Film / News
Event Cinema for December 2016
It’s the only month of the year in which parents feel comfortable plonking their offspring on the knee of a bearded stranger with an exceptional fondness for children. In the world of event cinema, Christmas means The Nutcracker. This year, there are two rival versions to choose from. For those of a less festive disposition, there’s still much fun to be had. Highlights this month include Bristol Bad Film Club’s Ewoks double bill, classic science fiction at the Planetarium and the Black Star House Party at the Trinity Centre. Not included below are events in the Bristol Palestine Film Festival, which runs from December 9-12 at various venues. See our news story here for more on this. Details of all screenings can also be found in our comprehensive daily film listings.
Debuting documentary directors Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor retrace the remarkable journey from Ireland to Chile of 18th Century figure Ambrose O’Higgins (father of Bernardo O’Higgins, the first leader of independent Chile). The directors will both be present for a Q&A after the Watershed’s one-off screening.
Screening Dec 4: Watershed
Black Star House Party: I’m Gonna Git You Sucka/Coming to America
BFI Black Star and Come the Revolution present a night of larfs on screen and off. Forget the fact that virtually everything Keenan Ivory Wayans has done since is absolute dross (White Chicks, Littleman, etc), his 1988 debut I’m Gonna Git you Sucka is genuinely hilarious. It’s a sharp and very funny Blaxploitation satire in which Wayans also stars as ghetto avenger Jack Spade (geddit?). This is followed by John Landis’s Coming to America, which is predictable and corny but also one of the rare films to make good use of Eddie Murphy’s considerable comic talents. He’s cast as a pampered African prince who rebels against his father (James Earl Jones) by travelling to America with his manservant (Arsenio Hall) to seek a woman who’ll love him for himself. The evening also boasts live comedy from a “surprise mystery host” and offers the opportunity to hit the dance floor to a session of 80s/90s hip hop and r’n’b.
Screening Dec 4: Trinity
Slaughter No Remedy + Q&A/discussion
One hundred years ago, Walter Ayles, a leading member of the Independent Labour Party in Bristol, was hauled before a Military Service Tribunal at the Old Council House – now Bristol Registry Office – and jailed for his opposition to WWI in general and conscription in particular. Members of the Independent Labour Party took a full transcript of the hearing, which forms the basis of this re-enactment. The film receives its premiere tonight, courtesy of the Bristol Radical History Group. Two other films will also be shown: Watford’s Quiet Heroes, a documentary telling the dramatic and largely forgotten stories of WW1 war resisters; and The Unseen March, which exposes the contemporary policies that are increasing military involvement in schools across Britain. The screening is followed by a panel discussion featuring historian of conscientious objectors Professor Lois Bibbings, Ben Griffin of Veterans for Peace, and documentary film makers Colin Thomas and Ben Pike.
Screening Dec 5: Cube
Teatro alla Scala: Madame Butterfly Live
Puccini’s evergreen opera about Japanese geisha Cio-Cio-San’s doomed romance with American naval officer Pinkerton. Cultural imperialism ahoy! Riccardo Chailly conducts the original version, marking this the first time it has returned to La Scala since its debut. It’s a brave move given that this is not the Madame Butterfly that opera lovers know, but one that flopped way back in 1904. It also kicks off the 2016/17 All’Opera season, bringing live opera and ballet from Italy to UK cinema screens.
Screening Dec 7: Everyman
A Bristol Revolutionary Communist Group screening of Mario Van Peebles’ 1995 drama to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party. It will be followed by a discussion. Tickets are £3 on the door. Go here for further information.
Screening Dec 8: The Old Malt House
The Royal Ballet: The Nutcracker
The annual return of Peter Wright’s production of the festive Tchaikovsky ballet, based on ETA Hoffmann’s fairytale.
Screening Dec 8: Orpheus, Odeon, Vue Longwell Green, Everyman, Showcase Cinema De Lux
Encore screening Dec 11: Orpheus, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Showcase Cinema De Lux
Metropolitan Opera Live: L’Amour de Loin
Jaded 12th century troubadour Jaufre Rudel gets the hots for Clemence, the Countess of Tripoli, despite the fact that he has never clapped eyes upon her and relies on the testimony of a pilgrim. Not unnaturally, he’s reluctant to meet the poor woman, lest his idealised vision of her beauty be shattered. Premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2000, Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin (Love from Afar) is one of the most acclaimed operas of the millennium. Astonishingly, Robert Lepage’s production is the Met’s first staging of an opera by a female composer since 1903.
Screening Dec 10: Showcase Cinema De Lux, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green
Show Me the Animation: Aardman 40th Screening
For their last event of the year, Show Me the Animation celebrate all things Aardman to mark the studio’s 40th anniversary. Expect screenings of everything from the very first Aardman animation to such innovative releases as that extraordinary Nokia Dot short – and, of course, those classic Wallace and Gromit films. Note that this event is likely to be very busy. Although admission is free, you’re invited to register here.
Screening Dec 12: Hen and Chicken
BAFTA-winning Bristolian director Esther May Campbell’s feature debut: a “poetic and startling story of loss, hope and the deepest of human connections” which premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival. For more on the film, see our news story here. It was first screened in Encounters’ Shorts2Features strand, showing the work of feature directors who cut their teeth on short films. Director Esther May Campbell will be present for a Q&A after this screening.
Screening Dec 12: Everyman
The Day the Earth Stood Still + Q&A
Not the crappy Keanu Reeves remake, but the best of the original Cold War flying saucer paranoia flicks, with a surprisingly unambiguous pacifist message. Dignified space alien Klaatu (Michael Rennie) travels half way across the universe to tell us to be nice to one another, only to be shot and wounded for his trouble by military goons. The film also introduced the immortal phrase “Klaatu barada nikto!” to the world of sci-fi cultdom. Following their successful Star Trek movie screenings at the Planetarium earlier this year, Bristol Sunset Cinema are once again teaming up with the Cosmic Shed podcast for another big science fiction event at the same venue. After the screening, there’ll be a Q&A and live recording of the podcast. The panel of scientific experts includes special guest Bruce Hood, Professor of Development Psychology in Society at Bristol University, who will be discussing the psychology of supernatural belief. All profits go to Age UK. Advance tickets are available here.
Screening Dec 13: Bristol Planetarium
Bristol Bad Film Club: Ewok Adventures
As a special pre-Christmas treat, the Bristol Bad Film Club screens a double-bill of family-friendly crud in the form of these two mid-80s Star Wars spin-offs that Mr. Lucas would probably rather forget as the publicity machine gears up for release of Star Wars: Rogue One. Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984) and its sequel Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985) are both nipper-oriented made-for-TV vehicles for the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi, with Warwick Davis reprising his role as Wicket. Interestingly, these aren’t the crappiest Star Wars spin-offs. That accolade goes to the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, which has never been re-broadcast or released on VHS or DVD. Advance tickets, price £6, are available here. All profits go to Little People UK, whose patron is Warwick Davis.
Screening Dec 14: Redgrave Theatre
National Theatre Live: No Man’s Land
Aging writers Hirst (Patrick Stewart) and Spooner (Ian McKellen) meet in a Hampstead boozer and then repair to Hirst’s stately pile nearby. Preposterous yarns and psychological power games ensue as the whisky flows and two sinister younger men return home. Harold Pinter’s absurdist comic classic was premiered back in 1975, when Peter Hall’s production cast Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud in the lead roles. This revival, which has already enjoyed a hit run on Broadway, reunites Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and director Sean Mathias after their acclaimed 2009 Waiting for Godot. The NT Live broadcast from Wyndham’s Theatre on December 15 is followed by a Q&A with the cast and director. There are also encore screenings in January. See the film listings for details.
Screening Dec 15: Curzon, Cineworld Hengrove, Vue Longwell Green, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Orpheus, Everyman, Showcase Cinema De Lux
Bolshoi Ballet: The Nutcracker
You know the drill: dancing nutcrackers, hordes of mice, a sugar plum fairy. Are these people on drugs? Choreographed by former Bolshoi Artistic Director Yuri Grigorovich, Tchaikovsky’s Christmassy ballet was recorded live in 2014.
Screening Dec 18: Orpheus, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green
Screening Dec 31: Showcase Cinema De Lux
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