12h Annual Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival June 26, 2009

Independent Film Companies on the Rise
As a follow up to last year’s festival on the films of the Motion Picture Patents Company members, we present those opposing them, the independent companies. Some of those independents wouldn’t outlast their creators – Mack Sennett, Thomas Ince,Hal Roach – others would become Universal, Paramount, MGM. All of them would influence the direction of filmmaking as we know it today. Child star Baby Peggy (known as Diana Serra Cary today) makes an appearance hosting a segment of films featuring herself at the age of three being adorable and precocious as a Kid Reporter. Ned Thanhouser hosts a segment on his family's film company which released more than 1,000 films from 1909 to 1917. David Kiehn will inform the audience about films that were made in the Bay Area from "back in the day" including Oakland and even one filmed in San Francisco just a couple days before the "big one" in 1906! So much to see and enjoy with live piano accompaniment - and each segment is $10 or less! Since seating is limited, it is highly recommended that tickets be pre-ordered.