For all of their differences, the careers of the two French directors Jean Renoir (1894–1979) and René Clair (1898–1981) have one thing in common: they filmed their first films in the 1920s and were later also successful in the sound film era.

Jean Renoir Magnificent films, such as “La règle du jeu” (1939) allowed Jean Renoir’s silent films to fall somewhat into oblivion – wrongly so, as the silent film days program shows. One of Renoir’s key works is the film “Nana” (1926), which nonetheless had a hard time with the French audience. Afterwards, Renoir took on contract productions or created low budget films, such as “Sur un air de Charleston” (1927), a type of science-fiction satire, before filming one of the most intelligent military trash films, “Tire-au-flanc” (1928). The children and youth program at the Studentenhaus Karlsruhe includes, among others, Renoir’s filming of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale “La petite marchande d’allumettes” (1928) as well as Ladislas Starewitsch’s film “Fetiche Mascotte” (1934).

René Clair For the opening of the 8th Silent Film Days, shown along with Clair’s “Paris qui dort” (1923) will be his silent film “Entr’acte” (1924), a milestone in avant-garde film, which originally was created as the program for the break between the acts of a ballet. With “Un chapeau de paille d’Italie” (1927), Clair created a magical comedy. Among his most popular films are the fantastical film “Le fantôme du Moulin Rouge” (1924) and sound films, such as “A nous la liberté” (1931) and “Le silence est d’or” (1947), which thematizes the early era of cinema.
 

Program at ZKM

Please also have a look at the program at the Studentenhaus Karlsruhe (Fri–Sun 12–14 March and Sun 21 March) under: karlsruher-stummfilmtage.de
 

Thu,  March 11, 2010

7 p.m. at the ZKM_Media Theater
René Clair "Entr’acte" (1924, 22 min)
Music: Luke Styles (premiere)
René Clair "Paris qui dort" (1923, 61 min)
Music: Günter Buchwald and
Ensemble of the Karlsruher Musikhochschule
Jean Renoir "Sur un air de Charleston" (1927, 22 min)
Music: Günter Buchwald
 

Fri, March 12, 2010

4.30 p.m. at the ZKM_Lecture Hall, free admission
In Dialogue: Josef Jünger speaks with Jacques Poitrat, who restored Renoir’s Nana for ARTE (Film at 8.30 p.m.)

6 p.m. at the ZKM_Media Theater
Zurück zu den Anfängen (Back to the Beginnings)
Films from the class of Thomas Heise at the HfG Karlsruhe. Music: compositions by students at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe
Jean Renoir "La fille de l’eau" (1925, 67 min)
Music: Karlsruher Improvisationsensemble

8.30 p.m. at the ZKM_Media Theater
Jean Renoir "Nana" (1926, 140 min)
Music: Günter Buchwald and Ensemble
 

Sat, March 13, 2010

6 p.m. at the ZKM_Media Theater
Jean Renoir "Catherine" (1924, 84 min)
Music: Capella Obscura, Director: Cornelia Brugger

9 p.m. at the ZKM_Media Theater
René Clair "Un chapeau de paille d’Italie" (1927,120 min)
Music: KrausFrink Percussion

Organization / Institution

ZKM ; Studentisches Kulturzentrum Karlsruhe

Sponsors

Stadt Karlsruhe ; Medien und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg (MFG) ; Sparkassen-Stiftung Karlsruhe ; Filmarchive der Cinémathèque Francaise, Cineteca di Bologna und des Deutschen Filminstituts Frankfurt