Denver Silent Film Festival 2026

Step into a bygone era of film magic with our annual Denver Silent Film Festival.

Join us again as we draw back the curtain on another superb slate of silent-era masterpieces and newly restored discoveries, presenting them as they were meant to be experienced: on the big screen with extraordinary live musical performances.

A feast for lovers of classic films and live music, our festival promises something beyond special.

The Grand Program (visit here for more information):

Opening Night: THE THIEF OF BAGDAD | Raoul Walsh (1924)
Live music accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.
Denver’s East High School alum Douglas Fairbanks stars as a recalcitrant thief vying with a duplicitous Mongol ruler for the hand of a beautiful princess.

PAVEMENT BUTTERFLY | Richard Eichberg (1929)
Live music accompaniment by Tenia Nelson.
Mah (the iconic Anna May Wong) is a dancer in the French Riviera who, after her act takes a deadly turn, finds refuge in the arms of a young painter.

THE UNKNOWN | Tod Browning (1927)
Live music accompaniment by Hank Troy.
From the director of cult classic FREAKS, a circus sideshow performer goes to horrific lengths to win the woman he admires.

SHOES | Lois Weber (1916)
Live music accompaniment by Perc Ens, presented by Swallow Hill.
A young five-and-dime worker supporting her family is offered a shocking escape from poverty at the cost of her heart. Featuring our 2026 David Shepard Career Achievement Award Presentation to Shelley Stamp, Professor of Film & Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

THE JOYLESS STREET | Georg Wilhelm Pabst (1925)
Live music accompaniment by Hank Troy.
In the aftermath of World War I, the residents living in one slum struggle to survive amid greed and exploitation. Starring the legendary Greta Garbo!

PHIL FOR SHORT | Oscar Apfel (1919)
Live music accompaniment by Patrick Lee, presented by Swallow Hill.
A young woman named Phil is determined to win the heart of an embittered professor. Featuring a screening of the short film, MENAGE DRANEM (1913), with this presentation.

BREAKING PLATES AND SMASHING THE PATRIARCHY
Live music accompaniment by The Dollhouse Thieves.
This program of 10 rollicking shorts takes inspiration from the freedom of the first years of cinema to bring a boundary-smashing brawl and a creative revolution for women to the screen.

THE GARDEN OF EDEN | Lewis Milestone (1928)
Live music accompaniment by Hank Troy.
A jazz-age singer reinvented as a baroness’s daughter chases romance in Monte Carlo, where her glamorous ruse leads to unexpected consequences.

QUEEN KELLY | Erich von Stroheim (1929)
Live music accompaniment by Rodney Sauer.
A convent girl (Gloria Swanson) is abducted and seduced by a prince before being sent off to a brothel in East Africa.