Very very early draft of the autumn schedule is up! It’s incredibly bare bones right now as there are a lot of slots to fill and I have reached a standstill of ideas so I now pass it off to you! I would like it to be in a bit better shape by the time the programming meeting comes around, hence why I am releasing it so early.
New releases aren’t looking great this summer so we’ll likely be relying on older films to bulk out the rest of the schedule. We’re missing a FFE film and I don’t believe there will be a new release this summer strong enough to fill that spot, suggestions of older films to fill this slot would be appreciated, remember it should appeal to a big audience and show what our cinema can do.
Love the look of it so far, definitely some great choices already.
With the lackluster set of new releases I think we will definitely need to have pretty much every new release on the schedule (even the not so great looking ones), to ideally not make a whole generation of freshers constantly ask, “So… do you guys show new films too?”.
That’s it for now. I think it looks great though and I absolutely love the horror picks! Already calling dibs on helping run the Texas Chainsaw Massacre midnight screening
looks good!! i’d definitely back if beale street could talk and sound of metal + i like having i saw the tv glow on there too. i think how to train your dragon trilogy would do pretty well too? i’d be up for slow + maybe about dry grasses if we’ve got the space just for variety
that’s all i got for now but i like it so far!!!
(also… if we’re filling space… i’d love the eight mountains (2023) on at some point but i’ll be honest i don’t know how well it’d do or if we could get it. it’s just one of my personal favourites)
(actual final note: i love the variety we’ve got for halloween i am Not super into horror movies but there’s a couple on there i’ve been meaning to watch for a while!! nice distribution for people like me who are terrified of their own shadow)
Love the choices already! I agree with James, will probably need to get most new releases in. Some of them do look interesting, like megalopolis if it comes out on time. Love that Om Shanti Om is in there! Also, the All Night All Nighter looks amazing, so many fun film choices in it. Her double also seems like a great idea. A couple of film suggestions I have. The Worst Person in the World, great film from Oslo trilogy, pretty popular and a good foreign language film. Hateful Eight in 70mm potentially? Shot in 70 and one we haven’t shown(or have not shown recently). I’ll put in more suggestions as they come up I suppose but schedule looks very solid for now. Love it!
I AM ALL FOR HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON TRILOGY!! Also I think the all night all nighter is a super cool idea and love the variety of film choices that gives us, but also love the idea of childhood nostalgia, which could potentially have the same appeal factor that the Shrek all Nighter did.
Also love the Wong Kar-Wai double bill I think that would be amazing. Perfect Blue is also an amazing shout.
Very awesome Marnie loving the choices so far.
Hype! Idk it’s definitely always kinda special to see a new year draft pop up for the first time and I’m excited.
I’m just gonna thought dump here about 70mm as a jumping-off point for discussions I think people might wanna have? I know I’ve chatted about this with you in the office Marnie and also with James, Daniel and a few others so ig this is a summary? (I cannot lie this is just bc I’ve been hyped and fixating bc Dune)
BASICALLY right, it sorta feels as though 2001 is becoming a we-do-it-every-year when we already have our canonical 20-ish-year we-do-it-every-year tradition of Pulp Fiction. I gather people don’t know how to feel about that? I’m definitely conflicted too.
PROS:
I mean, it’s solid S-tier 70mm (one of the few non-Nolan options we actually have for shot-on-70mm)
all of the “I have literally died and ascended to Heaven” letterboxd reviews are intensely validating
seeing 2001 on 70mm sorta feels like a rite of passage and I guess we’ve done a LOT of banging on about educating audiences on film-on-film etc in awards applications as of late
doing stuff like this (it’s not just “they can do 70mm, that’s neat”, it’s actually getting hundreds of bums in seats to see it and making those people’s brains run out of their ears) is I think generally agreed to be one of the things that make people take us seriously as The Cinema and cultivates an audience for our other prorgamming.
it typically not only pays for itself but probably make half its cost again as surplus, which at 70mm lolprice is a big ask.
CONS:
sorta feels like it might be easy to get sick of it. (both us and audiences?)
if we do 2001 as our one 70mm every term 1, we end up excluding other cool 70mm prints we could do. Blow-ups are cool, too!
I sorta wonder if there’s merit in looking at it as a case of “we use the 2001 surplus to fund something else in 70mm”, but, also, do people want that? Idk? I guess this is the end of the conversations I’ve had with people.
Allllso, speaking of Pulp Fiction, do people clock this a a proper Tradition we have? I’m definitely a sentimental old fool even at the best of times, and so I’m quite emotionally attached to it (I think we’ve been showing it annually in T1 for longer than next year’s intake will have been alive). Also, even on its own merits, I sorta reckon it’s a properly cult-y, uni-coded film and still at least a liiiitle bit has “going to see an 18 in the cinema with your friends now you’re all 18” energy.
for 70mm inspiration, if you look here 70mm Film Presentations in London, England 1958 - 2023 from late-82 onwards – when Kodak film stock stopped going pink – many (but sadly not all – no 70mm BatB for us ) are available.
Looks awesome! aaaah there’s so many I want to watch already @KieranHall I back having 2001 as a recurring print. It is such a 70mm film if you get what I mean (image and sound baby), and personally I think everyone should get to experience it in all its glory at least once. As for Pulp Fiction, it’s simply a staple - I’ll never forget walking into a packed L3 for the first time to watch this on the big screen and having an absolute blast. tbh it’s what made me want to get involved with WSC in the first place
I actually think an Emma Stone All-nighter could do well? Unironically. She’s really talked about (oscar winner this year + her new film with Lanthimos will be out then) and she’s got a super nice spread in genres (not to mention, great films) which can appeal to lots of ppl. Also, as a concept, it’s just so silly and goofy I love it
I really want to see Her + Lost in Translation double bill, if not in autumn then in spring term. Audience that gets it would love it too
Indiana Jones/ Back to the Future triple bill would go insanely hard, just the nostalgia value would get a good number of viewers in for sure
Also could we get Jordan Peele’s Nope on that Tuesday slot of Halloween week? It ties in better with BHM while also still in spooky season fashion.
first off, the schedule looks great so far (i am SO mad i’ll be in spain but i’m gonna suggest some things anyway even if i can’t see them).
maybe some kind of musical film, like tick tick boom or hamilton, one of those kinda things? would do well i reckon, even if only as a single.
regarding 2001, we always do it, yes, but does it always do well? also yes. i completely get the point about it getting ‘boring’ but then again if it brings in enough money that we can fund another different 70mm then i’m all for that (i guess same goes for oppenheimer, we’ve done it a lot but it’ll do well and it’s a safe showing)
i definitely think some kind of mystery film would be good, if it’s part of an allnighter/evening or its own standalone thing, it would be cool
i’m loving all the different allnighter suggestions at the moment, the midnight showing for tcm is a very cool idea and i think would go down well
i would love to see paprika on there seeing as we couldnt get it this term, and there should definitely be some anime, maybe more than one seeing as we have welcome week so maybe one there too?
i’ll inevitably have more thoughts later but this is just from a quick look through now, but i’m a big fan of it at the moment
Also – COOL THINGS ABOUT SUSPIRIA (a rehash of my witterings from ages ago when I suggested it on Slack.)
Bradford has an original 1977 IB Technicolor (very bright, contrasty colours that don’t fade – some say Suspiria works better when it’s in colour…*) dye transfer print with 4-track magnetic sound which we can prospectively actually DO now we spent £££s on the extra mag preamp cards we need for it (big project wiring it in over summer, though!). Afaik this would be the first mag 35mm FilmSoc has done since 1986 and apparently the 4-track mag mix of Suspria is Really Quite Something even by Suspiria’s sensory overload standards (the non-mag Suspiria prints are all mono, so it’s not even just “better multichannel”).
Obvs I’m quite strongly nerding out about this but even if you don’t care about the tech, cool stuff to flex in the booklet etc. innit. (“on loan from the collections of the National Media Museum…”)
This is obviously not a mag print and they look all warped bc they’re taken through a loupe but for reference about the IB Tech colours:
* – if you go on those tedious home cinema enthusiast forums or those godforsaken corners of Reddit, you will find people complaining about the “bad”, “unnatural colour grading” “ruining” their £100 Blu-ray steelbook and demanding studios “restore” the colour.
couple more thoughts + an actual argument for the eight mountains (technically a 2022 movie but got wide release in 2023. believe uk distributor is picturehouse)
it’s good
it won cannes’ jury prize + a couple david di donatello’s, for those who care about that sort of thing
in italian, always good to have foreign language stuff on there (plus if the italian studies society is up and running again next year there might be a chance to collab?)
as someone who’s seen it in the cinema and at home it’s genuinely worth watching on the big screen for the immersion + atmosphere with the nature shots
that’s about it. i think it could have pretty solid appeal for a good amount of people. and i’ll personally advertise it to everyone i know
other things (largely new release stuff):
gladiator 2 has a release date in nov currently?
might be a little late to get a hold of the teachers’ lounge but again if we’ve got room for it it might be a good idea best international nominee and all that
i back wendell and wild for a bhm pick
the crow remake maybe? don’t know much about it
tiger stripes is on limited release right about now? i can’t remember if that one had been brought up before
the bikeriders? also don’t know much about it
that’s all ive found so far!! liking what we have for sure
HELLO! I am finally here to give some thoughts. Ik im not gonna be here anymore (sad) but shall try n chime in with my non filmbro, for-the-girlies perspective as per usual.
First off, I wanna say how AMAZINGLY FULL THIS DOC IS WITH IDEAS!!! Even if u think it’s a bit chaotic, having that many ideas put to paper is so freaking cool - esp with all nighter - SO MANY IDEAS!! I can tell u have been putting sm thought into it all so mad props to u Marnie!!<3
FFE Vibes - as you say, of the new releases, there isn’t much popping out like there naturally has been the last couple years for this slot. Apologies if this is stating the obvious or dumb but I feel like whatever is chosen has to be sorta a 'come for the cinema experience moment - ones that are best enjoyed with ur flat/ randos in the room you can laugh with. Sorry nothing is springing to mind atm but ill try n come up with a couple suggestions to help out by programming meet
Welcome Week -here with my tiny reminder that weds WW is not on a2/a0/ lc/ a4 so worth thinking abt the picks. I think maybe having dead pool n wolverine on this day might be a slay cos I feel like it sells well and will amp up the natural small dip we could get weds due to it not being on some stuff? It’s been a while (in fact a year lol) since we had this same discussion so maybe worth having it again in programming meeting if that makes sense?
Events/Seasons - yes yes YES. I LOVE A THEME. Happy these are continuing and the promotion will be bussing if stuff goes to plan and pub/marketing teams have time to plan some cool shizz ahead of time :)) I wished we did more ‘free if you xyz’ or dressups this year so its nice to see - big up miss cong we love HER. The trilogies /DBs etc sound like good shouts at a glance, allows for folks to dip toes into events maybe pre all-nighter etc :)) RE - mystery film, In my time there hasn’t really been one of these fully planned out iirc, so if you’re doing one ya gotta commit and it requires a lot of cross communication re pub/marketing/ films to make it feel intentional etc. I back it if it’s done right/ executed well (id have loved to have done the promo brainstorming for one but alas, we move).
Maybe some sorta dress up on halloween week could be cool? Like generic halloween costumes on halloween night or fit it into the theme of a film? Doesn’t have to be subsidised tickets but could be cute for vibes reasons e.g 80s for Maxxxine (this is just an off the cuff example)
AllNighters - Some banging ideas here. I reckon we’ve sorta run out of franchises atm? Like there’s nothing that springs out to me that’s like ‘yeah that!’ that we haven’t already done/ would have loads of appeal. The All Night idea sounds cool and open enough for variety within them and again, I think promotion could have a field day with it if we could get heads together in time n plan something super fun!
I think that’s all for now, until prog meeting/ another draft? Will have more thoughts on placement/ genre coverage etc then probs?
overall, im loving the ahead of the game- ness of it in terms of planning as it makes stuff not feel like an afterthought!!! Which I am a big fan of and allows for pub/marketing to put together some cool stuff instead of a last min rush(caan you tell im ex pub lololol)
I’m not sure personally (and I mean actually ‘not sure’, not that thing where people go “hmmmm I’m not sure about that” when they mean they hate an idea) about going back that far with the international arthouse that we’ve missed, BUT I think this does indirectly make a very very good observation that this is something that’s been missing from the schedule recently and probably offers a sliver of good news for us, because it’s those sorts of films that get their release dates much closer to their release date than do the MCU tentpoles.
there’s the new beetlejuice beetlejuice film coming out september 6th which might do pretty well? and finally another new release bc i know we’re sort of lacking though at the moment
any merit in putting dune 2 on for ffe? i know it’ll be late but i think it’d be long enough after the film came out to catch people who saw it and want to rewatch in the cinema, people who didn’t see it and go “oh it’s free”, etc, and it’s a pretty Cinema Experience kind of film as well as being a new-ish release
also having now seen la chimera (twice) i do think that having that somewhere would absolutely be worth it (again, late and what hype there was will have somewhat died down but it’s still got one of the guys from challengers and it’s also just good)
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