Slapstick Festival 2025
Wed 12 - Sun 16 Feb
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 2025Cartoon 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 2025A 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 2025Elmer (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 2025Silent Movie charts the attempts by Mel Brooks and the lost-too-young Marty Feldman to make a silent film.
Oh! What A Nurse and Le Torchon Brûle ou Une Querelle de Ménage
classified 12A Slapstick 2025Stand-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 2025Keaton 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 2025A 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 2025Anna 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 2025A 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 2025Recognised 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 2025In 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 2025I 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 2025Join 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.
Keaton: Go West
classified U S Slapstick 2025Buster 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 2025Eddie Murphy plays the lead in this comedy send-up of every horror film ever.