William Fowler, co-editor of The Edge Is Where the Centre Is: David Rudkin and Penda’s Fen, and James Machin, co-editor of Of Mud and Flame: The Penda’s Fen Sourcebook join host Gareth Evans and a Garden Cinema audience for a special screening to mark the 50th anniversary – to the very hour of the Play For Today transmission – of Penda’s Fen. Recorded 21st March 2024 at The Garden Cinema.

Playwright David Rudkin recorded an introduction to Penda’s Fen, directed by Alan Clarke in 1974:

In the Works is our regular series of screenings and informal conversations with guests from all areas of the industry, hosted by Oscar nominated composer Gary Yershon. Gary’s guest is Tristan Oliver (BSC), an internationally renowned cinematographer known for his work on animated films, including Chicken Run, Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Isle of Dogs, Loving Vincent, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

00:00 // Intro
00:15 // What’s the difference between Director of Photography and Cinematographer?
01:08 // Working with Wes Anderson on his first animated film “You do not bring yourself to the table”
17:06 // Why handmade animation is exciting for audiences
18:46 // Lenses. and depth of field when animating small scale sets and characters
25:58 // Flicker – why do animators wear black?
27:54 // Aardman’s key role in the animation industry – and why I had to leave
33:50 // Do you have to justify your light sources even when animating a scene underground?
38:02 // Is there something British about stop-motion animation?
41:22 // The use of zoom lenses
44:00 // Big lights, small sets
48:57 // Special effects – the fight ball in Isle of Dogs
52:03 // Puppets, skeletons and movements
55:54 // What comes first, movement or dialogue?
58:15 // Winning awards for animated films

Recorded on 24th February 2024 at The Garden Cinema

Our very own Alice Pember introduces Trailblazers: Women in New Hollywood.

See which films are part of the season and book tickets: https://www.thegardencinema.co.uk/season/women-in-new-hollywood-2/

‘New Hollywood’ is often remembered for a ‘brat pack’ of male directors, including filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, who capitalised on the less restrictive filmmaking landscape that followed the decline of the Hollywood studio system to make films that broke from the classical mould.

‘Trailblazers: Women in New Hollywood’ reconceptualises this renaissance in American filmmaking by celebrating unsung female directors whose creativity also began to flourish in this more open filmmaking landscape, but whose work has often been unfairly overshadowed by their male counterparts.

Spotlighting the trailblazing filmmaking of directors Claudia Weill, Barbara Loden, Joan Micklin Silver, and Kathleen Collins, the season showcases a range of their rarely-screened films from the 1970s and 80s. From Claudia Weill’s masterly examination of female friendship Girlfriends (1978), to the point zero of the modern indie rom-com Crossing Delancey (Joan Micklin Silver, 1988), the season highlights the visionary filmmaking and lasting impact of these women on contemporary American cinema. Accompanied by Q&As, expert introductions, discussions, and special events, the season invites reconsideration of this important era of American filmmaking, shedding light on women’s hard-fought (and sometimes short lived) contributions to New Hollywood.

An LRB Screen event, the London Review Bookshop’s long-running film series exploring of the art of literary adaption in partnership with MUBI.

Sam Kinchin-Smith, the LRB’s head of special projects, is joined by Mary Harron (via video link), who co-wrote the screenplay to American Psycho, and began her career as a writer – as one of the punk and post-punk eras’ most brilliant music critics. Her filmography includes striking portraits of major counter-cultural figures – Valerie Solanas, Bettie Page and the Manson family, among others – as well as the Netflix adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace.

American Psycho is the first of this year’s six special screenings: Mary Harron’s elegantly controlled adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis controversial – and bestselling – satirical horror novel, published in 1991. A vividly inventive feminist reading of the voids at the heart of consumerism, corporate capital and late-century metropolitan culture, it stars Christian Bale in his breakthrough role, with a score by John Cale and a supporting cast drawn from the finest US independent actors. The shadow of Donald Trump looms large throughout its prophetic account of American carnage.

Recorded on 26th February 2024 at The Garden Cinema

Giulia Rho, Sophia Satchell-Baeza and Dr Virginie Sélavy discuss The Seashell and The Clergyman (Germaine Dulac, 1928), Meshes of The Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943), and Psychosynthesis, (Barbara Hammer, 1975).

Giulia Rho is a Teaching Associate at Queen Mary University of London, where she has recently completed her PhD in Film Studies. Her research covers experimental women filmmakers and queer artists, especially those operating within the New York Avant Garde and LA Rebellion. Her work deals with Post-structuralist Feminist Philosophy as well as theories of Queer Time and questions of archival memory and justice. Her writing has appeared in Frames Film Journal and Film-Philosophy.

Dr Sophia Satchell-Baeza is Associate Lecturer at University of the Arts London and a film critic for Sight & Sound. Her research explores histories of underground film, expanded cinema and counterculture, and specialises in British psychedelic films and light shows of the 1960s and ‘70s.

Dr Virginie Sélavy is a lecturer at Ravensbourne University and a freelance film critic. She was the founding editor of Electric Sheep Magazine and co-director of the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies – London. She writes and lectures on horror, fantastique and exploitation cinema and regularly runs a course on surrealism in film. www.feminaridens.com

00:00 // Introduction
00:25 // Dr Virginie Sélavy on The Seashell and the Clergyman
05:11 // Dr Sophia Satchell-Baeza on Meshes of the Afternoon
10:32 // Giulia Rho on Psychosynthesis
14:46 // Where do these films fit into cinema history?
21:29 // Making meaning surrealism in films
25:38 // Surrealsim and psychoanalysis
28:55 // How did the filmmakers frame their films?
33:31 // The early use of special effects
35:08 // Queer readings of surrealist films

Explore the Who is Luis Buñuel? collection of video introductions and discussions on our Youtube Playlist.

Thanks to Professor Rob Stone for his consultation with the season.
Recorded on 8th February 2024 at The Garden Cinema

What were the historical influences for the costumes in the movie Poor Things? From Alice in Wonderland to condoms, this fashion-oriented Q&A unspools the threads that make up costume designer Holly Waddington’s creations.

With Sarah Bailey, editor-at-large at VOGUE Greece and founder of the Fashion Film Club, and Judith Watt, Head of Fashion History at Central Saint Martins and contributor to Vogue, The Guardian, and BBC.

Recorded on 1st February 2024 at The Garden Cinema

Rob Stone, Amparo Martínez Herranz and Pete William Evans discuss ‘Who is Luis Buñuel?’ following our screening of Viridiana.

Rob Stone is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Birmingham. He is the author of Spanish Cinema (Longman, 2001), Julio Medem (Manchester University Press, 2007), co-author of Basque Cinema: A Cultural and Political History (I.B.Tauris, 2015) and co-editor of The Unsilvered Screen: Surrealism on Film (Wallflower, 2007) and The Companion to Luis Buñuel (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013).

Thanks to Professor Rob Stone for his consultation with the season.

Peter William Evans is Emeritus Professor of Film Studies at Queen Mary, University of London. His research and publications are mainly on Spanish cinema and classical Hollywood cinema. He is the author of The Films of Luis Buñuel: Subjectivity and Desire (Oxford University Press, 1995), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (BFI, 1996) and the editor of Spanish Cinema: The Auteurist Tradition (Oxford University Press, 1999).

Amparo Martínez Herranz is Professor of History of Art and Film in the University of Zaragoza in Spain. Her research focuses on the films of Luis Buñuel, the history of cinema in Aragon and Spain, and the links between cinema, literature and art. She is the author of several studies of the history of cinema in Zaragoza and edited La España de Viridiana (The Spain of Viridiana) (Zaragoza University Press, 2013).

Recorded on 25th January 2024 at The Garden Cinema