With a full house for Buster Keaton, and perfect weather all weekend, this year’s Forest Row Festival was one of the best.

Hot on the heels of our award for film programming, it was especially gratifying to see such high audience reaction scores for all three films over the weekend. Friday’s screening, the very moving Monsieur Lazhar, got a very decent 92.2, and then the documentary Way of the Morris came close behind with 89.4. However, nothing could out-do the silent comedy shorts which had a truly unbelievable score of 99.5.

Buster Keaton shorts @ #frfest – such fun!” @storyfest_uk

The silent comedies have proved to be a very popular fixture of our festival programming ever since the first festival in 2006, but they do seem to get better and better. Having live music makes them particularly special, and we are lucky to have such masters of the art as Terry Davies (piano) and Anna Cooper (violin/viola) to play for us. Films have been screened in the village hall since the 1920s, so it is also a lovely reminder of the long tradition we continue. We knew it would be popular and even got out some of the old blue chairs to try and get the 180 capacity audience in. Everyone started arriving rather early, including a couple of dogs, and regretfully we had to turn a few people away.

silent funnies unanimously declared a hoot … Such fun” @tattlemouse

Sunday afternoon was very different and a bit quieter for the screening of Way of the Morris. Nevertheless, we had a lovely crowd, and were particularly delighted that Shalesbrook Morris came to dance out before and after the film. A few of Ashdown Forest Morris Men were also there, and both sides took the opportunity to advertise and drum up support for new members. The film was particularly inspiring, so I hope that is fruitful. Do check out their respective websites and the morris men are also on Twitter.

With extra entertainment around the film, we had an opportunity to capture it on video, which has prompted us to create a Forest Row Film Society YouTube channel, which can also link to trailers of films we’ll be showing. Here, then, is Way of the Forest Row Morris, a very short film giving a flavour of Sunday’s event:

So, a very special weekend, with some special films, and very special events. Do let us know what you thought of them, and how else you and we can make our film events even more special. Thank you.