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| Nell Shipman in The Grub Stake |
Pioneering director and stunt performer Nell Shipman is to be celebrated at this year's Hippfest, it was announced today. The festival will open with a rare chance to see her 1023 film The Grub Stake, which was never released due to its distributor's financial problems. Set in the Idaho wilderness, it's an action adventure starring the director herself alongside n extensive animal cast.
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| Bo'ness Hippodrome, one of the oldest cinemas in Scotland. Photo: Richard West, licensed under Creative Commons |
"“Nell Shipman is a deeply inspirational figure not only in the history of women’s liberation, but in the history of cinema generally," said festival director Alison Strauss, citing the success of her 1919 film Back To God's Country, which broke Canadian box office records. "Despite the promise of a glittering starlet career, Shipman turned down a seven year contract from Sam Goldwyn because she didn’t like the way his leading ladies were done up with blonde ringlets and powdered lips, preferring the rugged outfits that allowed her to hurl herself into rivers and cross mountains to rescue her leading man."
The screening will be accompanied by a new score composed for the occasion by Hippfest regular Jane Gardner. Tickets are now available but the full festival programme will remain under wraps until 7 February.
Hippfest is Scotland's only silent film festival and enjoyed a bumper year in 2016, when it sold over 2,000 tickets.
