My attention has turned to yet another film festival…but this one won’t be offering me any new titles. Quite the opposite actually.

There are two curiosities that occur within this episode. For starters, it’s probably The Matineecast where yours truly speaks the least of all the ones recorded to date. For seconds, I have to smile at the irony of how two silent film lovers are so very chatty.

My guests this week are Shirley Hughes and Chris Edwards from the upcoming Toronto Silent Film Festival. Their fourth annual effort of spreading the love of silent cinema across this fair city begins in just ten days, so as a novice to the genre I thought I’d sit down with them to get the scoop on their love of the format and what to expect.

To recap the concept of this offshoot – expect to see these episodes turning up once a month. My intention is for them to be a bit more raw (there are almost no cuts in this conversation), a bit shorter, with no rules, and less of a pecking order on who sits down at the table.

This episode does run a little bit long, clocking in closer to the runtime of a regular Matineecast than an IBD episode. However, in seeing how passionate both Shirley and Chris were to talk silent cinema, I couldn’t bring myself to cut them short at any turn.

If you’re close to Toronto, consider coming out to one of these truly unique events as part of the Toronto Silent Film Festival.

Enjoy!