Check out our video (above) with Tilda Swinton and Mark Cousins’ tribute to the masters of silent: Laurel & Hardy @ EIFF

Showing @ Bo’ness Hippodrome, Falkirk, 18-20 March,

The Bo’ness Hippodrome, Scotland’s oldest purpose built picturehouse is the perfect venue for the first Festival of Silent Cinema. Its beautiful interior restored to its sumptuous 1926 decorative scheme means that those sitting down to wallow in the wordless joy of these movies will be instantly transported back in time.

Packing into three days talks, exhibitions, workshops and of course films the festival seeks to illuminate the world of the silents for the uninitiated and to rekindle the love affair for those who’ve forgotten their charms.

Amongst the highlights are a talk by silent cinema pianist, and regular collaborator with Paul Merton, Neil Brand, a slapstick workshop by Scottish theatre company Plutôt la Vie a couple of fascinating dips into the Scottish Screen Archives and a documentary about the Hippodrome itself.

As for the films, the festival opens with a rare showing of the 1927 Clara Bow flapper drama IT. There are classics from the great clowns, Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel & Hardy and proceedings come to a dark and stormy end with F W Murnau’s shadowy spine chiller Nosferatu.

This is an opportunity to immerse yourself in a bygone age and have cinema work its magic in its most elemental way. For those coming to silent films for the first time this will be a voyage of discovery and for those who are familiar with these soundless gems the chance to view them in such a perfect environment should not be missed.