When Daniel Whitworth was an Indiana University Jacobs School of Music student in 2020, he was presented with IU Cinema’s annual Jon Vickers Film Scoring Award as a commission to score “Phil-for-Short.” The 1919 proto-screwball comedy is about a feisty, cross-dressing woman who hopes to win the heart of a stuffy professor.

Performed by Jacobs students, Whitworth’s work enjoyed its world premiere at IU Cinema in February 2022 and was recorded by Jacobs for inclusion in “Cinema’s First Nasty Women,” a newly released DVD/Blu-ray box set from Kino Lorber that has been deemed “a mind-expanding endeavor and a triumph of scholarship” by The New York Times.

Featuring rarely seen silent films about feminist protest, anarchic destruction and suggestive gender play, “Cinema’s First Nasty Women” spans a range of genres, including genteel farce, cowboy melodrama, adventure thriller and slapstick comedy, as illustrated by “Phil-for-Short.”

Only recently discovered and restored by the Library of Congress, the film had no soundtrack before being selected by IU Cinema.

“It was definitely a huge challenge coming into a project like this with no silent-film scoring experience,” Whitworth told IU Cinema’s podcast last year, “but it was really rewarding exploring this entirely new medium.”

An award-winning composer and saxophonist, Whitworth holds a Master of Music in scoring for visual media from Jacobs and a Bachelor of Music from Lawrence University. His latest work includes a commission from the Seattle Opera and scores for the acclaimed documentary “Eat Your Catfish” (2022) and two shorts funded by Film Independent, “The Mason Ring” (2022) and “Alma y Paz” (2022).

To order “Cinema’s First Nasty Women,” visit Kino Lorber’s website. For a full list of credits of the musicians and audio team for Phil-for-Short, see the box set’s digital booklet. The Jon Vickers Scoring Award is a partnership between IU Cinema and the Jacobs School of Music.