Norma Desmond wasn't the only one who felt that movies lost their magic when they learned to talk. Milt Thomas is a like-minded filmmaker who is convinced that movies haven't been the same since Al Jolson opened his big mouth in The Jazz Singer. “Silent films provide more subjectivity to the viewer to interpret the movie,” Thomas said in a recent interview, “as opposed to a dialogue-driven sound film. There's a depth of richness there that I rarely feel when going to a movie today."

But for Thomas, just mourning the passing of the old movies wasn't enough. He wanted to prove that silent film techniques could still be used to create relevant works that move an audience and tell a powerful story without uttering a single word. He succeeds on all counts with Claire, his magical new silent featurette, which promises to be one of the highlights of this year's Festival.

Not that it was easy to pull off an authentic recreation of silent-style filmmaking in our digital age. To do it, Thomas tracked down a vintage 1920s hand-cranked 35mm camera identical to the one used by Mary Pickford's cameraman. Then he carefully crafted his lighting, costumes, sets and camera angles to match those used in the silent days. He also picked an evocative story (based on a Japanese fairy tale) that perfectly complements his lyrical approach.

As Claire begins, two elderly gay farmers (James Ferguson as Walt and Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence charter member Sister Missionary P. Delight as Joshua) discover a mysterious moon princess (Toniet Gallego) in their corncrib. The delighted men take her into their hearts to love as the child they had always longed for. But eventually the moon calls her home, in one of the film's most stunning scenes.

For Thomas, whose lover was struggling with AIDS as he shot the film, Claire is about the diversity of family and coping with loss, and centers around the theme of how certain individuals are gifts with whom we are blessed to have the privilege of sharing our lives. Now we are all blessed to have the privilege of sharing his wonderful new "old" film in a special presentation at the Herbst Theatre, where it will be screened with live orchestral accompaniment written and conducted by San Francisco Conservatory of Music graduate Anne Richardson.