A few weeks ago, TV Stevie and I attended CapitolFest, in Rome, NY. It’s a film festival that focuses on rare, old silent films and early talkies. There are also educational segments each year. This year, the focus was on nitrate film. On the Thursday night before the festival began, we early arrivals were treated to a documentary, Film is Dead, Long Live Film. The film maker, Peter Flynn, introduced the film, along with George Willeman, the Nitrate Film Vault Manager for the Library of Congress. Mr. Willeman attends CapitolFest every year and works closely with Art Pierce, Executive Director of the Rome Capitol Theatre and founder of CapitolFest.
I can’t describe the event better than the Capitol’s newsletter does:
Capitolfest, Central New York’s very own silent and early talkie film festival enjoyed by both passionate cinephiles and casual viewers […] Presented over the course of three days, Capitolfest offers a unique selection of incredibly rare films, many of which have not been screened publicly since their initial releases in the late 19th or early 20th centuries.
Capitolfest not only offers film, but essentially re-creates the experience of attending a movie in the 1920s or 30s. For example, many silent films are provided musical accompaniment on our original-installation organ by some of the nation’s best-known silent film specialists. While digital projection is used, many films arepresented from 35mm prints via carbon arc projection.
My favorites from this year’s offerings were That’s My Daddy, and “Superman: The Mechanical Monsters” (the first instance of Supes using a phone booth). That’s not to say there weren’t other worthy offerings. And there were things that did not appeal to me at all. I don’t like a lot of slapstick (where people are getting beat up), humiliation humor, or most early musicals. Other people adore them.
On July 16th, three and a half weeks before CapitolFest brings an international crowd to downtown Rome, NY, an EF-2 tornado blew through Rome. As Art Pierce said during the festival, “Rome, New York doesn’t get tornados.” The block the theatre is on was devastated. Luckily, the Capitol itself didn’t sustain major damage–some roof damage, the windows in the offices blown out (Art got out of there just in time). But other buildings on the block weren’t as lucky. Keaton & Lloyd Bookstore lost its windows, its HVAC system, its roof. The other theatres in the Captiol Art Complex lost their roofs. My favorite restaurant lost windows and had other damage.
As my husband and I drove around looking for parking, we saw other devistation.
That CapitolFest 21 happened at all is a miracle.
Yes, the theatre has insurance (the theatre owns three buildings, including the bookstore building), but they still have a $10K deductible, plus, depreciation on things like…roofs (as Art pointed out during the festival, you can’t buy a used roof.) So they’ve started a GoFundMe. Please consider contributing. The Capitol is doing important things not only in the Rome community, but with the preservation of film.
