Black-and-white silent films exhibited at Beijing Film Festival

The seventh Beijing International Film Festival will have 500 national and international films to the public, including some old silent films.

A stage photo of ‘A String of Pearls’ [Photo: qq.com]

"A String of Pearls" is a black-and-white silent film shot in the early stage of China's film history. 

Made in 1925, it is one of the exhibiting films at the festival released publicly for the first time after being restored. With a live performance of background music, the film provides an unique experience to spectators. 

Jin Jie, leader of the "sound of silence" project, which organizes musicians to play music to accompany silent movies at the film festival. 

"In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, all the silent movies had live background music. But most of the background music was performed in an easy way, for example, being performed only using a piano."

Apart from "A String of Pearls", the restored films including Panther, Gone with the Wind, Doctor Zhivago, Brave Heart and Manhattan. 

Films directed by Hirokazu Koreeda and David Lynch are popular among film fans. 

The exhibition started on April 8, eight days before the opening of the film festival, and will last for 16 days.