Broncho Billy & Friends Silent Film Festival
Celebrating our Film History
Named for our western hero, this three day event all started when silent film historian David Kiehn came to Niles in 1995 to find out information to develop a screenplay on the western division of the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company. What he found astonished him, the location seemed mostly unchanged from its near century old roots - the buildings on Main Street (now Niles Blvd) still had their "bones". One could picture cowboys on horseback riding through the picturesque canyon alongside a steam train rumbling along the tracks. This festival is an opportunity to watch real films flickering on the silver screen with live piano accompaniment just like it happened in the Nickelodeon days in the very place where those movies were made and played a century ago.