: the programme focuses on Scandinavian cinematography and filmmakers from Northern Europe.

“They include leading representatives of the Swedish film school – one of the main streams of silent cinema – as well as Scandinavian artists who emigrated to build their careers abroad,” explains Marynia Gierat, director of the festival and Pod Baranami Cinema – main organiser of the festival.

Some of the most important directors represented at the event include Victor Sjöström, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Benjamin Christensen and Mauritz Stiller (marking the 140th anniversary of his birth). We will also focus on one of the greatest film stars of all time: the Swedish-American actress Greta Garbo. The big screen presents films including The Outlaw and His Wife, described by the French director Louis Delluc as the most beautiful film in the world, the atmospheric Phantom Carriage (also known as The Stroke of Midnight and Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!) featuring innovative special effects by the leading Swedish cinematographer Julius Jaenzon, and an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet featuring the great star of silent cinema Asta Nielsen in the title role. Most of the films shown during the festival will be presented with live accompaniment performed by Cracovian artists.

There will also be plenty of accompanying events, including matinees for children. Robert Gottlieb’s book Greta Garbo: The Most Enigmatic Movie Star (the Polish edition is published by Znak – transl.) serves as a starting point of a discussion of this extraordinary artist.