A new generation tackles silent filmmaking with annual festival

By Anna Hughes

In a world where advanced technology defines modern filmmaking, one local festival is going back to the basics. The Student Silent Film Festival is an annual competition for Chicago-area high school students that puts their skills to the test with the ultimate challenge: telling a story without any dialogue.

The “silent film era” was a brief one in movie history. This storytelling medium started during the mid-1890s, before the introduction of synchronized sound. By the late 1920s, silent films were quickly replaced by “talkies,” which took the motion picture industry by storm.

“Once the audio came in, it was done,” Derek Berg, the festival’s music director, said. “It’s kind of like an art that was dying.”

“[They] are stars for the night.” 

— Derek Berg, Music Director, Student Silent Film Festival

When Berg and his colleagues, Ed Newmann and Bill Allan, started the film festival in 2017, they knew it would be focused on silent films. To them, this was an opportunity for students to think differently about storytelling and rely on visual creativity rather than what Berg calls the usual “crutch” of dialogue.

“It’s a challenge for a lot of students,” Berg said. “It’s not easy, especially when… you’ve got to tell your story in six minutes without audio. [It’s] an amazing exercise to do.”

Hinsdale resident Ed Newmann speaks at the annual Student Silent Film Festival

Each year, the film festival showcases roughly 13 films submitted by local schools. To give students structure — and to offer viewers a unifying thread — the festival typically sets parameters for each film. Some years, that means a theme; this year, the January 28 showcase at the Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove requires every short film to incorporate the same prop: a deck of cards. The use of a prop provides an additional challenge without limiting participants to the constraints of a single theme.

Berg considers these films to be a lens into the world in which the younger generation is living.

“You kind of get a window into the anxiety that they’re now living and some of the darkness,” Berg said. “And the good stuff too! I’m not saying it’s all negative, but really, when someone makes a film… it seems very tied into the relevant experience that they’re experiencing at this time in life.”

Berg has early access to the submissions to create loose scores for each based on the message and tone throughout. This honors the original silent film era, when films were almost always accompanied by live music.

“A lot of it is improvisational-based as far as the specific parts I play, but I have chord structures that I know are going to create a certain vibe that I follow, or I might have one theme that I create,” Berg said. “Then I have to put those all together for all 13 films, and then I perform them live during the film.”

Event founders Derek Berg, Bill Allan and Ed Newmann

To complement the contemporary style of the films, Berg doesn’t limit himself to just an organ or piano; he utilizes loops and sounds from his MacBook as well. Similarly, students are encouraged to use any technology available to them to create their movies. Although some students have access to high-end equipment at their schools, others simply record on their iPhones. The level of production isn’t considered by the judge — the content is.

“A lot of [the judges] are in the industry, and they’re used to good production. That’s not what they’re always looking at,” Berg said. “A lot of it is story-driven: Was the story framed out? And did it make sense? Did it create a sense of emotion? Were you getting impact? Were you getting this point across? “

Although a winner is named each year, the competition is not the sole focus — the experience is. The students are given a chance to see what a real-life film debut is like: red carpet, press, and all. Many festival alumni continue on to film school with dreams of chasing the same experience again.

“We’re kind of giving them a taste of what that looks like,” Berg said. “[They] are stars for the night.”

To learn more about the Student Silent Film Festival at the Tivoli Theatre on January 28, 2026, visit studentsilentfilmfestival.org.