Firstly, welcome to our new home for South West Silents. This brand new website marks the fifth birthday of SWS’ mission to celebrate the films of the silent era. Over the course of the next few weeks/months this website will be expanded even more with more content and features. But don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the latest news from the world of silent cinema as well.
Usually at this point of the year we would be halfway through our autumn/winter schedule but due to the continuing restrictions involving Covid-19 it is only now that we are able to return to some sort of formality. Alas, for now, certain aspects of South West Silents’ output will have to wait; our regular free Club Screenings will not be returning for quite some time. Let’s hope 2021 changes all of that.
Many have also asked if we were/are planning to produce any sort of streaming service over the coming few months. The short answer to this question is no. There are many reasons why but the main reason is that there is a fantastic amount of silent film streaming services already taking place thanks to the important work by Ben Model and Steve Massa’s ‘Silent Comedy Watch Party’, Kennington Bioscope’s ‘KBTV Livestream’, Hippodrome Festival Film Festival, Slapstick Festival and Le Giornate Del Cinema Muto’s ‘Silent Stream’. After being glued to these wonderful online events for the past few months we just knew we couldn’t add anything to the wonderful variety of films they have been able to showcase. So do join them (and us) whenever they are online.
Our bigger live events will return in the shape of a small selection of screenings which will run through November and into early December 2020 and after the holiday season from late January until April 2021. We are also working alongside all of our venues to make sure that all of screenings are safe for our audiences and while we most certainly welcome you all back, please be aware, that our screenings will have limited availability. Of course, all of this comes as local lockdown restrictions continue to change so do bare with us.
So, our main aim for the rest of 2020 and early 2021 is not online but back in actual cinemas. This is not only to support our audiences, the archives we source the films from but also those all-important musicians that we hire for each screening. Finally, cinema is also having a tough time at the moment and we want to support the many venues that have supported us over the past five years. We hope you can join us. For now then; enjoy our new home for South West Silents and we hope to see you at the cinema.
“Long Live Silent Film! Long Live Cinema!”
