Film Festival of Joy: Joy of Laughter

The second evening of the Film Festival of Joy features four silent comedies with live music performed by one of the nation’s leading silent film accompanists, Ben Model. Model will improvise on keyboard while four short features are screened — The Scarecrow, High and Dizzy, Horse Shy, and Pass the Gravy.

For nearly 40 years, Model has created and performed several hundred live scores for silent films on piano and theatre organ. A resident film accompanist at the Museum of Modern Art (NY) and at the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus Theatre, Model was the first to take the silent film experience online during the COVID pandemic, launching a weekly livestream called The Silent Comedy Watch Party.

The Scarecrow

Comic genius Buster Keaton is a farmhand who shares a cottage full of ingenious gadgets with his rival for the farmer’s daughter. Hijinks ensue, including Keaton’s narrow escape from a “mad” dog, an inadvertent proposal, and a motorcycle wedding!

High and Dizzy

Newly-minted doctor Harold Lloyd gets roped into a friend’s moonshine business and ends up tipsy on a building ledge high above the street — where he encounters a sleepwalking patient.

Horse Shy

Ineffectual bumbler Edward Everett Horton makes a hilarious attempt to learn to ride a horse in a fox hunt, in order to impress the daughter of his host.

Pass The Gravy

A hilarious comedy about rival fathers who must make peace when their children get engaged. Everything goes awry when comedian Max Davidson’s son cooks the beloved prize-winning rooster belonging to the other father for a joint family dinner.

Tickets and passes

Each screening is $15 per person.

The ideal way to experience the Film Festival of Joy is with a Joy Pass. There are three passes available that provide discounted access to screenings and events:

• Full Joy provides access to all events and an exclusive opening reception
• Saturday Joy provides access to both documentary screenings part of Real Joy
• Sunday Joy provides access to both Animated Joy and the closing Joyous Noise screenings

Where to Purchase

• ONLINE AT artyard.org, through our Eventbrite page
• IN PERSON at ArtYard’s Box Office located inside the lobby at 13 Front Street, Frenchtown. Hours are 11 AM to 5 PM Wednesday through Sunday.

Health and Safety

Face masks are required to be worn at all times while in the McDonnell Theater.

Questions

Please email us at [email protected] or call 908.996.5018 and we’ll respond as quickly as possible