WHAT'S COMING UP
FESTIVAL DATES 2024 APRIL 12/13/14 at the Revue Cinema
FOX SPECIAL SCREENINGS-NOVEMBER 2023- title tba
CO-PRESENTATIONS-SEPTEMBER 30th & OCTOBER 28th
Thank you to everyone who attended our Mini Fests in late 2021/early 2022, our weekend November festival in 2022 and our return to our usual dates in April 2023..
We would also like to thank all our outstanding volunteers, the venues and their staff, and local businesses, archives and distributers and film restorers that we use to put the festival on. Without each of them, this festival would not exist.
Friends of the Festival
Steve Teppermann Christina Stewart Nathan Moles Alan Jay Nuttall Nancy Beiman Jon Arnold Sharleen Rayner James Dobos Vanessa Buttino Vintage Film Festival Patricia Nolan-Hall Rachel Beattie Jennifer Archer Janice Kaiman Andrew Van Maurik Robert Elliott & Christine Cosby Robert Poole Shraddha Pai
OUR FUNDRAISING PARTNER
Fox Theatre
TSFF Support
Through donations of tickets etc., TSFF supported the 2023 fundraising efforts of several organizations.
- Toronto's First Post Office & Town of York Historical Society Silent Auction, March
- Vintage Film Festival Silent Auction, October
Friends of the Festival
We're proud to support our friends at the Vintage Film Festival in Port Hope, Ontario
Their next festival will be OCTOBER 20-22, 2023 at the beautiful atmospheric Capitol Theatre
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
BUSTER-A LIFE IN PICTURES by Ryan Barnett and Matthew Tavares
Ryan recently launched his beautiful new book at our GO WEST screening at the Fox.
"In this exciting new graphic novel biography, Ryan Barnett and Matthew Tavares weave together all of the triumphs, close calls, near misses, bumps, bruises and broken bones that defined Buster Keaton’s life and career. Barnett/Tavares present an entertaining portrait of a singular artist who influenced everyone from Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney to Wes Anderson and Jackie Chan." https://knockaboutmedia.com/books/
AL CHRISTIE: HOLLYWOOD'S FORGOTTEN FILM PIONEER by Mark Kearney (with a foreward by Steve Massa
Al Christie made more than a 1,000 short comedy films and
features in a 30-year directing/producing career in Hollywood. In his heyday,
his work was considered on par with such comedy giants as Mack Sennett and Hal
Roach, but until now he’s been mostly a footnote in Hollywood history. Christie
made the first silent comedy films in 1911 in the then-little known town of
Hollywood and continued his movie making well into the 1930s as talking films
took over.
Al Christie: Hollywood’s Forgotten Film Pioneer
draws from interviews with silent film experts and family members, major
archives in the U.S. and Canada, and dozens of newspaper and magazine articles
to illustrate how he and his films were acclaimed in their time and his
important role in the development of motion pictures. This biography
celebrates Christie's life and work from his early days growing up in London,
Ontario, Canada where he helped touring Vaudevillians hone their comic skills
to his years in Hollywood behind the camera. With more than 60 photographs and
a detailed filmography, this book is a must-read for anyone with an interest in
cinema history. Available on amazon.ca & amazon.com
CAPTAIN OF HER SOUL-THE LIFE OF MARION DAVIES by Lara Gabrielle
From Marion Davies's humble days in Brooklyn to her rise to fame alongside press baron William Randolph Hearst, the public life story of the film star plays like a modern fairy tale shaped by gossip columnists, fan magazines, biopics, and documentaries. Yet the real Marion Davies remained largely hidden from view, as she was wary of interviews and trusted few with her true life story. In Captain of Her Soul, Lara Gabrielle pulls back layers of myth to show a complex and fiercely independent woman, ahead of her time, who carved her own path. Book available from local booksellers and from Amazon.ca
OTHER BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
CAMERA MAN -Buster Keaton, The Dawn of Cinema and the Invention of the Twentieth Century by Dana Stevens
DVD RECOMMENDATIONS
CINEMA'S FIRST NASTY WOMEN- 4 DISC BOX SET from Kino Lorber
CASANOVA from Flicker Alley
Donate
Become a Friend Of The Festival.
As a not for profit, volunteer run Festival, we rely heavily on ticket sales for the majority of our budget.
No matter what the amount of your donation, it is important to us and 100% will go back into bringing new restorations and unique films to you.
All donators will be listed on our website by name (or if you wish to stay anonymous, just ask).
At present, we are not a registered charity so we cannot issue a charitable tax receipt.
Newsletter Sign Up
Please use our newsletter sign up form to the right
If you prefer, email us with your full name and email address and ask to join.
Newsletters are published about 10 times per year.
Your contact info is never sold, loaned or given out to any third party
You are able to unsubscribe at any time by clicking a link at the bottom of any newsletter.
For everything else, you can reach us at
torontosilentfilm (at) gmail.com