It’s a new one on me, but the Strade del Cinema festival is running 6-15 August, at Aosta, Italy. It’s a festival of music and silent film, with extra bits. This year they have a Laurel and Hardy strand, with assorted of their classic silent shorts with intriguing music accompaniment (Two Tars gets to be accompanied by cello, electric bass, electronics and a Japanese koto; You’re Darn Tootin’ is accompanied by a ‘digital performer’). There’s a screening of Pastrone’s Il Fuoco (1916) with live score by avant garde guitarists Marc Ribot and the great Fred Frith, one of my heroes. And there’s Jean Epstein’s La Belle Nivernaise (1923), with vocal accompaniment by Les Grandes Voix Bulgares, which ought to be quite something. There’s also a dramatic piece on Rudolph Valentino, L’Amante de Mondo.

Just time to pop over there, if you’re quick…