Notes From Afar: Giornate Online 2026

Co-Director James Harrison gives an overview of his three favourite films from this year's Le Giornate Del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy via the festival's online edition.

Yikes! For the first time in a very long time, I have found myself unable to make my regular trip to the Northern part of Italy. To a town called Pordenone and a film festival called Le Giornate Del Cinema Muto. A festival which I have been very lucky enough to attend since 2005.

However, thankfully, this year’s Giornate was a first for me as I turned my attentions to the online edition of the Giornate for a change. An edition which gives you but a taste of what the actual in person festival has to offer. Not surprisingly I regretted my decision not to go to this year’s Giornate straight away when I sat down and logged into the available films. But alas, my actual paying job kept me away for this one.

So, what were my highlights? Well. Here are the top three from my online edition. I will be heading back to Pordenone in person for 2027, but if you can't make the festival in person, I highly recommend signing up for the online version at least. It is very much worth it.

Barcelona en Tranvía (1909)

As many of you will know, having read my past reports from Pordenone, I’m a bit of a fan of non-fiction titles from the silent era. Even more so when it comes to phantom rides and the festival had a whole host of great phantom ride films programmed (thanks to Dr Lawrence Napper). Alas, I only got to see a few out of the many scheduled into the actual, in person festival. But what was screened on the online version was wonderful. But one film stood out, Barcelona en Tranvía (1909) a title which is clearly translated as Barcelona by Tram. You might have guessed what to expect with such a title then.

Simplicity is usually the best and you couldn’t get simpler than this film. Just like your standard phantom ride films; the filmmakers, brothers Ramón de Baños Martínez and Ricardo de Baños Martínez stuck a camera onto the front of a tram and filmed the streets, the crowds and the traffic of Barcelona as the tram wheeled itself around.

On looking crowds waved, cheered, pointed and even one mooning as the tram made its slow journey through the bright sunlit streets. Boys wave, men doff their hats while well-dressed girls and women laugh and wave at the camera as the tram passes; all smiling. And if people weren’t on foot, then they were on bicycles following the tram along, trying not to get jammed on the tram rails on the ground. It’s a wonderful piece of cinema. And one which I most certainly will try and programme for future screenings.

L’arzigogolo (1924)

It’s always fun to find something totally bonkers during the Giornate. The 2025 edition had the totally bizarre Soviet historical drama Krylya Kholopa (Wings of Serf/ 1926) and 2026 had the Italian ‘super production’ L’arzigogolo (The Whim/ 1924).

Directed by Mario Almirante (1890-1964) L’arzigogolo tells the story of Monna Violante, played by powerhouse Italian diva Italia Almirante Manzini (1890-1941), and her endless problem of marrying the right kind of man in this medieval drama; I think it was supposed to be a drama anyway.

Festival director Jay Weissberg warned viewers that there was a scene with loads of rats and what a scene full of rats it was. Rats crawling all over the tables, over everyone’s plates and food, crawling on people’s heads, clothes, crawling on everything. Amazing. Jay also explained that one particular actor in the scene had to take a week off to recover from filming the scene with his fellow four-legged colleagues. I can’t say I couldn’t blame him.

But the standout quality of this film was the sheer fun of it all as well as the lavish costumes and production design. It is a film that really does shine. Sometimes people seem to dismiss Italian cinema during the silent era, stating that many of the films can be almost forgetful; but on this occasion, you won’t be forgetting it in a hurry.

The Films of Sidney Drew

If there was the equivalent of Larry David within the silent era then comedian Sidney Drew (1863-1919) could well be a good candidate. There is plenty going on here, mainly Drew’s own personal take of the world and the society that he has found himself in. In fact, Drew’s character is so negative towards anything within his filmic world his onscreen persona could well be one of the earliest depictions of the grumpy old man comic character. A character which is very much of the same ilk as W. C. Fields, The Muppets’ Statler and Waldorf, Jack Nicholson’s Melvin Udall in As Good as It Gets (1997) and (for us Brits) One Foot in the Grave’s (1990-2000) Victor Meldrew played impeccably by Richard Wilson. But while Meldrew has his heart felt moments, Drew’s 1910s own take is almost pure hatred for anyone and everything around him.

Sidney Drew’s humour might not be everyone’s cup of tea. He isn’t a physical comedian like Chaplin, Lloyd or Keaton or any other character I can think of at the time when writing this, but he is a character which has to battle with every aspect of modern life in the early part of the 20^th Century.

Within two of the titles (out of the four which were online and eight if you were at Pordenone in person) both highlighted Drew’s hatred for children and the essence of chaos which they bring with them. A Case of Eugenics (1915), where Drew’s persona tries to clearly go out of the way of getting rid of the child that his on-screen wife (played by Drew’s own wife Lucille McVey) has decided to bring into the house. Given the affection that his wife takes for the child, Drew takes the matter into his own hands by turning an infant himself to seek her attention back.

Sidney Drew then takes on the subject children up a notch in Boobley’s Baby (1915). The short sees Drew, after observing the fact that you can get an actual seat on the overly crowded trams by carrying a baby around, buy himself a doll, wraps it in a blanket and take advantage of his new fatherly status; with disastrous consequences. It is a pure comical situation which could be replicated easily enough within the world of Seinfeld or even Curb Your Enthusiasm. Interesting.