Silent film festival returns to Jamesport Meeting House

A Live Music/Silent Films Festival will be held from Aug. 8 through Aug. 29 at the Jamesport Meeting House, 1590 Main Road in Jamesport. The event will feature live music performed by The Aquebogue Contemporary Music Ensemble as accompaniment for a slate of silent films curated by artist, composer and filmmaker Cliff Baldwin.

“Live Music/Silent Film combines unusual silent films with extraordinary sound and music. It’s silent films that are surreal, that are early, that are pioneering. They are extraordinary, very adventurous and fun,” said Mr. Baldwin. “And the music is the same way. The sounds are unexpected and beautiful. We have an ensemble of four different musicians, and all of them bring a unique experience to the production. It’s highly unusual.”

The shows are not a traditional presentation of silent films as they would have been exhibited in their time. Instead, the films and the music combine to create their own, new work for the festival.

“We really mix it up. We remixed a bunch of Disney pieces last year because some Mickey Mouse is now in public domain. And so we took those and we twisted them around, mangled them in different ways and remixed those,” Mr. Baldwin said. 


The festival is now in its seventh year. This is the first time that it will continue for the entire month, with different selections for each weekend. The films span from the dawn of filmmaking to the late silent era, with a few contemporary offerings.

“We do contemporary silent as well as the original stuff, and the original stuff stretches from about 1895, and then we go up into the 1920s. We don’t do things much further into the middle of the century, but, you know, should we find something that’s great from 1960, we’ll use it,” said Mr. Baldwin.

One of the films for this year is “The Seashell and the Clergyman,” by Germaine Dulac. 

“It’s a surrealist film by a woman director from 1928, and it’s possibly the first surrealist film made,” Mr. Baldwin said. 

Other nights feature Sigmund Freud’s home movies and a selection of films about the moon. The final showing is AI videos based on Mr. Baldwin’s own dreams.

“We’re doing some AI as well, which are new. It’s very interesting. These are generated from my dreams,” Mr. Baldwin said. “In other words, I’m taking notes on my dreams and then using that as a prompt. AI films. Those are very contemporary. That’s a new experiment.”

The performances are Aug. 8, 15, 22 and 29. Advanced tickets are recommended. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for Live Music/Silent Films are $20 each or $60 for a series pass. Tickets may be purchased at: jamesportmeetinghouse.org.