Students take to the Tivoli stage for silent film festival

Students from eleven area high schools will compete in the Student Silent Film Festival, a film competition where area students create original motion pictures that contain no sound.

The fest is set for 6:45 p.m. Jan. 22 at the Tivoli Theatre, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove.

When the pieces are formally presented at the festival, music accompanies the film, thanks to the work of professional pianist and head of the Clarendon Hills Music Academy, Derek Berg, who creates musical compositions for each film that includes “enough breathing room” that allows “a lot of on-the-spot improvision.”

During the musical creative process that Berg begins in the weekends leading up to the festival, he takes each movie and “creates a unique musical vibe for each one without repeating.”

“I use music software in combination with virtual instruments,” Berg said.

During the festival, Berg sits at the front of iconic theatre facing the audience along with a SilentFilmtronic 2000, a uniquely designed keyboard rig that employs virtual instruments sampled from classic synthesizers and a monitor to watch the film himself.

This allows Berg to add sound effects, supplemental beats and atmospheric sounds to each of the students’ films.

“There are not a lot of contemporary silent films. Storytelling without audio is a challenge,” Berg said. “It is a lost art.”

Participating high schools include Lake Forest High School, Homewood-Flossmoor High School, Mundelein High School, Huntley High School, Lyons Township High School, Dwight D. Eisenhower High School, Alan B. Shepard High School, Bremen High School, Oak Forest High School, Barrington High School, and Neuqua Valley High School.

The festival began in 2017 at the San Filippo Estate in Barrington after Ed Newmann, a well-known animator and entrepreneur who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short, came to the other festival co-founders, Bill Allan, founder and supervisor of television services at Lyons Township High School, and Berg with the idea to start the event.

Some years, Berg said the festival had a theme such as Halloween, However, this year, “we did no theme and let the students just go with the flow.”

He added that he was really intrigued to see what the students came up with. Berg said he typically sees dramas that are heavy and dark with teenage angst.

“This year, there are dramas, but the energy of all the films is definitely lighter,” Berg said.

Allan said 10 students worked on the Lyons Township movie submission this year.

In past competitions, the Lyons Township’s submissions ventured into a Mission Impossible themed silent movie as well as a holiday-themed movie.

Even though the event is a competition, Allan said, he tells his students “This is an opportunity to challenge themselves. With no music or sound effects, they have to tell a story purely visually—while living in a world where they are saturated with media.”

“They get a taste of the historical approach to filmmaking, but with modern technology at their disposal to make those films,” he said.

At Lyons Township, the group begins with a pitch session and organically “they decided,” Allan said.

“It really comes down to who does the best pitch or who wrote the best script,” he added.

The public is invited. Advance tickets are $18 and can be ordered at https://www.studentsilentfilmfestival.org/. Same day tickets are $25.