The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
Dinner At Eight (1933)
BBC Centenary
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Fringe!
BBC Centenary
Thin Ice (1928) |
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 | Kennington Bioscope presents; The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Wednesday September 14th @ 7:30pm 1949, Santa Rosa, California. A laconic, chain-smoking barber Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) is an ordinary man trying to escape a humdrum life. Ed’s wife Doris (Frances McDormand) likes a drink and may be having an affair with her boss Big Dave, who has $10,000 to invest. Ed gets wind of a chance to make some money, and blackmail and investment are his opportunity to be more than a man whom no one notices. Cue a tale of suspected adultery; blackmail; foul play; death; Sacramento city slickers; racial slurs; invented war heroics; shaved legs; a gamine piano player; and UFOs. A 1949 noir made in 2001, and directed by the Coen Brothers, this film received multiple award nominations and awards.
Advance tickets are £8 - click below to purchase via Ticketlab. Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. |
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 | Women & Cocaine presents Jean Harlow: Dinner At Eight (1933), Friday September 16th @ 7:30pm Before Madonna, Mansfield and Monroe, there was Harlow, the original Blonde Bombshell. By the time of her death at the age of 26, Jean Harlow had become one of Hollywood’s biggest and brightest stars. He image has endured in fascinating modern audiences and on the 16th September we will take a closer look at the short but sweet life of ‘Baby’ Jean with a screening of her most successful film, Dinner at Eight (1933). Millicent Jordan, (Billie Burke) an ambitious New York socialite, is planning an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver (Lionel Barrymore), contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard (Wallace Beery) and his sultry spouse, Kitty (Jean Harlow), contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner. Come join us in this beautifully historic Grade II listed venue for an introduction, then screening of the film and exclusive raffle! “My father warned me about men & booze, but he never mentioned a word about women & cocaine” – Tallulah Bankhead.
Reserved tickets £9.45 available from Eventbrite. Tickets will also be available on the door on the night. Concessions available on the door with valid ID. Phone bookings for this event cannot be made via the Cinema Museum. |
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 | BBC Centenary presents LGBTQ+ Screenings; Everyman: Blasphemy At The Old Bailey (1977) + Q&A, Saturday September 17th @ 7:30pm This screening of Blasphemy at the Old Bailey (1977) and rare BBC news footage is accompanied by a discussion by some of those involved in defending Gay News and supporting gay and lesbian Christians against Mary Whitehouse’s moral crusade. The LGBTBBC season of screenings is funded by the Arts and Humanities Council in cooperation with the BBC.
Admission is free, but places are limited. To avoid disappointment, please click below to register via Eventbrite. |
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 | The Vito Project LGBTQ+ Film Club Presents; Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Sunday September 18th @ 6pm Forget your troubles, come on, get happy and join us as The Vito Project LGBTQ+ Club returns with its brand new season – Imitations of Life: Deconstructing Camp in Classic Hollywood. We will explore how camp has been used not only to bring joy and laughter to audience, but also as a tool to get subversive queer, feminist and socially-charged content to the screen – all the while eluding critics in the process! Each movie is preceded by an introduction and followed by a panel discussion discussing the movie through a queer lens, and a conversation with the audience. Our season kicks off with one of the best loved, most quoted, but rarely surpassed titles in camp classic canon: the masterpiece of musical comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, directed by Howard Hawks. Starring the indomitable Jane Russell and a radiant Marilyn Monroe in one of her breakthrough roles, this classic still shines bright like a diamond as one of the most luminous examples of female friendship on the screen. This glitzy Technicolor romp features a long list of iconic moments that cemented their place in pop culture history, but just to name a few that you wouldn’t want to miss – an extremely ‘love sick’ Jane Russell singing “Isn’t Anyone Here For Love” to a bevy of beefy but oblivious scantily-clad bodybuilders; and of course, Marilyn’s dazzling rendition of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”, which has inspired homages by everyone from Madonna to Miss Piggy.
More information here.
Advance tickets are £8 and may be purchased from Ticketlab. Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. |
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 | Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest: Chocolate Babies (1996) & Pat Rocco Dared (2001), Friday September 23rd @ 6:30pm The Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest travels to The Cinema Museum to screen two films about the gay activism in the States in the last century. Chocolate Babies (1996) USA 83 mins Directed by Stephen Winter. An underground band of HIV-positive, queer, urban, activists of color make headlines in NYC after staging fabulous guerilla attacks on conservative politicians to expose political corruption. As the charismatic group get caught up in self-destructive binges, love affairs and infighting, the group begins to crumble. Will they find the peace and justice they seek? A raw and honest film (rich in history and place), which has been provoking laughter and dialogue for 25 years. Content warning: intravenous drug use, nudity, gun violence Pat Rocco Dared (2021) Canada 90 mins – UK Premiere Directed by Charlie David. In the 1970’s Playboy magazine dubbed Pat Rocco the ‘King of the Nudies’, but he is much more than an erotic filmmaker. This charming doc reveals all about the activist, artist, and prolific purveyor of authentic documentation of LGBTIQA+ people over the 20th century. Rocco recorded the presence of the most marginalised communities at historical moments, like the first ever gay pride parade. This film offers a rare chance to hear from Rocco in his own words and see clips from restored versions of some of his rarest films. Advance tickets are £10 for both films or £6 for an individual film. Please click below to purchase via Ticketlab. Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Tickets can also be purchased on the door. |
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 | BBC Centenary LGBTQ+ Screenings: Trans Lives In The Seventies + Q&A, Saturday September 24th @ 7:30pm Wonder Reels return to the Cinema Museum with their unique events featuring live performances from outstanding London musicians followed by a screening of a full feature film chosen with the artist in mind. The event will start with a performance by vocalist, instrumentalist and dancer Maggie Nicols, who will be playing an improvised voice and piano set. Maggie Nicols co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group in the 1970s and has had a prolific career as a performer and recording artist worldwide. The concert will be followed by a screening of Hal Ashby’s 1971 cult existentialist comedy Harold and Maude, chronicling the adventures of two adorable mavericks while they make the most of their time on earth.
Admission is free, but places are limited. To avoid disappointment, please register via Eventbrite. |
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 | Kennington Bioscope presents; Thin Ice (1928), Wednesday September 28th @ 7:30pm Thin Ice is known in Norwegian as Bergenstoget plyndret i natt (The Bergen Train Looted Last Night) and was adapted by Alf Rød from the 1923 novel of that name written by Nordahl Grieg and Nils Lie under the joint pseudonym `Jonathan Jerv’. Directed by Uwe Jens Krafft and with German actors Aud Egede-Nissen and Paul Richter in the leading roles, Thin Ice is the story of a student embarking on a daring raid on a train passing through the mountain scenery from Oslo to Bergen. His motivation: having obtained a job as advertising executive with the railway company and seeking the hand of the boss’s daughter, he hopes to confirm his chances with both by staging the robbery – but is this merely a publicity stunt, or something more? The extensive Norwegian outdoor scenes were photographed by Paul Berge and Johannes Bentzen; interiors were shot by Günther Krampf in the EFA and UFA studios in Berlin (the film was released in Germany as Schneeschuhbanditen). Thin Ice was Norway’s first true attempt at an international film success and fulfilled its promise; even without promotion over 100,000 Norwegian cinemagoers saw the film, which was subsequently exported to 11 countries. The first part of the evening will feature a screening of Ménilmontant (1925). Ménilmontant is an avant-garde French film directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff. Its narrative develops solely through images and montage, without the support of sound or title cards. Ménilmontant tells the story of two young sisters who leave their country home in the wake of their parents’ brutal murder, and settle in the eponymous working-class Parisian neighborhood where they fall prey to the ruthless seduction of a young man. The film is notable for its use of double exposure, the depiction of disorienting urban landscapes via very rapid cutting, as well as for the brutality of the opening and closing scenes. This will be screened from a 16mm print from The Cinema Museum’s collection. Tickets are £7 and seats are limited. To avoid disappointment, please request an invite via email; kenbioscope@gmail.com. |
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