Supporting the return of live score screenings through the Film Exhibition Fund
Published:
15 Jun 2021
Early cinema, classic film and live scores return to Yorkshire in 2021.
Yorkshire Silent Film Festival is back, once again bringing audiences the unique experience of silent film and live scores in historic venues across the North of England from June 2021.
The festival marks its return to live events with a screening of Fritz Lang’s seminal silent era sci-fi, Metropolis on 17 June in partnership with Harrogate Film Society and Harrogate Theatre. Accompaniment comes from the Frame Ensemble who will perform in the suitably modernist surrounds of Harrogate’s Odeon, which first opened its doors in 1936. Support for Yorkshire Silent Film Festival’s return to live performances comes from National Lottery funding through Film Hub North’s Film Exhibition Fund.
On 20 June, the festival sets up home in Sheffield’s venerable Abbeydale Picture House - originally opened in December 1920! - for a day of screenings belatedly celebrating the venue’s centenary.
The centenary film selections cover an appropriately expansive period of film history, with work from as early as 1897 featuring in The Brilliant Biograph: Earliest Moving Images of Europe. Rounding out the programme are two Hollywood legends - one making an appearance in an early role and another showcased in a classic of the silent era. The Woman Men Yearn For sees Marlene Dietrich make her first starring role, one year before her breakthrough in The Blue Angel; while The General was almost a career-ender for Buster Keaton before its re-evaluation as one of the comedian's greatest work.
And the festival returns to Abbeydale Picture House on 18 July. The July all-dayer boasts a line-up featuring local noisemakers In the Nursery performing a soundtrack to Man With a Movie Camera; an eclectic selection of new short films in the Soundstripes programme; and an adventure double bill which sees the return of Buster Keaton in The High Sign and introduces Yorkshire audiences to the high-flying, unforgettable Filibus: The Mysterious Air Pirate.
Yorkshire Silent Film Festival is supported by National Lottery funding through our Film Exhibition Fund. For more information on how we can help your next project, contact our team or visit our Exhibition Funding landing page.
