Tora Teje and Lars Hanson in “Erotikon” by Mauritz Stiller, Sweden 1920
Welcome!
The 18th Karlsruhe Silent Film Festival took place from February 4th to 8th, 2020. The program with its many unknown films was very well received by the Karlsruhe audience! We thank you for the great interest and the trust you have placed in us.
Shortly after our festival, the corona crisis hit us. In the summer we successfully took part in the “Toujours Culture” series of events jointly organized by many members of the Kulturring.
When preparing for the next festival, we unfortunately found out that we were unable to find an event space that would have enabled the festival to be held halfway “normally” under Corona conditions. Due to the current conditions, only about 70 visitors are allowed in the Stephansaal, which would lead the festival or the sponsoring association directly into bankruptcy. That’s why we decided to move the festival into autumn. An exact date has not been set yet; we plan to hold the festival from mid-October to mid-November 2021.
For the first time, we will offer our audience a program that will consist only of comedies and slapstick. At the opening there will be one of the American Lubitsch films that we have never shown at the festival, and in the film concert there will be a highly erotic masterpiece (one of Lubitsch’s favorite films, a very sophisticated comedy). Well, if you look at the photo above, it’s no longer a secret …
However, probably our loyal audience will not have to wait until November at the latest to be able to watch silent films again in Karlsruhe. The Kulturring is planning a rerun of “Toujour’s Culture” in the summer, and we are very likely to participate. Essentially, it depends on whether we can get nail-proof funding, because based on this year’s experience, we won’t be able to achieve the usual audience numbers at the festival in the summer. Thanks to the surpluses of other events, we received a three-digit amount from the Kulturring, which closed the funding gap, so that we could close “Toujour’s culture” with a black zero. So, let’s assume that there will be a varied program in terms of both cinematography and music in the summer. The festival director already has an idea that would surprise the Karlsruhe audience with silent films they have never seen before. Secret!
