The Hippodrome is a magnificent picture palace.  It has a beautiful pre-Art deco interior, complete with sweeping balcony, red velvet seats and curtains, plus a stunning midnight-blue domed ceiling decorated with gold stars and finished with a spectacular contemporary chandelier.  The cornerstone in the auditorium reads 1911 but the doors were first opened by the original proprietor: local entrepreneur and keen cameraman Louis Dickson, on 11th March 1912.  This makes the Hippodrome definitively Scotland’s first purpose-built cinema and the ideal home of HippFest - Scotland’s first and only festival of silent film. You can read about the restoration of the cinema here and learn more about Louis here.  During the Festival you can book onto one of our Behind-the Scenes-tours during which you’ll be able to visit the projection box, complete with original nitrate safety shutters..

You can get to Bo’ness from anywhere!  Bo’ness is only 4 miles away from the mainline station of Linlithgow.  Trains run between Edinburgh Waverley (18-25 mins) and Glasgow Queen Street (32mins) every half hour or so.  

Whether arriving for the day or staying in Linlithgow for longer you can use our daily HippFest shuttle bus (timetable announced early Feb), get a bus #F45 (Mon-Fri, journey time 33 mins, 8 x per day), or a taxi (approximate cost £12).  Traveline Scotland will keep you right.  

If you’re starting your journey in Edinburgh or Stirling there’s a direct bus to Bo’ness #909 City Link (7 days, journey time from Haymarket 45 mins / from Stirling 35 mins, 9 x per day).  The best stop to alight is Richmond Terrace (12 mins walk to Hippodrome).

Now you’ve arrived in beautiful Bo’ness for the world-renowned Hippfest, why not extend your stay to enjoy more of the captivating programme and explore the plentiful local sights and attractions.

Our accommodation partner is the Richmond Park Hotel, a 12 minute walk up Church Wynd or School Brae from the Hippodrome. The hotel also offers quality food at their Copper Kiln restaurant and a cosy lounge bar for post-screening chats. We recommend booking your stay in advance as this is the only hotel in Bo’ness.

There is also plenty of good quality accommodation in Linlithgow, about 3.5 miles south of Bo’ness - from serviced apartments and holiday homes, to hotels and b&bs.  Our daily HippFest shuttle bus from Linlithgow train station will drop you off right on the doorstep of the Hippodrome each morning!  

The 4 star Macdonald Inchyra Hotel & Spa is a ten minute drive away in Polmont.

Loads! We’re lucky to have as neighbours the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway and the Museum of Scottish Railways. The John Muir Way runs right through Bo’ness - an outstanding coast-to coast cycle/walking route of 134 miles, between Helensburgh and John Muir’s birthplace in Dunbar.  There are even Roman remains at Kinneil Estate just up the road.  

A few miles further on you’ll discover a host of national attractions including Blackness Castle, the Falkirk Wheel, the Kelpies, and Callendar House. The latest exciting addition to the area is the new 5-star visitor centre at Rosebank Distillery - a distillers of non peated, triple distilled, Lowland Single Malt on the banks of the Forth and Clyde canal, established in 1840, closed in 1993 and reawakened in 2024.

For lots more ideas go to Visit Falkirk.

No!  You can wear whatever you want.  Lots of our audience do love to put on the Ritz or get their Gatsby outfits on.  You don’t have to, but if you do want to put on your glad rags you can be sure you won’t be the only one… especially at our Friday Night Gala when we suggest a theme to tie in with the headline film.  You can see some of our audience pics here to give you an idea of what to expect. 

Yes!  Everyone is welcome at HippFest, and we are known for being a friendly and inclusive festival!  We have audience members who join us solo every year, and find that HippFest is a great place to meet other film lovers and make new connections. There are plenty of opportunities to meet like-minded people - over a cup of coffee in our HippFest Hub, or while grabbing some popcorn before one of our screenings. 

A great way to feel part of things and to support the Festival is to get hold of some of our HippFest merchandise. HippFest beanies, tote bags and enamel pin badges are on sale at the Hippodrome year round and in the Festival Hub during the Festival in March. We don’t have an online gift-shop but can sort out posting something to you if you can’t get to the venue for any reason.  Just email hippfest@falkirk.gov.uk to ask.

To keep the HippFest magic running smoothly and make sure all our screenings are on time we need to do lots in-situ behind the scenes, often with a very tight turnaround. During these precious minutes the auditorium must be clear for things like sound and print checks, final rehearsals, instrument tuning, musician and instrument positioning, volunteer briefings, media interviews, filming, photography, restocking the cafe and cleaning.   We are truly sorry that we don’t have space within the cinema where you can queue while this work goes on but we will do what we can to make your wait as bearable as possible, we’ll lend you an umbrella if it rains and our volunteers will chat with you to keep your spirits up. When you queue outside the venue, you are helping our staff and volunteers efficiently manage the ticket checks. It also stops our wee lobby from getting clogged when it’s a vital artery for all the busy folk coming in and out. If you have any access needs or need to use the loos, please don’t hesitate to let one of the volunteers know. 

There are several nearby cafes that would be glad to offer you refreshments and a cosy place to sit while you wait for the doors to open again.

Seating is unreserved at the Hippodrome and customers can choose their preferred spot on a ‘first come first served’ basis.  We can designate seats as “reserved” with an informal label and tend to do this for speakers.  If you have specific access needs and need a seat downstairs, near the screen, adjacent to a wheelchair space or by an aisle just let us know in advance so we can pop one of the signs out on an appropriate seat for you by contacting the box office bookings@falkirk.gov.uk / tel: 01324 506850 or using the WelcoME app.  See here for more information.  If you let us know when you arrive we’ll do our best to find you a suitable seat.

HippFest is one of many projects run by Falkirk Council. The Festival relies on the talent, specialisms and enthusiasm of a small team of dedicated HippFest freelancers and Council employees. You can read more about the core HippFest team and what they do here.
Our vision for HippFest is a world class festival for silent film, cultivating an international community with an adventurous appetite for extraordinary cinema. Read more about our Vision, Mission and Aims here

That’s a lovely thought.  Any time you choose to come to HippFest or tune in to HippFest at Home’s live streams, podcasts, blog posts or online presentations you are showing your support and we appreciate it.  Thank you!  Here are a few more practical suggestions if you would like to support the Festival in other ways:

Donate! The Hippodrome and HippFest will soon be able to accept donations – we’ll update this page as soon as we have details.
Make like a missionary and bring someone to HippFest who hasn’t been before.  We all have that friend who is wary of silent film and you’re the best person to show them the light.  If you’re on social media, help us spread the word by liking, sharing and commenting on our posts.  If everyone who loves HippFest converted one new person we’d soon have hundreds of new audience members.
Ask your loved ones to give you a Hippodrome gift token for Christmas and use it to buy HippFest tickets
Add a Pay it Forward ticket or two to your basket when you are buying Festival tickets for yourself.  We’ll use this income to underwrite the costs of bringing someone in the community to HippFest for free.
Buy a Pass or a Supporter Pass. The additional income from the Supporter Pass is invested back into the Festival so that we can continue to bring great films with live music, engagement and much more to a wide audience. Those who can pay more help us to do this, whilst keeping the lowest priced tickets affordable.
Be a matchmaker!  Do you work for a business or belong to an organisation that might be our ideal partner?  If your network includes anyone who likes to support the arts, wants to make a positive difference in the community and who might be our soulmate, we’d love you to put us in touch. It might be the start of a beautiful relationship.  You can check out our values here to see if we’re a match. 
Fill in our evaluation surveys - we read all the feedback and follow up where we can… the Festival hubs in Bo’ness town, the live captions, the shuttle bus and even this FAQ page were all prompted by your feedback… keep it coming!
Wear your HippFest merch prominently, with pride at every possible opportunity!

Festival Pass FAQ

What does the Festival Pass cover?

The HippFest Festival Pass covers all screening events and talks* taking place at Hippodrome Cinema, and online during the core dates of the Festival in March. The Pass also gives you access to exclusive discounts and offers, including at the Hippodrome Café/Bar. Information about further local business offers and discounts will be shared as they are confirmed each year.  
* Please note: additional events may be added subject to each year’s programme details

Does the Festival Pass save me money?

Yes! Every year we make sure that the Festival Pass works out as great value if you plan to attend multiple HippFest events! With a host of local discounts and offers, it is a great way to immerse yourself in the full HippFest experience and to make the most of your time in Bo’ness. 

Can I just turn up to any screening if I have the pass?

We ask Passholders to book tickets using their pass code.  To make things as stress-free as possible we promise to reserve tickets for all passholders for every Pass event during the priority booking period, to ensure that you have the chance to secure tickets for everything you wish to see.  If you change your mind just let us know and we’ll release your ticket.
We do understand that it is an unwelcome extra step to book your ticket when you have already gone all out to support us by buying a Pass. We too have enjoyed being at festivals where you can just rock up, show your Pass and hey presto!  The thing is, the Hippodrome has a relatively small capacity of 220, and we might fill up!  If we held back seats for all Pass holders, right up to the last minute, it could mean turning other people away because we thought we had no more seats left to sell.  We love a sold-out show, but we hate turning people away when there are unused seats available.  We think every film in the programme is unmissable but recognise that even the most die-hard HippFest fan might want some time out.  When you pre-book we can be sure we are not holding tickets for you unnecessarily for shows you’re not intending to come to.  
Even when you come along to a quiet show, booking your seat on our box office system means we get accurate audience numbers for our funders, stakeholders, distributors and licence holders.   Crunching the numbers for these people is a big part of our job after we’ve waved you all goodbye at the end of the Festival and it really helps us get this done right when you book.
The HippFest Pass is a pilot initiative for us/Falkirk Council as regards practical application of our box office system.  If you have any feedback on your experience of the redemption process, please share this with us so we can pass this on to the box office team.  We would also be glad to hear any comments generally about your experience as a Passholder.