Festival Preview: Hippodrome Festival of Silent Cinema

We look ahead to Scotland’s largest celebration of silent cinema

Preview by News Team | 12 Feb 2014

The fourth annual Hippodrome Festival of Silent Cinema takes place in Scotland's oldest purpose-built cinema – the Hippodrome in Falkirk – this March. This year, the festival, affectionately nicknamed Hippfest, offers up screenings of several rare and cult classic films from the silent era and beyond. Highlights of the programme include a screening of Yasujirô Ozu’s gangster movie Dragnet Girl, which gets an all-new soundtrack, and Oscar-winner Kevin Brownlow's new documentary about the legendary 'man of a thousand faces', Lon Chaney. Plus there's the return of The Dodge Brothers, a skiffle and rockabilly band led by film critic Mark Kermode, who will soundtrack the Louise Brooks film Beggars of Life.

As well as gala screenings with unique live soundtracks, the festival offers workshops, including New Found Sound, which sees local schools collaborating on an improvised score with composer Thomas Butler. In Home Front Picture Houses: Cinema And The Great War, Prof. John Caughie (University of Glasgow), María Vélez (University of Glasgow) and Dr. Mike Hammond (University of Southampton, lead guitar for the Dodge Brothers) examine the legacy of picture houses like the Hippodrome, and the role they played in the Great War. 

Other films by greats of the silent era being screened this year include works by Buster Keaton and F.W. Murnau, and a Laurel and Hardy triple bill.

The festival runs 12–16 March – visit Hippfest’s site to find out times, prices, and full listings.

http://www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org/venues/hippodrome/silent-cinema