Pordenone’s 39 Limited Edition will flourish as an online event

[missdupont]

This won't be the first Pordenone has shown 68mm Biograph films. In 2000, they screened restored 1896-1903 Biographs from National Film and TV Archive of Britain and the Nederlands Museum in 10 programs: Addressing the Audience, Where to Place the Camera?, Twentieth Century Damsel, Ordinary events, Yesterday's News (actualities of the time), I Love a Parade, People in FRont of a Camera, How Shots Hang Together, Visual Attractions, , and finaly a compliation film of them travelnig the world eastward from London to New York.

[Professor Echo]

I am very fortunate in that I have not seen any of them. Count me in to watch most. While some on here may have seen most that is likely more of the expert level of that person. Having not seen these I can still say I am definitely not a newbie. I was heartened to hear in Mike’s Podcast that they will look to incorporate virtual screenings into their regular show going forward, I will certainly pay to attend virtually.

Matthew

This says it all for me as well so add Glen below Matthew's name.

[Salty Dog]

I look forward to this show very much. One question: will there be close-captioning or subtitles for those of us who are not multi-lingual?

[Mike Gebert]

Everything from the Giornate has an English option, so I assume so.

[mwalls]

I look forward to this show very much. One question: will there be close-captioning or subtitles for those of us who are not multi-lingual?

I read that intertitles will be in both Italian and English. I will see if I can find that exact source.

Matthew

[Salty Dog]

Glad to hear this, I am one of those unfortunate but typical Americans that can only manage one language...

[mwalls]

I look forward to this show very much. One question: will there be close-captioning or subtitles for those of us who are not multi-lingual?

I read that intertitles will be in both Italian and English. I will see if I can find that exact source.

Matthew

I found the link. For a moment in my searching I was afraid I had been imagining it.

http://www.giornatedelcinemamuto.it/en/ ... ival-2020/

Matthew

[Salty Dog]

Excellent!

[boblipton]

Now all we need is the schedule, so we can get up at 3AM to see the morning show.

Bob

[Mike Gebert]

The evening shows are at 8:30 pm Pordenone time, so 2:30 pm Eastern, 1:30 pm Central, 11:30 pm Pacific. Don't know when the earlier weekend show is.

[mwalls]

And the films are available for 24 hours so you do not need to watch them live.

Matthew

[Ken Mitchell]

Registration is now available

https://www.mymovies.it/ondemand/giornate-cinema-muto/

Three purchase options, films-only are a steal at 9.99 Euros

You need to do a short video test to confirm you can stream okay.

I didn't complete registration - the page I linked to above is secure but the pop up window that asks for your credit card details, I could not see a lock symbol on it, which is what normally happens with these types of popups ask for card details. I am sure it is secure but just wondering if someone more tech-savvy than me can confirm? Cheers!

Edit: A friend believes this CC details dialogue is an overlay, rather than a popup and should be secure. Still looking for another opinion. Had a very bad experience with this sort of thing a couple of years back and nearly lost a substantial amount of money, hence my paranoia is sky high with this sort of thing.

Also not questioning Pordenone integrity here, just want to make sure the payments thing has been implemented properly.

[boblipton]

I tried to register, but it didn't accept my Visa card

Bob

[oldposterho]

You might have to tell your CC company that you're going to be making an international charge.

[Histogram]

Had a very bad experience with this sort of thing a couple of years back and nearly lost a substantial amount of money, hence my paranoia is sky high with this sort of thing.

You should look into virtual credit cards. Best bet is to check with each of your banks and credit card companies to see if they offer a service for issuing virtual (that is, temporary and disposable) credit card numbers.

[chrisdr]

For those asking questions about registration you can sign up now:
https://www.mymovies.it/ondemand/giorna ... accrediti/

There are three options for virtual attendance and with more money paid then the more "privileges" such as print schedule, t-shirt, tote.

If you click on the Basic 9.99 Euros/11.00 USD A box will appear asking for the following information: first name, last name, country, address, zip code, phone. Make sure you accept the terms and conditions at the bottom and click Acquista 9.99 it will then ask for credit card information. A receipt for attendance will be sent to your email and you will be also signing up for a log on account. There are options for English which should be located at the top. Films will be available for a whole 24 hours for viewing pleasure. I hope this helps

film schedule:
www.giornatedelcinemamuto.it/en/calendario-2020/

[Histogram]

A bit perplexed by the seating chart for the presentations. Can we leave our stuff on our seats between screenings or do we have to clear everything out?

[mwalls]

For those asking questions about registration you can sign up now:
https://www.mymovies.it/ondemand/giorna ... accrediti/

There are three options for virtual attendance and with more money paid then the more "privileges" such as print schedule, t-shirt, tote.

If you click on the Basic 9.99 Euros/11.00 USD A box will appear asking for the following information: first name, last name, country, address, zip code, phone. Make sure you accept the terms and conditions at the bottom and click Acquista 9.99 it will then ask for credit card information. A receipt for attendance will be sent to your email and you will be also signing up for a log on account. There are options for English which should be located at the top. Films will be available for a whole 24 hours for viewing pleasure. I hope this helps

film schedule:
www.giornatedelcinemamuto.it/en/calendario-2020/

I signed up last night. Looking forward to this.

Matthew

[mwalls]

Since the festival starts tomorrow evening in Italy, I wonder if the film will be available to stream tomorrow evening US EST?

And I am hoping it is on a platform that I can get to through my Roku so I can watch it on a larger screen. If not, the iPad will be fine.

Matthew

[Mike Gebert]

So I thought I'd try to write up each showing as soon as possible after they go live, to aid people in picking which ones to be sure and catch during their 24-hour window. (Others are encouraged to add their reviews here as well.)



The first program was an hour of travel shorts—intended to blend our love of silent film with our frustrated desires for travel. It began with a handsomely-drafted cartoon short about an airship, Un Voyage Abracadabrant (1919, Henri Monier). Then scenes of transit in New York in 1911, big on iron works on bridges and subways (and thus very satisfying to me); scenes of the old city of Krakow; some lovely hand-tinted footage of performers from the Comedie Française in Egypt; a Norwegian cigarette commercial featuring an ace motorcyclist; scenes of Belgium, perhaps the most beguiling in the bunch as a boat goes through the canals of Bruges; some whitewater boating in, I guess, Czech or Slovakia, since the pianist plays "Ma Vlast" at one point; jumping ahead a couple of decades (and discovering the close-up) in some 1939 footage of Trieste; and finally, some scenes of London, set in frames as if pictures come to life, shot by Julius Jaenzon who shot most of the great Swedish silents, for Sjostrom and Stiller.

None of these are cinematic masterworks, but they certainly accomplished their goal—of evoking the desire for travel in this lockdown time, and adding to that travel the virtues of time travel, as ordinary people wander the streets in 1911 or 1919, brought back to life for a day... in this case, literally 24 hours before they vanish again.

[Mike Gebert]

Penrod and Sam (1923), sequel to a 1922 adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel (with, however, a different cast and director), doesn't hold a lot of surprises—it's Tom Sawyer updated to the middle class of the 1920s, completely with a Sidney-like goody two shoes, and Penrod's father (Rockcliffe Fellowes) might well be Skinner with his dress suit. But it's charmingly and affectingly done, showing boys up to everything from battle to hazing a new initiate in their club, to sorrow when a four-legged best friend goes to his reward. Ben Alexander (later on the 1950s Dragnet) is Penrod, and he's superbly directed by William Beaudine to an utterly credible and quite empathetic picture of boyhood.

In particular, given that the boys' world seems to be race-blind—there are two brothers, black, who are accepted by the white kids without a word, and with almost no race-based humor on the script's part—there's a commonality with the Hal Roach-Robert McGowan Our Gang series that probably means you can't attribute influence from one to the other (both series started in 1922) but that they probably reinforced each other in naturalistic, democratic visions of childhood. The print, from the Library of Congress, is quite handsome in sepiatone, with only minor wear, and was accompanied with appropriate gentleness (and the occasional mock-heroic mode) by Stephen Horne.

[drednm]

Finally figured out the registration etc and saw Penrod and Sam ... a true delight and kudos to Stephen Horne for his music.

[mwalls]

I tried to watch Penrod On my iPad. I got through it but it crashed about ten times and I kept having to find where I left off. Did anyone else have this problem? Tomorrow I will try watching on my Acer Chromebook.

Matthew

[Mike Gebert]

Sorry to hear that. I had a hitch getting in at first—they gave me a media pass after I did the podcast, though I'd have happily paid the 9 euros—and I could log in but not make the movie play. Then they sent me a different link and it was smooth sailing after that, no hiccups in either show, not even a slight stutter (as is not uncommon on streaming).

[ajabrams]

I saw both of the Opening Day programs and was very impressed. The presentations were wonderfully done and I also the enjoyed the discussions that followed. The musical accompaniment on both was outstanding. I really look forward to the rest of the week's films and hope that the Festival will continue to offer at least a partial virtual edition in the coming years. Bravo to all concerned!!

[rudyfan]

Loved everything about the online festival. I put my thoughts, Pordenone Diary Day 1 here http://strictly-vintage-hollywood.blog ... day-1.html

[Histogram]

it but it crashed about ten times

Did you try manually setting the "Quality" (that is, resolution)? At the lower-right of the video frame there is a settings icon that looks like a gear. If your Internet bandwidth is a borderline case, then the automatic approach may try to show a quality (with an associated data rate) that is a bit more than your system can handle. So you could set it to the next lower setting. For example, it may have been automatically trying to show you 1080, whereas you might need to set it manually to 720 to work smoothly.

[Mike Gebert]

The Brilliant Biograph is a collection of 68mm actuality films from 1897-1902, showing scenes of Europe, put together by the EYE Film Institute in the Netherlands. (It's preceded by a short film about EYE which is well worth watching.) Why 68mm? Because we've all seen blotchy, murky old films of that time—but these can be remarkably sharp and clear with near-infinite depth of field, allowing you to make out facial expressions in long shot, or—my favorite—allowing you to read billboards and shop signs of more than a century ago. I guess as an old ad guy, nothing conjures up past worlds to me like seeing how they advertised and sold themselves.

The 55-minute program is divided into five thematic parts, but basically you get scenes of everyday life, you get a lot of point of view shots from different types of vehicles—trains, boats, and to judge by the jerkiness of some of the street scenes, horse carts—and you get a few specialty films, like a delightful scene of jugglers in a restaurant setting, or a scene of traditional dancing in the ruins of Pompeii. There's a funeral with mourners dressed in dark hoods like penitentes, there's a procession of a German military band in WWI uniforms with the spiked helmets. Occasionally you see children playing and can't help but think they'd be just old enough for WWI, middle-aged in WWII. I already said that yesterday's actualities were like a time machine; these are like... a high definition time machine.


The audience leaving one of the Biograph shows.

[GishFan]

Unfortunately, I lost track of the days and forgot to sign up until today. So I missed the first day's showings. Argh!

[Mike Gebert]

Guo Feng (National Customs), made in China in 1935 by Luo Mingyou and Zhu Shilin, was made in support of a nationalist movement called New Life, evidently aimed at combating the spread of Western, decadent customs, with Shanghai recogized as the City Zero of the disease. Of course, one of the main vectors of western decadence was the movies, and so we have a movie against western decadence which at times could have come straight from Warner Brothers at the same time.

Ruan Lingyu, the most famous and ill-fated of silent Chinese stars (this was her last film before her suicide, allegedly brought on by the unrelenting pressure of the tabloids), plays the good, dutiful daughter of a female small town principal; Le Lili plays the other daughter, a flibbertigibbet who will fall prey to Shanghai fashions and late night carousing. (Think Evelyn Brent and Louise Brooks in Love 'Em or Leave 'Em.) Oh, and before they even got there, self-sacrificing Ruan had given her up her beau to Le, but now that she's in the big city, Le takes up with another, richer lad who wears western suits and pomades his hair.

It's fascinating to see how the film bounces between Western and Eastern notions, with the East winning out in the end in a sequence of speechmaking and banner-waving that is propagandistic enough that you have to remind yourself that this is the pre-Communist, not the Maoist society. If that part is heavy-handed, what precedes it is done with considerably more sensitivity and intelligence—there's a pretty funny scene (I think it's meant to be sardonically funny) where Le and her beau address the students back at Mom's old school, and all the students can whisper to each other is that his hair is prettier than a girl's, and she even has "blush" on her fingernails!

As for Ruan—well, I can see why she was such a star, even if her character is a bit of a scold and a drudge (when a rumor goes around that she's hot for the pomaded dude, we learn that her nickname among the other students is "the saint"). But the character is one thing, and Ruan's sincere, empathetic performance is another—add her next to Ita Rina (of Tonka of the Gallows) among the underappreciated great silent faces from still little-appreciated silent movie lands.

The print was mostly pretty good, if not especially artily shot, at least it had attractive sets and fashions, especially in Shanghai. Music was a solid melodramatic score by Gabriel Thibodeau, which seems to have deliberately avoided Asian music (with the goal of keeping the movie more universal?)