Directed by Women: Selected Shorts

Suffolk Silents Society presents

Directed by Women: Selected Shorts

3.30pm Sunday 6^th September 2015

Ipswich Film Theatre Screen 2 – £2 cash on door,

In association with the Directed by Women Worldwide Viewing Party and Scalarama 2015, Suffolk Silents Society will be showing a selection of short silent films. This will showcase the work of early female film pioneers such as Lotte Reiginer, Alice Guy, and Lois Weber.

When we think of the silent era key figures such as Charlie Chaplin, DW Griffiths, Fritz Lang tend to come to mind. There is however a hidden history of silent film.

Alice Guy attended the first public demonstration of their new invention by the Lumiere Brothers and saw the workers leaving the factory. She however also saw the power of the new Cinematograph to tell stories and went on to develop the first narratives on film.

Lotte Reiginer is commonly credited with the first feature length animation. Her wonderful The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) is almost certainly the earliest surviving feature length animation and pre-dates Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by over a decade.

Lois Weber is famous as America’s first female film director but more importantly as a key innovator in the field and one of the era’s “three great minds” along with DW Griffith and Cecil B DeMille. The still shown is from her short Suspense where she uses split screen to show simultaneous action in three different locations.

These are just three of the women who took the reins and drove the early history of film in new and exciting directions. Suffolk Silents Society is delighted to be able to showcase a selection of work by them and others and invites you to join in the celebration.