08/28/2026
The fourth annual Kenworthy Silent Film Festival begins with a stirring, seldom seen masterpiece THE CROWD (1928), directed by King Vidor, in a stunning new 4k restoration from Blackhawk Films. KPAC is proud to engage composer Isabella Morrill in a commission for a new score to be performed live with the Washington-Symphony Orchestra, under the artistic direction of Danh Pham.
KPAC last collaborated with this creative team to produce Morrill’s new score for F.W. Murnau’s SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS that premiered in 2024. THE CROWD is a perfect companion piece to Murnau’s sweeping, poetic vision of modern life and the mythos of marital consecration. In the balance between archetypes and individuals, Vidor’s characters carry more weight as real people. They smoke, fiddle, and fidget like young urbanites you might actually know. Representative of a broad class of modern office workers, protagonist Joe Sims comes into focus with his own material ambitions, vanities, and foibles–paving the way for a new mode of realist drama later popularized by playwright Arthur Miller.
THE CROWD is the most important American-directed drama from the silent era, and its influence is everywhere–shot-for-shot tributes from Orson Welles (CITIZEN KANE), Billy Wilder (THE APARTMENT), and The Coen Brothers (THE HUDSUCKER PROXY). Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see it on the big screen with a new score that engages this legacy while welcoming a new, contemporary appraisal of Vidor’s vision of life in urban America.
Wednesday, September 2 at 7 PM
Rated: Not Rated | 1 hr 38 min | $20 Adult / $12 Student / $50 Festival Pass
