Founded: 2010 | Annual
About this festival
The Denver Silent Film Festival celebrates the foundational era of cinema, founded in 2010 by film historian Howie Movshovitz and colleagues on the model of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and now presented by Denver Film at the Sie FilmCenter. It’s dedicated to the extraordinary body of silent film, programming American and foreign classics alongside lesser-known, rare, and restored works. The festival’s signature is live musical accompaniment: every screening is scored in the room by accomplished silent-film musicians, anchored by the world-renowned Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, which has opened every edition. Programming regularly spotlights pioneers like Oscar Micheaux, Alice Guy, Buster Keaton, and Louise Brooks, and the festival presents the David Shepard Career Achievement Award to leading figures in silent-cinema preservation.