From Silence to Sound
Dominik Tschütscher and Gerhard Gruber present an educational program of the Austrian Film Museum
Since 2007, in the framework of its educational program “Schule im Kino”, Vienna’s Österreichisches Filmmuseum has been inviting school classes each semester to the event “From Silence to Sound.” Here, children and young people are introduced to silent film. Using examples from both sound film and silent film, they learn why silent film was never silent, what a soundtrack can do, and what qualities an improvised piano accompaniment reveals for the audience.
We will show amoung others films by the Lumière Brothers (Panorama de l’arrivée en gare de Perrache pris du train, 1896, 2:00) and Georges Méliès (Le voyage a travers l’impossible, 1904, 24:00). The conclusion of the presentation is made by Big Business (1929, 20:00) by James W. Horne and Leo McCarey, a masterpiece of Christmas tree destruction with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the gods of slow-motion comic reaction, and in the midst of it all their accomplice, the pianist Gerhard Gruber. Length of program: 120 minutes
Dominik Tschütscher works in the department of research and education at Österreichisches Filmmuseum Wien and is responsible for the school film education program.
Composer, musician, and pianist Gerhard Gruber has been accompanying silent film since 1988, and has worked for Österreichisches Filmmuseum since 2003. He lives in Wels, Upper Austria.
Saturday | Jan. 17 | 7:45 pm
