The Cinema of Ideas

A programme of contemporary cinema from Myanmar focusing on the search for self and new ways of belonging. Curated by ပုလဲ Pearl Fedele, one of two emerging curators commissioned to develop a season for the Cinema of Ideas from our recent open call.

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We were delighted to welcome writer-director and former programmer Jane Giles to discuss London’s legendary Scala cinema (1978-1993) and her new documentary Scala Club Cinema — which tells the riotous inside story of the infamous sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll rep house which inspired a generation during Britain’s turbulent Thatcher years.

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We welcomed writer and researcher Jemma Desai to the Cinema of Ideas to consider the relationship between repetition and differentiation in film programming via Alnoor Dewshi’s short film Latifah and Himli’s Nomadic Uncle. 

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After the success of the first two instalments, Tony Rayns returns to the Cinema of Ideas to continue his absorbing conversation with Simon Ward, sharing rare insights and stories about his influential career at the cutting edge of independent cinema. In Part Three the conversation will focus on Tony’s engagement with contemporary East Asian cinema, touching upon the work of some of the region’s most-acclaimed filmmakers over the last three decades, including Wong Kar-wai (Hong Kong), Jia Zhangke (China), Takeshi Kitano (Japan) and Bong Joon-ho (South Korea).

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To accompany the launch of our new touring programme Right of Way, which focusses on access and inclusion in the UK countryside, this Cinema of Ideas explores the myths and realities of the rural idyll.

To discuss this and wider questions Louisa Adjoa Parker, Alinah Azadeh, Sam Siva and Rhiane Fatinikun join us in a panel moderated by Jonathan Ali. We also present the short non-fiction film Springtime in an English Village (1944), with a special introduction by Robin Baker, Head Curator at the BFI National Archive. Louisa Adjoa Parker has created a filmed performance of her poem sacred space, created in response to the Right of Way programme.

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We are delighted to present Projectionism, a new film by artist filmmaker Sarah Wood created specifically for The Cinema of Ideas and enabled by the East Anglian Film Archive, who generously shared the wealth of their materials.

The film was made in response to an open call for cinema memories shared by the cinema workers, makers and thinkers who keep film culture alive and well despite the challenges of the times. This project was an experiment in collaboration for a time of separation.

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A season of films uncovering the filmic and culinary bounty of the east end of Europe.

Programmed by Kateryna Pavlyuk, the season offers a three-course spread of two seminal Soviet films – Sergei Parajanov’s The Colour of Pomegranates and Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s Earth – and a formal masterpiece long lost to censorship, Bread by Mykola Shpykovskyi. The films come with a side of cooking and conversation, in the form of a ‘dinner-table’ discussion with experts on Soviet cinema, and a cooking masterclass with celebrated chef and activist Alissa Timoshkina.

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To mark the release of Terence Davies’ latest film Benediction, we are thrilled to welcome the acclaimed director onto The Cinema of Ideas to discuss the making of the film and his reflections on a long career as one of Britain’s foremost film poets.

Alongside this free talk, we will also be screening The Terence Davies Trilogy: a collection of three short autobiographical films made by Davies at the very start of his career (Children, Madonna and Child, Death and Transfiguration).

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The Cinema of Ideas continues its celebration of the true heirs to Gracie Fields: the working-class heroines who brought grit and glamour to 1980s British women’s cinema, with a special Q&A screening of Cold War romance Letter to Brezhnev (1985).

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Curator, artist and writer George Clark joins Catharine Des Forges and Selina Robertson in the ICO’s office to explore the archive and exhibition histories of one of the ICO’s most memorable artist moving image curatorial projects, ICO Essentials: The Secret Masterpieces of Cinema from 2008. In this conversation we re-visited the project’s ‘behind the scenes’ histories that changed the way artist film and video was seen and experienced in the cinema.

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If animation is a medium in which the only limit is your imagination, why is there still such a limited range of disabled stories and characters? Visibly Animated is a film season aiming to shine a light on animation amidst the growing recognition for the need of greater disabled representation in cinema, as well as highlighting the importance of making animation accessible for disabled audiences.

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Do you know who made your clothes? Stitched Up! Protest and the Garment Industry turns our gaze towards the ladies behind the labels and their fight for workplace justice. Programmed by Jo Reid, one of the two emerging curators commissioned to develop a season by the Cinema of Ideas from our open call, Stitched Up! opens our eyes to what our dependence on fast fashion means for workers, how they are resisting and what you can do to help!

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Tony Rayns returned to the Cinema of Ideas to continue his absorbing conversation with Simon Ward, sharing rare insights and stories about his influential career at the cutting edge of independent cinema. For Part Two, Tony picked up the conversation again in the 1980s.

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Lizzie Thynne’s brilliant new film on Jill Craigie (1911-99), one of the first women to direct films in Britain with a live Q&A: with Lizzie Thynne, Penny Woolcock & Ros Cranston.

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Mai Zetterling’s borstal ballad Scrubbers (1982) streamed on the Cinema of Ideas from 18th November –  2 December alongside a live Q&A with costume designer and writer Susannah Buxton hosted by film critic and historian Pamela Hutchinson at 7pm on 24 November.

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Two essential short films from ground-breaking director Fronza Woods and a new filmed interview with Woods by director Nadia Latif.

Click here to watch the filmed interview with Fronza Woods.

The film programmer, curator, critic and filmmaker – one of the most influential and prolific critical voices of his generation – in a livestreamed conversation with Simon Ward.

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Two films and a livestreamed Q&A with one of Britain’s most vital cinema artists, Margaret Salmon.

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A screening of Omega Rising: Women of Rastafari and a live discussion events exploring the moving, living and visual archives of Rastafari women in Britain. Curated by Dr Aleema Gray, Curator, Museum of London and featuring Sister Rasheda Malcolm and June Givanni, Founder, June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive.

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The UK premiere of Travels with Tove (1993) with a special panel discussion & readings event with director Kanerva Cederström, actor and writer Ellie Kendrick, publisher Nat Jansz and Alison Williams, Curator at the William Morris Gallery.

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A preview of the new restoration of Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi with an exclusive panel discussion on the director’s anti-colonial works with Liz Chege (Festival Director, Africa in Motion), Dr. Aboubakar Sanogo (Associate Professor in Film Studies, Carleton University) and Ivan Mbowa (East Africa General Manager, Tala for East Africa).

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