Film / News
Bristol-based South West Silents win prestigious award
South West Silents, the Bristol-based organisation that specialises in screening classics from the silent film era, triumphed in this year’s annual international poll conducted by Silent London. James Harrison and the team walked away with the Silent Film Hero 2022 award. The citation described this as “a well-earned victory for the team from Bristol. Year-round screenings across the region, local collaborations, a stellar programme at Cinema Rediscovered and now the launch of Film Noir UK. These guys are unstoppable!”
SWS’s regular venue, the Arnolfini, was also nominated in Best Silent Film Venue category
The South West Silents team: James Harrison, Rosie Taylor, Peter Walsh
“It’s definitely a great start to 2023 for South West Silents!” James told us “But it’s great for Bristol as well. Bristol has such a strong cinephile population and that is very much thanks to the likes of 20th Century Flicks, Bristol Bad Film Club, Bristol Ideas, Cinema Rediscovered film festival, Slapstick Festival, Forbidden Worlds Film Festival, Bristol Black Horror Club and Watershed; all of which we have continued to collaborate with over the past few years. And with Bristol as the home to the recently launched Film Noir UK (a spin off organisation within South West Silents) that variety of cinemagoing in the city is just going to get even better.”
Find out what all the fuss is about at SWS’s upcoming local events. First up is a Film Noir UK screening of the first and best adaptation of James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), with Lana Turner and John Garfield, at the Watershed on February 23. Go here for tickets.
After that, they’re back at the Arnolfini on March 17 for a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s debut as director/producer for United Artists, A Woman of Paris (1923) – a tragic love story that demonstrated that he was just as adept at serious drama as he was at comedy. Go here for tickets.
All images: South West Silents
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