Rated: G
Director: Buster Keaton
Length: 107 min
Comedy | Romance | War
USA
Date: Saturday, February 19, 2011
Location: Eclipse Center (Center Court)
Price: $20 Adults, $15 Students with ID, $10 Children 6-18
Times:

6:00 pm – Pre-event Reception/Silent Auction
7:30 pm – Film Starts

Since its inception, the most popular single element of The Beloit International Film Festival has been the Saturday evening M&I Bank and M&I Wealth Management Silent Film Showcase. Sold-out audiences have frequently included film festival executives from around the country on- hand to see how BIFF creates the program so they might duplicate it at their festivals. This annual celebration of early 20th century film is highlighted by a performance of an original or newly conceived musical score performed by the Beloit Janesville Symphony Orchestra with music director Robert Tomaro.

This year, on BIFF Saturday, Feb. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Eclipse Center in Beloit, BIFF and the BJS will once again collaborate on a presentation of one of the classic comedies of the period. Featuring Buster Keaton, one of the greatest comedic actors of all time, this year’s showcase film will be The General, first released in 1927 and co-directed and co-written by Keaton. It is considered a masterpiece today, Keaton’s finest production and possibly the best “chase film” ever made.

The story is a classic civil war tale of a Confederate engineer pursuing his locomotive, The General, after it is stolen by Union soldiers. The film includes romance with the lovely Annabelle Lee, and fierce battles as the train chase first goes north and then south. The film concludes with the most dramatic and expensive train crash sequence filmed to that time.

http://vimeo.com/16935634

“To join forces with this amazing film genius is a wonderful experience,” says Beloit Janesville Symphony Orchestra music director and conductor Robert Tomaro. “The 35 member orchestra will be using a score by Carl Davis, a contemporary British composer and conductor. We have used Davis’ work before, most recently in the musical score for the silent film classic Wings, which we performed in 2009. Davis has developed a cottage industry creating scores for the old ‘silents,’ and his music is always challenging. His score for The General involves a lot of unusual musical effects and interesting instrumentation.”

“We have presented some of the greatest films of the silent era in recent years,”, “and we have noted that audiences love the comedies. This is one of the greatest ever put on film and the BJS score adds a rich new element.”

“It is so exciting every year to watch the generations come together and laugh—or cry—at films that are almost a century old. We have members of the audience who have a vague recollection of the silent era and Nickelodeon, with their short grainy films, and they are often seated next to kids for whom silent film is an odd and inspiring new concept. But the appreciation of the genius of Buster Keaton and his slapstick comedy and sight gags is universal.”

The Silent Film Showcase will be preceded by the annual Beloit Janesville Symphony silent auction.

A special treat to open the evening program will be a showing of a short documentary about the Symphony’s exciting composing Kids outreach program for area elementary school students. This past spring, area students worked with Grammy-nominated composer Greg Gerard and Maestro Tomaro to create a musical score for an animated film entitled “The Astronaut,” created by Beloit College students Phillip Barrett and Kenny Baumgartner. The “composing kids” will be introduced and honored as the BJS offers the first public performance of the five minute work.

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The Beloit International Film Festival, in partnership withKid’s First, is presenting film-critiquing workshops with area 5th grade students. Students  will join us at the Eclipse Center in Beloit to learn about reviewing films in an effort to develop more educated and discerning film viewers in our area youth. Our goal is to enhance the students’ enjoyment and understanding of film media and give them a skill they can continue to develop and enjoy the rest of their film viewing lives.

DATE: Thursday Feb 17th
TIMES: Two sessions, morning (9:00 – 10:15), afternoon (12:45 – 2:00).
LOCATION: The Eclipse Center
WHO: Beloit School District 5th Graders
ADMISSION: FREE!

NOTE: Students will be picked up by bus from their school and brought to the Eclipse Center.
INFORMATION: Melissa Badger, School District of Beloit – Community & School Relations  608-361-4100, mbadger(at)sdb.k12.wi.us

Students are bussed to the Eclipse Center with the expenses generously covered by a grant from the Stateline Community Foundation. Once the students arrive, the various facilitators, trained by Kids First, begin by reviewing the major components of a film. Topics such as character development, sets music, costumes and much more are discussed to help prepare the students for their reviews. Also, the importance of why films are reviewed and how film makers use the information is covered.

We then watch a selection of short films that provide a variety of styles and content so students can see how the different components are used to make a film. The films are most likely productions the students will not have seen before. After the viewing is completed, the students pick the film they want to review most and complete a worksheet review. After the reviews are completed, there will be discussion about the films and group participation activities to allow the students to interact and share their reviews with others.

We thank Kids Fist for their partnership and support in helping us present these workshops, providing materials and putting the completed reviews into the hands of the film makers. We thank the Stateline Community Foundation for helping with the transportation needs and presentation of this program. Lastly, we thank all the teachers and parents that allow us some time with their precious film viewers.

They’ll be in good hands.

Thank you to the School District of Beloit Gifted and Talented Department! They are the ones who developed the curriculum for this field trip and are leading the discussions with the students.

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