Slapstick Festival 2025

Slapstick Festival 2025

Bristol’s much-loved Slapstick Festival is back with a 20th anniversary edition, celebrating the best in silent and classic screen comedy from around the world and across the years.

Satirical comedy takes centre stage in this year's festival, with witty put-downs of tyrants, business and Soviet politics in the mix.

Stars on the screens include traditional Slapstick favourites, such as Buster Keaton and W.C. Fields plus a galaxy of more recent comedy players - Mel Brooks, Marty Feldman, Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Eddie Murphy and Wallace & Gromit - to name just a few.

As ever, a slate of special guests will be providing introductions - among them comedians Robin Ince and Lucy Porter, actor and Watershed regular Paul McGann, film historians Pamela Hutchinson, David Robinson and Peter Walsh and Aardman co-founder Peter Lord - and all of the silents will have live musical accompaniment.

To explore the full programme, visit Slapstick's website.


Upcoming screenings in this season

Cartoon Carnival

classified 18 (CTBA) Slapstick 2025
Cartoon Carnival
Wed 12 Feb 11:00
Film

Cartoon Carnival is a lovingly-researched documentary telling the story of the pioneering early days of animated film and of one film preservationist's quest to rescue pre-sound cartoons from obscurity and share them with new audiences.

Norrtullsligan (The Nuthill League)

classified 12A S Slapstick 2025
Norrtullsgatan (The Nuthill League)
Wed 12 Feb 13:15
Film

A comedy about four single girls with busy office jobs and love lives sharing a flat in a big city.

Running Wild

classified PG S Slapstick 2025
Running Wild
Wed 12 Feb 15:30
Film

Elmer (W.C. Fields) is regularly criticised by work colleagues and disrespected by clients until he’s hypnotised into believing he is a lion!

Silent Movie

classified PG S Slapstick 2025
Silent Movie
Thu 13 Feb 09:30, 09:45
Film

Silent Movie charts the attempts by Mel Brooks and the lost-too-young Marty Feldman to make a silent film.

Oh! What A Nurse! + Short
Thu 13 Feb 11:45
Film

Stand-up star Lucy Porter introduces two films linked by their takes on marriage, which are Le Torchon Brûle and Oh! What A Nurse!.

Keaton: Saphead

classified U S Slapstick 2025
Keaton: Saphead
Thu 13 Feb 13:45
Film

Keaton stars as a pampered son of a powerful Wall Street financier. Having known no other lifestyle but privilege, he wanders through a variety of misadventures.

Keaton: A Double Helping

classified U Slapstick 2025
Keaton: A Double Helping
Thu 13 Feb 15:30
Film

A double-bill screening Buster Keaton’s final silent The Railrodder, and John Spotton's award-winning documentary Buster Keaton Rides Again.

The Girl With A Hat Box

classified 12A S Slapstick 2025
The Girl With A Hat Box
Fri 14 Feb 09:30
Film

Anna Sten plays a hat maker caught in a love triangle and challenges involving a room rental scam and a winning lottery ticket.

The Opportunist

classified 12A S Slapstick 2025
The Opportunist
Fri 14 Feb 13:30
Film

A small-time black-marketeer loathe to shed his capitalist ways tries to work the chaos of the Bolshevik takeover to his advantage.

The House At Trubnaya Square

classified 12A S Slapstick 2025
The House At Trubnaya Square
Fri 14 Feb 15:30
Film

Recognised widely as a masterpiece of Soviet silent cinema, The House at Trubnaya Square is a delightful comedy of manners satirising contemporary life in Moscow during a time of ever-shifting, often contradictory, policies.

Smashing Melons! Robin Ince & Mark Miodownik

classified 18 (CTBA) Slapstick 2025
Smashing Melons! Robin Ince & Mark Miodownik
Fri 14 Feb 17:30
Film

In this event BBC Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage co-host teams up with one of the UK’s top materials scientists Mark Miodownik, and melons of various shapes and sizes, to explore why some come apart in funnier ways than others.

I was Born But

classified U S Slapstick 2025
I was Born, But
Sat 15 Feb 09:30
Film

I Was Born, But is director Yasujiro Ozu's film that looks at family life through the eyes of two young mischevious brothers, new to their Tokyo neighbourhood.

Slapstick Kids: Wallace & Gromit Double Bill

classified 18 (CTBA) Slapstick 2025
Slapstick Kids: Wallace & Gromit Double Bill with Peter Lord CBE
Sat 15 Feb 10:00
Film

Join us this half-term for double feature of Aardman Animation’s new feature film Vengeance Most Fowl and The Wrong Trousers, starring everyone’s favourite duo Wallace & Gromit.

Tootsie

classified 15 S Slapstick 2025
Tootsie
Sat 15 Feb 12:00
Film

Dustin Hoffman gives an Oscar®-nominated performance as an unsuccessful actor who poses as a woman to try for a part in a hit TV series.

Keaton: Go West

classified U S Slapstick 2025
Keaton: Go West
Sun 16 Feb 09:30
Film

Buster Keaton is both touching and very, very funny in this spoof cowboy film as Friendless, a hapless soul who decides to try his hand at cattle ranching after failing to find a big city job.

Slapstick Kids: The Haunted Mansion

classified PG Slapstick 2025
Slapstick Kids: The Haunted Mansion
Sun 16 Feb 10:00, 10:15
Film

Eddie Murphy plays the lead in this comedy send-up of every horror film ever.

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