Brussels: Cinémathèque Royale, 1993.

The Royal Film Archive has launched an editorial project which is unique in its kind: Les Cahiers du muet, a periodical designed as a guide for viewing and studying the silent films preserved in the archive's premises.

The first novelty of the project is its layout. Instead of a book or album format, Les Cahiers du muet are presented in the form of a stylish filing card box, holding a series of cards, each one normally devoted to a single film. The purpose of such choice is twofold. First, the "cards" are meant to be used as documentation materials for the screenings being held in the Musée du cinéma, and are therefore conceived with the purpose of being distributed as program leaflets for the audience. On the other hand, the "cards", taken as a whole, have a more durable purpose of gradually building an ideal encyclopaedia of silent cinema, an unprecedented dictionary of films to be used as a reference source, as a tool for research, as well as a resource for enlarging the knowledge and appreciation of a crucial period in film history.

For this reason, priority is being given to notable films hailed as models of filmmaking during the first thirty years of cinema, yet not known by the public at large. A third, implicit aim of the Cahiers du muet, thus, is to invite the filmgoer to the challenge and the excitement of discovery. Too often we are used to think that the art of silent cinema is made of a handful of "classics", surrounded by a world-wide reputation yet seen as isolated examples of a largely unknown territory. With the Cahiers du muet, you are likely to discover that such territory is virtually limitless, even more fascinating than we are used to think. Besides the acknowledged masters like Griffith, Eisenstein, Fritz Lang, John Ford and Murnau (whom the Cahiers are not going to ignore), there are great artists whose reputation is firmly established among specialists, and still awaits to be expanded to the non-specialists: Léonce Perret, Sydney Franklin, Benjamin Christensen, Teinosuke Kinugasa, and many, many others.

An international team of scholars from all over the world participates to this enterprise. The first group of 30 "cards" of Les Cahiers du muet (published in French and Dutch versions), complete with their "filing cards" box, is available at BF 850 at the Royal Film Archive and the Musée du cinéma. The second issue of "cards" will be released in 1994.

La Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique a lancé un projet d'édition unique dans son genre: "Les cahiers du muet".

Il s'agit d'un périodique conçu comme un guide destiné à l'étude des films muets conservés dans les archives de la CRB.

La première nouveauté réside dans la conception graphique de "Cahiers...". Ceux-ci se présentent sous forme de boxes-fichiers dont chaque fiche sera consacrée à un film au fur et à mesure de son visionnement et de son étude. Progressivement, ces fiches deviendront un instrument précieux aussi bien pour l'information des textes (distribués lors des séances ou publiés dans les programmes, etc.) que pour la recherche (élaboration par petites étapes d'une encyclopédie du cinéma muet). Une équipe internationale de chercheurs participe à cette entreprise.

Le premier box des "Cahiers du muet" (contenant des fiches en français et en néerlandais) est disponible au prix de FB 850.- à la Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique et au Musée du cinéma. La seconde série paraîtra au courant de l'année 1994.

Bruselas: Los cuadernos del cine mudo

La Cinemateca Real de Bélgica ha iniciado un proyecto de edición único en su género: "Los cuadernos de cine mudo".

Se trata de una publicación periódica concebida como una guía para el estudio de los filmes silentes conservados en sus archivos.

La principal novedad reside en su diseño gráfico. Los Cuadernos se presentan bajo la forma de cajas-ficheros de la que cada ficha corresponde a una película. Progresivamente, estas fichas irán constituyendo una valiosa herramienta tanto para la información del público (textos distribuidos durante las funciones, etc.) como para la de los investigadores (elaboración por etapas de una enciclopedia del cine mudo). Un equipo internacional de investigadores participa a esta labor.

El primer grupo de fichas de "Les cahiers du muet" está disponible (en francés y en neerlandés) a un precio de FB 850.- en la CRB y en el Museo del cine. La segunda serie aparecerá durante este año.