Silent Gems

Gems of the Silent Screen with Paul Shallcross on the piano. One of the highlights of last year’s Festival was the screening of two Buster Keaton films with live piano accompaniment by Paul Shallcross. This year Paul, who composes his own scores for the films, will be returning with a fascinating programme of short films from the early days of silent cinema.

As well as showing familiar faces such as Laurel & Hardy in Big Business, (the most polished of their silents) and Buster Keaton in One Week (the film that catapulted him to international fame), we will also screen some less well-known gems (What It Feels Like To Be Run Over, Grandma’s Looking Glass, Mary Jane’s Mishap) that give an idea of the staple fare in British ‘picture houses’ one hundred years ago. Of particular interest are the films of the first Welsh filmmaker, William Haggar, who showed his films at fairgrounds throughout Wales. Perhaps more than any other surviving films, A Desperate Poaching Affray, The Life of Charles Peace and The Bather’s Revenge, recreate the excitement and wonder of the early travelling cinemas. The evening’s programme will also include Ghosts Before Breakfast, a surrealist vision of floating hats, manic legs, and disintegrating images, that was inspired by Magritte and which will be accompanied by a selection from Eric Satie’s piano works.

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