HippCast

Episode 15 celebrates an important June date in the Bo'ness calendar, the Bo'ness Fair. Visitors to HippFest will remember that the Bo'ness Fair Queen, who is crowned each year at the fair has joined us on several occasions at our HippFest Closing Night Gala to award prizes. The Bo'ness Children's Fair Festival, to give it its official name, was founded in 1897 and continues to...

In Episode 14, Digital Content Manager Christina Webber speaks to three first-time HippFest attendees about their experience at Scotland's first and only Festival of silent cinema and live music. Hear a collection of insights on this year's programme from Festival Supporter Pass Holder Uliana Ischenko-Iten, and our two Young Scot Reward Pass Holders Alanna Steel and Eve Jeffreys. All three...

It's the annual 'programme picks' episode - a listener favourite! - and with only one week to go , what better time to have another look over the line-up? We hear from Festival Director Alison Strauss who urges audiences to check out The Rugged Island: A Shetland Lyric (1933) either in-person or via live-stream , plus squeezes in every Frances Marion title under the guise of one: Just...

Today's episode is centred around the upcoming HippFest 2024 opening night on Wednesday 20th March, The Rugged Island: A Shetland Lyric . Directed by Jenny Gilbertson, nee Jenny Brown. HippFest is proud to present this extraordinary film with the world premiere of our new music commission created by award winning multi instrumentalist and composer from Fair Isle, Inge Thomson, collaborating wi...

In Episode 11 we mark one full calendar year since starting the show by tantalising you with a bit of background about some of our events from the 2024 Festival Programme, revealing both an illustrated talk and an exciting hands-on workshop that will both be part of our exciting line-up. So in the first revelation of 2024 ... (drum roll) ... we are delighted to welcome upcoming HippFest 2024 guest...

In today's episode we hear from Gregg McNeill of ⁠Darkbox Images⁠ , discussing the tangibility of analogue processes and why wet plate collodion (a Victorian photographic technology) endures to this day. Gregg lives and works in Larbert as a photographer and film-maker, employing both digital and analogue photographic processes to create beautiful and unique images. We are fortunate enough to...

In today's release we are delighted to share a conversation that took place earlier this month at the University of Edinburgh, hosted by Jane Sillars, Programme Director of the Masters in Film, Exhibition and Culture , along with Lizelle Bisschoff, who runs the Film Curation Masters at the University of Glasgow. The conversation featured the participation of Lisa Hoen, Director of the Tromsø I...

In today’s episode,  released in celebration of  Silent Movie Day , we share a fascinating conversation on the final title in the season  SALOME (1922) , between HippFest podcast-wrangler Christina Webber and members of archive activist film collective  Invisible Women : Rachel Pronger, Camilla Baier and Lauren Clarke. Invisible Women  are an international collective who seek out and champion the...

Episode 7 of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival Podcast is dedicated to our touring HippFest 2022 Commission Journey to the Isles: Marjory Kennedy-Fraser , which just last week travelled to Brittany to open Le Festival International du Film Insulaire du Groix, and which will travel again for another outing at the University of Glasgow Advanced Research Centre in November! The full performance off...

This month's episode is all about the legendary Harold Lloyd title SAFETY LAST (1923), screening as part of the upcoming Edinburgh International Film Festival in collaboration with HippFest, and featuring live accompaniment from Festival favourite Mike Nolan. Social Media Officer and Online Coordinator Christina Webber speaks to Tamara Van Strijthem (Executive Producer for the EIFF) about this...

This month's release re-visits a conversation from 2022 between Dodge Brothers Mark Kermode and Mike Hammond, plus honourary Dodge (and HippFest favourite) Neil Brand. Some of the topics covered throughout the conversation include the particular nature of silent film accompaniment, ways to approach working collaboratively (described here as 'mind meld'), as well as ways the audience ca...

May's episode 'All Faces are Masks' is an exploration of silent cinema's portrayal of visibly different characters led by Changing Faces campaigner Dr Chris Heppell and filmmaker David Cairns. Changing Faces is a charity dedicated to providing support and promoting respect for everyone with a visible difference, and the week of this release (15th - 19th May 2023) is Face Equality W...

In HippCast Episode 3 we hear from young voices on old cinema. Bringing fresh perspectives and new relevance to archive film is one of the many pleasures of programming a silent film festival, and involving new audiences and younger people in this wonderful world has been at the festival's heart since HippFest began. This episode features a short excerpt from the live Q&A which concluded o...

In Episode 2 of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival Podcast (HippCast for short) members of the team at Falkirk Council discuss their personal highlights from this year's programme, with a little bit of extra chat about the magic of silent cinema. Hear from Festival Director Alison Strauss; Online Coordinator, Social Media Officer and 'podcast operator' Christina Webber; Nell Cardozo, Development...

In Episode 1 of the HippFest Podcast (or HippCast for short), we are delighted to share with you a lively and fascinating talk by Donald Smith, originally presented in March 2022, ahead of our Festival Opening Night screening of The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots (1923) . 'The Loves of Mary' was a real highlight of the festival, the world premiere of a new restoration of an extremely rare film pres...

Greetings, silent film fans! We are delighted to release Episode 0 of our new podcast series, the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival Podcast - or HippCast for short. Intended as a brief audio primer, this preview episode is an opportunity to introduce online audiences to the unique HippFest experience.  To do so we have assembled a collection of voices, all sharing their impressions of the Festi...