Cinema Rediscovered 2021 launching 28th July 1st August

In and around Bristol, UNESCO City of Film (28 Jul – 1 Aug) and launching festival highlights touring across the UK (Aug – Oct).

Cinema Rediscovered, Bristol’s annual festival showcasing the best in digital restorations, contemporary classics and film print rarities starts this week. From 28 July to 1 August the festival also includes Reframing Film, a series of in-person and online discussions between leading creatives involved in film programming, making, writing, archiving and more. 

Presented by Watershed, the festival takes place in Bristol at Clevedon’s Curzon Cinema & Arts, 20^th Century Flicks, Arnolfini and Watershed, followed by a UK wide tour of highlights (Aug – Oct 2021), and an online offer via MUBI. Cinema Rediscovered is presented with partners South West Silents and 20th Century Flicks, supported by the BFI (awarding funds from National Lottery) and MUBI. 

1971: THE YEAR HOLLYWOOD WENT INDEPENDENT  

• Five seminal films launching a UK wide tour with Park Circus  

RESTORED AND REDISCOVERED 

• Melvin Van Peebles’ debut THE STORY OF A THREE-DAY PASS. Also on UK wide tour. 
• Twelve30 Collective present Perry Henzell’s NO PLACE LIKE HOME with special guest Justine Henzell ahead of a UK wide tour 
• Claire Denis’ BEAU TRAVAIL including a recorded interview with Agnès Godard 

• Leo Penn’s A MAN CALLED ADAM in a 4K restoration 
• Bern Stern’s JAZZ ON A SUMMER’S DAY 
• George Stevens’ THE MORE THE MERRIER  
• Academy Award® winner Nick Park in-conversation and premiere of restored live action short A FISHERMAN’S TALE 
• Yaphet Kotto homage BLUE COLLAR presented by writer/curator/ Adam Murray 

• 80^th anniversary showing of MALTESE FALCON launching Film Noir UK;  
• THE BEAST MUST DIE launching Bristol Black Horror Club 
• OPENING UP THE MAGIC BOX: Bristol born William Friese-Greene centenary celebrations as part of Bristol Ideas’ #BristolFilm2021 with South West Silents. 

REFRAMING FILM  

• Pamela Hutchinson delivers the PHILIP FRENCH MEMORIAL LECTURE 

• Invisible Women’s REWRITING FILM HISTORY (WITH WOMEN IN IT) with Helen O’Hara, Simran Hans and Pamela Hutchinson;  
• BLACK PARIS with Karen Alexander  

1971: The Year Hollywood Went Independent:

On its 50^th anniversary – and marking the sad passing of its maverick director Monte Hellman – Two-Lane Blacktop will headline the Cinema Rediscovered and Park Circus’ programme 1971: The Year Hollywood Went Independent which will tour across the UK. Also included in the programme are five key titles from 1971 which give a glimpse of an independent Hollywood before it was overshadowed by the birth of the franchise: Klute (Warner Bros.), Five Easy Pieces (Sony), McCabe & Mrs Miller (Warner Bros.) and The Last Picture Show (Sony). All released in 1971, they reveal a parallel Hollywood universe of personal, complex, nuanced and countercultural cinema. Trailer 

1971: The Year Hollywood Went Independent will tour to: Watershed, Bristol; ICA, London; Phoenix, Leicester (1 – 22 Sept),  HOME, Manchester (26, 28, 29 Sept); Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow; Broadway, Nottingham; Chapter, Cardiff; Showroom, Sheffield; QFT, Belfast (6 Oct – 7 Nov); Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Eden Court, Inverness, DCA, Dundee, and Ipswich Film Theatre. More venues to be confirmed. 

The Story of a Three-Day Pass:  

The UK premiere of the 4K restoration of  Melvin Van Peebles’ little known Nouvelle Vague infused debut feature The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1967), an edgy, romantic film set in Paris inspired by his personal experiences in the US Air Force (c/o Janus Films.) 

This 4K restoration was carried out by IndieCollect with support from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in consultation with Van Peebles’ son and filmmaker Mario Van Peebles.  

Following its screening at Cinema Rediscovered, The Story of a Three Day Pass will tour to BFI Southbank, London (7, 8, 10, 12, 21 Aug); Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow (5 & 8 Sep); HOME, Manchester (3, 5, 6 Oct); Phoenix, Leicester (10 Oct), Broadway, Nottingham; Chapter, Cardiff; Showroom, Sheffield; QFT, Belfast; Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Eden Court, Inverness, DCA, Dundee and Cine Lumiere, London, Watershed, Bristol. Other venues to be confirmed. 

Beau Travail & other new restorations: 

The festival celebrates cinematographer Agnès Godard’s 70^th birthday with the new 4K restoration of Claire Denis’ Beau Travail (1999). Exploring the near mythical world of the French Foreign Legion, this loose adaptation of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd folds military and masculine codes of honour, colonialism’s legacy and repressed desire into shimmering, hypnotic images that ultimately explode in one of the most startling and unforgettable endings in contemporary cinema. The festival will show a new pre-recorded interview with Agnès Godard following the screening.  (c/o Janus Films) 

Closing the festival on 1 Aug is the UK premiere of a new 4K restoration of A Man Called Adam (1966) the feature film debut of Lola Falana and the late Cicely Tyson starring alongside Louis Armstrong who passed away 50 years ago. A Man Called Adam will be re-released on Blu ray by STUDIOCANAL on 16 August. 

Louis Armstrong also appears alongside an all-star line-up of performers from the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in photographer Bert Stern’s Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959), introduced by curator Karen Alexander, and presented at the festival beautifully and extensively restored in 4K from the best surviving vault elements by IndieCollect, ahead of its UK theatrical release on 30 Aug. (c/o Curzon) 

Direct from Bologna’s Il Cinema Ritrovato, the new restoration of George Stevens’ The More the Merrier (1943) will screen at Cinema Rediscovered. Introduced by author, critic and film historian Pamela Hutchinson, this delightful screwball romp starring Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and Charles Coburn, makes fun of the housing shortage in Washington DC during the first months of World War II, still resonating today. (c/o Sony Pictures and Park Circus.) 
 
Portrait of the Animator as a Young Man: 

 
Bristol-based Academy Award® winner Nick Park will be in conversation with curator Mark Cosgrove (Watershed, Cinema Rediscovered) about some of his earliest work, including A Fisherman’s Tale which has been restored and will have its world premiere at the festival. This ‘Standard 8mm’ live action horror film, made by teenage Nick Park and friends at Longton Marsh near Preston, features many of the ingredients that would become associated with the director – including a love of B movie and the otherworldly – but most revelatory is the story-boarding which you can catch at the end of the film. A fabulous example of discovering cinema in the personal archives of a great filmmaker.  

Focus on Perry Henzell: No Place Like Home & The Harder They Come 

• Twelve30 Collective present: No Place Like Home (1973), Perry Henzell‘s little known follow-up to The Harder They Come, with special guest and filmmaker Justine Henzell (Perry’s daughter and the film’s Executive Producer) who has been instrumental in the rediscovery and restoration of the film. This road movie through ‘70s Jamaica, which introduces actress Grace Jones, is the memorable last testament of an undeniably great filmmaker with a handpicked soundtrack including Bob Marley, Etta James, Carly Simon, Toots & The Maytals and more. Following its festival premiere No Place Like Home  will screen in London on 6 Aug (Jamaica Independence Day) at Screen25 and BFI Southbank in London on 11 Sep, and then at select venues across the UK including Phoenix, Leicester (25 Oct)  
• MUBI presents: The Harder They Come (1972) continuing the celebration of Perry Henzell’s work, also marking Jamaica’s Independence Day on 6 Aug, the festival joins forces with MUBI and Twelve30 Collective to launch the online release of The Harder They Come. The film that put reggae on the map with its iconic soundtrack, and Jamaica’s very first feature-length film, this companion piece to No Place Like Home remains exciting and fresh with politics that are still vital. The Harder They Come screens on MUBI in the UK and Ireland from 2 August.  

Opening Up The Magic Box – A celebration of Bristol born William Friese-Greene 

• The festival continues to celebrate Bristol’s status as UNESCO City of Film, with Opening Up The Magic Box, a celebration of Bristol born William Friese-Greene (in the year of the centenary of his death) – the Victorian cinema innovator who is as famous for not having invented cinema as he is for inventing it. Presented with Bristol Ideas and South West Silents as part of Bristol Film 2021, the strand includes Cinema Walks which follow in the footsteps of early photography and motion pictures innovators; a rare showing of the all-star 1951 biopic, The Magic Box made for the Festival of Britain 70 years ago to celebrate British ingenuity; an in-conversation with film historian Sir Christopher Frayling and film director and journalist Peter Domankiewicz who has spent over 20 years researching Friese-Greene; and a screening of The Open Road (1926) made by his son Claude Friese-Greene, a travelogue through 1920s Britain in colour, screened with an introduction by BFI  National Archive silent film curator Bryony Dixon and with a live accompaniment from world famous composer and musician Neil Brand. 

Reframing Film: 

Reframing Film invites audiences to dive deeper into some of the themes and films in the festival with a series of in-person and online discussions between leading creatives involved in film programming, making, writing, archiving and more. 

Philip French Memorial Lecture (Wed 28 Jul) 

Author, critic and film historian Pamela Hutchinson will deliver the annual Philip French Memorial Lecture, exploring the role of film critics in rethinking and reframing film heritage, and the importance of looking back to reflect on what’s happening in film culture right now. The event is presented in partnership with Bristol Ideas, on the opening night of Cinema Rediscovered 2021, in-venue and streamed online. 

Rewriting Film History (with the Women in it) (Fri 30 Jul) 

Archive activists Invisible Women speak to writers Helen O’Hara, Simran Hans and Pamela Hutchinson about reimagining what an alternative history of cinema might look like with the women in it. Taking season 1971: The Year Hollywood went Independent as a starting point, this conversation will explore how tales of female vision, artistry and authorship can be teased out from behind macho myths of maverick male genius.  A particular focus will be on highlighting the crucial work of women who are not directors (writers, editors, designers), and excavating the often-uncredited contribution of women in husband/wife partnerships (Polly Platt & Peter Bogdanovich, Toby & Bob Rafelson.)

Collecting Now (Fri 30 July) 

Film archives are generally – and not unusually – thought of as a collection of older films. However, in this age of digital technology and the internet, film archives now collect far more than film, from VR to online video content. Collecting Now, presented by Rosie Taylor, Curatorial Specialist (BFI National Archive) brings together colleagues from BFI National Archive for a discussion on the issues facing contemporary film archive collecting; what to collect, why collect it, and how?  

Black Paris (Sat 31Jul) 

Inspired by Melvin van Peebles’ Nouvelle Vague infused debut feature The Story of a Three-Day Pass set in 1967 Paris, curator Karen Alexander explores the appeal of Paris to Black Americans and the range and legacy of their creative presence in the city of love.  

Reframing Film – industry sessions (Thu 29 – Fri 30 July)  

Free online sessions aimed at film exhibitors and archive practitioners exploring the potential around reframing films of the past. It brings together distinctive voices in film curation, including guests from HOME, BFI Southbank, AiM, Twelve30 Collective, Sheffield DocFest, Matchbox Cine and Other Cinemas. New this year, there is will be a slate presentation of new restored and re-issued releases coming up on the release schedule for cinemas to show from leading distribution and sales companies such as Park Circus, STUDIOCANAL, Curzon and BFI distribution. The will also be a session curated by Megan Mitchell on the emerging world of TikTok, where a new generation of film fans are formed through their own short-form content with guest Queline– see full programme. 

FULL PROGRAMME & TICKETING INFO AT:  watershed.co.uk/cinema-rediscovered-2021 

Bristol venues:: 

Watershed, 1 Canon’s Road, Bristol, BS1 5TX: watershed.co.uk  

20^th Century Flicks, 19 Christmas Steps, Bristol, BS1 5BS: 20thcenturyflicks.co.uk  

Curzon Cinema & Arts, 46 Old Church Rd, Clevedon, BS21 6NN: curzon.org.uk  

Arnolfini Arts, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA: arnolfini.org.uk