In 2012, City of Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick proclaimed October in Ithaca as Silent Movie Month, a month-long celebration of silent film and Ithaca’s role in early movie making history produced by Wharton Studio Museum in collaboration with many local organizations. Join WSM each October for screenings, exhibits, and events at Cornell Cinema, Cinemapolis, and many other local venues.
SILENT MOVIE MONTH 2025
Our 14th year of this month-long celebration of silent film -- local and otherwise. Off the Rails is this year's SMM theme and we're focused on transportation -- planes, trains and automobiles -- in early 20th century films, and also how movies transport us! Very glad to be once again partnering with Cinemapolis and Cornell Cinema on Silent Movie Month.
Saturday, October 4 | 4pm
Snow White (1916) as seen by Walt Disney as a teenager in Kansas City and inspired by Disney's 1937 animated version of the film. Live score composed and performed by harpist Leslie McMichael and her sister Barbara McMichael on viola.
Carriage House Theater, Cayuga Museum of History & Art
203 Genesee St, Auburn, NY
Tickets & details at cayugamuseum.org
Children 12 & under are free
Wednesday, October 8 | 6:30pm
The General (1926) featuring Buster Keaton.
Cinemapolis
120 E. Green St. in downtown Ithaca
Tickets at cinemapolis.org
Friday, October 10 | 6pm
The Flying Scotsman (1929) featuring daring stunts and Ray Milland in his first lead role; with episode 13 of the American adventure serial The Hazards of Helen (1915).
Cornell Cinema
104 Willard Straight Theater on Cornell University's campus
Tickets & details at cinema.cornell.edu
Saturday, October 18 | 5:30pm
Speedy (1928) and the short film Now or Never (1921) starring the inimitable Harold Lloyd.
Cornell Cinema
104 Willard Straight Theater on Cornell University's campus
Tickets & details at cinema.cornell.edu
Thursday, October 23 | 6pm
Dawson City: Frozen Time (1911) the critically-acclaimed 2016 Canadian documentary about the discovery in 1978 of 533 nitrate reels of lost silent films buried under an old hockey rink in the Yukon.
Cinemapolis
120 E. Green St. in downtown Ithaca
Tickets at cinemapolis.org
Friday, October 24 | 7pm
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) with live score by The Invincible Czars proudly presented by Cornell Cinema.
Sage Chapel on Cornell University's Campus
Tickets & details at cinema.cornell.edu
Sunday, October 26 | 2:30pm
The Gold Rush starring Charlie Chaplin with a screening of a newly-restored version of the film. A family-friendly matinee.
Cinemapolis
120 E. Green St. in downtown Ithaca
Tickets at cinemapolis.org
October 1-31 | Wednesday-Saturday 10am-6pm
Wharton Studio Museum's multimedia installation Off the Rails w/ The Wharton Brothers celebrates automobiles, aeroplanes, trolleys, and more in the Wharton, Inc. Studio's films and serials.
Tompkins Center for History and Culture
110 N. Tioga St. on the Commons in downtown Ithaca
FREE EVENT
