NEWS RELEASE: MoMA Silent Films Returns with The Navigator

PEORIA, Ill., July 26, 2024 – The Museum of Modern Art in New York chose the Peoria Riverfront Museum as its first-ever partner in screening a select series of silent films from its collection, Silent Films from MoMA, presented by Sid and Flo Banwart. Each digitally restored film features live musical accompaniment at the largest Film Society screen in the nation, the Giant Screen Theater.

Silent Films from MoMA continues on Saturday, August 3, at 6:30 p.m. with the screening of The Navigator, a 1924 comedy starring Buster Keaton and accompanied by pianist Dr. Joshua Russell.

To Save and Project presents the world premiere at the Peoria Riverfront Museum of Buster Keaton and Donald Crisp’s The Navigator (1924) in a new 4K digital restoration by MoMA and Lobster Films. Derived from the world’s oldest and best surviving 35mm print, which curator Iris Barry acquired for MoMA’s collection in the 1940s, and from continuity scripts used to recreate the film’s original tinting, The Navigator will be experienced anew by passionate Keaton devotées and newcomers alike. In a series of surreal, graceful, hilarious – and risky – gags unmatched in the history of cinema, rich and pampered nitwit Buster Keaton finds himself lost at sea with his would-be bride Kathryn McGuire, parrying with feisty swordfish, bloodthirsty cannibals, and the mother of all machine props: a vast deserted ocean liner.

In May, the Peoria Riverfront Museum premiered the film Stella Dallas (1925), accompanied by the Peoria Symphony Orchestra. It was the first time the film was shown in the United States with a new orchestral score featuring a live symphony orchestra. It also marked the first time MoMA partnered with another museum to present its silent film collection on this scale.

“We are honored that MoMA has chosen the Peoria Riverfront Museum to launch this first-of-its-kind MoMA silent film series, curating five of the most iconic early films from its archives to share here in the Midwest,” said John Morris, president and CEO of Peoria Riverfront Museum.

The Silent Films from MoMA screening of The Navigator, accompanied by pianist Dr. Joshua Russell, takes place on Saturday, August 3, at 6:30 p.m. in the Giant Screen Theater. The series continues with The Marriage Circle (1924) on Saturday, September 7, 2024, at 6:30 p.m.; The Cat and the Canary (1927) on Saturday, October 5, 2024, at 6:30 p.m.; and The Adventurer (1917) on Saturday, August 3, 2024, at 6:30 p.m.

This film program is organized by Dave Kehr, Curator of Film, Sean Egan, Senior Producer, Film Exhibitions and Projects, MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Silent Films from MoMA is presented by Sid and Flo Banwart with additional support from Film Society and Illinois Arts Council.

A full list of films in the MoMA Silent Film series is available at peoriariverfrontGST.org.