Festival of Projections

From dusk until 21:00 on Saturday and Sunday, four three screens will play host to a programme of silent works, from the very earliest cinema, to totally contemporary works. The screens will be sited: at: outside the Gulbenkian, outside Cornwallis North West, outside Senate, outside Registry, and screenings include:

Emrys Plant, I’ve heard rumours that will shake the dust
Saturday and Sunday
16:00-18:00- Registry screen
18:00-20:00- Cornwallis screen
20:00-22:00- Registry screen

There’s often something extraordinary that catches our ear in the most mundane conversations, and taken out of context the twist of a narrative can become something newly poetic. Plant’s projections of text play with cut-up conversations, and the context from which they were taken.

Hitchcock, Champagne (1928) and The Lodger (1927)
Champagne: Saturday 19:00- 22:00 Senate screen
The Lodger: Sunday 19:00- 20:30 Senate screen

Two early British silent films from Hitchcock. Champagne is a comedy, focusing on a young woman forced to get a job after her father tells her he has lost all his money. The Lodger is set in thick fog, and is about the hunt for a “Jack the Ripper” type of serial killer in London.

Buster Keaton, Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Saturday and Sunday 17:00- Senate screen

Full of elaborate stunts and effects, this is classic Buster Keaton, directing himself in a silent comedy including deadpan humor, frolicsome slapstick and many innovative technical accomplishments.

Harold Lloyd, Safety Last! (1923)
Saturday and Sunday 17:00-18:30- Senate screen

A 1923 romantic comedy silent film starring Harold Lloyd. It includes one of the most famous images from the silent film era: Lloyd clutching the hands of a large clock as he dangles from the outside of a skyscraper above moving traffic. The film was highly successful and critically hailed, and it cemented Lloyd’s status as a major figure in early motion pictures, and is viewed today as one of the great film comedies.

Jemima Brown, Screentests
Saturday and Sunday
17:00-18:00- Cornwallis screen
19:00-20:00- Registry screen
21:00-22:00- Cornwallis screen

Artist Jemima Brown’s life casts formed the basis for an extensive library of characters, becoming life sized dolls which were then animated using video footage of the artist’s eyes. The resulting video sequences became a way for the artist of testing out identities, of occupying fictional beings.

Screen Archive South East, The Canterbury Tour (circa 1923)
Saturday and Sunday
17:30-18:00- Senate screen
Sunday 20:30-22:00- Senate screen

‘The Canterbury Tour’ captures everyday life on Canterbury high street – a prosperous city – providing a fascinating snapshot of clothing, transport, shopping at the time. It also provides footage of buildings that were destroyed during the bombing raids of WWII and a thousand-year old cattle market (which has since closed). The filmmaker and date aren’t known, but the date is estimated at 1923.

WHERE Secret Location
WHEN Friday 18 21:00-22:30

Free but booking required. Location will be revealed to ticketholders. Limited availability. Please book through www.afieldinengland.eventbrite.co.uk

A Field in England is an acclaimed 2013 historical psychological thriller directed by British film director Ben Wheatley. The film, shot in black-and-white, is set during the mid-17th century English Civil War. This remarkable film is a psychedelic trip into magic and madness that can trace its lineage back to the best British horror films of the 60’s and 70’s. A Field in England will be shown in an immersive setting, outdoors, and will be introduced by Lawrence Jackson, Lecturer in Film Production in the School of Arts.

Please note that this film is certificated 15, and audience members may be required to show identification.

WHEN: Friday 18:15-20:45
WHERE: Gulbenkian Cinema

To Live and Die in LA is a fast paced 1985 American action thriller. The film tells the story of the lengths to which two Secret Service agents go to arrest a counterfeiter. Director William Friedkin had established his reputation in the early 1970s with The French Connection and The Exorcist. Hailed on its release in 1985 as a return to form, and featuring a powerful score by Jack Hues, the reputation of Friedkin’s To Live and Die in LA has only grown with time.  

After the film screening, we will be joined by the composer of the film score for To Live and Die in LA, Jack Hues. Hues, of British new wave band Wang Chang, was born in Kent. He will be in conversation with Murray Smith (Professor of film, University of Kent), discussing Hues’ work on the score, and his collaboration with William Friedkin.​

WHEN 17:30 (A Trip To The Moon), 18:30 (Meshes Of The Afternoon), 19:30 (The Top Ten YouTube Videos of 2015)
WHERE Jarman Square

Early evening on Sunday, the Jarman Square will host live scores to silent short films. For three, 20 minutes slots, films will be projected across a wall of the Jarman Building, with a grand piano accompaniment played by pianist Sam Bailey. The programme features:

La Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip To The Moon): George Mielies’ seminal 1902 film. Widely regarded as the earliest example of the Science Fiction genre, it is also considered one of the most influential films in cinema history, inspiring a broad spectrum of celebrated artists, from Martin Scorsese to the Smashing Pumpkins.

Meshes of the Afternoon: An avant-garde masterpiece directed by wife-and-husband team, Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid in 1943. This dreamlike (or perhaps nightmarish) feminist classic explores the interior image of the female protagonist. An acknowledged pre-cursor to the work of David Lynch and Stan Brakhage.

The Top Ten YouTube Videos of 2015: a video montage of the most shared videos on social media, including Dog Eating Food Like A Human, Different Ways To Wear A Scarf and Cat Scared By Fake Spider.