Native American Symposium Opens with “Lost” Film Classic

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From the film, "The Silent Enemy"

The 18^th Annual University of Arkansas Native American Symposium will begin with a screening of The Silent Enemy (1930), one of the last feature length docudramas of the silent film era. The film will be shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2 in Giffels Auditorium in Old Main. The event is free and open to the public.

This historic film is a re-enactment of the Ojibwa way of life prior to white contact.  The Silent Enemy was long believed to be lost following its initial release, but was rediscovered in the 1970s, and immediately hailed as a motion picture classic.

The film will be shown with live musical accompaniment provided by Rodney Sauer and the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. Highly acclaimed for live performances and the musical accompaniment in numerous DVD silent film releases, the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra is a quintet of classically trained musicians from Boulder, Colorado.

The Silent Enemy musical score was personally arranged by Rodney Sauer for the University of Arkansas Native American Symposium.

The event is sponsored by the Honors Film Association and the Office of Admissions.