ICYMI: I wrote about a few of the surprises at this year’s San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

It's my birthday! Your gift to me would be reading my first report on the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (and the next couple that I'll be sharing soon). fcardamenis.substack.com/p/san-franci...

San Francisco is the coldest place on earth idk how people live here

Did some research on the very good and overlooked Surrealist short film La Perle. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/la-perle-h...

Did some research on the very good and overlooked Surrealist short film La Perle. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/la-perle-h...

Do I know anyone who will be attending San Francisco Silent Film Festival? Sound off in comments/DMs!

Just finished reading a paper by a Spanish film prof that takes for granted that Henri d'Ursel's underseen Surrealist short La Perle (premiere date: June 6, 1929) was influenced by Un Chien Andalou (premiere date: June 6, 1929) and L'Age d'Or (premiere date: November 29, 1930).

Part 10 of Tih Minh goes so hard.

I think a lot of people are approaching The Drama incorrectly (both the ones who like it and the ones who don't) so I tried to straighten things out a bit. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/the-drama-...

I think a lot of people are approaching The Drama incorrectly (both the ones who like it and the ones who don't) so I tried to straighten things out a bit. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/the-drama-...

Why does RPatz need to take a pic of the book Zendaya is reading? Surely he could just read the title and author and then look it up?

Looked into Olympic tickets and there are zero medal sessions available for less than $300 in any sport except archery and judo right now.

Think about how great it would be to radio in “moon’s haunted” immediately after regaining communication after that 40 minute blackout.

Shorter Abel Gance: I discovered the essential problem of cinema and then I solved it. It uncovered another problem, but I solved that too. My comrades have not figured it out yet.

I wrote a bit more about The Big Parade, because it’s really good and I had more to say. Thoughts on the midpoint departure scene and the ending: fcardamenis.substack.com/p/the-big-pa...

Watched A Cottage on Dartmoor last night. You guys hip to this one? Seems like nobody had heard of it until around 10 years ago. Major banger.

Anyone know what’s going on with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival? Tickets allegedly go on sale on Monday and yet there is no lineup yet. Is this normal? Do they only sell single tickets or are there all-access passes too? @hellonfriscobay.bsky.social, maybe?

Kind of crazy that everyone agrees that Hollywood and American moviemaking are kind of in a bad spot but the last three Best Picture winners make for the best stretch since Silence of the Lambs/Unforgiven/Schindler's List.

“Want to get away from big city life without sacrificing your career? Have you considered the San Francisco, Seattle, DC, and Dallas metropolitan areas?”

Mason Miller sitting around…shades of Baltimore leaving Britton in the bullpen in the one-game wildcard…

Hearing that Venezuela plays the game with “a child-like enjoy” on the pre-game broadcast indicates the total victory that the pro-showboating contingency won over the “disrespecting the game, violating the unwritten rules” chuds.

Stumbled upon JRo on Panahi’s The Circle and he really went off on this one. A particularly timely find given what’s going on right now. letterboxd.com/notjro/film/...

Weekenders/ICYMI: I wrote about King Vidor’s wonderful The Big Parade, Lewis Milestone’s All Quiet on the Western Front, and what Andrew Sarris got right and wrong about both of them.

For the daytime crowd…

Nighttime drop: 2600 words on King Vidor's The Big Parade, Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front, and what Andrew Sarris got wrong (and right) about them. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/the-big-pa...

Bam Adebayo scoring 83 is like if the next James Mangold film were the best film of the 21st century.

@ryangodfrey.com I was not fast but

Jean Epstein on Abel Gance.

Just published: some thoughts on Philip Cavendish's book on 1920s Soviet cinema and a little-known film that he discusses in passing. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/two-days-g...

Just published: some thoughts on Philip Cavendish's book on 1920s Soviet cinema and a little-known film that he discusses in passing. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/two-days-g...

The Big Parade is so good.

Have watched both the Brownlow/BFI disc of Napoleon and the new restoration this week and the info out there on the differences is terrible. On KG and Reddit both you have people saying 5.5 vs. 7 hours is almost entirely attributable to the change from 20fps to 18. There’s a math problem there!

I'll have a longer report on the festival as a whole in Documentary Magazine soon, but here's a brief recap of my impressions of the expanded cinema I watched in Rotterdam. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/what-i-wat...

I'll have a longer report on the festival as a whole in Documentary Magazine soon, but here's a brief recap of my impressions of the expanded cinema I watched in Rotterdam. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/what-i-wat...

This is probably a “me” problem but as I watch all these silent films my esteem for every single director has gone up, with the sole exception of…Murnau. I’m not really buying what this guy is selling! I’m sorry if this offends!

“You know what these tight ends are so relaxed about? Prostate cancer screenings.”

Back home after a week at IFFR. The film of the festival is Chronovisor, but I had a good time with the Tetsuya Maruyama retrospective, the experimental shorts programs, James N. Kienitz Wilkins The Misconceived, Xacio Baño’s After the Cities, and Roy Cohen’s Far From Maine.

Watched The Materialists on the plane and can’t see what had people so incensed about this one, except perhaps the fact that it begins with Dakota Johnson walking south along Cooper Union but then cuts to her at Waverly and Greene, which is the other direction.

I wrote entirely too many words about Birth of a Nation. It's not quite in time for MLK day, but if you feel like reading entirely too many words about Birth of a Nation, I've got you. (Please read this I worked really hard on it.) fcardamenis.substack.com/p/the-birth-...

I wrote entirely too many words about Birth of a Nation. It's not quite in time for MLK day, but if you feel like reading entirely too many words about Birth of a Nation, I've got you. (Please read this I worked really hard on it.) fcardamenis.substack.com/p/the-birth-...

Some thoughts on two Erich von Stroheim films and D.W. Griffith. open.substack.com/pub/fcardame...

Just published: My favorite films that I watched for the first time in 2025. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/top-50-fir...

Just published: My favorite films that I watched for the first time in 2025. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/top-50-fir...

Buster Keaton shorts are significantly better than Charlie Chaplin shorts but very few Keaton features hold up to any Chaplin feature. I don’t think this is a novel observation but watching a lot of them in close proximity really demonstrates how true it is.

I learned about Satantango as a 13 or 14 year old when my only understanding of foreign films was Amelie, In The Mood For Love, and Kurosawa. Watched all his films early in college and suddenly understood there was another way to do things. RIP Bela Tarr you went hard every time.

Over on my new Substack, some observations about Fritz Lang's Spiders and Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, alongside their relationship to serials and Louis Feuillade. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/old-langs-...

Over on my new Substack, some observations about Fritz Lang's Spiders and Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, alongside their relationship to serials and Louis Feuillade. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/old-langs-...

Happy New Year! Two things I want to do this year are write more and support my newborn, and I'm hoping Substack can help me with both, so please sign up for my thoughts on old movies and more! Thoughts on Fritz Lang silent films will drop soon. fcardamenis.substack.com/subscribe?pa...

Marty Supreme is termite The Brutalist

Over the last two months I have watched silent cinema almost exclusively (83/88 films) and this has been an invigorating and joyous experience. 10/10 would recommend to all.