September 11 – 15 2019

Phoenix Cinema, Leicester

The 20th British Silent Film Festival will again take place at the Phoenix Cinema here in Leicester from 11-15 September. This year’s festival will celebrate the centenary of the birth of the Weimar Republic – specifically German Expressionist cinema and its global influence between 1919 and 1932, particularly on British film.

We are fortunate here in Leicester to have the foremost collection of Expressionist art outside Germany, held at the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, which where we’ll also be screening films to draw links between film and the other arts.  See the website for more details of the exhibition.

Other highlights include Neil Brand presenting Laurel and Hardy, a programme of Victorian short films restored to their former breath-taking glory, early horror films like The Phantom of the Moulin Rouge, an early Anthony Asquith gem, The Runaway Princess, the stunning Battle for the Matterhorn (Der Kampf ums Matterhorn), based on the true story of Edward Whymper’s first ascent of the Matterhorn and Tell Me Tonight, a 1932 British musical comedy, which was co-production between Gainsborough Pictures and the German firm Cine-Allianz. We will also be screening the German comedy The Oyster Princess  (Die Austernprinzessin), directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

Further details of films and the full programme will be posted later.

Festival tickets, day and full passes will shortly be available from Phoenix Cinema:  0116 2422800