1928's The
Constant Nymph - one of the film's under discussion at this
year's festival
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Silent movie
enthusiasts for across Britain and the rest of the world are set
to head to Nottingham this weekend.
The Broadway Media centre is hosting a festival of talks and screenings
of films from the silent era.
Called ‘Scene
Stealing: Investigating British Silent Cinema and its Sources’,
the event runs from 4-8th April 2002.
The festival
aims to promote the appreciation of British Cinema before 1930,
and investigates the origins of film-making in this country.
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Ivor Novello
in The Man Without Desire from 1922 |
It puts Nottingham
in a prestigious position in the film world, being one of only a
handful of film festivals of its kind around the world; there are
two other silent cinema celebrations in Bologna and Sacile, Italy.
Over the 5 days
there'll be screenings, illustrated talks, discussions and social
events.
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A scene
from Anthony Asquith's Underground, filmed in 1928 |
Amongst the
varied programme on offer will be tempting rare screenings of features
such as The Ghost Train and Tom Brown’s Schooldays, along with live
musical accompaniment from acclaimed international pianists including
Neil Brand and Phil Carli.
Highlights
of the programme include a special ‘Dickens Day’ exploring silent
Dickens films, led by Canadian author and professor Graham Petrie,
and presentations by Michael Eaton.
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Asquith's
Underground in production |
Laraine Porter,
Director of Broadway, says: "The festival was set up 5 years ago
to redress the lack of research that has been undertaken in this
country into British film pre-1930 and our collaboration with the
National Film and TV archive has brought to light material that
has lain dormant for 60 years!
It’s a rich
resource that has been explored by scholars in the United States
and Europe but far less here in its country of origin."
See full details
of screenings and talks during the .
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