NSFF | Soleil et ombre

Each year, the Netherlands Silent Film Festival showcases recent discoveries and restorations, meticulously restored by film archives and film laboratories from all over the world. But how does this process work and who are the people bringing these films back to our screens? Allowing us to peek behind the curtain, film restorer Maria Fuentes will share her practice, her tools, and how she collaborates with different film archives in order to allow us to enjoy these gems of the silent era once again.

A talk illustrated with film fragments, followed by the screening of two restorations Maria worked on: the short film Jane’s Declaration of Independence, about a young woman who defies her father to marry the soldier she loves, and the main feature Soleil et ombre.

Based on the short story “L’Espagnole” by Maria Star, and co-directed, adapted, produced and starring Musidora in two different roles, Soleil et ombre is a film of stunning beauty created by a unique vision. Shot in Toledo and Écija, it depicts the story of a passionate love triangle: Juana is engaged to the famous bullfighter Antonio. When he gets seduced by a foreign woman, this sets off a tragic tale of rejection and vengeance.

Maria Fuentes is a film restorer based in the Netherlands. She has been involved in digital preservation since 2009 and, as Fontibula, in digital restoration since 2017, incl. on restoration projects such as Padlocked and Foolish Wives. As part of her collaboration with the San Francisco Film Preserve, she has worked with many archives ranging from Eye Filmmuseum, the British Film Institute, the Library of Congress, the Cinémathèque française and MoMA. She also teaches film restoration at Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola in San Sebastian.

PRE-FILM
Jane’s Declaration of Independence (US, 1915). dir.: Charles Giblyn. Length: 18 min. English intertitles.