The idea
Silents by the Sea is a new annual festival of silent film with live music taking place 8-9 June 2024. It will include 4 programmes of silent film with live music - from Charlie Chaplin, to the first dinosaur epic, The Lost World, and spectacular fantasies by Georges Meliés (including his most famous, A Trip to the Moon), and archive film from China - and Morecambe too.
We are creating two new musical groups which will bring people from around Morecambe & Lancaster together to make live film music. The People's Cinematic Orchestra will be an ensemble of amateur and pro musicians, working together to score silent films. And an improvising choir, open to all, whether or not you think you can sing, will use the human voice to create atmospheric sound for film.
We'll run taster sessions, workshops and rehearsals in the weeks leading up the festival to enable the widest possible range of people to get involved. If you like making music, no matter what level you're at, you can join in.
What we'll deliver
- An accessible, engaging weekend festival of live music & film, with events for all the family
- 10 workshops for local musicians and singers to develop skills and perform film scores
- Opportunities for volunteering and work experience for young people & adults interested in the arts
Why it's a great idea
Silents by the Sea will create opportunities for amateur & professional local musicians to develop skills and perform live film scores together. The festival will be accessible, with free tickets for all 18-and-unders, and lots of low-cost tickets for adults. We’ll show films which will entertain and engage all the family, and introduce audiences to the early history of film making. A series of free workshops for musicians and singers, amateur and professional, will run through May, enabling local talent to be fully involved in making music for the festival, from the opening night show to the final moments. Music brings people together and playing music can develop our confidence and improve our mental health - that’s why Silents by the Sea brings together both people who make music for pleasure and professional players. Silents by the Sea will also contribute to the revival of Morecambe Winter Gardens as a nationally significant centre of culture and entertainment.
Steps to get it done
- Full festival activity programme confirmed by early April 2024
- Community workshop activity begins second week of May 2024
- Festival weekend, 8th-9th June 2024
- Evaluation of 2024 festival complete by early July 2024
Northern Silents has been working with Morecambe Winter Gardens for two-and-a-half years now, and we are a Creative Partner of the restoration project. Throughout this time, local musicians and community groups have been at the centre of our work at Winter Gardens and with Silents by the Sea festival we want to turbo-charge all of this, and make something that will bring people from around the region to Morecambe this summer. From our sold-out Halloween Nosferatu with Morecambe’s Off the Rails jazz orchestra, to the Blade Runner/Metropolis show, and our hugely popular Laurel & Hardy, Buster Keaton, and Hitchcock events, Morecambe Winter Gardens is already getting noticed as the home of top-notch music and film work. Silents by the Sea will build on this success, and kickstart an annual festival which will grow year-on-year, as Morecambe Winter Gardens completes its restoration and becomes once again a leading home for art and entertainment, attracting people from all over the UK.
