On July 11 to 13 at Shangri-La Plaza, Manila’s International Silent Film Festival (ISFF) is set to carve out an immersive audiovisual spectacle of five silent films from five countries, played alongside a live score by Filipino musicians. And the best part? It will be screened to the public for free.
What started as a collaboration between Germany’s Goethe-Institut, Spain’s Instituto Cervantes, and the Japan Foundation in 2007 has grown into one of Southeast Asia’s most accessible cultural exchange festivals. This year’s programming is set to prove how essential live music is in silent films where cinemas once had in-house orchestras before the advent of “talkies,” or films with synchronized sound. For those unfamiliar with pre-dialogue cinema, the ISFF is a crash course on how to translate stories beyond language.
Below are the films that will be featured at ISFF, along with its attached live performer.
Psychic Surgeons and ‘Gigantes y Cabezudos’ (1936)
For the Spanish entry, Gigantes y Cabezudos, Instituto Cervantes is teaming up with jazz-electronic outfit Psychic Surgeons. Set against the backdrop of a folk parade, the 1936 film follows a Spanish soldier returning from war in Cuba, only to find his village gripped by local unrest. The story’s carnival tone will be reimagined by Psychic Surgeons, who is expected to layer hip-hop drums, synths, and jazz textures into its score. The band’s trumpet player Gabriel Lazaro describes the film as “visually stunning and surreal,” a match for their genre-bending sound.
Pepe Manikan and ‘Fra Diavolo’ (1925)
Musician Pepe Manikan and his Progharmonic Orchestra are returning to the ISFF stage to score Fra Diavolo, an Italian action-comedy about resisting invasion. Selected by Manikan himself, the film will be performed with a full score that jumps between jazz, rock, and live foley sound effects. “It’s a fun film, but it says a lot about sovereignty,” Manikan said at a press statement. By using real-time sound effects and genre fusions, the orchestra builds tension and release without uttering a word, teaching audiences that emotion, not language, drives storytelling.
Ma.Ma and ‘Wie sich das Kino rächt’ (1912)
Goethe-Institut Philippinen has chose a sharp, self-aware comedy for this year’s screening. Wie sich das Kino rächt centers on a film censorer who’s tormented by the very filmmakers he tried to suppress. Experimental duo Ma.Ma — composed of alternative pop artist Alyana Cabral and art-pop solo artist Joee Mejias — will take on live scoring duties. Known for their ambient noise collages and abstract soundscapes, Ma.Ma’s goal is to challenge how silence can be interrupted.
An All-Female Scoring Team on ‘The Scent of Pheasant’s Eye’ (1935)
Japan Foundation’s The Scent of Pheasant’s Eye, a 1935 tale of a high school girl falling in love with her sister-in-law, was adapted from early 20th-century queer Japanese literature. A rare find from Japan’s National Film Archive, the film is being brought to life by an all-female Filipino scoring team: film composer Teresa Barrozo, drummer Pat Sarabia, and alternative rock guitarist Mariah Reodica. They’ll be joined by Nanako Yamaguchi, a Japanese benshi or live narrator. In 2018, a benshi also performed for ISFF, narrating A Straightforward Boy by Japanese film director Yasujirō Ozu.
Hearlife Verein and ‘The Life of Beethoven’ (1927)
Austria’s selection, The Life of Beethoven, turns the spotlight on the world-renowned composer and pianist. The film will be scored by an ensemble assembled by Hearlife Verein, a non-profit for deaf Filipino children. Pianist Mariel Ilusorio will lead a string quartet, youth sopranos, and a partially deaf pianist with a cochlear implant. “We wanted this to be inclusive,” said Hearlife’s Nina Jacob-Soliven. “Beethoven was deaf. Our musician is, too. And the film is silent.” The performance will include sign language interpreters and reserved seats for members of the deaf community.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Pepe Manikan previously worked with film director Khavn Dela Cruz on a silent film score of I Figli di Nessuno in 2023. This information has been removed for accuracy.
