Pordenone Silent Film Festival will run between 4-11 October.

Events scheduled for the 27th edition of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival include the opening musical event, one of Mary Pickford's finest films, SPARROWS (1926; director William Beaudine).

Festival sections will be dedicated to French comedy of the 1920s; "Hollywood on the Hudson" (New York-made features); the silent films of W.C. Fields; and the 12th and final section of the Giornate's monumental Griffith Project.
A central feature which we can guarantee will be a revelation to every festival habitué is a screening of the entire works of Alexander Shiryaev (1867-1941) a dancer, maitre de ballet and teacher at the Imperial Russian Ballet, whose quest to find means to record movement made him a film-maker of invention and charm and an animator of genius. These films remained unseen and unknown for almost a century after they were made in 1906-9, and are still undergoing restoration and rediscovery.

Other programmes from the early period include a special presentation to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1978 Brighton congress, another selection from the Australian Corrick Collection, and a presentation of the films of W.K.L. Dickson by Paul Spehr, whose fundamental book on this often underestimated pioneer comes out this year.

Individual restorations and rediscoveries of the year include (from the Nederlands Filmmuseum) a feature film and two fragments from works, long believed lost, starring Sessue Hayakawa; King Vidor's Bardelys the Magnificent, and ED'S CO-ED, a delightful film made by students of the university of Oregon, one of whom, co-director Carvel Nelson, was inspired to undertake the project after working in the crew of F.W.

Murnau's City Girl. And much more - as well, of course, as the usual Collegium, the FilmFair offering books, DVDs and meetings with authors, and the masterclasses in musical improvisation for silent films.
Like this year's Cinema Ritrovato of Bologna, the Giornate del Cinema Muto will be dedicated to the memory of Vittorio Martinelli, who died suddenly on 8 April.