HippFest 2025 – formerly known as the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival – has announced its programme for their 15th edition before it commences on March 19, 2025.
The event will last five days (March 19-23), celebrating over 100 years of filmmaking with a lineup of silent films with accompanying live music from cinematographers across the globe, along with other activities ranging from guided tours to workshops and more.
Festival Director Alison Straus looks forward to Hippfest’s landmark year, saying: “The team and I are thrilled to be sharing this superlative line-up of silent films presented with unrivalled live music accompaniment. And we want everyone to know that the fun doesn’t end with great films … There are many more immersive treats on offer including excursions, quizzes, guided tours, an exhibition, workshops, talks, an online programme, and of course a party!”
The festival opens with two feature films that focuses on Scandinavia and exploring two different sides of the region. Before the Face of the Sea (1926), this eerie drama casts a sinister spell on audiences with fully-fledged folk horror, while beautiful archipelago locations of Finland dazzle in the background. With Reindeer and Sled in Inka Länta’s Winterland (1926), being the earliest feature-length documentation of the Sámi (indigenous people of Sweden).
Forgotten Faces (1928), a tour de force final act will close the festival on Sunday, March 23 – following the thrilling events of Harry, a master criminal, that finds out the truth of his treacherous wife and must act fast to protect his baby daughter from her. Stephen Horne and Frank Bockius underscore the drama on piano, accordion, flute and percussion.
As a performer from the very first Hippodrome Silent Film Festival in 2011, Neil Brand reflects on 15 years of the festival and his career as a silent cinema music maestro with Neil Brand: Key Notes. Highlighting the great filmmakers of the silent era and the accompanists who make the experience of watching silent films worth it.
A pioneering move of the HippFest includes presenting its star-studded feature film with optional Audio Description available to visually impaired audiences via headphones, alongside a suite of pre-screening aids such as braille compatible script and film primer during the HippFest’s Friday Night Gala.
HippFest will be premiering What the Water Remembers – The Dark Mirror (2025) on Saturday, 22 March, a brand new moving image and live music commission inspired by the Union Canal and Falkirk Tunnel and created in partnership with Flatpack Festival, Birmingham.
Tickets are on sale now for the full programme, as well as the HippFest Festival and Weekend Pass. Events available at the Hippodrome in Bo’ness and online.
Feature image: Mary Pickford, The Pride of the Clan (1917). Credit: the Mary Pickford Foundation
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