British Council (Thailand) and Thai Film Archive (Public Organization) organised the 1st Silent Film Festival in Thailand from 7 – 13 August 2014 at the Lido and Scala theatres in Bangkok. Altogether, there were seven world-class silent films from the UK, Germany, France, China and Japan screened during festival including some works by Alfred Hitchcock - “The Pleasure Garden”, “The Ring” and his masterpiece “The Lodger”. The first six days of the festival was held at Lido Theatre and the closing event on 13 August, the Hitchcock’s birthday, was shown “The Lodger” at Scala Theatre.
The screenings were accompanied by live piano performances by Maud Nelissen from the Netherlands and Mie Yanashita from Japan. At the close of the festival, The Lodger was accompanied by a live performance from a world-renowned Thai musician and conductor, Trisdee na Patalung, who played alongside with Somtow Sucharitkul, founder of the Bangkok Opera.
As part of the festival, Charles Barr, former professor of film studies at the University of East Anglia, delivered a public lecture “The Silent Hitchcock” to introduce to audience to Hitchcock’s silent films.