Jérôme Seydoux Pathé Foundation Screens 30 Silent Films Ahead of Summer

The Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, a Paris-based cultural institution specializing in film preservation, will launch a 30-film retrospective this summer exploring the symbolic and poetic dimensions of water in silent cinema. The program, announced June 17, marks the foundation’s first thematic series dedicated to a single artistic motif, according to a statement from the organization.

The retrospective will showcase works from the 1910s through the 1930s, including rare prints of films by directors such as Jean Epstein, Marcel L’Herbier, and Abel Gance, whose visual treatments of water—whether as a metaphor, a setting, or a force of nature—defined early avant-garde cinema. Curators emphasize the selection’s focus on technical innovation, such as the use of glass-painting effects to depict underwater scenes, a technique pioneered by Pathé Frères in the 1920s.

“Water has always been a silent cinema’s most potent symbol, embodying both beauty and destruction,” said Claire Dazins, the foundation’s programming director. “This series allows us to rediscover how filmmakers used it to explore emotions and landscapes long before sound dominated the medium.”

The program runs from July 15 through September 15, with screenings held at the foundation’s historic Parisian venue, the Pathé Gaumont cinema. Tickets will be priced at €12 for general admission, with discounts available for students and members of partner institutions. The foundation has partnered with the Cinémathèque Française and the BFI National Archive to restore several prints, including Finis Terrae (1930), Epstein’s meditation on coastal erosion, and Napoléon (1927), Gance’s epic where water symbolizes both the empire’s rise and fall.

While the retrospective aligns with broader trends in silent-film revival—such as the 2023 Silent London season at the BFI—it distinguishes itself by centering on a single, recurring motif. “Most retrospectives focus on directors or decades,” noted film historian Mark Webber of the University of Edinburgh. “Here, the thematic approach lets us see how water functioned as a shared language across national cinemas.”

The foundation has also announced plans to publish a companion volume in French and English, featuring essays by scholars such as André Gaudreault and Paolo Cherchi Usai. Early sales figures for similar Pathé publications suggest demand: the 2021 Pathé’s Lost Treasures catalog sold out within six weeks.

Screenings will include live piano accompaniment by the foundation’s resident musician, Pierre-Yves Bisson. The program’s scheduling avoids direct competition with major summer blockbusters, targeting cinephiles and film students during slower commercial periods.

The retrospective follows the foundation’s 2025 acquisition of 12 previously lost Pathé shorts, including Le Fleuve (1925), a lost work by Louis Delluc. That purchase, funded by a €500,000 grant from the French Ministry of Culture, expanded the foundation’s holdings by 15%, according to its 2025 annual report.

Why is this retrospective significant for film preservation?
The series underscores the foundation’s dual role as both an archive and a public platform. Unlike commercial distributors, which often prioritize commercially viable titles, the Pathé foundation restores films based on artistic merit—even when they lack broad contemporary appeal. For example, La Glace à trois faces (1927), a short by Germaine Dulac included in the series, was long thought lost until rediscovered in a Belgian private collection in 2020.

How does the water theme compare to other silent-film retrospectives?
Most thematic retrospectives focus on genres (e.g., horror, comedy) or movements (e.g., German Expressionism). The Pathé series is rare in its singular focus on a natural element as both a visual and narrative device. A 2022 survey of 47 silent-film programs at major archives found only three with a unified thematic core; two were dedicated to cities (Berlin, Paris), while the third explored “the machine age.”

What challenges does the foundation face in restoring these films?
Curators cite three key hurdles: nitrate decay in older prints, the fragility of glass-painted effects (which require custom handling), and the lack of surviving musical scores for many titles. The foundation’s 2024 report noted that 60% of its restoration budget goes toward stabilizing prints rather than digitization. For the water-themed series, an additional €80,000 has been allocated to address water-damage patterns unique to films stored in damp European climates.

What happens next?
The foundation will host a symposium on July 14, featuring screenings of restored underwater sequences alongside lectures by marine biologist Jacques Rougerie on the ecological symbolism in early cinema. A digital archive of the series, including behind-the-scenes restoration footage, will be released in October. The foundation has also confirmed talks with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to explore a potential 2027 U.S. tour of select prints.

Key figures and dates

• Program duration: July 15–September 15, 2026
• Number of films: 30 (including 8 world premieres of restored prints)
• Ticket prices: €12 (general), €8 (students/members)
• Restoration partners: Cinémathèque Française, BFI National Archive
• Budget for water-damage repairs: €80,000 (additional to 2026’s €2.1M restoration fund)
• Companion book release: October 2026 (French/English)

How to attend
Screenings will be held at the Pathé Gaumont cinema, 1 Rue de la Gaîté, Paris. Advance booking is required; tickets are available via the foundation’s website or at participating cultural centers. The foundation has reserved 20% of seats for first-time visitors to silent-film programs.

Sources

• Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé press release (June 17, 2026)
• 2025 annual report (Ministry of Culture filing, March 2026)
• Interview with Claire Dazins (June 16, 2026)
• Silent Cinema journal (2023 study on thematic retrospectives)
• BFI National Archive restoration logs (2024)
• University of Edinburgh film history department (Mark Webber, June 2026)