Paying homage to cinema’s roots while also breathing new life into an old art form, the festival returns with a roster of captivating silent films from Germany, Japan, Austria, Italy, and Spain.
While the silent film era has come and gone, cultural institutions around the world are not only preserving its history, but also sharing the works that constitute it to new audiences. The International Silent Film Festival (ISFF)—a first of its kind both in the Philippines and in Asia—has been a big part of this significant movement. This 2025 marks the return of the well-received event after a multi-year hiatus, and it intends to be a revival celebration worth remembering for cinephiles and casual viewers alike.
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Why Watch Silent Films?
Whenever you sit down to watch your favorite movie, be sure to thank all those that came before it. From superhero blockbusters to sweeping romances, cinema as we know it today traces its roots to the silent film: long before synchronized sound technology entered the picture (pun intended), the silent film ruled the entertainment industry.
Made up of moving images with no dialogue, silent films were oftentimes accompanied by live music, and sometimes even sound effects (care of onsite Foley artists), creating an almost concert-like viewing experience for its audiences.
So sure, the films themselves were “silent,” but the community and traditions that surrounded them weren’t: music filled theaters and viewers reacted. With cheers, jeers, and the like, the theater has long been a venue for intensely communal experiences. In his piece “The ‘silent’ cinema” for Cambridge University Press, writer Mervyn Cooke details: “Audience noise and direct audience participation were more prominent at the turn of the twentieth century than they are in today’s cinema in the West, so to this extent films were never truly experienced in silence.”
This sense of community, one founded in an appreciation for something as enriching as cinema, is exactly what the International Silent Film Festival has aimed to foster since its inception in 2007. Like viewing any great piece of art, watching silent films can be a priceless opportunity for reflection and play: as viewers interpret what they see and hear, they too become “an active part of the filmmaking process” as the New York Public Library writes.
Now you might be wondering, why watch it in the theater when I can view them at home? The thing is, you really can’t: film restoration has always been a delicate, finicky, and costly endeavor; silent films have proven particularly difficult to preserve and distribute. An estimated 80% of American silent films are “no longer extant,” according to the Museum of Moving Image—and this is happening to the birthplace of Hollywood. The Philippines is no exception, with its humid weather and lack of restoration funding, many of the country’s silent films have also been lost to damage and time. So when you get a chance to watch a silent film, take it; it’s likely one of the few chances, if not the only chance, you’ll get to experience it in a theater.
It took more than a village to assemble the line-up of silent films for this year’s festival: it took an entire international community. The International Silent Film Festival reconnected with participating countries from previous editions and introduced new voices with an eye toward growth and reinvention. This year’s edition features new partnerships with Instituto Cervantes, the Philippine Italian Association, Japan Foundation Manila, the Austrian Embassy, and the Goethe-Institut Philippinen.
The International Silent Film Festival 2025 Line-Up
The International Silent Film Festival 2025 line-up promises a selection of five singular films that are culturally relevant, and in their own ways, incredibly groundbreaking. Their curated films include Gigantes y Cabezudos (Spain); The Scent of Pheasant’s Eye (Japan); Wie sich das Kino rächt (Germany); The Life of Beethoven (Austria); and Fra Diavolo (Italy)—all of which are rich stories that capture unique perspectives across cultures and eras.
A Cultural Collaboration
It’s not a silent film viewing without live music—as with its previous editions, the International Silent Film Festival and its participating countries have tapped on local talents and groups to breathe new life into an old art through musical accompaniment.
Non-profit organization Hearlife—which champions the deaf through speech and music rehabilitation—will be providing a live, classical scoring to The Life of Beethoven (a fitting tribute to the legendary music figure who became deaf later on in life). Meanwhile, Gigantes y Cabezudos and Fra Diavolo will have live performances by the band Psychic Surgeons and Pepe Manikan’s Progharmonic Orchestra. The two groups will be infusing their performances with improvisation and modern sensibilities—in the case of Psychic Surgeons, melodies grounded in jazz—bringing a fresh, innovative spin to the films that will definitely transform the way audiences perceive them. Similarly, Wie sich das Kino rächt will also have a live scoring by the duo ma.ma, composed of Joee Mejias and Alyana Cabral, both known for their experimental, multidisciplinary, and narrative-driven sounds within the country’s nightlife scene.
The Scent of Pheasant’s Eye stands out as a daring piece within the line-up for its portrayal of a lesbian relationship in 1930s Japan. It’s only fitting that it features the live scoring of an all-female group made up of musicians Teresa Barrozo, Pat Sarabia, and Mariah Reodica—complete with the presence of a female benshi. During the silent film era, Japan once had thousands of benshi spread across its theaters, individuals dedicated to delivering live narration during films. While the number has since dwindled, a few remain—and now is as good a time as any to experience the precious art form yourself.
It’s clear that the 2025 edition of the International Silent Film Festival is not just a return, but also an ambitious refresh, and hopefully one that’s a prelude to the even greater iterations to come.
The International Silent Film Festival runs from July 11 to 13, 2025 at Red Carpet Cinemas, Shangri-La Plaza, with a pocket screening event taking place on July 14 at Cine Adarna, UP Film Center. For more details kindly visit International Silent Film Festival in Manila on Facebook and @ISFFM on Instagram.
Photos courtesy of the International Silent Film Festival.
