Artistic Director Jonny Best introduces Northern Silent Film Festival
Welcome to the first Northern Silent Film Festival, a celebration of live-scored film taking place around the North of England through October. There are twenty events in thirteen different places, and online, from rarely-seen films to well-known classics - and all with live musical accompaniment.
All the films were made in the 1910s and 1920s, before recorded sound could be synchronised with film - the ‘silent era’. During this period, live music was usually added locally, so it would vary from cinema to cinema.
Northern Silent Film Festival reimagines the silent era for today’s audiences, animating films from a century ago with new music. Most of the music you’ll hear at the festival is improvised; it’s created on the spur of the moment, as the musicians watch the film with the audience. Every show is unique and unrepeatable - this is live music at its most excitingly live!
So what’s coming up in the first week of Northern Silent Film Festival?
It all begins in Morecambe, at the beautiful seafront Winter Gardens, with three events on Sunday October 1st. A trio of Buster Keaton short films begins the day, and we’re thrilled to welcome celebrated harmonica and accordion player, Will Pound, who’ll join me in accompanying Buster in all of his antics.
The day continues with a charming British comedy, Would You Believe It, a hit in 1929 and hardly ever screened. Dastardly foreign spies pursue a madcap inventor for his latest creation - a radio-controlled tank. This is great entertainment with some thrilling comedy sequences and an unforgettable finale - live piano and percussion will bring it all alive. We’re working with Projected Picture Trust to screen a 35mm print from the British Film Institute archive.
Fifty years before Bob Fosse’s Broadway musical, Chicago, was the silent film version, created by legendary producer and director Cecil B. DeMille in 1927. Thought lost for many years, a print was found in DeMille’s private archive not that long ago and we’re thrilled to bring it to you with a 1920s-style live score played by a four-piece band. Come and enjoy a slice of 1920s wickedness in the wonderful surroundings of the Winter Gardens.
A few days later, we land in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, for more comedy, with Buster Keaton and the greatest double act of all time, Laurel & Hardy. This one’s already sold out, but if you’re within reach of Cumbria, come and join us on October 6th for an evening of Laurel & Hardy comedies at Brewery Arts in Kendal, with live music by jazz pianist Adam Fairhall and myself. We’ll be scoring three super films, including Do Detectives Think, in which Laurel & Hardy play inept policemen, and The Finishing Touch, which sees them try to build a house. Of course, it all ends in disaster - beautifully choreographed, hilarious disaster. Laurel & Hardy is perfect for all ages - so bring the family!
That’s week one of Northern Silent Film Festival - you can find out all about the whole festival on this website and I hope to see you at an event soon. There’s nothing quite like the experience of these beautiful old films with brand new music - if you’ve not tried it before, NSFF is the perfect way to dip your toes in.