BOSTON – A Texas filmmaker is creating the ultimate mashup, reimagining silent cinema, and you’ll soon be able to see it here in Boston.
Adding music to silent films
With Silents Synced, Josh Frank has taken the 1922 silent film “Nosferatu” and added rock music.
“I’ve always had a fascination with, is there something that can be done with these great silent films that people just don’t watch regularly anymore,” Frank said. “How can I make that exciting and how can I do that independently?”
The FW Murnau film now also features enhanced visuals and a full soundtrack of Radiohead albums “Kid A” and “Amnesiac.”
“Towards the end of the pandemic, I was messing around with silent movies, and of course I had my headphones on as a Gen Xer, listening to alt-rock,” Frank explains. Then he thought, “Wow, some of these songs really fit well with these great classics.”
The idea was also inspired by pre-internet uses of classic rock, such as a Pink Floyd laser show or the band’s “Dark Side of the Moon”, matching the “Wizard of Oz”.
“The idea of some sort of subversive underground combinations that made the cool kids go out at night.”
Helping independent theaters
Frank also owns a small drive-in theater in Austin called the Blue Starlite, which can accommodate up to thirty cars per showing.
And he admits that much of this has also been done to give struggling independent cinemas something to set them apart.
He hopes moviegoers will be as in sync with the vibe of this project as he is.
“As the ship carrying Nosferatu comes into port, the Kid A anthem plays,” says Frank. “It’s very powerful in the way it connects. When I first did it in my office at home, I got goosebumps watching it. And I thought, I can’t wait to sit in the theater and to get goosebumps again and to know that part of my audience understands it too.”
“Nosferatu” will open in 150 theaters in the coming weeks, including many in the Boston area. The next silent film on Frank’s list is Buster Keaton’s ‘Sherlock Junior’. That will be combined with REM songs from their albums ‘Monster’ and ‘New Adventures in Hi Fi’ and will be released in February 2025.
Lisa Hughes
