Aesthetics of Early Sound Film Revisited: Hybrid Films Between Silent and Sound

International Conference University of Zurich, Department of Film Studies in collaboration with Tsuru University, September 14–16, 2023

Organisation:
Daniel Wiegand, Johan Nordström, Tobias Schönrock

Location:
Filmpodium (Nüschelerstrasse 11, 8001 Zürich)

Programme

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14

17:00	Welcome Cocktail Felix Bar (Kalkbreitestrasse 8, 8003 Zürich)
18:15	Conference opening Uto-Kino (Kalkbreitestrasse 3, 8004 Zürich) Film programme: UND NELSON SPIELT … EINE TONFILM-SCHLAGER-REVUE (Germany 1929, Hans Conradi, 13 min, DCP) DELIKATESSEN (Germany 1930, Géza von Bolváry, 82 min, 35mm)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

Filmpodium (Nüschelerstrasse 11, 8001 Zürich)

9:00	Johan Nordström (Tsuru University) and Daniel Wiegand (Universität Zürich) Introduction
9:30	Part-Talkies Michael Slowik (Wesleyan University) “It Comes Right from the Heart”: How Hollywood’s Part-Talkies Sold Sound to Audiences Daniel Wiegand (Universität Zürich) Now You Hear Them, Now You Don’t: Throwing the Lever from Silent to Sound in Global Part-Talkies
10:45	Coffee Break
11:15	China Nadine Vafi (Universität Zürich) Modern Shanghai and Political Noise: Urban Soundscape in Xiling Shen's SHI ZI JIE TOU (1937) Xiaoxian Ye (Shanghai University of Engineering Science) Female Images as Urban Imagination at the Emergence of Chinese Sound Films
12:30	Lunch
13:45	Reception Contexts Maria Adorno (Universität zu Köln, Università di Udine, Université Lumière Lyon 2) Multiple hybrids around 1930: from ‘silenced films’ to ‘300% talkies’ Jessica Berry (Universität Zürich) The Reception of Hybrid Forms in Swiss Film Criticism Selina Hangartner (Universität Zürich) Calling Them by Our Names? Contingent Phenomena and German Part-Talkies in 1929
15:30	Coffee
16:00	Keynote Donald Crafton (University of Notre Dame) Colonizing and De-colonizing the Hybrid Soundscape: WHITE SHADOWS IN THE SOUTH SEAS (MGM, 1928)
17:15	Coffee
18:00	Film Screening WHITE SHADOWS ON THE SOUTH SEAS (USA 1928, W. S. Van Dyke, c. 86 min, 35mm)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16

Filmpodium (Nüschelerstrasse 11, 8001 Zürich)

9:00	Germany / Great Britain Tobias Schönrock (Universität Zürich) “Not the actor is talking, but the scenic atmosphere ‘gets to speak’”! Sound in Hans Tintner’s JUGENDGELIEBTE (1930) Andreas Jacke (independent researcher, Berlin) A silent film with sound or a sound film that goes silent: BLACKMAIL (1929)
10:00	Coffee
10:20	Japan I Johan Nordström (Tsuru University) Aesthetics of the Japanese Sound-version Adrian Wood (independent researcher, Fukuoka) NIPPON (1932): The Quintessential Hybrid Film (including screening of archival film material)
12:00	Lunch
13:15	Japan II / Dreyer Kerstin Fooken (Universität Hamburg) Hybrid Aesthetics in ‘Record-Talkies’ as Home Entertainment during Japan’s Transition from Silent to Sound Film Casper Tybjerg (University of Copenhagen) ‘Die Gespenster buchstabieren’: Sound and Unlife in Dreyer’s VAMPYR (1932)
14:30	Coffee
15:00	Film Screening VAMPYR (Germany/France 1932, Carl Theodor Dreyer, 73 min, DCP) Introduction: Casper Tybjerg (University of Copenhagen)
16:30	Conclusion to the Conference and Book Launch “Aesthetics of Early Sound Film: Media Change around 1930” (Amsterdam University Press 2023)
17:15	Apéro

Weiterführende Informationen

Aesthetics of Early Sound Film Revisited 2023

Keynote Lectures and Film Screenings at the Cinema

Detailed Information