About Us
The British Silent Cinema Festival is an annual event, jointly organised between Broadway Cinema in Nottingham and the British Film Institute (BFI). The purpose of the event is to promote interest in British cinema before 1930 of which the BFI National Archive holds an unrivalled collection but which is still relatively little known.
Somewhere between a festival, with public screenings and special events, and a conference which solicits and features illustrated presentations from academics, students and enthusiasts, the British Silent Cinema Festival offers an opportunity for all interested parties to view the films, to present new research and learn from other participants.
The primary purpose of the Festival is to get films off the shelves of the archives and onto the screen in order to represent them to modern audiences and to debunk some myths and assumptions about early British Cinema. It is to this end that we choose a broad theme each year to inspire contributors to focus on a particular question about British Silent Cinema. But its scope remains broad with sessions to appeal to anyone with an interest in social history, travel and transport, literature, theatre and popular entertainment in the first three decades of the Twentieth Century.
Now in its 10th year, the festival is the most important annual event in this field and is already exerting a significant influence on the teaching, appreciation and programming of British Silent Cinema. More or less everyone in this country with a special interest in British Silent Cinema attends (or has attended) the Festival, including representatives from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), many senior academics and students, a growing international contingent and influential silent film programmers not to mention increasing numbers of the general public.
The British Silent Cinema Festival fulfils a research and development function for the BFI. For the Archives curators the Festival is an ideal opportunity not only to get to know the films in the Collection but also to plan the further dissemination of individual films by seeing how they play with a modern audience. Thanks to excellent facilities provided by the Broadway Cinema, the films are shown in as near as possible their original form, to the highest possible technical standard, on 35mm film and with accompaniment from expert musicians all of whom are internationally acclaimed silent film pianists.
The British Silent Cinema Weekend is co-programmed by Laraine Porter, Director of Broadway and Bryony Dixon at the BFI With support from the Canada Council and EM Media.