Composers
Carrie Fussell
Fussell, as leader of the colorful Austin based psychedelic-swaying outfit Calliope Musicals, has been featured on NPR Music and more recently named Artist of the Month on hometown station KUTX for April 2021.
Films
The Balloonatic (1923)
A young man (Keaton) has a series of encounters in an amusement area, much like Coney Island until happening upon a group of men preparing a gas balloon for launch. The young man assists the group by climbing atop the balloon to affix a pennant, when the balloon mistakenly takes flight with no one aboard but the young man. The young man finally downs the balloon in a wilderness area, where he encounters a young outdoorswoman and proceeds to have a series of misadventures.
Jackie Myers
Involved since the inception of Silent Films Out Loud, Myers continues to carve out her career performing as a blues-tinged jazz pianist, organist and vocalist - releasing the live album Clementine in 2020.
For more info, visit Jackie's Official Website.
Le Voyage Dans la Lune (1902)
(Trip to the Moon, in English) is perhaps Georges Méliès' most famous film, and is considered to be the first science fiction film in cinematic history. The 12 minute film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon's surface, escape from an underground group of native moon inhabitants (known as Selenites), and return to Earth with one of them as captive. While at once a spoof of more serious science fiction, the film can also be seen as a comment on France's colonial exploits (it was at the time the world's second largest colonial power).
The Akins New Music Ensemble
A collective of Akins Early College High School students known as The Akins New Music Ensemble under the direction of Thomas Mann.
Originating four years ago, Mann began a side ensemble at Akins Early College High School called the The Akins New Music Ensemble for students interested in performing, composing and examining new and contemporary music beyond their current University Interscholastic League ensembles (orchestra, band, choir, and guitar). Each year, eight to 12 instrumentalists and vocalists work on innovative composition projects and attend conferences - but this will be their first commissioned score for a silent film.
Convict 13 (1920)
Buster, a particularly untalented golfer plays golf one morning with a group of friends. After a disastrous start he drives his ball into a nearby river but retrieves it after it is consumed by a fish. Meanwhile a convict escapes from a nearby prison and makes his way towards the golf course as the prison guards give chase. Buster's ball is once again stolen, this time by a dog who takes it a long way from the court. Buster accidentally knocks himself out after his ball ricochets off of an equipment shed and while he is unconscious, the prisoner switches clothes with him. The guards give chase and Buster attempts to escape by jumping into a passing car but it turns out to belong to the warden. Though he hastily jumps into another car, he ends up going into the jail himself where the shenanigans continue as he foils a jailbreak
Silent Films Out Loud is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and One World Theatre.
