Brighton Festival: Fifty years on the edge

For 50 years this popular seaside destination has been the incomparable setting for Brighton Festival, a magnet for culture loving visitors and artists from all corners of our Globe.

Long known as a haven for ‘dirty weekenders’, the festival’s arrival in 1967 ushered a new era of cultural sophistication for Brighton. But it was one that embraced its raffish spirit! In the words of inaugural director Sir Ian Hunter, it was to be a festival where ‘the serious and the apparently flippant ride side by side’.

Now entering its milestone 50th year the festival’s trail-blazing traditions proudly continue with 2016’s eclectic programme featuring a dazzling array of some of the most innovative artists and companies from the UK and around the world. And with pioneering artist and musician Laurie Anderson at the helm as Guest Director, it’s really going to be something worth celebrating.

This footage of the very first Brighton Festival in 1967 was discovered recently in an attic. The long lost material, shot by former Brighton College of Art students Ian Beck and Tim Grimes, captures the inaugural festival’s many different events alongside unseen footage of Eric Clapton, The Who and more. Read more on the discovery of this footage. 

Made by Echo Video, with Ian Beck and Tim Grimes’ original footage and featuring footage from Screen archive South East. With voiceover from Spymonkey's Toby Park.