Lights, camera, action! Teens take center stage at Student Silent Film Festival

DOWNERS GROVE – The Student Silent Film Festival is a film competition in which students from 11 Chicago-area high schools create original motion pictures.

Unlike other film competitions, however, the movies submitted will tell their stories in visual terms without the aid of voices or sound effects.

The festival takes place at 6:45 p.m. Jan. 22 at the Tivoli Theatre, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove.

Participating high schools and media instructors:

• Lake Forest High School - Steve Douglass

• Homewood-Flossmoor High School - Matt McLindon

• Mundelein High School - Kent Meister

• Huntley High School - Lauren Teeter

• Lyons Township High School - Bill Allan

• Dwight D. Eisenhower High School - Henry Kasprzyk

• Alan B. Shepard High School - Jodi Pelini

• Bremen High School - Michael Lynch

• Oak Forest High School - Michael Lynch

• Barrington High School - Jeff Doles

• Neuqua Valley High School - John Gelsomino

“This festival is a way for young people to discover and appreciate the techniques and accomplishments of pioneering motion picture artists at the dawn of the moviemaking era,” Ed Newmann of Hinsdale, one of three founders of the event, said in a news release.

All submitted movies will be shown at the festival with live music accompaniment by Derek Berg, who is a professional pianist and CEO of the Clarendon Hills Music Academy.

The musical scores will be performed on the SilentFilmtronic 2000, a uniquely designed keyboard rig that employs virtual instruments sampled from classic synthesizers circa 1950-1980.

“With my keyboard setup, I use a Mac to access a library of 30 vintage synthesizers, orchestral and acoustic instruments and rhythmic loops,” Berg said. “This setup gives me endless ingredients to craft sounds for any film.”

The silent movie is an art form unto itself. The ability to tell a story in purely visual terms without the aid of a synchronized soundtrack is a special skill with its own set of challenges and opportunities.

“As an instructor of students who live in a digital world and are saturated by content, it is a refreshing opportunity to challenge my media students with a silent film,” said Bill Allen, supervisor of Television Services at Lyons Township High School.

Beginning in the mid-1910s, small suburban theaters employed a single piano player, but large city theaters had massive theater organs that had a wide range of special effects. Theatrical organs such as the famous “Mighty Wurlitzer” could simulate some orchestral sounds along with percussion effects.

“We believe it is important for the future moviemakers to understand and appreciate the art of cinema as it existed in the 1920s,” Newmann said.

For the festival, a panel of judges – all professionals in the entertainment or art education industries – will select three winners based on the quality of the story narrative, development, camera work, lighting and editing.

Each participant will be provided with an HD digital file of his or her movie with the accompaniment soundtrack.

“In addition to being an incomparable experience for all the participating students, the winning filmmakers will have powerful pieces of work for their portfolios,” Newmann said.

The public is invited to the film festival. Tickets are $18 and can be ordered at https://www.studentsilentfilmfestival.org/. Tickets are $25 at the door.