Category Archives: Screening and Discussion

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, Monday 2nd October, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for the first of this term’s melodrama screening and discussion sessions, taking place on Monday the 2nd of October, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

By screening Miss Christina (2013, Alexandru Maftei, 101 minutes) we are referring back to the wonderful Gothic Feminism conference held at Kent in May 2017. (See the Gothic Feminism blog here: https://gothicfeminism.com) Maria (who presented an excellent paper on Miss Christina at the conference) is very kindly giving us the opportunity to see this film, and has provided the great summary below. Thanks Maria!

Alexandru Maftei’s 2013 film Miss Christina represents the second adaptation of Mircea Eliade’s novella with the same title. The film largely follows the same narrative line as the novella. The young painter Egor (Tudor Aaron Istodor) and his love interest Sanda (Ioana Anastasia Anton) travel to her family’s countryside estate to get away from Bucharest’s busy city life. Upon reaching the Moscu family mansion, Egor observes the strange interactions between members of the household. The mother, Mrs. Moscu (Maia Morgenstern) seems weakened, drained and ill. Professor Nazarie, a guest in the mansion, is polite and pleasant by day but weary at night. Sanda’s younger sister, Simina (Ioana Sandu) appears as a happy but creepy child, who always talks about her mysterious aunt, Christina (Anastasia Dumitrescu). Egor is led to Christina’s portrait and becomes increasingly obsessed with it and falls further and further under her spell.

Miss Christina created quite a hype among movie-goers at the time of its release, largely because it was marketed as the first Romanian horror film. However, it received mixed reviews. Some critics noted that there was nothing scary about the film and that attempts at jump scares fell short and even became embarrassing. Other critics focused on the Gothic elements of the film, praising it for the setting and costumes. Given these reactions, Miss Christina generates an interesting discussion in terms of marketing, genre and audience expectations. As a DVD copy has not been released for purchase, this screening is a unique opportunity to see the film (with English subtitles!).

Do join us, if you can, for an interesting discussion on the intersection of the gothic and horror in film.

 

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, Tuesday 30th of May, 5-7pm, Jarman 7

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All are very welcome to join us for our next screening and discussion session which will take place on Tuesday the 30th of May, 5-7pm, in Jarman 7.

Inspired by Kent’s wonderful on-going Gothic Feminism project (https://gothicfeminism.com/), we continue our concern with the Gothic by showing The Others (2001, Alejandro Amenabar, 104 mins).

The film, which focuses on a family living in a Jersey mansion in 1945, was referenced several times in the recent Gothic Feminism conference.

Do join us if you can.

 

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, 15th of May, 5-7 pm, Jarman 7

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All are very welcome to join us for the first melodrama screening and discussion session of the summer term. This will take place on Monday the 15th of May, 5-7pm, in Jarman 7.

 

We will be showing the first episode of the BBC TV series The Crimson Field (2014). The 6-part drama series follows female nurses and the military patients they treat in a French field hospital during World War I.

It was penned by Sarah Phelps, whose later adaptations of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and The Witness for the Prosecution have formed the basis of some of our previous discussions.

The screening also ties in with a recent, and ongoing, research project on the representation of women in the British wartime publication The War Illustrated. ‘Women’s War Work is Never Done’ is led by our own Tamar Jeffers McDonald, and you can find out more information on our sister blog NoRMMA’s website:  http://www.normmanetwork.com/?p=604

Do join us, if you can, to view the first episode of this series, and to discuss the Melodrama Group’s forthcoming plans.

 

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, 3rd of April, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for the last of this term’s screening and discussion sessions. We will be showing The Mirror Crack’d (1980, Guy Hamilton, 105 mins).

This big-budget adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1962 novel The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side stars Angela Lansbury as dogged detective Miss Marple. Hollywood’s ultimate star Elizabeth Taylor plays Hollywood diva Marina Gregg and Rock Hudson is her director husband Jason Rudd. While staying at an old mansion during filming in the UK, Marina finds herself threatened by anonymous letters, attempted poisonings and her own past…

Do join us, if you can, for some classic Christie.

Also, you can catch up with the recent ITV version, starring Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple, until the 2nd of April here: http://www.itv.com/hub/miss-marple/1a5576a0009

 

Screening and Discussion, 20th of March, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to attend the next film screening in our Gothic season. We will be showing Alien (1979, Ridley Scott, 117 minutes).

Scott’s film was the first in the highly successful Alien franchise. It introduces the audience to the tough and resourceful heroine, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), and, more scarily, to the concept of face huggers.  Weaver appeared in all 3 sequels (1986, 1992 and 1997), continuing to take on not just terrifying alien life forms, but the sinister ‘corporation’. The fact the series has also prompted 2 prequels (2012 and forthcoming in 2017) further comments on its relevance to current society.

 

 

 

Screening and Discussion, 6th of March, 4-7pm, Eliot Peter Bird Room

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All are very welcome to join us for the next in our season of Gothic films. We will watch and discuss a film.

Please note that we have a change of start time and venue: 4pm in Eliot’s Peter Bird Room.

You can find information about, and directions to, the room here:

https://www.kent.ac.uk/timetabling/rooms/room.html?room=E.BIRD

 

 

Screening and Discussion, 20th of February, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us to watch and discuss The Devil’s Vice (Peter Watkins-Hughes, 2014, 60 mins).

 

This 1 hour Welsh thriller, written and directed by Peter Watkins-Hughes, is set in rural Monmouthshire. A pregnant young woman (Sara Lloyd Gregory) and her husband (Gareth Jewell) endure terrifying occurrences at their home, as she becomes convinced an evil entity is determined to cause her serious harm.

Do join us if you can.

Melodrama Meeting 23rd of January, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for the first Melodrama meeting of 2017.

We are going to discuss the BBC’s recent 2-part adaptation of Agatha Christie’s short story The Witness for the Prosecution. As the production is over 2 hours in length, we ask that you watch it beforehand.

You can find the episodes on iplayer, available until the 25th of January, here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b086z959?suggid=b086z959

witness-for-the-pros

Adapted by Sarah Phelps (who was also responsible for 2015’s Agatha Christie 3 parter And Then There Were None), the production centres on the trial of a young man accused of murdering an older, wealthy, widow for her money. It  opens out the story in very different ways to Billy Wilder’s 1957 film starring Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich. Phelps updates the story for our modern times with a sexy older woman (Kim Catrall) catching young Leonard Vole’s (Billy Howle’s) eye. The adaptation is also firmly placed in its post World War I context with many of the characters still dealing with the aftermath of the conflict.

Do join us if you can for discussion on the adaptation and plans for the coming term.