Arts

HippFest at Home | Ben Carré: Cinema's Premier Art Director

“I had to requisition everyone, stagehands, carpenters, propmen, painters, and electricians.” Ben Carré

In 1916 it was not common for a Fort Lee based production to have to mount a full expedition to a distant location for extended shooting, but such was the case for the making of Maurice Tourneur’s The Pride of the Clan (1917). Some Art Directors carry the imprint of a director with whom they have had a particularly felicitous relationship. Others, in contrast, are so dynamic that they can permanently influence other directors. 

Ben Carré was an artist and painter – and as one of the pioneers of early French cinema and art direction was such a significant creative influencer. Designing 34-feature films for Tourneur between 1914 and 1919, theirs was a unique creative collaboration admired and coveted by many, never replicated or surpassed in the history of cinema. 

About the speaker:

Thomas A. Walsh, Filmmaker, Production and Scenic Designer. Thomas is an Emmy Award-winning designer and filmmaker. His 51-year career spans feature and episodic motion pictures, IMAX films, documentaries, and Broadway productions. Highlights from the New York theater include the world premieres of Zoot Suit and Children of a Lesser God. Film and episodic credits include, Volker Schlondorf’s, The Handmaids Tale, John Carpenter’s Vampires - and the long running series, Longmire, and Desperate Housewives.

Thomas is the founder of the Art Directors Guild Archives, and the Harold and Lillian Michelson Cinema Research Library. His publication achievements include Designs on Film: Hollywood Art Direction (Harper Collins) and Art of the Hollywood Backdrop (Regan Arts). A graduate of Hollywood High School, Thomas’s career began at the age of 17 as a union propmaker and scenic artist working in the Hollywood studios. President of the Art Directors Guild for 11 years, his personal passions have always centered around the history of his profession.

He now has taken on a singular mission, to document through film and museum exhibitions the origins of Art Direction for the cinema and its pioneer generation of silent film designers and artisans. Thomas is currently working on multiple documentaries and exhibitions related to the origins of the cinema. Ben Carré: A Parisian in Hollywood and Inventing Buster Keaton are both films about forgotten Art Directors. In 2024 he programmed the first ever retrospective screening of 14 of pioneer art director Ben Carré’s silent films for the 43rd annual Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy. Future museum projects include an international tour of his critically acclaimed exhibition about the Art of the Hollywood Backdrop. His other exhibition in development is The Mercury of Art Deco: Paris to Hollywood 1925-1939.

Piano accompaniment: Mike Nolan

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HippFest begins at home!

This online event is open to all and will premiere on the Falkirk Leisure & Culture YouTube channel at the advertised start time. You also have the option to book a ticket in advance, in order to have the relevant viewing link sent to you via email on the day of the premiere. Viewers tuning is at this time will be able to pose questions via the chat box if they wish, to which the speaker will respond live via text. 

This illustrated presentation is available to online audiences free of charge, and will remain available as part of our library of online content.

However, please consider choosing to purchase a ticket for £3 if you are able to do so. We rely on our box office income, grants and sponsorship for more than 80% of HippFest costs and invest all of the income generated by ticket sales back into the Festival. Those who can pay more help us to do this, whilst keeping the lowest priced tickets really affordable or free.

Hippodrome

10 Hope Street Bo'ness
EH51 0AA

01324 506850

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Dates & Times

Tuesday, 18 Feb 25 at 19:00 PM to 19:00 PM Hippodrome Book

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