The Roxy’s Extraordinary Film Season runs from April 4 to June 8 and ranges from a double-bill of The Wizard of Oz and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to a rare screening of 7-hour art-house epic Sí¡tí¡ntangí³, a double-bill of Alan Clarke’s original Elephant with Van Sant’s more recent Elephant, plus the likes of The Blues Brothers, Stalker, Akira, El Topo, Boiling Point and many many more.
There will be specially commissioned live rescores for Murnau’s The Last Laugh, Keaton’s The General, and The Colour of Pomegranates, a jazz improvised score to the Czech surrealist classic Daisies, and an electronic rescore of The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price playing in a double-bill with Night of the Living Dead.
All films will be introduced by guest speakers, including Electric Sheep writers and contributors Jason Wood, Ben Cobb, Alex Fitch and Virginie Sélavy.
Wednesday 5th May, starts 7pm: The Thin Blue Line
The massively influential, acclaimed documentary from Errol Morris, with introduction by writer / programmer Jason Wood + a documentary on Philip Glass and a live performance of Glass’s The Metamorphosis for Piano, featured in The Thin Blue Line. One of three documentaries screening as part of the season, The Thin Blue Line is quite unarguably an extraordinary documentary, from one of cinema’s most distinctive and influential filmmakers.
Sunday 30th May, starts 2pm: Enter the Dragon + Boiling Point + Hard Boiled
‘Gun-Fu’ day with a treble bill of classic Hong Kong action movies with Electric Sheep assistant editor Alex Fitch and Resonance FM presenter Zoe Baxter introducing.
Sunday 6th June, starts 6pm: Straw Dogs + El Topo
Two films released a year apart that pushed the boundaries of the Western genre, introduced by film writer Ben Cobb. First up, Sam Peckinpah’s Western, classically placed in… Cornwall. With no horses. But this has Peckinpah’s classic themes of masculinity, territory and of course, violence; here ratcheted up a notch with an extraordinary rape scene that provoke outrage, shock and discussion perhaps not equalled until Gasper Noe’s Irreversible. El Topo follows, from the near legendary Mexican Alejandro Jodorowsky who stars, directs, writes, composes, etc. etc. Insane, theatrical hallucination? Surreal, ultra-violent Western?
Monday 7th June, starts 8pm: Daisies
Fabulous, entertaining Czech surrealist film, with a live jazz improv score from band Monkey Say Monkey Do, and introduced by Electric Sheep magazine editor Virginie Sélavy. A fabulous, riotous surrealist movie from the Czech 60’s new wave. The loose narrative follows the adventures of two girls as they revolt against a decaying and oppressive society through various pranks, mischief and an epic food fight. Hilarious, entertaining and wholly unique. The excellent Monkey Say Monkey Do jazz group will be performing an improvised live score to the film.
Tuesday 8th June, starts 8pm: The Last Laugh
F.W. Murnau’s groundbreaking early movie, with a live rescore from The McCarricks and introduced by Electric Sheep assistant editor Alex Fitch. The season ends on a high with the first live performance of a specially-commissioned rescore by The McCarricks to a movie that shocked and amazed on its release with its never before seen use of moving camera and point-of-view shots replacing any intertitles or dialogue. With director F.W. Murnau and lead actor Emil Jannings (who also contributed the idea for the ending of the film) at the height of their powers this was a masterpiece of the German Expressionism movement and a landmark movie in cinema history.