cinema, literature and oddities
There was a time when cinema expressed itself through exaggerated gazes, sweeping gestures, drama-laden intertitles, and laughter that erupted without warning. This section proposes a return to that era, gathering texts that traverse different paths of silent cinema.
The series Silent Marathon is dedicated to cinematic serials, while The Origins of Horror investigates the early shorts and features that helped shape horror born under the aesthetics of silence. Meanwhile, Silent Film Stars revisits the actors and actresses who defined the era through their presence, expressiveness, and the impact they had on the consolidation of this visual language.
Fantômas was a character created in 1911 by authors Marcel Allain (1885-1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874-1914). His stories appear in more than 30 publications co-authored by both, and in 11 further publications written solely by Allain after Souvestre's death. Fantômas has been translated into more than twenty languages.
What happened to Mary (1912)
What happened to Mary is considered the first American serial. Charles Dwyer, editor of The Ladies World magazine, and Horace G. Plimpton, then manager of the Edison Company, came up with the idea for what may have been one of the first multimedia actions in history, combining the publication of the serial story in The Ladies World, the episodes on cinema screens, and later, a stage play in addition to a book release.
Produced by Ambrosio Film and directed by Luigi Maggi, Una partita a scacchi (1912) is a short film of only 8 minutes that exemplifies how Italian silent cinema was already exploring psychological suspense and the figure of the "madman" as a driver of fear.
The Avenging Conscience (1914, D. W. Griffith)
Let us once again resist the temptation to run straight toward ghosts, demons, stage tricks, and visible monsters. The Avenging Conscience, directed by D. W. Griffith, brings us the horror of the human mind. Released in 1914, the film is often described as a moral drama, almost a Christian parable about crime and punishment. But it is also something more unsettling...
