University College Cork to host ‘A Jazz Age Evening’ Gala Screening

23 Feb 2026

• UCC hosts a celebration of 1926 silent cinema with live musical accompaniment.
• Experience silent film as it was meant to be seen: on the big screen, with live music, in UCC’s Aula Maxima.
• Movies will feature screen icons Clara Bow and Alice Joyce.

Audiences are invited to step back to the Jazz Age for an evening of silent film and live music at University College Cork (UCC). On Friday, 13 March, UCC Department of Film and Screen Media will host ‘A Jazz Age Evening’, a gala screening of films from 1926 accompanied live by one of the world’s leading silent film musicians, in UCC’s Aula Maxima.

The evening will feature a slapstick comedy co-written by Stan Laurel, and a screening of Dancing Mothers (1926), a gripping drama of love, betrayal and double standards starring Clara Bow, the ‘IT girl of the 1920s’ and Alice Joyce, known as the ‘Madonna of the Screen’.

The films will be accompanied live by Stephen Horne, one of the world’s foremost silent film musicians. He returns to UCC after his sold-out 2023 performance in the Aula Maxima, where his multi-instrumental score for The Signal Tower (1924) drew a standing ovation. For this gala evening, Horne brings a lively, jazz-inflected accompaniment to What Is the World Coming To? and captures the drama and decadence of Dancing Mothers (1926), with its flappers, scoundrels and speakeasies.

Dr Gwenda Young, UCC Department of Film and Screen Media, a leading scholar of American film and silent cinema and author of the critically acclaimed Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master, will host the evening.

Dr Young said: “This gala screening is about more than revisiting great films. It is about experiencing them as they were meant to be seen and heard, projected on a big screen and accompanied by live music. One hundred years after they were made, these films remain fresh, provocative and entertaining.  We are delighted to welcome Stephen Horne and Robert Byrne back to UCC to share these remarkable films that not only give us glimpses of the extraordinarily vibrant Jazz Age, but that continue to have resonance for contemporary audiences. Everyone is very welcome to join us for what promises to be a memorable evening.”

The programme will be introduced by Robert Byrne, President of the San Francisco Film Preserve. The San Francisco Film Preserve is a leading nonprofit organisation with a mission to restore, preserve, and provide access to the world’s cinematic heritage, ensuring that works of cinema remain accessible for future generations. The SFFP has kindly facilitated the loan of the film prints for this event.

Tickets are now available on Eventbrite

This gala event is made possible through the support of UCC Department of Film and Screen Media, UCC Department of Music and UCC Future Humanities Institute. Film prints have been facilitated by the San Francisco Film Preserve.

Film and Screen Media at UCC

UCC’s Department of Film and Screen Media is a leading centre for the study of film, television and digital media. Grounded in internationally recognised research and commitment to public engagement, the Department regularly works with archives and cultural institutions to host screenings, conferences, guest lectures and special events that explore the history of cinema and the future of filmmaking.