Author: Ben Model

  • video blog episode 1: Griffith, Gish, and instant leitmotifs

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    Ben Model

    I’m going to give video-blogging another go in 2010. Using the FlipVideo camera makes it a little more convenient, and talking-head blogging sure beats writing, and typing and correcting typos (which only seem to appear after I click on ‘publish’). I’m hoping I can be a little more consistent than the last time I tried…

  • musical theme: “An Auteurist History of Film”

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    Ben Model
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    This is a theme I came up with for the series at MoMA, which I play as the lights go down and between films (if it’s a double-bill). Gives you a look (and a listen) at the mod-looking Modus digital piano Yamaha has loaned to MoMA for the series. (I shot this quickly, before the…

  • Auteurist series at MoMA moves in the 1920s

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    Ben Model

    Well, we’re out of the woods, now (meaning films of the ‘teens), and the pictures just get better and better every week. The series screens on Wed/Thur/Fri at 1:30pm; the dates below reflect the fact that I only play on Weds and Thurs. In 2010 I will use the Miditzer for accompaniment more, as by…

  • L&H, Keaton and Lloyd Hamilton

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    Ben Model

    Looks like a deleted scene from Playtime, doesn’t it? I’m sitting in the Bauhaus lounge at MoMA. I’m early for my show today, and enjoying the free wifi at MoMA. Have been too danged busy to reflect and post here, but I know people read this blog, so I’ll jot something down, just to stay…

  • vote for The Silent Clowns on Chase Community Giving

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    Ben Model

    Are you on Facebook? Please help support The Silent Clowns Film Series by voting for it (a/k/a Silent Cinema Presentations, Inc., our not-for-profit corp identity) on the Chase Community Giving page on FB. Click here and type in Silent Cinema Presentations, Inc. in the ‘search for your charity’ field:

  • Alice Guy silent films at the Whitney (schedule)

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    Ben Model

    I’ve just received my “marching orders” for the Whitney’s Alice Guy retrospective, Alice Guy Blaché: Cinema Pioneer. Below are the dates and film titles I’ll be accompanying. There will be other screenings dates, times and films, but I do not know what they are. There will be piano accompaniment for most Sunday afternoon screenings, and…

  • October wrap-up, and a look forward into Nov & Dec

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    Ben Model

    I’ve managed to post about every single one of my performances during October 2009. The calendar quarter of Oct-Nov-Dec finds me working full-time as an accompanist, with 18-22 shows each month. I decided at the beginning of October to try and chronicle all the shows, plus give Twitter updates, for those of you who read…

  • Oct 28: 2 Danish @ MoMA, Thanhouser in New Rochelle

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    Ben Model

    Back in the Bartos for a pair of Danish films at MoMA, The Student of Prague and The Mysterious X. Both films were shown in 16mm prints; Student turned out to be a Bob Lee / Essex Film Club print, and Mysterious was some very old 16mm (it seemed a little brown in hue) with…

  • Oct 27: “Nosferatu” in Huntington

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    Ben Model

    We ran a really nice, tinted 35mm print of Nosferatu at the Cinema Arts Centre for this show, and it looked great at 21 fps. What was nice was that the projector technician who’d engineered our ability to have 21 fps as an alternate speed was in the audience to see his handiwork in action…

  • Oct 26: Thanhouser at MoMA

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    Ben Model
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    Last April, Charles Silver, Steve Massa and I screened MoMA’s holdings of Thanhouser Films to select the titles for this program. As it turned out some of these wound up being on the latest Thanhouser DVD set, which I also scored for Ned Thanhouser. With the exception of one title, a dupey 16mm print, they…