SPECIAL EVENTS

Booking Ref

Focus on Silent Cinema SAFETY LAST!

Centenary Anniversary

Harold’ Lloyd’s ultimate thrill feature... his memorable ‘clock-dangling’ sequence shows comedy timing at its very best! Wiry, athletic, bespectacled Harold Lloyd may rank third after Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in “silent age” comedy polls, but when it comes to perilous, pulse-racing, gravity-defying stunt work, he’s the “King of the World!”

Sun 13 Aug 13:30

Studio

The aptly titled ‘Safety Last’ is without a doubt Lloyd’s signature film. The indelible still taken of Harold dangling from the minute hand of that Big Ben-looking clock is definitive silent screen imagery. Isn’t it amazing that despite knowing the outcome of this movie, knowing that Lloyd survived all these crazy stunts, your heart still skips a beat every time he scales that 12-story building, floor by floor, encountering every obstacle imaginable... or unimaginable? Those pesky pigeons, the mouse, the flagpole, the painters, the rope, the mad dog and, of course, the clock. What adds to the intrigue is knowing he did his own stunts, that he had lost fingers prior to this filming in another movie mishap, that there were no safety nets underneath, and that there was no trick photography used.

USA 1923 FRED NEWMAYER & SAM TAYLOR 74M

Surprise Film

Three of our Surprise Films have recently won the Audience Award for Best Film. So do not miss what will surely be an exciting and unforgettable film experience.

Following the launch of a Surprise Film in the Festival in 2012, we continue this idea where you settle down for a film, not knowing what it will be, and finding out along with your fellow patrons once the opening scene or credits give it away. In past years our surprise films have included ‘Untouchable’ (which became the most popular French film in 2012), ‘Jane Eyre’, ‘Julie & Julia’, ‘Blue Jasmine’ (screening in this Festival) and ‘Pride’. Join in the fun and take the opportunity to gamble by booking in advance for hopefully a very worthwhile surprise!

Thu 24 Aug 18:00 – Auditorium

THU 24 AUG 18:00 – AUDITORIUM

MAVKA: THE FLOWER SONG

A wonderful Ukrainian animation followed by Ukrainian snacks and music.

Tue 22 Aug 13:00 - Auditorium

See Europe Calling on pg20 for full details.

NEIL BRAND PRESENTS LAUREL & HARDY

After the national success of his longrunning show ‘Neil Brand Presents Buster Keaton’, the composer/writer/broadcaster/ musician returns with an all-new show about the immortal comedy duo recently portrayed in the hit film ‘Stan and Ollie’. Neil will tell the touching story of the world’s greatest comedy team, who could not have been two more different men! Fully illustrated with stills, clips (both silent and sound) and Neil’s superlative piano accompaniment and culminating in two of the Boys’ best silent short films, ‘Big Business’ and ‘Liberty’, this is a show that promises gales of laughter throughout, as well as getting under the skin of two warm, funny men who continue to make the world laugh when it needs it most. 105M INCLUDING INTERVAL

NEIL BRAND Q&A

Tue 22 August 18:15 – Auditorium

Tickets £1 5

Special Event DON QUIXOTE

AKA ‘THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM’

A film adaptation of the Ludwig Minkus ballet, completely re-orchestrated and with additional music by John Lanchbery.

Sun 27 Aug 12:30 – Auditorium

Tickets £1 5

Filmed in 1973 in an airport hangar in 40 degrees over 25 days, Rudolf Nureyev and Sir Robert Helpmann, along with The Australian Ballet, created ‘Don Quixote’, the film. With cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth (Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and Bob Fosse’s ‘Cabaret’), the film has been acclaimed worldwide as the best dance film ever made! To celebrate the 50th anniversary, for the first time cinema audiences around the world will be able to enjoy the remastered, restored and re-orchestrated film. Nureyev, regarded as the greatest male ballet dancer of all time, was at the peak of his career when this film was made. The conducting has authority and a sense of pulse, keeping things alive on stage while not rushing things through. Nureyev is definitely the performer you will remember most, he is so charismatic and expressive and dances so gracefully and powerfully. Robert Helpmann is very dignified in the title role and Lucette Aldous is a very charming and elegantly Kitri, a really nice surprise. For Nureyev and ballet fans this Quixote is a gem.

AUSTRALIA 1973 ROBERT HELPMANN/RUDOLF

NUREYEV 128M

Special Events

Fri 25 August 21:00 – St John’s Chapel

Tickets £1 5

Phantom Of The Opera

We started this series of Gothic films in the Chapel with ‘Phantom of the Opera’ with Ben Hall on organ in 2012, thirteen years ago. One of the most eminent horror films ever made and perhaps even the most famous silent horror movie from that time. Lon Chaney starred in over 150 films (most of them silent ones) but he’ll always be remembered best for his personification of Erik, the Phantom. And justified! Even though this role was played by many respectable actors afterwards (like Claude Rains, Herbert Lom and Robert Englund) Lon Chaney is – and remains – the one and only Phantom of the Opera. The film itself is depressing and dark, with terrific photography and settings. Deep down the catacombs of the Parisian Opera building, the phantom reigns in forgotten dungeons and underground lakes. After all these years of dwelling in the opera, he has fallen in love with the unsuccessful singer, Christine.

USA 1925 RUPERT JULIAN, + LON CHANEY & ERNST LAEMMLE (UNCREDITED) 101M

Extra Special Events

HUGH BONNEVILLE Q&A – TO OLIVIA

Sun 20 Aug 15:30 – Auditorium

Tickets £13.50

See Hugh Bonneville Retrospective on pg44 for full details.

CATE BLANCHETT Q&A – TÁR

Mon 21 Aug 14:30 – Auditorium

Tickets £13.50

See Cate Blanchett Retrospective on pg56 for full details.

The Sight And Sound Poll

We present a debate around ‘Sight and Sound’ magazine’s controversial critics’ poll, supported by a screening of ‘Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles’, voted the greatest film of all time.

Rare Special Screening JEANNE DIELMAN, 23, QUAI DE COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES

Three days in the life of a Belgian housewife, mother and part-time sex worker. This avant-garde film by Belgian feminist director Chantal Akerman lasts well over three hours and contains little in the way of what is normally considered dramatic action. If you are looking for some reassuring, escapist entertainment to kill a few hours on a summer’s day, this is not for you. If, however, you would like to see a radical, daring film which foregrounds the life of an “ordinary” woman, with a memorable and hypnotising central performance by Delphine Seyrig as the title character, then you are in for an unforgettable experience. Akerman’s depiction of the slow, inexorable unravelling of Dielman’s life over three days, culminating in a single, shocking event, is riveting. Slow cinema has rarely been this compelling. The 2022 ‘Sight and Sound’ poll saw it overtake ‘Citizen Kane’ and ‘Vertigo’ to reach the number one spot as the Greatest Film of All Time; it now awaits your verdict!

BELGIUM/FRANCE 1975 CHANTAL AKERMAN 202M

THE GREATEST FILMS YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE SEEN: A DEBATE WITH THE AUDIENCE

The Sight and Sound Critics’ Poll, a decennial event since 1952 and a reliable barometer of critical acclaim, underwent a seismic change in 2022. Join us for a panel discussion about what actually happened and why.

Have you seen ‘Jeanne Dielman’, Chantal Akerman’s 1975 film about a housewife and part-time sex worker? If not, you are not alone. When in December 2022 it was voted the greatest film of all time in a poll of 1,639 film critics, curators and programmers, many film buffs scratched their heads and admitted never having heard of it. Further inspection of the poll reveals huge increases in the number of votes for films by female directors and directors of colour. So, have film critics finally woken up to the amazing quality of many films not directed by white men?

A panel including Martine Pierquin, Ellen Cheshire, Patrick Hargood and Sandy Guthrie, chaired by Festival Director Roger Gibson, will debate the list with the audience!

105M

Admission free but please book tickets in advance.

Sat 12 Aug 13:15 – Studio Sun 13 Aug 14:00 – Pic Palace

Fantasia

Ambitious 1940 animated epic from Disney studios, which includes sequences set to music by – amongst others – Bach, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, Schubert and Beethoven. Also featured is the famous ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ routine, in which Mickey Mouse (voiced by Walt himself for the last time) creates magical mayhem when he tries to get his chores done with the aid of a spell or two. It now appears very dated; the colours are garish, Stokowski’s arrangements and conducting idiosyncratic and the dancing animals now seem incongruous. Where ‘Fantasia’ excels is in its ambition, forging a new status for animation in the early decades of the twentieth century. Whilst it received mixed critical reaction and failed to make a profit on its release, it established animation (and Disney animation in particular) as something of an art form. ‘Fantasia’ remains a fascinating achievement for 1940 when colour and cartoon films were still in their infancy. It remains a beguiling testament to the potential of cinema, a breathtaking synaesthetic experience, and a landmark in animation and what was later to become music video.

Saleem

Mon 14 Aug 11:15 – Studio

When his father is killed in an unspecified conflict, a boy, his mother and siblings leave their village for the city, where they lodge with cousins. Saleem, our hero, finds a map. So begins a charmingly realised animated fable in which the age-old plot device of a quest for hidden treasure is given new life by a director who evidently respects the form, the matter and her young potential audience. If there is an inevitability about the treasure turning out to be more valuable than gold, the journey is treated none the less with flair. This is a comparatively rare opportunity to see an animated film made in the Middle East for the young. (Subtitles)

MAVKA: THE FOREST SONG

A beautiful Ukrainian animation based on Slavic mythology, followed by Ukrainian snacks and music hosted by Yuliana Korochentseva (Mrs Universe Ukraine).

Tue 22 Aug 13:00 – Auditorium

See Europe Calling on pg20 for full details.