David Robinson will introduce a selection of discoveries from the Pordenone Silent Film Festival. An Italian comedy of 1914 THE MIRACULOUS WATERS shows that audiences of 100 years ago had no inhibitions about sexually risky subjects. Other moments from the festival demonstrate the importance of music in silent cinema, with an extract from the historic 2011 performance of Shostakovich's score for NEW BABYON. David Robinson also describes the spectacular 2012 restoration of the marvel of the 1900 Paris Exposition PHONO-CINEMA-THEATRE, which put on record the greatest stage stars of the day, so that the public of 2012 can still see Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet and legendary dancers like Cleo de Merode, masterfully recorded by cameramen of 112 years ago. In addition the Chicago audience will see Pordenone's resident silent star, Jean Darling, the blonde bombshell of 1920s OUR GANG movies, and later creator of the role of Carrie ("When I Marry Mr Snow") in the original 1944 Broadway production of CAROUSEL.

90 min

USA
Director: Rodney Ascher

A “subjective documentary” exploring the numerous theories about the secret, hidden meanings of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Room 237 is a guided tour through the most compelling attempts to decode this endlessly fascinating film. Director Rodney Ascher introduces us to the passionate amateur critics who devote themselves to Kubrick’s gothic horror masterpiece, following their dizzyingly complex, brilliant, and inventive analyses wherever they lead, creating a compulsively watchable tribute to obsessive cinephilia, and to a remarkable film.

English, 102 min

Switzerland
Director: Claude Barras

On a road in an arid desert, a car pulls into the parking lot of a motel. A man holding a cardboard box comes out of it and rushes into the room number 69 … but what is inside the box?

Part of: Shorts 4: Not OK, Cupid!

English, 3 min

Denmark
Director: Nikolaj Arcel

In this epic historical romance, Queen Caroline falls passionately in love with an idealistic German doctor while her husband, King Christian VII, grows increasingly deranged. Directed and co-written by Nikolaj Arcel (co-screenwriter of the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), A Royal Affair is a powerful story about brave idealists who risk everything for love and for their commitment to the freedom of the Danish people.

Danish with subtitles, 131 min

Montenegro / Serbia / USA
Director: Ana Lazarevic

In the lush, weedy Serbian countryside, a first time human trafficker becomes stranded with the Roma boy he is to deliver in this compelling short drama.

Part of: Shorts 1: City & State

English, 18 min