Silent is golden for veteran film pianist at French Film Festival

Neil Brand is a special guest at Cork French Film Festival this week, says Alan O’Riordan

SILENT film pianist — it’s hardly a job that a career-guidance counsellor would recommend. But that’s Neil Brand’s job. He says “it’s a bit like saying you’re a stream-train driver”. But Brand has carved out this unlikely niche, reintroducing audiences to the delights of live-accompanied silent films. “Silent films,” he says, “are not sound films with the sound turned off; they are a different animal.”

The Briton is giving two performances in Cork, as part of this week’s French Film Festival. On Wednesday, he will present his one-man show, a retrospective on his odd career, at the Farmgate Café in the English Market. On Thursday, he will accompany Un chapeau de paille d’Italia ( An Italian Straw Hat), Rene Clair’s 1928 farce. “It’s ironic, a comedy of manners,” says Brand, of Clair’s film. “You are dealing with people who are terrified of being caught out in embarrassing social situations.”