Are you under 30 and obsessed with silent film? Even a little? Would you like to spend a week at the world’s best silent film festival talking to the best people in the field about early and silent film? And would you like to win a prize?
If that sounds like you, you will probably be interested in applying for the Pordenone Silent Film Festival Collegium in 2022. It’s a fantastic opportunity for young people who are studying cinema (in any form) to meet, learn and expand their cinematic horizons. Succcessful applicants will be hosted by the festival and have access to the full week of screenings and events as well as the special Collegium “dialogues”.
Here is the official description.
More than ever before, we have been feeling the loss of those common spaces to meet in-person and share passions; those who have attended the festival previously know that the Giornate is not only a place to watch what’s onscreen, but an open symposium where free discussion is encouraged, and new approaches are debated as we rediscover the past and renew our ties to the art form.
The Collegium provides this opportunity to 12 people under 30 who are eager to experience the festival’s screenings through a structured programme in which conversation is privileged over lecture. Each session brings programmers, archivists, film historians, scholars, collectors, critics, academics – whoever is part of this big “show” – closer to those just beginning to explore the riches of the silent era.
Instead of formal lectures and panels, the daily sessions are designed as “Dialogues,” in the Platonic sense, where collegians sit down with groups of experts in various disciplines. The Dialogues are designed not just to elicit information and instruction, but to allow the collegians to make direct personal and social connections with Giornate habitués who can be approached as peers throughout the week for supplementary discussions. To focus their inquiries, the members of the Collegium are tasked with producing a collection of papers on themes emerging from, or inspired by, the experiences of the week. Each collegian is required to contribute an essay whose subject must derive from some element of the Giornate programme or conversations and interviews with attending scholars and experts. The papers will be published on the Giornate website, and the best Collegium Paper is eligible for the annual Collegium Prize.
Life is too short for regrets, they say. But I do kick myself that I never took up this opportunity when I had the chance. Applications are open until 8 July and more details of the Collegium as well as how to apply, can be found at this link.
• The Pordenone Silent Film Festival/Le Giornate del Cinema Muto takes place 1-8 October 2022.
• Advice on attending the festival for the first time.
• Silent London will always be free to all readers. If you enjoy checking in with the site, including reports from silent film festivals, features and reviews, please consider shouting me a coffee on my Ko-Fi page
