For the past four years, the Colorado Springs-based Independent Film Society of Colorado (IFSOC) has been creating space for new art to take shape at its October horror film festival.

While the roster of movies is largely filled with well-known classics and lesser-known treasures, one film each year comes together on the spot: a silent movie scored live with new compositions by a local artist.

Watch this story in the video player below: Pianist brings silent film 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' to life with live score at Colorado Springs festival

This year, that film was "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," the 1923 classic, performed at Ivywild.

So, what does it take to score a silent movie from scratch?

"Well, it takes a certain amount of insanity. It takes a lot of familiarity with a lot of different music," said Mark Arnest, a lifelong composer and musician. "It helps that I have a background in jazz, so I'm used to playing off the top of my head and making stuff up."

Arnest's connection to composing and performing music runs deep. One of his earliest memories is crawling onto a piano bench and plunking out tunes.

Over the past few years, his partnership with IFSOC has produced live scores for multiple horror classics.

"We did 'Nosferatu,' the year before that, 'Cabinet of Doctor Caligari,' and then our first year together was, of course, the Lon Chaney classic 'Phantom of the Opera,'" commented Ralph Gioradno, executive director for IFSOC.

For this year's performance, Arnest composed everything he needed for the movie over the course of two weeks, but that preparation only covers a fraction of what audiences actually hear.

"I'm going to go in with about 30 themes that are going to be on several sheets of paper, but those 30 themes, if you play them from beginning to end, are going to last 2 minutes well, 3 minutes," Arnest said.

That means more than 80% of the work the variations and alterations happens the day of the performance.

"You're composing at the speed of the film. There's a kind of spontaneity to it that you can't get any other way," Arnest said.

For Giordano, that spontaneity is part of what draws audiences in.

"This is something brand new for this old classic film, and I think more people come to this particular event because of Mark," Giordano said.

The film society is always aiming to encourage people to watch movies and experience the art of film as a collective.

"You know, anything where there's 100 of you sitting in a room, or even 50, and sometimes 10, that'll do it," Arnest said.

For this musician, that shared experience carries a deeper meaning.

"We are the universe experiencing itself, and when a bunch of us are experiencing the same part of it at one time, it's a great thing," stated Arnest.

IFSOC is currently in talks with different venues around Colorado Springs, working to develop new and separate opportunities to share silent classics scored live.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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Manitou Springs celebrated the 32nd anniversary of the Emma Crawford Coffin Races on Saturday, drawing out thousands of spectators to watch dozens of costumed teams race homemade coffins through downtown.

Event organizers place the official start of the event in 1995; since then, the annual monster mash has drawn thousands to town near the end of October to celebrate the legend of Emma Crawford (along with the Halloween season) with costumes, fanfare, a parade and coffin races.

News5 reporter Jon McMichael has the story in the video below:

Spooky season rolls into Manitou with annual coffin races

The story surrounding Emma Crawford has it that she came to Manitou Springs in the late 1800s in search of a cure for her tuberculosis; she did not find what she was searching for, eventually succumbed to the illness, and (following her wishes) was buried atop Red Mountain.

In 1929, after years of harsh winters and spring rains, Emma and her coffin came racing down the mountainside. The young children who happened upon her remains found only the casket handles, a nameplate, and a few bones.

Now, and for more than three decades, the town remembers her final journey down the mountain via annual coffin races down Manitou Avenue; teams of coffin races construct their own macabre conveyances and task four "pallbearers" to push the coffin, while one "Emma" rides within.

This year, the event saw more than 50 teams compete.

For additional information regarding this unique event, click here.

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The Palmer Lake Art Group, a community dedicated to fostering artistic connection in northern El Paso County, hosted a silent auction this past Saturday to raise additional funding for its long-running scholarship program aimed at supporting graduating high school seniors who plan to pursue art.

Since the 1970s, the group has awarded scholarships to high school seniors in District 38 who have demonstrated a commitment to art and plan to continue their studies. The program has awarded more than $90,000 total, typically distributing two or three scholarships each year.

"Just this last year, we had two students who were awarded those scholarships, one at Lewis Palmer High School and one at Palmer Ridge," said Kathleen Seelye of the Palmer Lake Art Group.

Learn More in the Video Player Below

"We believe that the investment into these young students is so important in helping them see an opportunity for art in their career," Seelye said.

This year, the group added a silent auction to its typical funding efforts, with members donating art and art supplies to benefit the program. The goal is to grow the auction format year over year and eventually open it to the public.

"We'd really like to be able to grow beyond the three to five thousand dollars a year that we give in our programs, and this is one of those vehicles that we think we could do that with," Seelye said.

Former scholarship recipient Micaela Cimino said the award helped launch her career. Now, more than two decades later, she owns a gallery and frame shop in Monument.

"I used that money to go to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, [a] very good art school, which was super fun and amazing, and it kind of got me my start to a whole world and lifetime now of doing art for a living, which has been great," Cimino said.

Cimino said the scholarship also gave her an early opportunity to share her work with the public.

"That was the first time that I got to showcase my work to the public, and you have this confidence boost because you did win," Cimino said.

Today, she gives back to the same program that helped her get started.

"Yeah, you just pay it forward, but they're the best. I think that what they're doing is really important for kids and for the future of artists, and just giving them representation and confidence and a little financial support," Cimino commented.

More information about the scholarship program and the Palmer Lake Art Group is available here.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.