The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
Leeds Gala
Variety is the name of the game at the Leeds Gala, with wrestling, beauty queens, the Red Devils sky-diving, and the band of the Dragoon Guards.
From the collection of:
Overview
The summer of 1968 saw the birth of the rock festival – with Woodstock, the first Isle of Wight Festival and first free Hyde Park Concert. But in Roundhay Park in Leeds it’s the more traditional fare of water-skiing, parachuting, a performance by the Jean Pierce School of Dancing, and Queen of Queens Beauty Competition. All is captured by Leeds’ maverick filmmaker Alan Sidi in his own Sidimascope, who also provides a droll commentary, using his own Cine-Synch machine.
Alan Sidi was the inspirational force behind many of the films of Leeds Mercury Movie Makers, as well as over a hundred of his own. As a self-employed engineer, Alan was also the most technically able, inventing his own Cine-Synch machine in the 1960s enabling sound to be added in synchronisation with 16 mm film, and devising his own wide-screen film format, Sidimascope. Roundhay Park used to host Leeds Children's Day, one of the biggest festivals of youth staged in Britain, which ran from 1922 until 1963. It isn’t sure in what years the Leeds Gala, which was also closely associated with the Yorkshire Post, was held.
Related
Watch for free
Radio Servicing Radio Servicing
Advert 1935 9 mins Silent Location: Roundhay
The age of the wireless during an age of anxiety, when radios were things of variety and beauty, and sounded lovely, once they buzzed into life.
Watch for free
The Ice Tower - Extended Q&A The Ice Tower - Extended Q&A
Inside Film 2026 36 mins
Writer-director Lucile Hadžihalilović explains how she spun her own dark fairy tale out of Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen.
Watch for free
New Perspectives: Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror New Perspectives: Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
Short documentary 2025 3 mins
Harry Coghlan of Northumbria University explains why FW Murnau's 1922 vampire story is an endlessly intriguing work of art.
Watch for free
New Perspectives: La Haine New Perspectives: La Haine
Short documentary 2025 4 mins
Charlie Hammersley, a student from Northumbria University, explains how Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film holds up a mirror to society.
Watch for free
Dreamers Q&A Dreamers Q&A
Inside Film 2025 30 mins
The film-makers behind a haunting tale of love and community within a UK immigration detention centre visited the BFI Southbank to discuss their film.
Watch for free
Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio in Conversation Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio in Conversation
Inside Film 2025 50 mins
Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio in Conversation at BFI Southbank, discussing the making of One Battle After Another.
Watch for free
Laura Mulvey in Conversation Laura Mulvey in Conversation
Inside Film 2025 76 mins
Laura Mulvey in conversation, following her BFI Fellowship Award.