Slapstick 2019

Season

Please note : this season finished in Jan 2019

Celebrating its 15th year, Bristol’s annual Slapstick Festival offers a chance to see some truly essential comedies from cinema’s silent era selected from archives across the world with world class musical accompaniments.

Taking place at Watershed and other Bristol venues you can view the full programme at slapstick.org.uk


Previous screenings & events in this season

Forgotten Heroes of Slapstick Comedy

classified 12A Slapstick 2019
Lost Heroes of Comedy
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

Forgotten comedy stars from the silent days of Hollywood to the comedy club boom come under the spotlight in this affectionate tribute by comedy historian Robert Ross.

Chaplin's The Kid: The Inside Story
Please note: This event took place in Jan 2019
Event

Families and kids are invited to join film historian and Chaplin biographer David Robinson as he introduces the man with a funny walk, Charlie Chaplin, in this fun afternoon of chat and films, specially designed for under 12s. Delight as you discover why, a century on, Chaplin is still funny to audiences both old and young alike.

Early Slapstick Animation

classified PG Slapstick 2019
Early Mickey
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

In this event Merlin Crossingham, creative director on Wallace and Gromit and animation director on Aardman’s feature film Early Man will present some unusual gems from the early, magical days of animation – featuring a cast of cats, rabbits, and of course one very famous mouse.

Lost and Found

classified 12A Slapstick 2019
Lost and Found
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

Join film collector Anthony Saffrey and film historian David Robinson for this selection of rare and unseen silent comedy gems.

Stan

classified 12A Slapstick 2019
Stan
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

To accompany the release of Stan & Ollie, a new biopic on the world's greatest comedy duo, we’re revisiting the celebrated 2006 BBC drama about the pair from silent film maestro and writer Neil Brand.

Neil Brand Presents Buster Keaton
Please note: This event took place in Jan 2019
Talk

Peter Krämer, the author of the BFI Film Classics volume on Buster Keaton’s The General, makes a welcome return to Slapstick Festival to discuss one of Buster’s most accomplished works - Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Honest Hutch

classified 12A Slapstick 2019
Honest Hutch (1920)
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

One of the most popular figures in the United States of the 1930s, Will Rogers stars as a lazy good for nothing patriarch of his long-suffering family in this rare silent comedy western.

Sydney, the Other Chaplin

classified 12A Slapstick 2019
Sydney, the Other Chaplin (2017)
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

Would Charlie Chaplin have ever reached his heights of success if it weren't for his big brother, Sydney? An improbable character inhabiting the shadows with a fiction-like destiny, Sydney’s chequered life and role behind the scenes of the most recognised comic character in the world, is explored in this new documentary.

Happiness

classified 12A Slapstick 2019
Happiness (1934)
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

In this Russian comedy-drama a hapless loser (with the surname of Loser) undergoes a series of misadventures with avaricious clergy, a tired horse, and a stolen granary (among other things) on his road toward collectivised happiness.

Les Deux Timides

classified 12A Slapstick 2019
Les Deux Timides (1928)
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

This bold comedy of shy lovers is René Clair’s silent masterpiece, folding the avant-garde and the comic into a delightful, expertly judged tale of provincial romance and misapprehension.

Robin Ince: I'm a Joke And So Are You (Part 2)
Please note: This event took place in Jan 2019
Talk

A celebration of comedy and its ability to connect people via foolishness and silly voices, join Robin as he attempts to examine the human condition through the prism of humour.

On the Trail of Cunégonde
Please note: This event took place in Jan 2019
Talk

Discover this extraordinary story about a mysterious woman who was internationally acclaimed in her time for her role in a string of comedies featuring a main character called Cunégonde, but then lost for more than a century.

Mary Pickford: Little Annie Rooney

classified 12A Slapstick 2019
Mary Pickford: Little Annie Roonie
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

Academy Award winner Mary Pickford plays a tomboy of the tenements facing a crisis of the heart when the boy she loves is accused of shooting her policeman father in this classic comedy drama.

Rediscovering Alice Howell
Please note: This event took place in Jan 2019
Talk

Join standup comedian and writer Lucy Porter as she introduces a selection of the funniest, newly restored, comedy shorts as she champions the rarely seen, yet prolific, comedy performer - Alice Howell

For Heaven's Sake! Slapstick at the Cathedral
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

Join us for an evening of unadulterated cinematic joy. Sit back in the grandeur of Bristol Cathedral and enjoy three classic silent comedies on the big screen accompanied by live music.

Holy Smoke! Religion & Comedy

classified U Slapstick 2019
Holy Smoke! Religion & Comedy
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

Following a screening of Chaplin’s The Pilgrim (1923) comedians Robin Ince and Lucy Porter and The Rev. Emma Langley, Vicar of Westbury Park will join Andrew Kelly, Director of Bristol Festival of Ideas to explore whether ‘being funny’ is justification for mocking religion, or if there are some things comedy should not touch.

Keaton: Battling Butler

classified U Slapstick 2019
Keaton:Battling Butler
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

Buster Keaton found rich possibilities for physical comedy in this tale of a wealthy milquetoast who is forced, through a series of outlandish coincidences and misunderstandings, to train as a boxer.

Chaplin: A King In New York

classified U Slapstick 2019
Chaplin: A King In New York
Please note: This was screened in Jan 2019
Film

We’re opening the 15th edition of the Slapstick Festival with… a talkie! Charlie Chaplin’s take on 1950s America, A King in New York stars Chaplin as a peaceable king who runs afoul of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

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