New silent film with live brass band score to premiere in Morecambe  

A new silent film – accompanied by a live brass band – premieres in Morecambe next month.

Yorkshire Silent Film Festival will present the world premiere of Echoes of the North; Four Chapters in Time at Morecambe’s historic Winter Gardens theatre on 6^th November. This new silent film with an original brass score will transport audiences back to Northern England a century ago.  

Echoes of the North has been created in partnership with Yorkshire Film Archive, North West Film Archive, North East Film Archive, and London’s Archive Film Agency, and edited by Andy Burns. Made from more than a hundred fragments of archive film, it will take audiences down the highways and byways of northern life in the early 20^th century - its industries and rural life, its wartimes and festivals, its holidays, family excursions and huge, city-wide occasions. 

The film will be accompanied by a new score – the first ever all-brass soundtrack for a silent film – composed by acclaimed composer and musician Neil Brand. Brand brings his unique touch with silent film to the project, breathing new life into the rare and evocative images with his brass soundtrack. It will be performed live by one of the world’s finest brass bands, West Yorkshire’s Brighouse and Rastrick Band, winners of the 2022 British Open Brass Band Championship, with orchestral conductor Ben Palmer. 

(Above: Neil Brand)

Neil Brand said: “If ever a marriage of two art forms was long overdue, it is this coming together of silent film and brass band music. The wonderful, resonant images of people going about their lives, work, play and conflict in the first 30 years of the last century spring to life with the timeless beauty of the brass band sound, music that evolves and matches every contrasting mood for us today, just as it could have done when these scenes were shot. I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to create scores for these images, and to work with one of the greatest bands in the world. This will be a very special event, the first of its kind!”   

Tickets are on sale now at www.ysff.co.uk. 

The fifth edition of Yorkshire Silent Film Festival takes place from 14th October 2022 to 6th November 2022 in ten venues across the North. Yorkshire Silent Film Festival is supported with National Lottery funding from Arts Council England, and Film Hub North on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network. 

Echoes of the North is commissioned by No Dots with support from PRS Foundation’s Open Fund for Organisations, and Arts Council England. The premiere is supported by BFI Film Audience Network with National Lottery funding as part of the CURIOUS engagement fund. It is presented in Morecambe in association with More Music.