Austin Cinema Owner Set To Revive Silent Movies with Classic Albums
Josh Frank, the innovative founder of Austin’s Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-In, has announced an exciting new project. Titled Silents Synced, the series will merge classic silent movies with a variety of alternative and rock bands’ back catalog, including Radiohead, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, the Pixies, among others. The project’s aim is to bring new energy to silent movies, reintroducing them to a younger and diverse audience.
Creating New Experiences with Old Classics
The groundbreaking project is set to pair classic silent movies with equally classic albums. As the founder of Austin’s first mini urban drive-in, Frank is no stranger to creating unique cinema experiences. He described Silents Synced as “a dream project” intended to provide independent cinemas with opportunities to diversify their offerings. Moreover, he hopes to give music fans an entirely new perspective on their favorite albums by presenting them in an innovative cinematic context.
Frank’s project was officially unveiled during the Art House Convention, a gathering of industry professionals representing independent cinemas across the nation. There, he received resounding praise for his creativity and dedication to revitalizing the culture of cinema. One of the cheerleaders, Kate Markham, the managing director of Art House Convergence, highlighted Frank’s commitment to utilizing existing, yet often forgotten, art forms – silent movies – and blending them with modern music to redefine the independent film exhibition genre.
Launching with Silent Films Paired with Radiohead and R.E.M.
The series is set to launch in fall of 2024. The opening act will be the iconic silent horror film “Nosferatu” from 1923, coupled with the atmospheric tones of Radiohead’s “Kid A” and “Amnesiac”. It re-contextualizes the beloved albums in conjuction with the timeless visuals of the silent film era.
In the next installation, Buster Keaton’s classic “Sherlock Jr.” will be presented twinned with music from R.E.M. Bertis Downs, manager of R.E.M., expressed the band’s excitement at the prospect, noting that the strange, yet compelling, merging of the music and film felt “kind of perfect.”
A Perfect Collision of Film and Alternative Rock
Frank, a known advocate for film and alternative rock, has creatively merged his two passions with Silents Synced. The series plans to release a new pairing every four months, collaborating with icons such as Pearl Jam, Amon Tobin, and They Might Be Giants. Frank’s dedication to the art of cinema is observable not just in his ventures in reviving the drive-in culture but also in co-authoring “Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies”. This project, however, is his most ambitious attempt at uniting his two passions.
The heart of the Silents Synced project lies in crafting a natural fusion between the selected silent movie and chosen music album without requiring drastic changes to either of the two art forms. Its success will extend a fresh lease of life to dormant silent movies while providing music enthusiasts with an immersive, unexplored experience – an inventive blend of nostalgia and the contemporary in the world of entertainment.
