French silent film "L'Inhumaine" to be screened on September 23, 2016 at UAlbany

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Still from French silent film "L'Inhumaine" ("The Inhuman Woman," 1924)

ALBANY, NY (09/06/2016)(readMedia)-- L'INHUMAINE (THE INHUMAN WOMAN, France, 1924, 135 minutes, b/w, silent with live piano accompaniment by Mike Schiffer, directed by Marcel L'Herbier) will be shown on Friday, September 23, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, on the University at Albany's downtown campus. Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute as part of its Classic Film Series, the screening is free and open to the public.

A beautiful opera singer is adored by men of all ages who dream of being her lover. Her life changes when a young admirer, whom she has rejected, kills himself. This visually stunning art deco science fiction drama was recently restored with the original tints as envisioned by director L'Herbier.

This will be the last time that jazz musician Mike Schiffer will provide live piano accompaniment for a silent film screening at the Writers Institute as he is retiring after his performance for L'INHUMAINE. Mike accompanied his first silent film, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, at Kenyon College in the late 1940s for the opening of a film festival organized by fellow student Paul Newman. The musical score arrived too late for anyone to prepare, so young Mike, a budding jazz musician, stepped in to improvise the music. Schiffer began playing live accompaniment for the Institute's silent film offerings in the spring of 1998 with the screening of the 1921 film THE FOUR HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE. Since then he has provided piano accompaniment for such silent classics as BEN-HUR (1925), ROBIN HOOD (1922), THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923), FAUST (1926), THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920), and SAFETY LAST! (1925) to name just a few.

For additional information contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

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