Helsinki Book Fair, 22-25 Oct 2026

Helsingin Kirjamessut / Helsinki Book Fair

Helsingin Messukeskus / Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo and Convention Centre. Messuaukio, 00520 Helsinki (Pasila).

My trajectory.

THURSDAY 22 OCT 2026

Mikko Porvali: Kremlin näkymätön sota / [The Kremlin's Invisible War], 2026

Mikko Porvali. Photo: Hanne Manelius.

16:00–16:30

Hakaniemi – Mikko Porvali: Kremlin näkymätön sota: Venäjän tiedustelupalveluiden pitkä historia /  [The Kremlin’s Invisible War — The Long History of Russia’s Intelligence Services), Atena 2026.

    In person: Mikko Porvali, interviewed by Laura Niemi-Pynttäri.

    OFFICIAL: "An experienced historian of espionage recounts the origins of Russia’s intelligence services, how they have extended their reach everywhere, and how they have influenced the history of Finland as well.

    Assassinations, acts of sabotage, the violent silencing of the opposition—Russian intelligence services have always served as an extension of the ruler’s power: a fist used by those in charge to secure their own position.

    This authoritative work chronicles the blood-stained history of these espionage organizations—from the Tsarist Okhrana to the NKVD, the KGB, and today’s Russian intelligence agencies. Their operations have also reached Finland, as evidenced by poisonings, abductions, and numerous espionage cases.

    Delving deep into the history of this great power, the book sheds light on the methods Russia has employed throughout its long history to expand its influence." (Official).

    AA: My visit to this year's Helsinki Book Fair starts on a high note. In 20 minutes, Mikko Porvali gave us an overview of the Kremlin's devastating intelligence history from Nestor's Chronicles to the present day. Issues of great complexity he explained with exemplary clarity. Although we are dealing with issues of brutal autocracy / dictatorship, Porvali distances himself from Russophobia and confesses an affinity with Russian culture. In this he is like George F. Kennan, the great Russophile who was the father of the Cold War. I was also thinking about Sergei Loznitsa's remarks in 2023 at the Midnight Sun Film Festival. He talked about the dual power in the Russian power elite since Ivan the Terrible: the political rule and the intelligence machine. According to Loznitsa, in Putin's Russia for the first time the political leader is himself the intelligence officer. No more dual rule.

   I agree with Porvali that the most important year in Finnish history is 1704 - the founding of St. Petersburg.

17:30-18:00 

Hakaniemi - THREE BOOKS ABOUT INGRIA - Hannu Takala, Anni Reuter, Jesse Hirvelä - interviewed by Oula Silvennoinen.

Hannu Takala: Kirjasalon nousu ja tuho / [The Rise and Fall of Kirjasalo: the Attempts at Independence of the Ingrian Finns 1919-1920], Vastapaino 2026.

BOOK FAIR OFFICIAL ABOUT ALL THREE BOOKS: "Kirjasalon nousu ja tuho: a non-fiction book aimed at a general audience, focusing on the history of the Ingrian Finns—specifically their efforts to achieve self-governance between 1919 and 1920. Why did Ingria fail to attain independence, and why is so little known about this chapter of history?

The Dictators of Ingria: Who truly ruled Ingria in the decades following the Russian Revolution? Jesse Hirvelä’s *The Dictators of Ingria* uncovers the forgotten story of "Reds" who fled Finland, rose to become the Finnish elite in the Leningrad region, and used the Ingrian people as tools to create a "Soviet Finland." Their story is a compelling account of power, ideology, and individuals caught in the crushing grip of great-power politics.

The Land That Vanished: In the winter of 1942, Anni Reuter’s grandfather, Juhani, was sent from Finland on a secret reconnaissance mission to Ingria, then occupied by Nazi Germany. Juhani becomes an eyewitness to famine, terror, and a culture on the verge of extinction. He negotiates with SS leaders, searches for fellow Finns in camps and along the front lines, helps hundreds escape, and documents everything he sees. Juhani’s journey is a poignant tale of faith, survival, and people—crushed by the machinery of great-power politics—who refused to remain silent."

KIRJASALON NOUSU JA TUHO OFFICIAL: "In the aftermath of the First World War, countries such as Finland and the Baltic states gained their independence. The Ingrian Finns also harbored aspirations for independence. Why did Ingria fail to achieve independence, and why is so little known about this subject?"

Kirjasalon nousu ja tuho ("The Rise and Fall of Kirjasalo") by Hannu Takala is a non-fiction book aimed at a general audience; it focuses on the history of the Ingrian Finns, specifically their efforts to establish self-governance between 1919 and 1920.

The independence aspirations of the Ingrian Finns culminated in the village of Kirjasalo in North Ingria—located on the Karelian Isthmus—which has subsequently been referred to as the "Republic of Kirjasalo." What exactly was this short-lived republic, and what kind of goals for independence or autonomy were envisioned for it? Furthermore, what was the nature of the armed uprising by the Ingrian Finns, and why were their hopes for an independent Kirjasalo—or even for joining Finland—ultimately extinguished?

Hannu Takala is a Docent of Archaeology at the University of Turku. His research interests include the earliest post-glacial human settlement in Finland, Karelian cultural heritage, and the Finnish Civil War of 1918."

Anni Reuter: Maa joka katosi: isoisäni salainen tehtävä Inkerissä / [The Land That Vanished — My Grandfather’s Secret Mission in Ingria], SKS Kirjat 2026.

MAA JOKA KATOSI OFFICIAL: "What happened to the Ingrian Finns caught between Stalin and Hitler? In this gripping historical account, Anni Reuter recounts her grandfather’s secret journey into the occupied villages of Ingria—a land on the verge of disappearing.

In the winter of 1942, military chaplain Juhani Jääskeläinen is sent from Finland to Ingria—then occupied by Nazi Germany—right on the outskirts of besieged Leningrad. What begins as a secret investigative mission evolves into a struggle for survival, both spiritual and human. Juhani becomes the sole Lutheran pastor for more than 65,000 Ingrian Finns, as well as an eyewitness to famine, terror, and the erasure of a culture. He negotiates with SS commanders, searches for fellow Finns in camps and along the front lines, helps hundreds escape, and documents everything he witnesses.

In this book, Anni Reuter, PhD, follows in her grandfather’s footsteps, giving a voice to the Ingrian Finns swept up in the turmoil of war, forced relocations, and evacuations. Drawing on diaries, letters, photographs, and interviews, the work transcends a simple biography to become a collective history of human experience. At the same time, it is a moving story about faith, survival, and people caught in the machinery of great-power politics—people who refused to be silenced."

Jesse Hirvelä: Inkerin diktaattorit: Leningradin suomalaiset kommunistit 1918-1938 / [The Dictators of Ingria — The Finnish Communists of Leningrad, 1918–1938]. SKS Kirjat 2026.

INKERIN DIKTAATTORIT OFFICIAL: "A forgotten story about the Finnish elite in the Leningrad region.

Who truly ruled Ingria in the decades following the Russian Revolution?

In this work, Jesse Hirvelä uncovers the forgotten story of the "Reds" who fled Finland after the Civil War and rose to become the Finnish elite of the Leningrad region. They used the Ingrian people as a tool to create a "Soviet Finland."

The book presents new information regarding the experiences of the Ingrian Finns, as well as the rise and destruction of the Finnish community in Leningrad. Why did the Reds promote pro-Finnish activities that ultimately proved fatal? What transpired within the Finnish inner circle as Stalin’s purges began and the net of accusations tightened?

The Dictators of Ingria is a compelling account of power, ideology, and individuals caught in the grip of great-power politics.

Jesse Hirvelä holds a doctorate in political science; he has conducted research on the history of Finland and the Soviet Union and worked on the National Archives’ research project, "Finns in Russia 1917–1964.""

AA: A devastating 20 minutes symposium around three important books, by Hannu Takala, Anni Reuter and Jesse Hirvelä, about the destiny of Ingria after the fall of the Russian Empire, expertly moderated by Oula Silvennoinen. This story has been under-investigated until recently, but now much has been unearthed in the nick of time.

18:00-18:30

Senaatintori - in person: Sirpa Kähkönen, interviewed by Touko Siltala.

Marius. Erotiikka, romaani, romantiikka.

Sirpa Kähkönen: Marius. Siltala, 2026.

Sirpa Kähkönen: Photo: Helsinki Book Fair 2026.

MARIUS OFFICIAL: "Lili spends a sweltering August day in her garden pavilion on the grounds of an old manor—nestled in an ancient stream valley, through which a tram line runs. She is awaiting the arrival of Marius—a young Frenchman she admires—who is to visit her one last time.

  

During the day, Lili’s dear friend Paul stops by the pavilion, prompting Lili to reflect on the time they spent together in various European cities, as well as her own intense romance in Paris. She contemplates her erotic history, a female painter she once admired—who created radiant portraits of men—and the nature of death.

  

Evening falls, but Marius does not appear.

The world of the novel expands beyond the confines of a single day, evolving into a narrative about art, Europe, and a profound sorrow that exists alongside the burning intensity of love and passion.

“Surely one more day

could be endured—one could bear

the waiting, the joy, this

quiet, humming vibration”

AA: Sirpa Kähkönen has been in the forefront of the Finnish literary scene for a long time, as editor, translator and author, and in important functions in literary organizations. The versatile Kähkönen had her breakthrough in young adult literature, then created an epic series of historical novels, starting with a Kuopio cycle. Her most acclaimed novel is The Granite Man, the tragedy of Finnish Red exiles crushed in Stalin's Great Terror. She has also written non-fiction books of political history. Against this background, Marius is something new and different: a psychological novel about female desire. The protagonist is a red-blooded 60+ woman caught in an attraction to a younger man. "Love is a rebellious bird", sang Carmen. This is a gentle, subtle and tender account. Unafraid of vulnerability. This book could only have been written by a woman. It is necessary for men to read such books for several reasons. Foremostly because women have a higher emotional intelligence.

18:30–19:00

Arabia Stage: Leopoldina Fortunati: Uusintamisen salaisuus / The Secret of Reproduction. The author was not present. The discussion was conducted by Katri Jurvakainen with Janne Löppönen (the translator) and Juho Narsakka.

Leopoldina Fortunati: Uusintamisen salaisuus: kotirouvat, prostituoidut, työläiset ja pääoma / L’arcano della riproduzione: casalinghe, prostitute, operai e capitale, 1981. 2024, 2025, Finnish translation: Janne Löppönen. Tutkijaliitto 2026. 

BOOK FAIR OFFICIAL: "The Secret of Reproduction is a groundbreaking study by Italian feminist and theorist Leopoldina Fortunati. It examines the labor that takes place in the "hidden abode of production"—specifically, the realm of reproduction, where the labor force itself is produced. Originally published in 1981, this classic of Marxist feminism was among the first works to theorize immaterial labor, affective labor, and the role of technology in social reproduction. The book will be discussed by its translator, Janne Löppönen, alongside Katri Jurvakainen and Juho Narsakka—known for their work on the Barrikadi podcast."

TUTKIJALIITTO OFFICIAL: "The Arcana of Reproduction is a groundbreaking study of labor that takes place in a "site of production" even more hidden than the factory floor: the sphere of reproduction, where labor power itself is produced. Drawing on her experience in the Wages for Housework movement, Leopoldina Fortunati applies Karl Marx’s analysis of the logic of capitalist production to the realms of domestic labor, care work, and sex work. While this reproductive labor goes unpaid, it plays a vital role in the capitalist production of value.

Originally published in 1981, this classic of Marxist feminism was among the first studies to theorize immaterial labor, affective labor, and the role of technology in social reproduction. The analyses presented in the book remain essential today for understanding the internal division of labor within capitalism—a division structured by gender and race.

The volume also includes an afterword written by Leopoldina Fortunati in 2025—originally published alongside the new English edition, The Arcana of Reproduction (Verso, 2025)—as well as introductions by Silvia Federici and the Finnish translator, Janne Löppönen."

AA: The first Finnish publication of Leopoldina Fortunati's The Secret of Reproduction, an essential study about a hugely under-investigated moment in forces of production: the reproduction of the human labour power. 

    This neglect has been linked with a gross injustice regarding women's contribution to society. Women have been taken for granted, and economic studies have assumed the value of their unpaid work to be zero. Women's contribution is invaluable and priceless. Without it there would be nothing.

    Fortunati's ideas could contribute to an eighth volume of Das Kapital. The ninth volume could cover crypto, paradise islands and "AI'".

HORS D'ŒUVRE

PATRICIA NILSSON: GUILTY PLEASURE: THE PORNIFICATION OF THE INTERNET, THE ECONOMY, AND EVERYTHING ELSE

Patricia Nilsson: Guilty Pleasure: The Pornification of the Internet, the Economy, and Everything Else. Allen Lane, 2026.

ALLEN LANE OFFICIAL: "This is the story of one of the most influential – and least examined – industries on earth. Worth billions of dollars, and commanding a tenth of global internet traffic at peak times, it has quietly reshaped our world: it has transformed technology, work, culture, love and relationships, and even our sense of self. Most industries of this scale make daily headlines. This one rarely does.

In Guilty Pleasure, investigative journalist and FT reporter Patricia Nilsson turns her attention to an industry few have dared to confront, and tells the story of pornography in the online age. Drawing on more than five years of reporting, Nilsson reveals how the internet turned the business of erotic art into something else entirely: a vast, secretive industry dominated by obscure owners, platform logic and profit at almost any cost. She traces how porn helped to shape the online world, and then spilled far beyond it – restructuring everyday life and saturating society with its logic of stimulation, self-soothing and craving.

Whether we consume it or not, Nilsson argues, we are living in the world pornography made: one in which our desires and anxieties are relentlessly monitored and manipulated by unaccountable forces. And because this industry has escaped meaningful scrutiny for so long, the power to regulate it has increasingly fallen to political extremists and payment companies. The result is a system that has quietly revolutionized everything, while remaining – until now – hidden from view."

Sophia Chetin-Leuner: "A fascinating and terrifying read about the history of porn - and the unsettling ways it has come to shapy our everyday lives and desires, whether we realise it or not. Nilsson's thorough research illuminates dark corners of the internet, revealing truths that shouldn't be ignored."

About Patricia Nilsson

"Patricia Nilsson is a reporter with the Financial Times, where she has covered a broad range of industries such as retail, media, tobacco, cannabis and pornography. Her discovery that the world's biggest adult company had a secret owner led to a year-long investigation into the business of porn, which culminated in the FT's first narrative podcast series, Hot Money. Patricia grew up in Sweden but was raised Polish. She has lived and worked in Shanghai, Istanbul and London and now resides in Frankfurt. Guilty Pleasure is her first book."

AA: I bought his book from Rosebud Sivullinen (Kluuvin Kauppakeskus, Yliopistonkatu, Helsinki) on my way to the Helsinki Book Fair. I had been alerted by Amelia Gentleman's interview of the author Patricia Nilsson in The Guardian. She was struck by the paradox of some of the richest billionaires  of the world successfully hiding their identity as the owners of the main pornography companies while exploited sex workers have to bare it all and increasingly humiliate themselves, even to the point of torture. Her investigations led to a much greater revelation: online porn as the origin story of all online addiction.

Backrooms

 

Kane Parsons: Backrooms (US 2026). Renate Reinsve (Mary).

Tagline: A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom.

    US © 2026 Backroom Rights LLC, PC Films, LLC.

    Cast (in order of appearance)

Chiwetel Ejiofor / Clark

Renate Reinsve / Mary

Mark Duplass / Phil

Finn Bennett / Bobby

Lukita Maxwell / Kat

    Crew

Directed by Kane Parsons

Written by Will Soodik

Produced by James Wan, Michael Clear, Roberto Patino, Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, Dan Levine, Osgood Perkins, Chris Ferguson, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Kori Adelson

Executive Producers Kane Parsons, Jesse Savath, Judson Scott, Chris White

Editing by Greg Ng

    Loc: Vancouver, British Columbia

    111 min

    Finnish premiere: 29 May 2026 - released by Oy Nordisk Film Ab

    Viewed on blu-ray at home, 14 Oct 2026

AA: Only now I see Backrooms. I have been aware of the good buzz, for instance from Axel Sirodeau, that this is one of the films of the year which is special, like nothing else.

Indeed. The last 12 years have been a period of rebirth and innovation in the genre of the horror movie. I am not surprised. Horror is one of the genres which has an innate capability to be reborn everywhere. 

Horror emerges from an encounter with death and madness. The same goes for poetry in general, in the Orphic sense. Orpheus descends into the land of Death to retrieve Eurydice. He fails in his mission. His only solace is a heightened sense of transience and eternity. One of the movies evoked by Backrooms is Jean Cocteau's Orpheus, with it magic special effects, mirrors and walls.

This is my first encounter with the work of Kane Parsons. From the production notes I learn that he is a "visionary YouTube creator making his feature-filmmaking debut":

"Set in 1990 and based on Parsons’ viral web series, BACKROOMS follows furniture salesman Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) as he makes a startling discovery in the basement of his showroom — a portal, bathed in yellow fluorescent lights and littered with familiar objects, leading to an eerie maze of endless office space."

"Shaken by what he discovers there, Clark is also drawn to its anomalies. He enlists his skeptical employee Kat (Lukita Maxwell) and her boyfriend Bobby (Finn Bennett) to help chart its unsettling expanse of impossibly constructed rooms and corridors, where strange noises hint that something otherworldly may be lurking in the shadows."

"When Clark goes missing, his therapist Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), confronting buried traumas of her own, finds herself lost in the BACKROOMS searching for answers, and a way out."

Initially vaguely reminiscent of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Kane Parsons' rabbit holes lead to other rabbit holes, usually arid, abandoned storage spaces until there is suddenly an abyss of a multi-story office building. Something has gone hideously wrong somewhere, and now nobody can fix it. This is a "maze that goes on and on".

Kane Parsons displays talent in the art of the point of view on his weird journey to the world beyond the looking-glass.

A key special effect is the slit on the wall: you can literally walk through a wall and enter another space. It is a magic effect of penetration with a gentle sexual undertone. But there is more. 

Mutations and mutilations like never seen before in the cinema emerge. From ordinary premises something hideous and desolate follows. In the core of the story we discover the genuinely moving characters of the furniture salesman Clark and the therapist Mary. The performances of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve are excellent. Both face forces beyond belief. 

Until it is not gentle anymore. We turn into distorted imitations of ourselves. We turn into cannibals.  The film takes a turn into gore and splatter.

The mystery? "We used to make MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines." "Nothing in our liffetime, in our recorded history... I don't understand... I can't even describe it... there are doors opening everywhere".

We have built a world that is spiralling out of our control.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

 

Jane Schoenbrun: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (US/CA 2026). Gillian Anderson (Billy Presley) and Hannah Einbinder (Kris Williams).

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, AG/Mon 8:30PM, Robert Daniels (Telluride Film Festival 2026): "With their first two films—WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR and I SAW THE TV GLOW—Jane Schoenbrun precisely mingled childhood memories with nostalgic media through a queer lens. Their latest, a playfully meta picture, moves with the same exacting force when Kris (Hannah Einbinder), an independent filmmaker, ventures to a defunct summer camp to interview a reclusive scream queen (Gillian Anderson). There, she undergoes a feverish, erotic awakening, inspiring her to shed sexual angst as she seeks artistic and bodily liberation." –RD (U.S./Canada, 2026, 112m)

    Finnish premiere: 7 Aug 2026 - distributed by Elke - subtitles by Juha Arola.

    Viewed at Finnkino Kinopalatsi 3, Helsinki, 14 Oct 2026

AA: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is my first encounter with the work of Jane Schoenbrun, and I am profoundly impressed. The slasher film is a genre which might seem to have been exploited to death many times over... and over... and over again. It never seems to die.

Jane Schoenbrun (I am old school and have not yet interiorized the use of the gender neutral "they") has an approach to meta cinema like no one else. No one has done it better. Schoenbrun has an assured approach with all the tropes and traditions. Fun is to be had with the arcana, real or imagined. There is much more going on than a sense of play.

What is at stake? Identity, being seen, love and sex. "What a strange path I had to take to reach you at last" (Michel's last words in Pickpocket). It is as queer as can be.

In the center is one of the greatest love scenes in the history of the cinema. It is also one of the greatest sex scenes, because the sex flows from tenderness, discovery/self-discovery and the courage to let go.

The bloodbath of the attacks of the slasher from the deep hole in the bottom of the lake appear as an image of the loss of virginity. Also an inverted dream image of orgasm. The serial killer is, after all, Little Death. Frenchmen call the post-orgasm sensation "la petite mort".

Schoenbrun is at home in the dream world, the endless universe of the imagination where the ridiculous meets the sublime, and kitsch enhances reality. The digital transfer has been performed from 35 mm cinematography, contributing to the tactile warmth of the love scenes.

Excellent performances by Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder.

I look forward to revisiting Camp Miasma and seeing other films by Schoenbrun. After seeing the film, I read Sight & Sound, the October 2026 issue, the excellent Schoenbrun cover story edited by Katie McCabe.

Jane Schoenbrun: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (US/CA 2026). Gillian Anderson (Billy Presley) and Hannah Einbinder (Kris Williams).

SOUNDTRACK LISTING

Okay Kaya – Nightswimming (originally by R.E.M.)

Mark Maxwell – Just My Imagination (originally by The Temptations)

Sergei Stern – Fashin Real Estate

M83 – I Guess I'm Floating

Sally Shapiro – Anorak Christmas

Counting Crows – A Long December

Sade – No Ordinary Love

Andy Shauf – Satan

Donna Lewis – I Love You Always Forever

R.E.M. – Supernatural Superserious

Loc: British Columbia, Canada (Nanaimo, Glenora, Vancouver, Victoria).

© 2026 MUBI

Film concert Don Q, Son of Zorro (2026 GCM Pordenone) Andrej Goričar score performed by RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra (2026 restoration The Danish Film Institute)

Donald Crisp: Don Q, Son of Zorro (US 1925). Douglas Fairbanks as Don Cesar de Vega.

Donald Crisp: Don Q, Son of Zorro (US 1925). Douglas Fairbanks as Don Cesar de Vega. Photo: Douglas Fairbanks Coll., AMPAS/Margaret Herrick Library, Beverly Hills

Opening Night 

    DON Q, SON OF ZORRO (Don X, il figlio di Zorro) (US 1925) dir: Donald Crisp. scen: Jack Cunningham, from the novel by Kate & Hesketh Prichard, Don Q’s Love Story (1909). scen. editor: Lotta Woods. photog: Henry Sharp; assoc. photog: E. J. Vallejo. ed: William Nolan (film cutter). des: Edward M. Langley (supv. art dir.), Francesc [Francis] Cugat, Anton Grot, Harold Miles (art dir.), Harry Oliver (consulting artist). cost: Paul Burns (master of wardrobe). asst. dir: Frank Richardson. technical effects: Ned Mann. prod. mgr: Theodore Reed. research dir: Dr. Arthur Woods. mus: Mortimer Wilson (1925 orig. score). Fairbanks’ trainer: Snowy Baker. 

    cast: Douglas Fairbanks (Don Cesar de Vega; Zorro, his father), Mary Astor (Dolores de Muro), Jack McDonald (General de Muro), Donald Crisp (Don Sebastian), Stella De Lanti (The Queen), Warner Oland (The Archduke), Jean Hersholt (Don Fabrique Borusta), Albert MacQuarrie (Colonel Matsado), Lottie Pickford Forrest (Lola), Charles Stevens (Robledo), Tote Du Crow (Bernardo), Martha Franklin (The Duenna), Juliette Belanger (The Dancer), Roy Coulson (Her Admirer), Enrique Acosta (Ramon).

    Uncredited: Princess María de los Dolores de Borbón de la Torre (Tavern Keeper’s Daughter), Manuel De Los Rios (The Bullfighter), Phil Gastrock (Man with Knife), Andre Lanoy (The Artist), Paul Luys (The Turkish Ambassador), Phil Sleeman (Guest at Archduke’s Ball), Hal Wilson (Gaspard), Baron Gosta Wreda (Man in Students’ Club), Carmen De Blasco, Fontaine La Rue, Elinor Vanderveer, Luis Alonso [Gilbert Roland], Francisco Madrid. 

    prod: Douglas Fairbanks, Douglas Fairbanks Pictures Corporation. dist: United Artists Corporation. première: 15.6.1925 (Globe Theatre, New York City). copy: DCP, 107'22", col. (from 35 mm pos. nitr. + dupl. neg. acet., tinted & toned, 24 fps); titles: ENG. source: Det Danske Filminstitut, København. 

    Score composed and conducted by Andrej Goričar; performed live by the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra; commissioned by the Slovenska kinoteka. 

    Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone 2026: Special Events.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi, 3 Oct 2026  

Tracey Goessel (GCM 2026): "Don Q, Son of Zorro is Douglas Fairbanks’ forgotten blockbuster. Announced as a project in January 1925, it combined his recent fascination with Spain with the sure-fire box-office draw of his Zorro character. He had been toying with the idea of a sequel to The Mark of Zorro as early as 1921. Apart from the Elmo Lincoln Tarzan films, sequels were then largely unheard of – certainly for big-budget productions with major stars. But the safety of a sequel seemed just the ticket. The Thief of Bagdad had a tremendously high gross, but its net profit was barely in the black. "

"Fairbanks was an ar tist , but also a businessman, willing to invest and risk, but not to the point of ruin. With Thief, he had pushed the envelope to it s limit . Now he needed to retrench – but not lose face. He was 1 years old, and about to produce a film less lavish than his last. Small wonder, then, that inter views began to appear that claimed just the opposite. “ ‘Don Q’ to Surpass ‘Thief of Bagdad’ ” barked Exhibitors Trade Review (21.2.1925), quoting Fairbanks: “ From the standpoint of costly production, this picture is very apt to more than rival ‘ The Thief of Bagdad’.” It was far from true. Don Q’s cost (including negative, print costs, commissions, and publicity) was $834,589 – less than half that of Thief."

"The story, involving a hand some (and characteristically cheery) American student , sent to Spain to round out his education, was derived from the pulp novel Don Q’s Love Story, written by Kate Prichard and her son Hesketh Prichard, a British explorer and war time sniper with a weakness for boy’s adventure fiction. The character of Zorro was simply shoehorned by Fairbanks into the plot as the hero’s American father. Armed with his wits (and wicked whip skills), young Don Cesar eludes a false charge of murdering a visiting archduke, woos the beautiful daughter of a General (who unwittingly plans her marriage to the actual murderer), and staging a fake suicide, becomes Don Q , an avenger cloaked in my stery and justice. "

"Fairbanks played both parts, repeating Mary Pickford s brilliant split-screen work from Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921). Donald Crisp not only played the film’s villain, but served as its director. Nineteen-year-old Mary Astor, who had co-starred with John Barrymore in 1924’s Beau Brummel, was tapped for the female lead. She was then embroiled in a torrid affair with Barrymore, and deemed the happily married Fairbanks disappointingly unromantic: “…I found the man himself to be less exciting than the legends. For one thing, I was put out by his attitude toward me. He was nice to me, in the way a sophisticated man about town would be nice to a small and reasonably well-behaved child. I felt that I merited more attention than that!” (Mary Astor, My Story : An Autobiography, 1959) "

"Still, she liked him. It was hard not to. “It was all fun for him,” she recalled near the end of her life. “He wasn’t an actor at all. To me, he was an effect; he was a wonderful effect .” (Mary Astor, interview with Kevin Brownlow, Slate 518, Take 1, recorded for Hollywood, 1980) She recalled particularly his intense training on the Australian bullwhip with expert Snowy Baker – six weeks of unceasing practice."

"Filming began on 26 January and was completed by late April – a brisker shooting schedule than any of his earlier swashbucklers. His sense of urgency, his desire to turn around a quick hit, was gratified in the end. Audiences and critics alike enthusiastically welcomed what they judged a return to form. “ Without doubt one of the best that Doug has had in some time from an all-around entertainment and picture house standpoint,” wrote Fred Schader in Variety (17.06.1925). Photoplay (August 1925) added: “…it is guaranteed to drive little boys into frenzies of stunts until they break an arm or a new fad comes along.” The verdict was clear: while many saw much to admire in Thief, what they really wanted from Fairbanks was to enjoy him. The grand settings, the thousands of extras, the glorious costumes were all well and good. But Don Q, everyone seemed to feel, was just more fun. The film returned $1,616,872 to his production company’s coffers, independent of its return to United Artists. Only Robin Hood had a greater profit. And, indeed, the film is a lot of fun, draped though it is under a heav y load of sets and costumes. But Fairbanks was peeking out from underneath the finery, wooing the fair lass, whipping his whip, and in general raising sunny hell. “Doug has never leaped so high, moved so quickly or kept in such constant motion so long before. The man isn’t human, that’s what he isn’t. He’s perpetual youth, a three-ringed circus, the personification of all juvenile heroes, all rolled into one…” wrote W. Ward Marsh in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (19.10.1925). Released in Italy as Don X, il figlio di Zorro, the film was a great hit, prompting accolades in La settima arte (12.1925), which quoted an unnamed “authoritative Italian critic”: “Don X, figlio di Zorro is cinema’s latest leap towards perfection: if the very pinnacle has not been reached, then it can’t be in our time. As for the actors, the cinematography, the sets – everything, everything reveals a subtle intuition and evident elegance. In the aristocracy of films, Don X is the king.” 

"Until now, the only available copies of Don Q were badly damaged 16mm prints. The Danish Film Institute’s beautiful new restoration returns the film to its original luster of a century ago." – Tracey Goessel 

The Music 

Andrej Goričar (GCM 2026): "Don Q, Son of Zorro captivated me with its undertone, which struck me as wonderfully, gently fantastic. Light-hearted, nonchalant, and slightly idealistic. Charming. Seeing the way these impressions merge with the film’s exceptional tempo, its comedic tone and adventurous nature, and its initially light-hearted story that takes a dramatic turn in an instant, I knew this was a film I’d love to compose music for. As I write this note, my Don Q score needs me to add only a few refined finishing touches regarding the orchestration – a compositional technique which I perceive very visually, like painting with an infinite spectrum of musical shades. Then it can finally come alive. Of course this is a score for an adventure film. I admire classical orchestral scores for adventure films despite their complexity and grandeur – or perhaps precisely because of that. My score approaches the subject in its (or my) own unique way, but still it is a “many notes” score. I, however, believe there are “just as many notes as are required”, to quote Mozart’s statement in the famous scene from Milos Forman’s Amadeus."

"When it comes to the music I compose for silent films, I believe both in its independent existence and musical invention, as well as in its meticulous and profound dialogue with the film itself. So how can the two co-exist? “Distant closeness” is an expression I’m particularly fond of in this context: just the right measure of closeness and just the right measure of apparent distance in the music. By “apparent distance” I mean that the music is close to the film in a different way. Perhaps it evokes memories, perhaps it interprets, perhaps it focuses more on what the film conveys between the lines … All with the aim of co-existing with the film in a unified artistic experience." – Andrej Goričar

AA: The opening night of Le Giornate offered a revival of a big hit film of one of our greatest heroes, complete with a rousing score, newly written for the relaunch. We had great fun in the humoristic swashbuckler, a genre largely launched for the cinema by Douglas Fairbanks himself with his unique irreverent and goofy panache, paving the way for the future bravado of Errol Flynn and Jackie Chan. The action is cinematic, and the heroes have a self-deprecating demeanour in the whole shebang.

The Mark of Zorro (1920) we saw in Pordenone 11 years ago. In it, Douglas Fairbanks already played a double role. His daytime character was the effete Don Diego Vega. In the nighttime he transformed into the intrepid Zorro. In the finale he changed from the first into the second without even needing a superhero costume anymore. "He fights like Zorro"... "and I love like Zorro".

In Don Q, Son of Zorro, there is again a double role. Fairbanks still plays the original Zorro, and now also his own son, Don Q. Sent from California to Spain to complete his education, Don Q becomes entangled in vicious intrigue. He must even stage a breathtaking suicide to avoid a death sentence. Where Zorro carved a "Z" mark on his adversaries with a sword, Don Q dons a "Q" brand with a whip. It is a childish story and slightly boring. Well cast, it is a pleasure to meet in the female lead Mary Astor, already a Hollywood veteran, although only 19 years old.

"Les héros sont fatigués" is an intriguing concept. Fairbanks was over 40 years old, and in The Iron Mask (US 1929) he bravely incarnated an ageing D'Artagnan. It has my favourite end title. Instead of The End: The Beginning. The Iron Mask is a masterpiece, but in Don Q, Son of Zorro, Fairbanks has not yet solved the art of the sequel.

Baños brothers: Barcelona en tranvia / [A Tram Ride through Barcelona] (1909)

 

Ramón de Baños Martínez & Ricardo de Baños Martínez: Barcelona en tranvía (ES 1909). Photo: Filmoteca de Catalunya, Barcelona.

BARCELONA EN TRANVÍA / UN PASEO EN TRANVÍA POR BARCELONA / VIAJE EN TRANVÍA POR BARCELONA [Barcelona by Tram; A Tram Ride through Barcelona; A Trip by Tram through Barcelona] (ES 1909) dir, photog: Ramón de Baños Martínez, Ricardo de Baños Martínez. prod: Hispano-Films (Barcelona), commissioned by Metropolitan Cinemaway (Barcelona). filmed: 25.4.1909. rel: 1.5.1909 (pt. 1), 9.5.1909 (pt. 2), Metropolitan Cinemaway, Barcelona. copy: fragment of Pt. 2, DCP, 7'41" (from 35 mm dupl. neg., 150 m, 16 fps); titles: SPA. source: Filmoteca de Catalunya, Barcelona.

    Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone 2026: Phantom Tram Rides / Spanish Cinema 1896-1919.

    Grand piano: Stephen Horne.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi, 3 Oct 2026  

Lawrence Napper (GCM 2026): "On Friday 23 April 1909, the Metropolitan Cinemaway placed an advertisement in Barcelona’s newspaper La Vanguardia: “This company is pleased to inform the public that, having commissioned Hispano-Films to film A View of Barcelona by Tram, to be subsequently screened at the Metropolitan Cinemaway, we are hereby announcing the date and time of the journey, so that anyone wishing to appear in the film may choose their position at any of the locations listed below. The tram carrying the camera  will have a trailer attached to the front and will depart on Sunday 25 April at 11am.”"

"This invitation clearly was enthusiastically taken up by local citizens. The resulting atmosphere of celebration makes this one of the most delightful of the phantom ride films. The film was originally in two parts; unfortunately the surviving footage is only a fragment of material from the second part. The tram is shown journeying from Paseo de Gracia to the San Gervasio neighbourhood. The intertitles indicating locations are a later addition."

"The Metropolitan Cinemaway, opened in 1909, was similar to a Hale’s Tour. The auditorium replicated a train carriage, and showed travelogues and phantom rides. Barcelona en tranvía was its most successful attraction. By 1911 it had been replaced with a more conventional cinema venue. The Baños brothers were prolific pioneer filmmakers in Spain, active from 1905 producing a range of actualities, travelogues, and dramas. The offices of the Hispano Films company were in Carrer de Craywinckel, which can be seen in the final moments of this film." – Lawrence Napper

AA: I have never seen a more enthralling phantom ride movie than Barcelona en tranvia.

Ramón and Ricardo de Baños Martínez have a perfect command on what they are doing. They want to convey a complete experience of Barcelona on tramway. The sense of sunlight, space, movement, perspective and viewpoint is exemplary. The definition of light is excellent. 

Most importantly: the focus is on the human experience. This is a movie about the people of Barcelona and their life in the city. They are on the move, very often on bicycles. It is fascinating to learn that you could cast yourself into the movie, because its route, locations and dates were pre-announced.

A very pleasant belle époque document.

Made by the brothers Baños Martinez. There are so many brothers in the history of the cinema, starting from the early days: Skladanowsky brothers, Lumière brothers, Méliès brothers, Pathé Frères...

Sid Griffiths & Bert Bilby: Jerry the Troublesome Tyke: Curing a Cold (1925)

Sid Griffiths, Bert Bilby: Curing a Cold (Wales, GB 1925). Photo: National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive, Aberystwyth.

CURING A COLD (GB 1925) Series: Jerry the Troublesome Tyke. dir: Sid Griffiths, Bert Bilby. anim: Sid Griffiths, Brian White. photog: Bert Bilby. cast: Sid Griffiths. prod: United International Corporation (U.I.C.). dist: Pathé. copy: DCP, 3'25", col. (from 35 mm, 216 ft, tinted, 18 fps); titles: ENG. source: The Cinema Museum, London. 

    Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone 2026: Rediscoveries.

    Grand piano: Stephen Horne.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi, 3 Oct 2026

Iola Baines (GCM 2026): "Poor Jerry is feeling under the weather, shivering with cold and sneezing theatrically. His long-suffering live-action animator prescribes fresh air and sunshine, and Jerry seizes the chance of an exotic spell in the sun, where he sweats it out and starts to get into the holiday spirit. His shady palm tree, however, turns out not to be quite the balmy blessing he expects." – Iola Baines

AA: Made with an approach dating back to Max Fleischer's Out of the Inkwell, we see the drawing board on which the cartoon dog Jerry emerges. The relationship between the artist and his creation is essential. A transition from an idea to its realization happens in an instant. The artist's window is ajar, Jerry catches a cold, cures it by going to hot Egypt, but in the sweltering desert sweats profusely and  risks getting a cold anew. The Finnish saying "Niin tai näin, aina väärinpäin" is untranslatable but means "any which way, always the wrong way". Simplicity itself, reduced in the extreme, the ideas are conveyed in ascetic but vivid line drawings. 

Camille Pissarro: "It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character."

Georges Méliès: Gugusse et l'automate / [Gugusse and the Automaton] (1897) 2026 digital transfer Library of Congress

Georges Méliès: Gugusse et l’automate [Gugusse and the Automaton] (FR 1897) starring Georges Méliès (to the left) as the machine operator. Photo: Library of Congress, Culpeper, VA.

GUGUSSE ET L’AUTOMATE [Gugusse and the Automaton] (FR 1897). dir, scen, ed: Georges Méliès. cast: Georges Méliès. prod: Georges Méliès, Star-Film. copy: DCP, 1'05" (from 35 mm pos. nitr., 50 ft, 18 fps); no titles. source: Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Packard Campus, Culpeper, VA (Frisbee [William DeLyle] Collection).

    Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone 2026: Rediscoveries.

    Grand piano: Stephen Horne.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi, 3 Oct 2026

Rose Albayat (GCM 2026) "The rediscovery in 2025 of the long-lost Georges Méliès film Gugusse et l’automate is a significant discovery in early cinema. The nitrate print’s owner, Bill McFarland of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the great-grandson of an itinerant showman; it was found inside a treasure chest with ten other reels and subsequently donated to the Library of Congress. Méliès’s upbringing in a diverse range of creative practices was essential to his later work as the owner-director of the Théâtre Robert-Houdin, and later as a cinéaste. During his tenure as the Theatre’s director (1888-1914), Méliès exhibited some automata from Robert-Houdin’s repertoire. His versatility extended beyond the magic theatre: in 1897 Méliès built the first film studio in the garden of the Méliès property in Montreuilsous-Bois. Rather than utilizing the space solely for filming and discovering new visual effects, the showman also adapted it as a workshop to construct sets and paint backdrops. Méliès’s engagement with automata likewise extended beyond the theatre and into his films. The word “Gugusse” derives from the name “Auguste,” a type of clown described by Pascal Jacob: “He imposes a form of fragility linked to childhood and develops a particular vocabulary where candour and naivety mingle, but also greed, a playful instinct and a liking for dissimulation with no consequences.” (https://cirque-cnac.bnf.fr/en/clowns/clown-characters/auguste) Gugusse et l’automate features an intricately detailed painted background depicting what appears to be a workshop filled with clocks and tools. The film begins abruptly with Méliès performing as a madcap machine operator turning the crank and miming what is about to befall the pierrot automaton. With a series of visible substitution splices, a camera trick pioneered by Méliès, the pierrot gradually grows to the size of the operator, escapes his control, and hits him with a long stick. The operator retaliates by removing the pierrot automaton from atop its stand and pummeling it with a giant mallet, reducing its size with each stroke. Already in 1897, Méliès’s absurd sense of humor revels in provoking his audience." – Rose Albayat

AA: In Georges Méliès's one minute movie we see the revolution of the robot and the lunatic operator taking back control. The word "robot" was actually coined by Karel Čapek only in 1920 in his play R.U.R. What we saw was perhaps the cinema's first foray into the mystique of the so-called "A.I." - in the spirit of Goethe's "Der Zauberlehrling" (1797) / "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".

D. W. Griffith: Mr. Jones at the Ball (1908) 2020 digital restoration Film Preservation Society

D. W. Griffith: Mr. Jones at the Ball (US 1908). Photo: Film Preservation Society.

MR. JONES AT THE BALL (US 1908) dir: D. W. Griffith. story: ?. photog: G. W. Bitzer. cast: John C. Cumpson, Florence Lawrence, Harry Solter, Mack Sennett, Arthur Johnson, George Gebhardt, Charles Inslee, Jeannie MacPherson. prod: American Mutoscope & Biograph Company. filmed: 23/24.09.1908 (NY Studio). rel: 25.12.1908. copy: DCP, 8'37" (from paper print, 503 ft., 15 fps); titles: ENG. source: Film Preservation Society, Los Angeles (DCP); Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Packard Campus, Culpeper, VA (paper print). Digital restoration, scanning: 2022. Intertitles written by Film Preservation Society. 

     Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone 2026: The Biograph Project.

    Grand piano: Philip Carli.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi, 3 Oct 2026

Tracey Goessel (GCM 2026): "Here we have the first official “Jones” comedy: a single joke gag built around split trousers and the antics that ensue at a dress ball. The story itself is scarcely worthy of comment. But, as always, small pleasures can be found. Look for the hint of a secret affair between a guest and the welcoming hostess. Wince at the man in blackface acting the part of coat-check clerk – is his wig the same one used by Alfred Paget four years later in A Beast at Bay? Look out the window next to Mack Sennett’s footman in the ballroom – is that not the same painted flat from A Smoked Husband? And isn’t it Mack we see, both as footman and, in the final shot, policeman? If it is cinematic artistry you seek, you will not find it here. But you will find a wealth of small details that will bring you back to a late autumn day in 1908. Even in this minor charmer, it is a journey worth taking."

AA: One might call Mr. Jones at the Ball a case of the "slight narrative". Out of almost nothing, Griffith creates a wild choreography of slapstick action. It is almost breathlessly fast, and the choreography is always assured when the characters criss-cross at an amazing speed. Bear and ice-bear rugs are an amusing element as later in Chaplin's comedy shorts. Mack Sennett who appears among the cast may have been inspired.

D. W. Griffith: One Touch of Nature (1908) 2026 digital restoration Film Preservation Society

D. W. Griffith: One Touch of Nature (US 1908). The underground family. Photo: Film Preservation Society.

ONE TOUCH OF NATURE (US 1909) dir: D. W. Griffith. story: ? photog: Arthur Marvin, G. W. Bitzer. cast: Arthur Johnson, Florence Lawrence, Marion Leonard, Charles Inslee, Mack Sennett, Harry Solter, George Gebhart, Gertrude Robinson, Jeannie MacPherson, Dorothy West. prod: American Mutoscope & Biograph Company. filmed: 13-18.11.1908 (NY Studio). rel: 1.1.1909. copy: DCP, 12'18" (from paper print, 724 ft., 16 fps); titles: ENG. source: Film Preservation Society, Los Angeles (DCP); Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Packard Campus, Culpeper, VA (paper print). Digital restoration, scanning: 2026. Intertitles written by Film Preservation Society

    Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone 2026: The Biograph Project.

    Grand piano: Philip Carli.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi, 3 Oct 2026

Tracey Goessel (GCM 2026): "Here is an improbable melodrama, encompassing the death of one child, the catatonic state of her mourning mother, and the mother’s restoration with the rescue of a battered orphan. While Griffith cross-cuts effectively we should also acknowledge his staging of the street sequences. "

"The first such scene includes a family playing ring-around-the-rosy; a drunk falling on his backside; our evil hag and hapless orphan; multiple bowler-hatted pedestrians; and a trotting newsboy. The subsequent shot has its own micro-dramas. Russell Merritt (The Griffith Project, Vol. 1) writes, “Griffith sets the scene by having three chorus girls dropped off by escorts at the stage door. Each departure, quick though it is, is made distinctive: the first woman gives her man a warm goodbye kiss, the second couple is merely polite, the third positively surly.” What his view of the smeary paper print did not provide was the recognition of the third chorus girl. Under a heavy veil, we see Florence Lawrence serving as an extra, in addition to the female lead. It is, perhaps, a measure of how the industry had yet to acknowledge how recognizable these faces would become. The star system was not yet born. But we are up to 1909. And Mary Pickford was coming soon."

AA: Made in the tradition of the Sunday school play, proceeding in tableaux, reduced to the essentials, contrasting a happy family and a miserable family, both with a child. The child of the happy family dies, and the child of the doomed family is in danger, as well, but in a last minute rescue she is adopted to the happy one. Plausibility is not pursued, but room to powerful visions is opened. The mother's mental breakdown when her daughter dies. The unflinching account of the violence against the cursed family's daughter. Such scenes may be digested more easily within the melodramatic mode than in a realistic storyline. Again, a miracle happens: as soon as she receives a new daughter, the mother is cured and the girl is saved. Happiness is back. The film might be called a fairytale, just like The Christmas Burglars.

D. W. Griffith: The Christmas Burglars (1908) 2026 digital restoration Film Preservation Society

 

D. W. Griffith: The Christmas Burglars (US 1908). Florence Lawrence. Photo: Film Preservation Society, Los Angeles.

THE CHRISTMAS BURGLARS (US 1908) prod: American Mutoscope & Biograph Company. dir: D. W. Griffith. story: ?. photog: G. W. Bitzer. cast: Florence Lawrence, Adele De Garde, George Gebhardt, Marion Leonard, Charles Inslee, Harry Solter, Mack Sennett, Arthur Johnson. filmed: 28,30.11.1908 (NY Studio, 8th Ave and 14th Street, NYC). rel: 22.12.1908. copy: DCP, 11'39" (from paper print, 679 ft., 15 fps); titles: ENG. source: Film Preservation Society, Los Angeles (DCP); Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Packard Campus, Culpeper, VA (paper print). Digital restoration, scanning: 2026. Intertitles written by Film Preservation Society 

    Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone 2026: The Biograph Project.

    Grand piano: Philip Carli.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi, 3 Oct 2026

Tracey Goessel (GCM 2026): "If An Awful Moment is the nightmare before Christmas, The Christmas Burglars is an exercise in wish fulfillment. It has all the elements melodrama could require: a Christmas Eve setting; a starving widow and her daughter; a hard-hearted pawnshop owner; and a Runyonesque gallery of burglars and thieves. The discovery of a child’s plaintive letter to Santa prompts the store’s denizens to sneak into the tenement with food, gifts, and even a tree. Christmas by way of chloroform. On top of that, we get two city exteriors. What’s not to love? In terms of cinematic progression, Griffith takes the cut-to-what-the-character-is-thinking-about idea that he originated in After Many Years and does it one better. The final shot of the film includes a double exposure of the flinty-hearted pawnbroker, leaning on his counter in happy contemplation of his good deed. Instead of a direct cut to the scene of the celebration, and cutting back, Griffith and Bitzer staged a double exposure. The pawnshop image is shared by the tenement image, which then fades and leaves us back in the shop. Given that the double set of sprocket holes document that this effect was done in a contact printer and not in the camera itself, this feels like a Christmas gift to film historians everywhere."

AA: A Christmas Carol saga in the lineage of Charles Dickens. A formulaic plot gives room to genuine emotion. The little girl's sadness. The mother's desperation. The pawnbroker's shady business in collusion with burglars. Class society. The pawnbroker's change of heart on Christmas, like that of Ebenezer Scrooge. "A heart softened, never truly hard again". The miracle of Christmas. For some, there are no miracles. For others, everything is a miracle. I belong to the latter school. Another Griffith short which resembles a Sunday school play. With a powerful composition and mise-en-scène and certain fascinating images, such as the reflection of street life on a shop window.

D. W. Griffith: The Valet's Wife (1908) 2025 digital restoration Film Preservation Society

The Valet’s Wife (D. W. Griffith, US, 1908). Photo: Film Preservation Society, Los Angeles. Griffith can't help flaunting his racial insensitivity. A playboy wants to fool his rich benefactor uncle by presenting himself as a family man. The surprise to all is that "his baby", whisked from the orphan asylum for the occasion, is black.

THE VALET’S WIFE (US 1908). prod: American Mutoscope & Biograph Company. dir: D. W. Griffith. sogg/story: ?. photog: Arthur Marvin, G. W. Bitzer. cast: Mack Sennett, Harry Solter, Robert Harron, George Gebhardt, Charles Avery, Florence Lawrence, Arthur Johnson. filmed: 10/11.09.1908 (NY Studio, /including exterior). rel: 1.12.1908. copy: DCP, 8'43" (from paper print, 508 ft., 16 fps); titles: ENG. source: Film Preservation Society, Los Angeles (DCP); Library of Congress, National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Packard Campus, Culpeper, VA (paper print). Digital restoration, scanning: 2025. Intertitles written by Film Preservation Society.

    Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone 2026: The Biograph Project.

    Grand piano: Philip Carli.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi, 3 Oct 2026

Tracey Goessel (GCM 2026): "This film hasn’t aged well. It is hard to view a comedy where the visual punchline is the purported infant of the protagonist turning out to be – wait for it – a negro! Even worse: the Biograph Bulletin narrates the punchline thus: “…one look was enough – ‘Great Jupiter, it’s a coon!’ ” Not that contemporary critics were any more fastidious with their language. The Moving Picture News (12.05.1908) wrote, “…the grinning face of a ‘pickaninny’ comes into view.” (The infant in question does not grin. It cries, as well it might, being born of color in America in 1908.) Curiously, Griffith telegraphs to the audience that the baby is black in an earlier shot – either an oversight, or an intentional buildup of audience suspense. The comedy has a few thin virtues. Griffith moves his characters around different settings (dining room, hallway, street) with competence. The narrative moves quickly – so quickly, it feels as if Bitzer was deliberately undercranking. (Production logs do not confirm this.) Finally, we have Bobby Harron in the bellhop uniform. Sometimes that is the only consolation we can seek."

AA: A vulgar farce, full of aggravating evidence for a case against D. W. Griffith the racist. However, there are more sides than one to that case. Depressing to watch. A vivid sense of action and slapstick carries the farce. It is offensive but not boring. The plot is transnational: a rich relative funds the life of a wastrel in the belief that there is a family with children to support, or at least a promise of a marriage. There is even a Finnish variation, Erkki Karu's Runoilija muuttaa.

D. W. Griffith: Money Mad (1908) 2025 digital restoration Film Preservation Society

D. W. Griffith: Money Mad (US 1908). Harry Solter, George Gebhardt as two robbers. Griffith learns to master blocking and composition in depth. Photo: Film Preservation Society.

MONEY MAD (US 1908) prod: American Mutoscope & Biograph Company. dir: D. W. Griffith. story: based on the short story by Jack London, “Just Meat” (The Cosmopolitan, 3.1907; retitled “Pals”, London Magazine, 4.1908). photog: G. W. Bitzer. cast: Harry Solter, Florence Lawrence, George Gebhardt, Arthur Johnson, Mack Sennett, Jeannie MacPherson. filmed: 28.10.1908, 2, 16.11.1908 (NY Studio; undocumented location). rel: 4.12.1908. copy: DCP, 11'39" (from paper print, 684 ft., 15 fps); titles: ENG. source: Film Preservation Society, Los Angeles (DCP); Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Packard Campus, Culpeper, VA (paper print). Digital restoration, scanning: 2025. Intertitles written by Film Preservation Society

    Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone 2026: The Biograph Project.

    Grand piano: Philip Carli.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi, 3 Oct 2026

Tracey Goessel (GCM 2026): "Money Mad is For Love of Gold on steroids. Griffith adds layers of Grand Guignol to the narrative of two crooks distrusting and killing each other. A little girl is throttled for her wallet. Our two thieves stalk the throttler through urban alleys (anticipating The Musketeers of Pig Alley), strangling him in his cellar and taking his gold. Once at their hovel, they manage to simultaneously stab and shoot each other. We do not stop there. Griffith has previously introduced the prerequisite drunken hag to the occasion, and she finds the bodies – and the gold. In her rapture, she knocks a lit candle off the table, and sets the place ablaze. The last we see of this scene is roiling smoke, heading straight for the audience. Money Mad was Griffith’s 40th release. For Love of Gold was his 9th. But this is misleading. It is more precise to state that a mere three months separated the filming dates of these two titles. Griffith absorbed much in that period – and there was much more to come."

THE GRIFFITH PROJECT SCREENING: 17 Oct 1997, DWG 1 (1997) # 73. 16 mm from paper print, Library of Congress, intertitles missing, 264 ft /15 fps/ 11 min, Ridotto del Verdi, piano: Edward von Past.

    The Griffith Project companion Volume 1 (Films Produced in 1907-1908) offered the synopsis from the Biograph Bulletin, No. 193, 4 Dec 1908, and the program note by Steven Higgins.

AA: A primitive, atavistic joy of storytelling carries Money Mad. The approach has affinities with school plays and Punch and Judy shows. Reduced to the essentials, Money Mad is sometimes almost abstract, devoid of nuance in psychology and character-building. Yet there is a stark sense of composition, and the characters in their stylized roles can be truly moving. Griffith is unflinching in conveying the brutality of the murders (of the little girl and the old cellar-dweller). The irony of fate and the poetic justice of the two murderers killing each other is conveyed with admirable brevity. This movie like its predecessor For Love of Gold already have the Hustonian "vanitas vanitatum" theme of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and many "big caper"  stories. The final sequence is a stunner. Only an impenetrable cloud of smoke remains as all is reduced to ashes.

With great pleasure I watch this new restoration of a film that was insufferably painful to watch in the 1997 screening.

45 Le Giornate del Cinema Muto: Pordenone 3-10 ottobre 2026

Cover: Italia Almirante Manzini in La statua di carne (IT 1921, D: Mario Almirante). Photo: Cinematek / Cinémathèque royale de Belgique, Bruxelles.

Metropolis (DE 1927, D: Fritz Lang) the science fiction legend of 100 years ago, set in the year 2026. In his essay "The new movie supervillains", Danny Leigh seems to propose that Fritz Lang's dystopia has become reality. Silicon Valley oligarchs remind us of the mad scientist Rotwang and the dictator Fredersen of the megacity. I would also evoke Robot Maria, the soulless imitation of humanity. "Meet the new movie villains: Zuckerberg, Musk and Altman. Unflattering portraits await all three tech titans — but while filmmakers vilify AI, studios are investing in it hungrily. From left: Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman and Elon Musk are all subjects of films due for release in the coming months that portray them in a negative light" © The Red Dress. Financial Times Weekend, 3 October 2026.

CATALOGO 2026 ONLINE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Premio Jean Mitry / The Jean Mitry Award

The Jonathan Dennis Memorial Lecture

L’arte dei costumi / Costume Design and Silent Cinema

Collegium 2026

The 2026 Pordenone Masterclasses

Eventi speciali / Special Events

• Don Q, Son of Zorro

• A colpi di note / Striking a New Note

• Kurutta ippēji / A Page of Madness

• The Iron Horse

Weimar senza censure / Weimar Uncensored: Taboos and Transgressions in German Cinema, 1919-1920

Italia Almirante Manzini – 2

Marshall Neilan

L’arte del benshi / The Art of the Benshi

Cinema spagnolo / Spanish Cinema, 1896 - 1919

Lazio

Avanguardia ceca / Czech Avant-Garde

Le radici della commedia di situazione/ The Roots of Situation Comedy

Follia femminile / Female Madness

Cinema delle origini / Early Cinema

• Il progetto Biograph / The Biograph Project – 3

• Le corse fantasma / Phantom Tram Rides

• Antichità greco-romane / Greco-Roman Antiquities

Il canone rivisitato / The Canon Revisited

• Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru / The Outlaw and His Wife

• Bestia

• La Glace à trois faces

• Tell It to the Marines

• Zhizn za zhizn / [A Life for a Life]

Sine nomine – 3

Riscoperte e restauri / Rediscoveries and Restorations

Anna-Liisa Hämäläinen: Riitta Nelimarkka: hiekanjyvässä kallio / [A Bedrock Within a Grain of Sand] (a book)

 

Anna-Liisa Hämäläinen: Riitta Nelimarkka: hiekanjyvässä kallio / [A Bedrock Within a Grain of Sand] (2026). Book cover design: Timo Numminen. 

Anna-Liisa Hämäläinen: Riitta Nelimarkka: hiekanjyvässä kallio/ [A Bedrock Within a Grain of Sand]. 368 pages. Hard cover. EAN 9789528503309. Docendo, 19 March 2026.

DOCENDO OFFICIAL: "Riitta Nelimarkka – A Bedrock Within a Grain of Sand. The story of an uncompromising artist’s growth.

Riitta Nelimarkka’s biography recounts the journey of a multi-talented child from a Munkkiniemi family into a distinctive artist—a person for whom freedom, family, and love are paramount.

Professor Riitta Nelimarkka’s art radiates glowing colors and infectious joy. She is one of the most versatile and renowned contemporary Finnish artists.

Born in Helsinki in 1948, Nelimarkka is the granddaughter of the painter Eero Nelimarkka and the daughter of the inventor and engineer Antti Nelimarkka. Although she could have become a pianist, she dedicated her life to the visual arts instead. Nelimarkka achieved her breakthrough with her animated films Sammon tarina (The Story of the Sampo) and Seitsemän veljestä (Seven Brothers). Her works have been featured in numerous exhibitions and festivals—both in Finland and abroad—as well as at Bonga Castle in Loviisa, a venue dedicated to her art.

The biography also reveals the person behind the artworks, sharing both the joys and sorrows of her life."

AA: Riitta Nelimarkka is a master of Finnish animation and a pathbreaker with inspired works such as Sammon tarina I-VI ([The Saga of Sampo], FI 1972-1974), Piispa Henrik ja Lalli ([Bishop Henry and Lalli, 1975), Seitsemän veljestä ([Seven Brothers], FI 1979) and Bagatelles 1-13 (1984), directed together with her husband Jaakko Seeck, based on Nelimarkka's delightful watercolours, animated via the cutout method.

Seitsemän veljestä, a foundational work in Finnish literature, has not been much filmed. There is only one live action theatrical movie (Wilho Ilmari, 1939) plus teleplays, such as Jouko Turkka's controversial tv series in 12 episodes (1989). Riitta Nelimarkka distinction is in capturing delightfully Kivi's sense of humour and fantasy and his feeling for nature. Hers is a work of lasting value.

However, animation is but a fraction in Nelimarkka's incredible creativity. She is a painter, sculptor, photographer, printmaker, textile artist and art book creator. In moving images, her interests include musical videos and documentaries. She has published dozens of books. Her hundreds of exhibitions range from Soul to Doha and from Los Angeles to Lima. Her specialties include large-format series of tapestries, charcoal works, serigraphies, wool reliefs and photomontages. 

An iconoclast, an irreverent dissident, always finding new angles: the book is a breathtaking survey about a restless soul. On pages 333-339 there is a curriculum vitae in small print. It is a good place to start studying the book, which is a biography (written in the third person) but transparently also a quasi-autobiography and even an anti-biography. It is a story of an artist's life which is inseparably also a story of a family. Riitta's grandfather Eero Nelimarkka was a model in combining artistic talent and a solid business sense. They can come into conflict, but the conflict can turn into a source of creativity and productivity.

Hiekanjyvässä kallio is a thorough and abundant contribution to the literature of (Finnish) animation and art. A story of an amazing life. Well illustrated, it gives a sense of Nelimarkka's colourful world and imagery.

In Riitta Nelimarkka's adventurous life, truth is stranger than fiction yet again.