8 November 2009

11am screening at the Renoir Cinema, London map

HIDDEN (CACHÉ)
Michael Haneke, Italy/Germany/France 2005
English subtitles, 118 mins


The complacency of a middle class couple in Paris is shattered by a long-suppressed revelation. The static opening shot, which lasts for several minutes, is of the exterior of a house in a quiet Parisian neighbourhood. The credits are gradually typed across the screen, passers-by come and go in the frame, and we hear voices on the soundtrack. The image is then fast forwarded: we’ve actually been watching a surveillance tape, and Haneke is quickly warning us to treat with suspicion the ‘reality’ of what we are being shown.

The screening will be followed with a discussion led by Catherine Wheatley, author of Michael Haneke’s Cinema: The Ethic of the Image and Jon Cruddas MP for Dagenham

If you would like to view our full 2009/2010 programme please click here

11 October 2009

11am screening at the Renoir Cinema, London map

Folk America - This Land is Your Land
Jill Nicholls, UK 2008, 60mins


Only a Bookseller
Chris Reeves, UK 2009, 60mins


The first event of our new season is dedicated to the memory of British Socialist and Labour activist Jack Firestein (1917 – 2004).

Tickets must be obtained as usual but they will be issued free. We appreciate donations to cover expenses and to contribute to the cost of completing the making of Only a Bookseller. We are grateful to Jill Nicholls and the BBC to screen This Land is Your Land.

Folk America – This Land is Your Land
Jill Nichols, UK 2008, 60mins

In the depression of the 1930s, convicted murderer Leadbelly set a new agenda for folk music, redefining it as the voice of protest, the voice of the outsider and the oppressed. Dustbowl drifter Woody Guthrie fitted the mould perfectly and the two of them teamed up with friends who believed they could make a better world if they all got together and just sang about it.

Only a Bookseller
Chris Reeves, UK 2009, 60mins

Jack Firestein ran a book stall, rain or shine, every Saturday morning outside the old Labour Party rooms in Bayham Street, NW1. He was a feisty campaigner for all the good causes. He fought at Anzio, was one of Lady Astor’s ‘D-Day Dodgers’, was wounded and imprisoned by the Germans. He was one of the first members of the Unity Theatre Society from the 1930s and an active founder member and convenor in 1990 of the London Socialist Film Co-op. But Jack was best known for his lifetime contribution to the labour movement – first in the Communist Party, then the Camden Labour Party and in his union.

The screening will be followed by a discussion led by Jill Nicholls and Chris Reeves.

If you would like to view our full 2009/2010 programme please click here