Reel film screenings
This page is a listing of sound film screenings offering 35mm prints, 70mm prints, or occasionally 16mm prints, across Britain: that is England, Scotland and Wales: and also some Film Festivals abroad. This is to help people who suffer the same frustrations of myself; rarely seeing early films in their original format and as intended. For silent 35mm print screening …
If you know of such screenings please send details to; keith1942@mail.com
Il Cinema Ritrovato 2023
This annual archive festival takes place in the Italian city of Bologna every year. There are few occasions where a cinephile can see more 35mm prints, both sound and silent. This year major filmmakers and performers can be seen in the original release format: Reuben Julian: Anna Magnani: Michael Powell: Kinugasa Teinosuke: and many others. The Festival runs from June 24th until July 2nd. The complete programme with much detail is availble on the website.
All Quiet on the Western Front, Germany, Britain, USA
A screening of the latest version of Erich Maria Remarque’s famous novel from a 35mm print. The movie was shot digitally and then some prints made on Kodak film. It runs just under two and half hours: the dialogue is in German and French with English sub-titles. It will be interesting to compare it with the 1930 classic: the 1979 TV version is poor.
Screening at The Parkway Barnsley, Sunday April 16th at 4.30 p.m.
The Shining, Britain / USA 1980
“Join us, as we present Stephen King’s classic spine-chilling thriller, shown from classic 35mm film. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” — or, rather, a homicidal boy in Stanley Kubrick’s eerie 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel.” At a 144 minutes this is the longer US version.
April 2nd at 1630 and April 4th at 1915.
Till We Meet Again / Mata au hi made, Japan 1950. Director; Tadashi, Imai. 11 minutes, with English sub-titles, 35mm. A war time romance as two lovers are caught in the demands of the war and its impact on civilians..Part of the Japan Foundation Film Touring Programme for 2023. Their webpages include details of screening venues though not the formats of titles.
https://www.jpf-film.org.uk/films/till-we-meet-again
The Clairvoyant, 1935
The BFI Southbank now has a dedicated page giving details of titles screening in 35mm and 70mm formats. They include the fine drama directed by Maurice Elvey. Some of the films in the current Kurosawa programme are in 35mm. https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam – then type 16mm, 35mm, or 70mm in the search box.
Empire of Light (35mm) 12
There are two screenings of the print version of this film at The Parkway in Barnsley; February 1st and 2nd. As one of the few remaining cinemas still able to screen from 35mm film prints, we are delighted to offer screenings of this very special film, not only from 35mm film, but using 2 projectors and single reel changeovers, as can be seen in the film. Now an extra sceening is today, February 8th at 1930. The Parkway has a really nice auditorium and large screen.
https://barnsley.parkwaycinemas.co.uk/
Sheffield Showroom
Set in an English seaside town in the early 1980s, Empire of Light is a powerful and poignant story about human connection and the magic of cinema, from Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes.
Screening from January 9th until January 12th.
Decision to Leave / Heojil kyolshim, South Korea 2022. In colour and running 139 minutes, in Korean and Chinese, presumably with English subtitles. What a treat; a 2022 release in 35mm. In this sublime, Hitchcockian noir thriller from Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden), a detective gets a little too close to the murder he’s trying to solve. Screening at Sheffield Showroom from December 17th until December 22nd at various times. http://www.showroomworkstation.org.uk/decision-to-leave-35mm
Widescreen Weekend in Bradford
Brainstorm – Douglas Trumbull’s bold sci-fi thriller, screening to celebrate the life of the pioneering visual effects master: DIRECTOR Douglas Trumbull: CAST Natalie Wood, Christopher Walken, Alan Fudge, Jordan Christopher, Cliff Robertson, Louise Fletcher: 102 mins: 15: USA 1983: PROJECTION FORMAT 35mm
The Afterlight: Britian, 2021, 82 minutes: fragments of hundreds of films from around the world bring together an ensemble cast of actors with one thing in common: each is no longer alive. Together, they contend with a fragile existence lived solely through these traces of their work and they live on through the performances they left behind, as though preserved in the amber of cultural memory.
The Afterlight itself exists as a single 35mm film print. Further eroding every time it screens, the film is a living document of its life in circulation. Eventually it will disappear entirely. This screening will be introduced by Charlie Shackleton, director.
Licorice Pizza, Paul Thomas Anderson perfectly captures the essence of youth and all its potential for two young people in 1970s California.
DIRECTOR Paul Thomas Anderson: CAST Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Bradley Cooper:133 mins: 15, USA, 2021: PROJECTION FORMAT 70mm
Sweet Charity, Bob Fosse’s directorial debut is a magical adaptation of the contemporary Broadway musical and is now a big-screen classic.
DIRECTOR Bob Fosse: CAST Shirley Maclaine, John McMartin, Chita Rivera, Paula Kelly, Stubby Kaye: 150 mins, PG, USA, 1969, PROJECTION FORMAT 35mm
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian
To escape the burdens of rule, Sweden’s Queen Christina rides into the countryside disguised as a boy. There she meets and secretly falls for a Spanish envoy on his way to the royal court.
Queen Christina is one of Greta Garbo’s quintessential screen portrayals, and one of her finest films which captures her graceful allure and enigmatic persona. The idea for the film came from Austrian-born émigré Salka Viertel, who had become close friends with Garbo, and originally planned to make the film in Europe.
Viertel’s creative influence in this period cannot be underestimated – both through her background in European stage work and her wide network of émigré friends, which included Berthold Brecht, Thomas Mann and Arnold Schoenberg.
Perhaps influenced by the recent, scandalous success of Maidens in Uniform, made by Viertel’s former colleague Leontine Sagan, Queen Christina is one of the era’s most sophisticated examination of gender and identity, with Garbo perfect as the bisexual Swedish monarch who was raised from birth as a boy.
Thisd is part of a programme at HOME in Manchester, ‘ ‘When Europe Made Hollywood: From Sunrise to High Noon’; it seems to be the only tilte screening in 35mm.
Talking Pictures 