Hello all. I’m currently drafting the term 1 schedule and hope to have something presentable by the end of the week. A programming meeting will take place just before the External Relations Officer Election on 19/6/17 at 3pm in L3.
In the meantime feel free to post any film suggestions in this thread - please note that priority will generally be given to newer releases, but there is plenty of room for older films too, especially if they’re available in 35mm.
Hope to see you all at the programming meeting!
UPDATE
Here’s a link to the programming meeting if you haven’t seen it already:
I think it was Marta who suggested My Life as a Courgette at the last programming meeting but it hadn’t had its UK release then. It’s certainly getting the critical acclaim (and I kinda want to see it…).
How do people reckon The Red Turtle is likely to do? Again, critical acclaim and it is Ghibli but the whole no-talking thing might be a bit much for some?
If you’re looking at 35mm, two recent releases that got 35mm prints in the UK were The Lost City of Z and The Other Side of Hope, which are being shown by Picturehouse and Curzon Soho (though this is being promoted as ‘exclusive’) respectively.
Not sure I’d recommend them solely on this but if we’re going to show then anyway it might be worth exploring.
I just saw Mindhorn and I thought it was really, really funny. I think it would work quite well as a Thursday film. I haven’t seen The Red Turtle yet but I agree that we should show it. Les Intouchables is great - second that. The Other Side of Hope also looks really good (The Other Side of Hope trailer - in cinemas & Curzon Home Cinema from 26 May - YouTube).
As for some classics, perhaps to show in 35mm, here are a few ideas: Taxi Driver (last shown here 2007), The Shining (last shown 2013), 12 Angry Men (as far as I can tell it’s never been shown), Mystery Train (again, never shown, but saw it the other day and think it would work quite well, plus the poster’s really cool - https://assets.mubi.com/images/film/2057/image-w1280.jpg).
Great suggestions, Iain. The screening of two short films before My Life as a Courgette is quite an inspired idea, so I’ll look into it. I’ve been to the Watershed a few times and it is an awesome cinema, so I feel no shame in stealing ideas from them.
As for the classics, The Shining is definitely something I’ve thought about. Spoiler alert: I’m planning on showing IT and The Dark Tower this term, both of which are also Stephen King adaptations, but I think The Shining would work in term 2 for sure. Taxi Driver and 12 Angry Men are also great picks, and I shall look more into Mystery Train - sounds intriguing. Thanks!
Hello! I will not be able to attend the programming meeting, but I have a few suggestions so bear with me. There’s a few films which have received significant critical acclaim that would probably not attract an excessive number of people, but that are probably worth showing. Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled is definitely worth considering as she won Best Director at Cannes for it. Similarly The Killing of a Sacred Deer is directed and co-written by Yorgos Lanthimos (the Lobster!), so most likely quite a “fun” watch. Terrence Malick’s new experiment Song to Song is worth looking into too. On the more obscure side, Julia Ducournau’s Raw is supposed to be a fairly interesting approach to horror.
In terms of commercially successful films, I’d say The Lost City of Z, The Circle (with Emma Watson and Tom Hanks), Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, Pirates of the Caribbeans and Wonder Woman are probably the safest films to show. If they can be obtained on time, probably also the new adaptation of It and Nolan’s Dunkirk.
Classics-wise it would be nice to show some Lynch, considering the recent release of the new Twin Peaks season, Eraserhead in particular would be awesome (the Arts Centre showed Mulholland Drive a few weeks ago, with an incredibly low turnout). I’d like to suggest also the extremely underappreciated After Hours (Scorsese) and Wild Strawberries by Bergman. Or Being John Malkovich. More unconventional even Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain. Although I do think The Shining and 12 Angry Men would be fantastic.
Great suggestions! Particularly The Beguiled and Raw. I think Raw would actually be an excellent one to show on Halloween to counterpoint the more conventional horror film we’ll show on the 27th October (hopefully Scream if we can get a 35mm print). The Killing of a Sacred Deer is also on my radar, although it doesn’t look like it’ll be released in time for term 1, so it’ll likely turn up in term 2. And pretty much everything you mentioned in the second paragraph is very likely to be on the final schedule.
I’m also really into the idea of showing some David Lynch. I was considering Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me for the same reason you mentioned - the return of the show - but Eraserhead is probably the better way to go. I’ve not seen After Hours, but it’s now looking likely that we’ll be able to obtain Taxi Driver in 35mm, so it might be a good one to play during the Spring for our term 2 Scorsese fix. xD
Hey, unfortunately we’re not able to get Eraserhead but I asked our booking agents to look into The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive, and Blue Velvet. The Elephant Man is available but only digitally; still waiting to hear back about Mullholland Drive, but we can get Blue Velvet on 35mm so I’ve currently put that one on the schedule. It’ll be discussed more at the programming meeting though
Good job on the schedule - looks great! A few comments/thoughts:
I know that, for the last year or so at least, independent/alternative films have generally been shown on Thursdays and classics (often in 35mm) on Tuesdays. What are your thoughts on this as a format? Of course, there’s nothing tying the cinema to this.
The Allnighter looks good. In past years, however, six films have sometimes been shown. Do you think there’ll be time to squeeze in Paul, or perhaps something else, as well? I do understand if you think that six films might be a bit much, though.
A running time for Dunkirk doesn’t seem to be out yet, although judging by Nolan’s past work I think it’s safe to assume that it’ll be around 2h30 or longer! Showing it as a double shouldn’t be a problem, but I think it’s worth noting (for the sake of publicity etc.) that, if it is much longer than this, then the late showing might have to be pushed back to 2200. It appears that this was done for The Hateful Eight back in Summer 2016.
The Dark Tower has a lot of big names in, and then it has the whole Stephen King thing going for it as well. Do you think that this might make it more appropriate to show as a double?
I assume that, as in past years, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will be free for everyone since it’s on the first Sunday of term. While I recognise that this could be very effective at drawing in freshers and making them aware of the WSC, this could be a very good film commercially (Vol. 1 got 200 and 250 for the early and late respectively). Also, for the past two years at least, the first film of the year was first shown in the summer term of the previous academic year. Could a film we showed/are going to show this term be used instead?
I’d just like to say that I’m very glad to see Mindhorn and 12 Angry Men in there.
Speaking of which, I plan to watch The Other Side of Hope sometime in the next week. If I really enjoy it, expect me to lobby hard for its inclusion at the programming meeting!
I’ll forget come the programming meeting, but I brought this up in the office today. I think I share your concerns but others thought it’d be too old to be a very big draw.
That’s a reasonable point about it possibly being too old. Nevertheless, I imagine it’ll probably still attract more people than some of the other doubles currently on the schedule.
Thanks for your comments, Iain. I think we can address most of those at the programming meeting. Although I will say I’m hoping to arrange a mystery film for the Allnighter, so we’ll see how that works out…
