About the CAM Silent Film Project

The Denver Silent Film Festival was established in 2010 as Denver’s first celebration of silent cinema. The University of Colorado Denver’s College of Arts & Media (CAM) is collaborating with the DSFF and living up to its primary focus: the education of its students. Within this collaboration, significant educational activities have been established to further students’ understanding and learning of silent cinema and to celebrate their talents as emerging filmmakers, artists, actors, and musicians.

Guest Lecturers

– David Shepard, world-renowned archivist/film restorer and May 2011 recipient of an Honorary “Doctor of Humane Letters” from CU Denver conducts a discussion with students from the History of Silent Film class.

Musical Accompaniment Master Class

– Musical accompaniment for silent film enhances the poetic nature of the medium. Pianist Donald Sosin and vocalist Joanna Seaton conduct a master class on musical accompaniment with CAM music students. The inaugural festival’s screening of Nosferatu featured a musical score produced and performed by Donald Sosin and CAM music students.

Poster Design Contest

– Movie posters have been at the forefront of cinematic advertisement as soon as one-reelers began showing in the small theaters along America’s Main Streets in the early 1900s. The bright illustrative designs of posters and lobby cards featured captivating titles and scenes, and beautifully characterized many of the first international motion picture celebrities. Every year, the Denver Silent Film Festival holds a contest for students enrolled in CU Denver’s College of Arts & Media. One winner is chosen from three finalists. That winner is awarded a $500 scholarship and the opportunity to see their work displayed around the city on materials promoting the festival, on the web, and for other displays. All three finalists’ posters are showcased at the festival.

New Silent Films

– It was in the pre-1927 period that the grammar of film was developed. Filmmakers learned that their art was visual and that as creators they had to denote feeling, thought, and tell a story entirely through visual expression. Many great filmmakers today have absorbed that visual achievement of the silent period and extended it into their work. One entire program of the festival consists of new silent films made by CAM students.

Drama Class

- CAM students are invited to explore the incredible style of silent cinema artists through silent actor classes. The Inaugural Festival featured Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford who made appearances on Auraria Campus and at sites in and around the City of Denver to promote the DSFF. Scholarships will be awarded this year to two students who are trained by CAM Faculty to perform on behalf of the DSFF.

Donate

Your contribution to the Denver Silent Film Festival will help fund student scholarships, educational lectures, and classes for the students of the CU Denver, College of Arts & Media. For more information, please visit our Support Us page.