DeKalb | Eric Ayotte and The Gadabout Film Fest may leave attendees speechless during a Thursday screening.

The 9 p.m. program contains performances by local folk and punk bands, Ayotte and a 45-minute film fest that features movies with sound but not dialogue. The event will be hosted at The House Cafe, 263 E. Lincoln Highway.

“… I worry that it’s a deterrent,” Ayotte said. “But at the same time, there’s no lack of energy, and they’re not silent. There’s plenty of music and grunting and weird noises to be made.”

The three-month fest is two and a half weeks into its European tour and a week and a half into its U.S. tour.

“We’re going to over 15 countries so we can put this program in front of anybody and hopefully it would communicate all the same thing no matter who sees it,” Ayotte said.

Danny Collins, Don’t Panic, It’s a Distro owner, said he admires the independent work Ayotte does for the festival. Collins helped plan the event.

“What stands out to me the most was that Eric books it all himself, writes and records his own music,” Collins said. Ayotte said he enjoys the diversity he sees on his tour.

His favorite part of the film festival is “mostly getting it to different audiences.”

“The reaction afterwards is pretty consistent in that people really enjoy it, and it’s something different especially because we’re bringing it into a mostly non-film setting,” he said

The RPM’s guitarist Dave Anians said he’s looking forward to performing and attending the festival.

“Eric Ayotte is a really awesome artist and performer,” Anians said. “I’ve seen him on a couple different occasions in different places, so it’s really cool to have him in DeKalb. And I’ve heard really good things about the film festival, as well. It is a different show, but I think it’s going to be really cool.”