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And now for Yorkshire's latest film idea... silent cinema
IT failed to make Holmfirth a movie capital the first time around, but the world's first edited film is now set for an unusual - and passionate - remake.
The one-minute romantic "drama", Kiss in the Tunnel, was produced by Holmfirth's Bamforth & Co in 1899. At the time, the company was an industry pioneer, but as the movies migrated from West Yorkshire to the sunnier west coast of America, the production became largely overlooked.
Now, tourism bosses have revived the historic footage in an attempt to highlight the visitor potential of the region - and today they recreated the film's main scene, in which an aristocratic couple share a passionate embrace in a railway carriage.
The filming took place at Ingrow on the Keighley and Worth Valley preserved steam railway and was meant as a springboard to encourage visitors to come up with their own one-minute recordings of some of their favourite elements of the Pennines.
That footage will eventually be placed on the Pennine Yorkshire website and the best entries may be featured in a premier-style launch, possibly at the Picturedrome in the Bamforth's hometown of Holmfirth, or at the National Media Museum in Bradford.
Kiss in the Tunnel is now in its 110th anniversary year and is acclaimed as the first film in the world to be properly edited when it was produced.
Pennine Yorkshire is suggesting entrants to its competition use either mobile telephones or video recorders to capture their own images of the region, for the www.pennineyorkshire.com website, which will be available to be seen globally.
Liz Tattersley, Manager at West Yorkshire Tourism Partnership, responsible for the Pennine Yorkshire initiative, said: "The Bamforths, along with the Bront sisters are synonymous with the region and represent some of the finest cultural and literary case studies, not just here but across the globe.
"The Kiss in the Tunnel is being acclaimed as the first ever edited film – preceding anything produced in Hollywood – we thought it fitting to remember the Bamforths' contribution to the film industry by asking visiting tourists to capture short clips of their favourite parts of the region.
"Pennine Yorkshire has many attractions including open moorland, traditional market towns and a rich industrial heritage. So, whether people want to showcase our finest landmarks or even recreate a scene from a Bamforth film or give us a recital from Jane Eyre, we are looking forward to watching what visitors to the region see as our finest attractions," she said.
Screen Yorkshire's emerging talent manager Tony Dixon added: "Yorkshire's connection to filmmaking can be traced to the start of the industry when James Bamforth began creating his collection of short films with regional and national significance.
"The Kiss in the Tunnel, albeit only a minute or so long, is an extremely significant part of film history and it's amazing to think that one of Yorkshire's sons was responsible for filmmaking techniques that Hollywood has since emulated."
The Pennine Yorkshire initiative is designed to promote the local authority areas of Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale, Leeds and Wakefield as tourist centres.
The district has attractions including the World Heritage Site of Saltair, Howarth with its Bronte connections, Holmfirth which is now best known as the backdrop for Last of the Summer Wine, along with Hebden Bridge, which has been voted among the "funkiest" places in the world.
Entries to the contest can be sent as mpeg or WMV files to film@pennineyorkshire.com.
Fact File - The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899)
Length: one minute
Format: Black & White, Silent, 35mm
Producer: Bamford & Co
Subject: Romance on a railway journey
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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