Event Details

The Marie Dressler Museum is located in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, inside the heritage house in which Marie Dressler was born in1868. Marie Dressler was an enormous silent film star in Hollywood during the 1920’s. To cover the house's restoration costs after a major fire, a huge fundraising campaign was launched and the house was restored, becoming the Chamber of Commerce Office in the early 1990's. As of 2016, the Dressler house is now home to the Marie Dressler Museum. The MDM has reimagined the house's previous Marie Dressler memorabilia display and has installed a brand-new permanent museum exhibit: From Cobourg To Hollywood: The Story of Marie Dressler. The permanent exhibit occupies one half of the house, while the town of Cobourg Visitor Information Office occupies the remaining half. The Museum launched a Vintage Film Festival in 1992 which is hosted at Port Hope's Historic Capitol Theatre, a Canadian heritage site recognized as one of the few remaining purpose-built atmospheric movie theatres in Canada.

This application is for the “2021 Vintage Film Festival”, taking place September 24 to 26, 2021 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope. The program consists of 12 feature length films over three days centered around the theme “Based on a True Story”. Two silent features will include live on-site piano accompaniment. Festival programming will include:

1. (September 24, 2021) Opening night screening and Gala Reception, which is followed by two additional film screenings;

2. (September 25, 2021) Screenings of a collection of six movies that range from silent films starring Mary Pickford, Erich von Stroheim or Douglas Fairbanks, to talkies and musicals; and

3. (September 26, 2021) Screenings of three movies including “Lawrence of Arabia” and will be followed by a seminar led by a noted film critic / historian focusing (speaker tbd).