Film / News
Event Cinema for February 2017
February might be the shortest month, but it’s absolutely rammed with filmy goodness. We’ve got two big National Theatre productions (Amadeus and Saint Joan starring Gemma Arterton) broadcast live; the return by popular demand of the worst film ever made, with its director in attendance; There Will be Blood with live music at the Colston Hall; Ben Wheatley with a preview of his new film Free Fire; lots of romantic gubbins for Valentine’s Day (Chocolat plus chocolate, Indiscreet at Bristol Cathedral, the 30th anniversary of Dirty Dancing), a boozy William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet and much more. Read on for the full lowdown.
National Theatre Live: Amadeus
The NT revives Peter Shaffer’s multiple Olivier and Tony award winning play, which was first staged in 1979 and later adapted to become an Oscar-winning film. Adam Gillen is cast as the rowdy, prodigiously talented young Mozart, whose arrival in Vienna provokes an outburst of jealousy from court composer Salieri (Lucian Msamati – the first black actor to play Iago in an RSC production of Othello. Couch potatoes will also recognise him from Game of Thrones, Luther and Doctor Who). Orchestral accompaniment is supplied by the Southbank Sinfonia.
Screening Feb 2: Vue Longwell Green, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Cineworld Hengrove, Cineworld Yate, Odeon, Orpheus, Curzon, Everyman, Showcase Cinema De Lux
Encore screening Feb 20: Vue Longwell Green, Vue Cribbs Causeway
Encore screening Feb 23: Showcase Cinema De Lux
Sympathy for the Devil + discussion
Once dubbed ‘one of the most dangerous Satanic cults in America’ and blamed for inspiring everything from Charles Manson to the Son of Sam slayings, the secretive Process Church of the Final Judgment was actually formed by a bunch of toffs in swinging ’60s Mayfair as a spin-off from Scientology. Bizarrely enough, today it’s mutated into the benign Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. Decades after those lurid tabloid headlines, former members of the cult have finally agreed to spill the beans about their beliefs and rituals for this fascinating documentary. Contributors include John Waters (who encountered the cult while living in New Orleans) George Clinton (who included Process writings on his Funkadelic albums), Mr. Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Manson Biographer Simon Wells and fellow writers Gary Lachman, Robert Irwin and Gaia Servadio (who infiltrated the group in 1966). The Cube’s screening will be followed by a discussion with director Neil Edwards and former Church member John Harvey – aka Brother Zachary.
Screening Feb 3: Cube
Noted Senegalese filmmaker William Ousmane Mbaye tells the fascinating story of his fellow countryman Cheikh Anta Diop – a scientist and historian whose 1954 book Nations Nègres et Culture (translated into English in 1974 as The African Origins of Civilisation) revolutionised the view of the origin of civilisations by arguing that Africa is the cradle of humanity and the Pharaohs of Egypt were black Africans. Needless to say, this didn’t go down too well with the Egyptologists and Diop’s ideas were to cost him dearly. The Watershed’s screening will be followed by a Q&A with director William Ousmane Mbaye and producer Laurence Attali.
Screening Feb 4: Watershed
Royal Opera House Encore: Il Trovatore
Opera doesn’t get any bigger, grander or – frankly – dafter than Verdi’s Il Trovatore. The plot makes no sense whatsoever, even by operatic standards: woman seeking revenge for the burning to death of her mother for witchcraft snatches the baby son of the man she holds responsible, but accidentally throws her own nipper onto the pyre by mistake. Easily done. So naturally, she raises the surviving child as her own. As you do. Still, never mind the implausibility, this is fabulously overblown stuff, best known for its Anvil Chorus. David Bosch’s production sets the four-act opera against the backdrop of war. This is its first revival.
Screening Feb 5: Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green
History records that Tchaikovsky’s first ballet score was slow to catch on with hoofing world punters. Today, this tale of tragic love and deception is established as one of the world’s most popular ballets and is regularly trotted out as part of the Bolshoi’s repertoire. This production was first broadcast back in January 2015.
Screening Feb 5: Orpheus, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green
Japan Tour 2017: Pieta in the Toilet + Q&A
Rock musician Noda Yojiro of the band Radwimps makes his acting debut in this tale of Hiroshi, a failed painter who falls into the depths of despair when he’s diagnosed with terminal cancer. An encounter with outspoken Mai (Hana Sugisaki) changes his outlook on life. Matsunaga Daishi’s fictional feature debut is based on the last diary by Osamu Tezuka, the ‘God of Manga’. This screening is part of the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2017 and will be followed by a Q&A with director Daishi Matsunaga.
Screening Feb 6: Watershed
Gillian Anderson and David Arquette lend star power to this 2016 drama about a Nepali girl who’s trafficked into prostitution in India. The executive producer is Emma Thompson. Bristol Cathedral’s screening is presented in partnership with Childreach International and will be followed by a panel discussion about the issues raised. Participants include Jess Wilde (South-West Anti-Slavery Partnership Coordinator), Nadine Finch (Honorary Research Fellow University of Bristol and Upper Tribunal Judge (Immigration and Asylum Chamber)), and Sarah Galvin (Phase Worldwide). Go here for more information and to book tickets.
Screening Feb 7: Bristol Cathedral
Royal Shakespeare Company Encore: The Tempest
Bookish Prospero (Simon Russell Beale), Duke of Milan, is usurped and exiled by his dastardly brother Antonio. Stranded on a remote island with his daughter Miranda, he passes the time by becoming a great sorcerer – with a little help from deformed feral slave Caliban (Joe Dixon) and reluctant spirit Ariel (Mark Quartley). When the opportunity arises to exact his revenge, he conjures up a severe weather event. Simon Russell Beale returns to the RSC after 20 years to play Prospero in Artistic Director Gregory Doran’s ground-breaking production of the Bard’s magical play, which has made headlines for deploying motion capture technology more usually associated with Hollywood blockbusters to conjure up the kind of effects that have never been seen on stage before. Fortunately, the critical consensus is that the dazzling eye-candy in no way upstages the performances.
Screening Feb 7: Showcase Cinema De Lux
The Colston Hall’s screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar-winning masterpiece features a live performance of Jonny Greenwood’s score by the London Contemporary Orchestra, which has been collaborating with him since 2008.
Screening Feb 7: Colston Hall
Nocturnal Animals + Tom Ford Q&A
Back on screen to celebrate Michael Shannon’s Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor, this screening of the twisty-turny thriller includes a recorded Q&A with director Tom Ford.
Screening Feb 7: Cineworld Hengrove
High-Rise, Sightseers and Kill List director Ben Wheatley pitches up for a Q&A session after a preview of his eagerly anticipated new crime drama. See our news story here for more on this event.
Screening Feb 8: Watershed
Royal Ballet Live: Woolf Works
The first revival of the Royal Ballet’s multiple award-winning new work by resident choreographer Wayne McGregor, starring Alessandra Ferri and Mara Galeazzi. Operating at the intersection between traditional story ballets and more adventurous modern work, its three acts are each drawn from one of Virginia Woolf’s novels: Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves. The orchestral and electronic music is composed by McGregor’s regular collaborator, Max Richter.
Screening Feb 8: Showcase Cinema De Lux, Everyman, Orpheus, Odeon, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green
Encore screening Feb 12: Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green
Bristol Film Festival: Chocolat
Johnny Depp, whimsy and chocolate for Valentine’s Day. The Bristol Film Festival‘s Valentine’s Day screening launches its Beyond Popcorn series and also marks its first collaboration with the Hotel du Vin. The £30 ticket price gets you a glass of fizz and chocolate-dipped strawberries on arrival in the Christie’s Library and Janneau Bar, before being served a hot chocolate with rum to enjoy during the film. Go here for full details and to book.
Screening Feb 14: Hotel du Vin
Stanley Donen reunited Hitchcock’s Notorious pairing of Ingrid Bergman and Bristol’s very own Cary Grant for this enjoyable, fluffy 1958 romcom adapted from a Broadway flop and relocated from New York to foggy old London. Demonstrating an unexpected gift for comedy, Bergman plays a wealthy actress on the hunt for a hubby. In her sights is Grant: a bachelor who finds it convenient to pretend he’s separated from a wife who won’t give him a divorce. Watch out for our Cary’s best-ever dance routine. It’s back on screen for Valentine’s Day in the suitably romantic surroundings of the Chapter House at Bristol Cathedral, courtesy of the Cary Grant Comes Home for the Weekend festival. Expect hot chocolate and popcorn too. Advance tickets are available here, price £10/£8 (concessions).
Screening Feb 14: Bristol Cathedral
Dirty Dancing 30th anniversary
Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey hit the dancefloor in this ’80s cheesefest, which some would have us believe is now a ‘classic’ and, indeed, “the ultimate chick flick”. The blurb informs us that this 30th anniversary Valentine’s Day screening comes with an “all-new tribute” to the film, featuring celebrity interviews, that will also be featured on the new blu-ray edition.
Screening Feb 14: Showcase Cinema de Lux, Cineworld Hengrove, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green
Bristol Bad Film Club: The Room + Q&A
Back by popular demand, the Bristol Bad Film Club‘s all-time biggest hit is the brainchild of one Tommy Wiseau, who wrote, directed and financed the film as well as playing the lead role. As The Guardian noted: “To make a movie that’s so bad it’s good you need vision, drive, luck and obsessive vanity. Fortuitously, The Room’s writer/producer/director/star Tommy Wiseau appears to possess all of these qualities, combined with a total lack of acting talent.” Mr. Wiseau will be present for both screenings at the Redgrave Theatre, where he’ll be answering questions, posing for photographs and signing autographs. See our news story here for full details.
Screening Feb 15: Redgrave Theatre
National Theatre Live: Saint Joan
Gemma Arterton takes the title role of Joan of Arc in Josie (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Vote, Coriolanus) Rourke’s production of George Bernard Shaw’s classic play. It’s broadcast live from the Donmar Warehouse.
Screening Feb 16: Vue Longwell Gree, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Cineworld Hengrove, Cineworld Yate, Odeon, Orpheus, Curzon, Everyman, Showcase Cinema De Lux
The Cube celebrates the eighth annual Women in Horror Month with a selection of seven suitably terrifying shorts presented by Melanie Light, director of the first vegan feminist horror flick, The Herd. She’s promising the full spectrum of female-produced horror, from Butterflies to The Stylist. Proceeds go to the Womankind Bristol Women’s Therapy Centre. See our feature here for more.
Screening Feb 17: Cube
Bristol Film Festival: William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet
This Valentine’s week Bristol Film Festival screening of Baz Luhrmann’s flashy Bardfest in Averys’ historic wine cellars kicks off with a glass of bubbly and a selection of cheeses courtesy of Arch House Deli. The film itself will be accompanied by a tasting of four wines led by one of Averys’ resident experts. Advance tickets, price £25, are available here.
Screening Feb 17: Averys
Disney’s Newsies: The Broadway Musical
Yes, it’s the film of the musical of the film (do pay attention). Newsies originated as a flop 1992 Disney film musical (starring a young Christian Bale, lest we forget) based on the real-life newsboys strike of 1899, during which a ragtag band of nippers took on the might of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. Yep, that’s right: the entertainment company that has enjoyed a fractious relationship with organised labour actually made a jolly musical celebrating, er, organised labour. Anyhoo, the film found its audience on video and subsequently spawned a Tony Award-winning stage musical. This film version of the production features the original Broadway cast and was recorded live at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.
Screening Feb 19: Showcase Cinema De Lux, Vue Longwell Green
Exhibition on Screen: I, Claude Monet
British documentarian Phil Grabsky, whose credits range from The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan to such event cinema broadcasts as Leonardo Live, helms this first in the new series of Exhibition on Film docs. We’re promised a “cinematic immersion into some of the most loved and iconic scenes in Western Art” alongside an intimate insight into Claude Monet’s life and career in his own words, drawn from more than 2,500 of the troubled impressionist pioneer’s letters. The film was shot on location in Paris, London, Normandy and Venice.
Screening Feb 21: Everyman, Vue Cribbs Causeway
Screening Feb 23: Vue Cribbs Causeway
Introducing Max Davidson + intro
Davar Film and South West Silents join forces to celebrate the work Jewish silent comedian Max Davidson. Largely forgotten today, he was employed by Hal Roach for a series of popular ‘beard’ comedies (it meant something more innocent back then) in the late 1920s. James Harrison from South West Silents provides an introduction to this selection of the funniest ones.
Screening Feb 22: Orpheus
Metropolitan Opera Live: Rusalka
Hot nymph Rusalka tells her lake-ruling water goblin pa that she’s got the hots for a human huntsman. Dad reluctantly refers her to a witch, who informs Rusalka that if she becomes human she will also turn mute. Oh, and if her love betrays her they’ll both be damned for all eternity. But – hey ho – this is opera, so the potential gargantuan pitfalls of such an arrangement are promptly overlooked as everybody gets down to some serious warbling. Mary Zimmerman’s production of Dvorak’s tragic fairy-tale opera sees Kristine Opolais return to the title role that launched her international career. It’s best known for Song to the Moon from Act 1.
Screening Feb 25: Showcase Cinema De Lux, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green
Royal Ballet Live: The Sleeping Beauty
First staged amid the rubble of the Blitz when the Royal Opera House reopened in 1946, with Margot Fonteyn dancing the role of Aurora, the lavish Sleeping Beauty proved to be one of the Royal Ballet’s biggest hits. It was revived a decade ago to mark the company’s 75th birthday, with Oliver Messel’s sets imaginatively reworked by Peter Farmer, and now returns on the production’s 70th anniversary. At its heart remains Tchaikovsky’s music and Marius Petipa’s choreography, delivering all your beautiful princess, fairy godmother and magical spell needs.
Screening Feb 28: Showcase Cinema De Lux, Everyman, Orpheus, Odeon, Vue Cribbs Causeway, Vue Longwell Green
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