BY KAREN BOSSICK
Check out a treasure trove of once-forgotten silent films when the Sun Valley Center for the Arts shows “Dawson City: Frozen Time.”
The 2016 documentary about a Canadian gold-rush town with a hidden cache of forgotten silent films will be shown at 4:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday, March 21, at the Magic Lantern Cinemas in Ketchum.
Director Bill Morrison uses clips from hundreds of highly combustible nitrate silent-movie reels unearthed in the Yukon River outpost of Dawson City in 1978, as well as archival photos and on-screen text to present a ghostly history lesson about Canada’s gold rush and Dawson City.
The footage tells of the fires that burned the town to the ground, the indigenous populations that were pushed aside by settlers and the Hollywood and business luminaries who once lived there.
Even Donald Trump’s grandfather once lived there, beginning his fortune with a brothel.
The film allows us to see back to the Klondike Gold Rush that transformed the coastal Pacific Northwest and also left a deep mark on interior Canada and its indigenous people,” said Kristine Bretall, The Center’s director of performing arts.
Tickets are $10 for Center members and $12 for nonmembers, available at www.sunvalleycenter.org or by calling 208-726-9491.