The Copenhagen Silent Film Festival 2025 is coming soon. It will take place from January 22 to 26, focusing on the digitization of over 400 Danish silent films.
The project is considered the most extensive film preservation effort in Denmark’s history. It was made possible through contributions from the A.P. Møller Foundation, the Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen Foundation, and the Augustinus Foundation.
The opening night on January 22 will feature Danish director Benjamin Christensen’s Seine Frau, die Unbekannte (1923), restored in 4K by the Danish Film Institute. The program also includes Ernst Lubitsch’s Kohlhiesels Töchter (1920), a comedy recently restored by the Murnau-Stiftung using nitrate prints from Danish archives.
On January 25, the festival will host its family-focused program, showing silent comedies by Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy. These screenings will include live musical accompaniment by Lars Fjeldmose. The following day, January 26, young composers from Danish music conservatories will present new scores for selected silent film clips as part of the Sounding Silents event.
The festival program also includes international films, such as Julien Duvivier’s Poil de carotte (1925), Yasujiro Ozu’s I Was Born, But… (1932), and Allan Dwan’s East Side, West Side (1927). Two works featuring Danish silent film star Asta Nielsen, Vanina (1922) and Der Reigen (1920), are also scheduled to screen.
On January 24, an archive workshop will examine the digitization process and its impact on preserving Danish film heritage. Screenings that day include lesser-known works like Holger-Madsen’s Was ist los mit Nanette? (1929) and more well-known titles, such as Carl Th. Dreyer’s Master of the House (1925).
The showings will take place at the Cinemateket in Gothersgade.
