A charming highlight of the festival, NOT-SO-SILENT MOVIES returns as the feature that brings out the inner child in us all, with a healthy dose of slapstick comedy, fantastical moviemaking and plenty of noise to boot!
Neil Brand, one of the world’s leading silent film accompanists, is here joined by percussionist Jeff Davenport to weave together an exploration of the origin of silent films, and their relationship with live music accompaniment. Brand builds a sense of wonder in an audience largely composed of children, regarding the magic of basic cinema techniques such as stop motion and the stop trick. Cynics have at times ruled the children of 2014 out as lost causes to the joy of silent films, too caught up by mindless 3D movies and the latest playstation game. It seems, however, that they would be proven wrong in this case. There’s something special in seeing so many children delighting in these imaginative films from a century ago – a true testament to the effort taken and the skill employed in these early films.
Over the course of about an hour and a half we are taken through the work of Charlie Bowers, Williamson’s An Interesting Story, Hepworth’s The Dog Outwits the Kidnappers, through to Méliès’ Le Voyage a Travers L‘Impossible and ending up at Charlie Chase’s What Price Goofy. It’s a whirlwind of different styles of filmmaking, all accompanied by live music and the guiding voice of Brand.
all about engaging your inner child and being amused and bewildered by pure cinematic magic.
Brand occasionally provides a touch of explanation during the films, encouraging the audience to hiss at the villains and cheer on the heroes. All of these fun interruptions are nice. Yet his contributions are at their most useful in-between the films taking the time to explain the processes involved in creating film and special effects seen on screen. Never condescending, all go away having actually learnt something, as well as having been entertained. Seeing these films on the big screen, hearing the live music and being reminded just how innovative silent cinema was – and in some ways still is – is pure education.
In its own way, the opening of the event is the most special of all. The ‘School of Slapstick’ gives the children who take part the chance to see their own work up on the big screen. And if that wasn’t thrilling enough, their work is complimented by the live performance of the highly accomplished musicians! It’s perfect stunt to pull for these films, all about engaging your inner child and being amused and bewildered by pure cinematic magic. It’s heart-warming to see the children being as excited by experiencing their work at the cinema, as they were the works of Méliès and Charlie Chase. This event comes highly recommend for next year!