The following is a guest post from Rachel Parker, a Processing Technician in the Moving Image Section.
“Welcome to the Packard Campus Theater. Please power up your laptops and portable devices and be sure to speak loudly enough during the film so that everyone can hear you.”
Not a usual pre-movie show request, is it? However, it’s the order of the day at “Mostly Lost,” the Library’s annual silent film archeology workshop which I help organize with Moving Image Curator Rob Stone.
On July 17-19, the Packard Campus Theater will be the site of the third installment of “Mostly Lost,” which violates all the rules that a theater demands of its patrons by asking attendees to talk during the screenings, preferably frequently and loudly. At “Mostly Lost,” films that are unknown, misidentified or under-identified are screened for an audience of film archivists, scholars, students, and anyone else with even a passing interest in film and/or cultural history. Our attendees arrive knowing nothing about what will be shown, but with the anticipation of a fun and mysterious journey. Think of it as “film forensics,” where information about a title can be gleaned from visual clues such as automobile models, license plates, Coca-Cola bottles, and clothing styles.
Why is a gathering like “Mostly Lost” even necessary? Back in the