From February 7th - 9th, 2014, the Films en concert festival in Lambersart, France will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Little Tramp with a screening of The Kid, screenings of other Chaplin comedies with live musical accompaniment, a panel with guest speakers and other events!
Visit the Lambersart festival’s website for more information.
Today at the BFI Southbank in London is the launch of the new book THE WORLD OF LIMELIGHT by Chaplin biographer David Robinson, which includes Charlie Chaplin’s novella FOOTLIGHTS. David Robinson, will be there, as well as British actress Claire Bloom, who co-starred in Limelight as the dancer, Thereza. The book, which is in English, is available on Amazon and through the Cineteca di Bologna’s website.
Well before becoming one of the masterpieces of Chaplin’s artistic maturity, and even before existing as a screenplay, Limelight was conceived by his author as a 34,000-word novella: after remaining virtually unknown for more than sixty years after its completion Footlights is now published by Cineteca di Bologna in this volume for the very first time. Chaplin’s vivid, idiosyncratic style, unadulterated by editors, moves freely from the baldly colloquial to moments of rich imagery and Dickensian description. For a setting, he looked back to London and the music halls of his first professional years, an enchanted period in which he had broken out of the deprivations of his childhood to discover, progressively, his unique gifts as entertainer and communicator. But this retrospect also recalled the painful insecurity of an uneducated, uncultured boy launched into the world of success.
David Robinson, Chaplin’s most eminent biographer, traces the long yet logical evolution of the story, from its unlikely origin in Chaplin’s 1916 meeting with Nijinsky. The succeeding commentary recounts the making of the film, and traces the real-life sources of Chaplin’s memories: the people and theatres of London’s Soho, and the unique ballet tradition of the two great theatres of Leicester Square, the Empire and the Alhambra, commemorated in Limelight for the first and only time on film.
The book is illustrated with a great wealth of previously unpublished documents and photographs from the Chaplin archives, historic pictures of the theatrical world of Chaplin’s youth and images from the author’s private collection.
Il Cinema Ritrovato al cinema!
Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush will be screened in over 70 Italian cinemas from February 3rd, 2014!
For details, visit the Cineteca di Bologna’s Cinema Ritrovato website.
Photo: Modern Times © Roy Export SAS
On Tuesday, February 4th, 2014 at 6:20 pm, there will be an event at BFI Southbank in London entitled The Centenary of The Little Tramp.
This is the launch of David Robinson’s fabulous new book on Charlie Chaplin, THE WORLD OF LIMELIGHT, published by the Cineteca di Bologna. David Robinson will make a presentation about the Little Tramp and his new finds, and there will be a few other goodies organised by Bryony Dixon of the BFI and Cecilia Cenciarelli of Cineteca di Bologna.
Book now on the BFI website.
The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum wishes to sponsor the restoration of The Champion and they are seeking the public’s help. The museum is located on the former site of the Niles Essanay Studios where Charlie Chaplin once made films.
To donate or to read the full details about their restoration project of The Champion, visit the museum’s The Champion Restoration page.
For those of you in Nuremberg in January, several Chaplin films will be screened at Filmhaus Nürnberg during their month-long Charlie Chaplin retrospective: The Great Dictator, The Kid, The Circus, Monsieur Verdoux and more!
See Filmhaus Nürnberg’s website for details.
The Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Square, London, hosts a season dedicated to some of Charlie Chaplin’s timeless classics.
Wednesday 8th January
The Kid (18:50)
Wednesday 15th January
Modern Times (18:55)
Wednesday 22nd January
City Lights (18:50)
Wednesday 29th January
The Great Dictator (18:20)
Visit the Prince Charles Cinema website for tickets.