Talking To: Slapstick Festival

Slapstick Festival is Bristol’s very own silent film and visual comedy festival. A cultural, not-for-profit company, Slapstick festival has been held across different venues in Bristol since its inception in 2005. The festival has grown and grown with many different events including famous guests and live music accompaniments for each screening.

Due to the pandemic the festival was held solely online, however it is back, live, with a bang this year. From 26th - 30th January, screenings are being held at Bristol Cathedral, St George’s and Watershed with a range of comedy guests including Lucy Porter, Paul McGann, David Mitchell, Sarah Phillips and Stephen Mangan. If that isn’t enough, there will be more events in March!

We were able to sit down with the organisers of the festival to discuss how they’re keeping everyone safe and how much hard work and effort goes into organising such a popular festival.

Hello! Could you tell us a little bit about the festival in general?

Slapstick is a team effort. The festival’s founder and director is Chris Daniels and he plays the biggest role in deciding on and organising the content but he’s backed up by a big posse of advisors and helpers, some of them very well known in the entertainment industry. The festival’s main focus is on celebrating silent and classic screen comedy usually with introductions from celebrity fans. Previous event hosts include Chris Addison, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Mel Giedroyc, Lee Mack, Dara O Brian, Tim Vine, and Victoria Wood. This year’s guests include Ronni Ancona, Barry Cryer, Richard Herring, Armando Iannucci, Robin Ince, David Mitchell, Sally Phillips and Lucy Porter.

The festival has been going since 2005! Was it difficult not being able to hold the event last year?

Oh but we did run a festival in 2021 – 28 events in all, slightly delayed (March 1 to 7 instead of January) and wholly online. It was hugely successful too and because it was easily accessible it attracted audiences from all over the world. Partly as a result of this, Slapstick Online will run alongside Slapstick 2022 – a package of 10 events live streaming. (See https://slapstick.org.uk/slapstick-live-online/ for more details).

How far in advance do you start preparing for the festival?

Planning of the next festival starts even before the current one takes place. For instance, it’s sometimes the case that a celebrity approached about participating can’t make the current date but commits to a future one. We keep a constant eye on news of film rediscoveries or restorations, too; lots of films from the silent era have been lost or damaged. So we might hear one year about an exciting new find but have to wait for one or two more for it to be made suitable for screening. We also think about anniversaries worth marking. Two of the most popular videos on our YouTube channel, for example, are our celebrations of 40 years of the BBC improv show I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue and the 50th anniversary of the launch on TV of The Goodies.

How much is dedicated to curating the programme of events? It must be such hard work trying to plan the programme of events across several weeks as well as several venues!

No-one looking for an easy life should ever get involved with running a festival! Deciding on the content is the fun bit and after 18 years of Slapstick we’re very familiar with all the suitable venues in Bristol. But as with every festival, there are funding applications to submit, sales and marketing plans to enact, equipment and operators to locate, insurance cover to negotiate, guest travel/accommodation to book, etc. The logistical elements the public never see are complex, time-consuming and costly. An added challenge for a film/TV-based festival like Slapstick is the need to find films/clips, clear the rights to show them and, in the case of silent films, book musicians able to accompany them live. It’s definitely worth it though; there’s not much which beats witnessing a happy audience laughing their socks off.

Was everything a lot more difficult this year due to the pandemic?

Yes, with the biggest stress being the need to commit upfront to some hefty costs and to beginning the publicity campaign while knowing there was the possibility of it all being wasted if the virus provoked new rules.

What changes have you had to make in order to make sure people feel safe?

We’re using three venues for the 20 events happening from January 26 to 30 (Bristol Cathedral, St George’s and Watershed), with a fourth (the Redgrave Theatre) booked for four more events on March 27. All of our venues are going above and beyond what’s required by the Government’s advice/rules to ensure audience comfort and safety. Our team will also be complying fully with everything the venues/rules ask.

Do you feel like there’s been a higher demand from the public for the festival to go ahead this year?

Slapstick is the first major festival of the year for Bristol and the signs are that people are eager to return to live entertainment. Some of our events are already fully booked and are confident we’ll be putting up a fair few more ‘Sold Out’ signs by the time the festival starts.

This year’s programme is jam-packed with some amazing screenings, guests and musical accompaniment – were you always hoping to make this year’s festival feel as normal as possible?

We’re conscious, of course, that these times are far from normal but, yes, we’ll be aiming to create the same happy, friendly, buzz for which Slapstick is famed and there’s no denying that we’re all in sore need of some cheer.

Many of your events are taking place at the iconic Bristol hub, Watershed, have you always had a good relationship with them?

We’ve been working with Watershed more or less since the festival began. It’s a fabulous venue; superb screening facilities and technical know-how and the whole team there, backroom and front of house, could not be more helpful or supportive. Great café-bar, too!

What can the ticket holders expect from this year’s festival?

It’s very much a something-for-everyone line-up whatever their favourite form of screen comedy.

Do you hope to hold the festival for the foreseeable future? Are they any changes implemented this year that you think you will keep for the following years?

We’ve made it to edition 18 and have no plans to give up - yet. In fact, we’ve already got more events planned for this year. On March 27, we’re putting on a family friendly screening of Paddington hosted by CBBC’s Andy Day, plus events featuring Tim Vine, Barry Cryer and Lee Mack at The Redgrave and will be making an announcement soon about an April event, too.

To see the 2021 schedule of events and for more information on tickets, visit www.slapstick.org.uk