When a poor neighbour asks to borrow Tyltyl and Mytyl’s bird to cheer up her sick daughter, the children refuse. That same night, the fairy Bérylune appears and sends them in search of the bird of happiness.
Tyltyl receives a magic hat that brings Fire, Water, Light, Bread, Sugar and Milk to life. Even the dog and cat can suddenly speak. On their journey, the children visit extraordinary places. They meet their deceased grandparents, brothers and sisters, enter the Palace of Happiness and travel to the Kingdom of the Future, where children wait to be born. But where is the blue bird really to be found?
The Blue Bird is based on the play of the same name by Belgian author and Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck. Director Maurice Tourneur and production designer Ben Carré turned it into a richly visual cinematic world. The young Rotterdam-born cinematographer John van den Broek, a regular collaborator of Tourneur’s, photographed the film. He died later that same year while filming waves from a cliff.
The film was released in March 1918, after years of world war and at a time when childhood mortality remained a harsh reality. Against that background, the fairy tale acquired a special resonance. The Blue Bird offers hope and comfort without denying the sorrow of the world. More than a century later, that power can still be felt.
About the Netherlands Silent Film Festival
The Netherlands Silent Film Festival (NSFF) in Eindhoven is the largest festival dedicated to silent film in the Netherlands. In this original form of cinema, stories are told through images, expression and music. Without spoken dialogue, the inventiveness of the filmmakers takes centre stage.
At the festival and through programmes presented throughout the year, NSFF makes the cinematic heritage of the silent era accessible to a wide audience. It does so through film screenings, educational projects, workshops and lectures. The creativity and innovation of early cinema deserve to be seen and heard again.
For its programme, the NSFF team follows current developments in the international world of silent film, from recent rediscoveries and restorations to new research. Audience favourites share the bill with hidden gems, all presented with live musical accompaniment by international film musicians.
