Welcome to the Official Website of the Norman Studios Silent Film Museum. You may previously have seen our original site at www.NormanStudios.org. That site remains as a tribute site created and maintained by Old Arlington, Inc., a preservationist organization that helped NSSFM get its start. This site is created and maintained by NSSFM and contains information on all official business of NSSFM.
Norman Studios has been invited to screenThe Flying Ace
at the
Details coming soon
NORMAN STUDIOS, STAGE AURORA GET "THE SILENT TREATMENT"
Richard & Oscar: Filmmaking in Black and White, a new stage play produced by Jacksonville's Stage Aurora Theatrical Co. in collaboration with the Norman Studios will take the stage in July during Stage Aurora's Annual Jacksonville Black Arts Festival.
Check back for more details soon.
Richard & Oscar: Filming in Black and White
Also coming soon...
Produced by film students at the
Art Institute of Jacksonville.
Learn more about
BRIEF HISTORY OF NORMAN STUDIOS
A century ago, America's eyes were on Northeast Florida, dubbed the "Winter Film Capital of the World." Before its fateful move west, the motion picture industry chose the Jacksonville, Fla. area as its first "on-location" filming site. A year-round mild climate and varied shooting locales, from beaches to buildings, farms to jungles - everything but mountains - could be found nearby.
For two decades, America's top film professionals, including some of the nation's first African-American performers, called the Jacksonville area home. From a five-building studio complex near the banks of the St. Johns River, Richard Norman broke the industry's color barrier creating films that showcased top black actors in positive, nonstereotypical roles.
By the late 1920s, filmmakers moved westward to California where they found all that Northeast Florida had to offer - plus mountains. Today, Richard Norman's studio complex still stands - the only remaining full silent film-era complex in the nation. And it's preparing for a Hollywood-esque comeback at a silent film musem, community center and birthplace for a whole new generation of filmmakers.
Top Image: The Flying Ace poster, copyright Separate Cinema
Bottom Image: Artist's rendering of future plans for the Norman Studios, copyright Kenneth Smith Architects, Inc. and the City of Jacksonville.
