Hippfest – Scotland’s ever-popular silent film festival centred around the historic Hippodrome cinema in Bo’Ness – has announced its 2025 programme, with a stellar line-up of silent films, many presented with live musical accompaniment, plus talks, workshops, behind-the-scenes tours of the cinema, an exhibition, and plentiful online material.
The festival is celebrating its milestone fifteenth edition this year and is featuring films from across the globe, from Europe and Scandinavia, through Asia and across to the US.
Premiering this year is a new moving-image and live music commission inspired by the Union Canal and Falkirk Tunnel, in a partnership project linking the industrial canal heritage of Falkirk with Birmingham, England.
This year’s Platform Reels presentation on the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway platform is an outdoor screening of I Want to Be a Train Driver, from the Uzbek SSR.
And once again comedy greats Laurel & Hardy and Buster Keaton, among others, will grace the Hippodrome’s screen, with original musical accompaniment – speaking of which, literally, will be silent-cinema music maestro Neil Brand, who has been spearheading the musical aspect of the festival since its inception. He will be speaking about his work composing and performing, in a special talk event.
A fascinating delve into cinematic archives results in a new event spotlighting the work of Flora Kerrigan – Rediscovering a Film Pioneer is a chance to discover the darkly comedic and idiosyncratic world of the 1960s Irish animator, with live accompaniment to her unique animations.
Launched in 2011, the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival, aka HippFest, has become a key annual event in the cultural and cinematic calendar, drawing audiences from across Scotland: it is a project of Falkirk Council and is supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI. The award-winning Hippodrome Cinema in Bo’ness is a stunning pre-art deco picture palace dating back to 1912, reopened in 2009 following major restoration.
