Swedish cinema in the silent era

assessments

1:

• essay based, 1,500 words

• worth 40% of final grade

2:

• video essay, max 3 minutes

• worth 60% of final grade

what is film hisotry

• looking at how the development of technology affected everything

• history is intertwined with technology

• how we go from silent film to the introduction of audio

why silent cinema?

• archaeology of film and the impact on later films

• 85% of the silent films are currently gone,

  • they don’t exist and people thought they didn’t need to be preserved

  • they weren’t stored because they were very flammable and highly explosive if not stored properly

  • film strips used to go mouldy and smelled really bad if stored a little incorrectly

why have so many silent films been lost?

• 90% of american films made before 1929 are lost, and 75% of all silent films are lost

victor sjöström (1879-1960)

• over 50 films in sweden and the US between 1912 and 1930

• considered by many the father of swedish cinema, he has a significant influence on Ingmar Bergman and acted in Bergman’s film