In a village in northern Germany, on the eve of the first world war, the children and their families experience a series of bizarre incidents that inexplicably assume the characteristics of a punishment ritual. Who could be responsible for such bizarre transgressions? Michael Haneke (Hidden, Code Unknown, The Piano Teacher) brings us an intriguing and highly cinematic film, a look at the roots of indoctrination, “a complete work of cinema, at once engaging and ingenious” (Little White Lies). Winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or last year and shortlisted for the 2010 Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography.

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“A creepy masterwork of immense subtlety.”
Sight & Sound

Michael Haneke / Germany 2009 / 143 min TBC / German with subtitles / cert: 15

While the eyes of the world were on the Rumble in the Jungle, the ears of the world were on Zaire ‘74, a legendary music festival to accompany the epic boxing match between Mohammed Ali and George Foreman. Using spectacular archive footage, this exhilarating documentary conveys all the colours, styles and sounds of a bygone age. People who lived through the 1970s won’t forget it; people who didn’t, won’t believe it. Roll up, roll up, come see the flamboyant costumes, extreme personalities, and melodramatic performances. And that’s just offstage. Onstage we see and hear music legends at the peak of their talent  -  including James Brown, B.B. King, Miriam Makeba, Manu Dibango, Bill Withers and many more -  all giving the performances of their lives to a mammoth Zairian audience. Soul Power packs a bigger punch than Ali or Foreman. This was one of the definitive music events of the 20th Century. Luckily, someone filmed it.

“Riveting… a stunningly photographed, soul-stirring celebration.” The Times

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Jeffrey Levy-Hinte / USA 2008 / 92 min / cert: 12

“A moral fable exploring kindness, understanding, love and the acceptance of human diversity” The Observer

Craig Gillespie / USA 2008 / 102 min / cert: 12

Cinema archaeology in Lewisham (photo: G.Murbach)

Overlooking the busy roundabout, the delicate golden friezes and the dull wall are the remnants of the days when cinema was mass-entertainment and when double-bills were the rule. This is what’s left of the Gaumont Palace on Loampit Vale, previously one of the largest cinemas in the UK with its 3,300 seats and which was destroyed in 1991. Now, Lewisham, with its 250,000 inhabitants, is one of only two boroughs  in London without a cinema screen (the other being Waltham Forest). In our first post about the history of cinemas in Lewisham, John Scott, now 73, shares with us his memories as cinema manager. “To be in the cinema trade at that time was quite thrilling and brought a bit of spice into my normally dull life,” John tells us. “At the time, it was still the main entertainment for the masses, TV was just beginning to take hold and, of course, many theatres were converted to bowling lanes and bingo halls, managed by former cinema managers.” John now lives in Australia but it’s during his national service in 1956, “while waiting for Suez to develop”, that his cinema management career began.

“Well, to be honest, my adjutant gave me the projector and a reel or two of film and along with it the task of keeping fellow squaddies amused once or twice a week, natural talent took over and soon we were charging for a few little extras to supplement our 35 shillings a week. The films were reasonably up to date but content does not exist in my mind. Following demob, I went back to my civil service job on the Thames embankment at New Scotland Yard, where I managed to remain interested for almost a year, when I wrote to the managing director of the Rank Organisation, expressing an interest in cinematography as a career path and, to my surprise, I was granted an interview at the South London Regional Offices at the rear of the Gaumont Bromley. A short time later, I was appointed trainee cinema manager at Lewisham’s Gaumont.”

John Scott (photo: John Scott)

“My duties involved every aspect of the operation of the cinema from mucking out the loos with the seven-eight strong team of lady cleaners, to assisting the chief projectionist in the projection box learning how to keep the carbon arc projectors alight once the film had started to making sure the reels were in the right order, correcting the sound and brightness levels and packing up the current films for onward transport at the end of the week. A stint on the front of house from cashiers box (claustrophobics need not apply) to patrolling the foyer, checking the posters had been adequately set up for the movies on show, ascertaining the suitability of clients wishing to enter the cinema and using extreme politeness conveying to unrequired persons the reasons for their refusal of entry, a task not always pleasant to administer nor received. Time in the office controlling the wage sheets, organising advertising campaigns above and beyond the statutory ones from Regional Office. My days started about ten or eleven in the morning and finished with the close of the cinema around eleven in the evening, usually working five to six days a week. Saturdays of course began much earlier to accommodate the Saturday morning kids’ show, which consisted of a couple of cartoons, the serial and, possibly, a western to close up with.”

Cinema riots

“Towards the end of my training, I was sent to Hammersmith to assist them with a new form of kids’ Saturday mornings. The manager had come up with the idea of a live band on stage and dancing in the orchestra pit to replace the cartoons and serial, Regional Office had apparently decided to have management in bulk numbers to control problems. I felt it was just kids behaving badly but it was considered quite a success. After the band had finished, I was despatched to get them up to the manager’s office, I caught up with them packing up and preparing to leave. “What’s up, something go wrong?” But I had no answers, I can still see the look of surprise as money changed hands and they were asked if they could make it next week. Who was it you may ask? Some fresh faced kid called Cliff Richard and some of his mates. This music theme had been a success and showed up on the big screen with The Blackboard Jungle and the many riots in cinemas throughout the world. I was on duty on the Front of House during our screening and saw big white fivers passing hands between pressmen known to the chief of staff and some of the local hoons, and it is assumed that this was what started our riot. Seats ripped from their bolted positions on the floor and hurled at the screen, absolute mayhem in the auditorium. While the police assembled after being called, it was my job to take the microphone on to the stage, house lights up and repeat the following standard speech: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I regret that due to circumstances beyond our control we are unable to continue this performance and ask you to leave the theatre as quickly and quietly as possible by your nearest exits”. After that I had no idea what would happen because it was always assumed that the audience would do as requested, what did happen was three police dog handlers marched down the aisles to the orchestra pit where upon the command “bark!” they did so and the theatre emptied with great haste. Although an enquiry into the press involvement in the riot was held, no blame was officially attached to anyone.”

The Gaumont Lewisham fire

“Jumping ahead to the great fire [of the Gaumont in Lewisham], I had already been promoted to assistant cinema manager and based in Deptford at the Odeon and got up the morning after to read about it and went over to see if anything was needed of me and was amazed at the destruction. A colleague told me that they thought a cigarette had lodged in the back of a settee in the left-hand rotunda and once the flames were established, the soundproofing panels across the back of the theatre, which were dry and dirty, just exploded.”

The Lewisham Gaumont Palace and its proscenium arch, 1932 (photo: Dusashenka-flickr)

“Back to happier events, this gigantic building had to have clean air circulated, in this case a plenum plant sucked the old air into the ceiling through a bath and back into circulation again, this water tank required weekly dredging to remove the muck. The Gaumont Lewisham had one the largest proscenium arches in the UK.”

“My career in cinema management progressed as an assistant manager at the Deptford Odeon, New Cross Gaumont, Bromley Odeon and, joy of joys, I got my own theatre as a full manager, the magnificent Walpole theatre, a chic little theatre of some 300 seats in the backwoods of Ealing, just down the street from the Ealing Music Hall. I spent a productive time there occasionally being called on to help out at premieres in Chelsea – “These are the director’s flat keys give them to ‘that’ starlet in the front row of the circle” – and once at a Royal Performance at the Odeon in the West End where I remember my instructions as being quite simple: “Keep out of the way!” By now I have two children and am about to get a promotion to the magnificent Astoria on Old Kent Road, 3,027 seats, seventeen rooms backstage and UK’s biggest proscenium arch. The past glory of the Astoria had dwindled as the area had but the patronage and staff were the salt of the Earth and I have many fond memories of my time there.”

“A masterpiece with a towering central performance..There are wonderful moments in this beautiful, tender, truthful film.” The Observer

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Jan Troell / Sweden 2008 / 110 min / Swedish with subtitles / cert: 15

British artist Steve McQueen, who won the Turner Prize in 1999, directs his first feature film, a portrayal of life in the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland in the midst of the Troubles. Shocking at times yet visually dazzling and thought-provoking, Hunger is arguably one of best directorial debut in recent years.

“This is a powerful, provocative piece of work, which leaves a zero-degree burn on the retina.” The Guardian

The feature will be preceded by the screening of a short film and a talk with Lewisham-based artist Dryden Goodwin, who uses film, drawings, photography and large-scale installations in his art. Goodwin’s work has been shown nationally and internationally, including at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and MOMA.

“Dryden Goodwin’s installation Flight has a dreamlike quality.” Time Out

Steve McQueen / UK 2008 / 91 min / cert: 15

Film-maker Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting) brings us this powerful, inspiring and tragic story about Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), the first openly gay man to be voted into major public office in America. Penn won the Oscar for his performance.

“A magnificent performance by Sean Penn.” The Sunday Times

Gus Van Sant / USA 2008 / 122 min / cert: 15

We wondered how the film was made and if director Laurent Cantet used ‘non-actors’. The film is based on a book by François Bégaudeau, who taught at a Parisian collège in the 19th arrondissement until only a few years ago. Some crucial scenes in the film are based on real events that happened in his classroom, like the ‘Are you gay?’ scene or when he treated some pupils as pétasses. After the book’s publication, Bégaudeau was approached by French film director Laurent Cantet when they both took part in the same radio show.

Cantet was keen to use only non-professional actors. Focusing on one Parisian secondary school, the Collège F. Dolto (conveniently chosen because one of the producers lived nearby), Cantet and Bégaudeau ran acting and improvisation classes for a full year, starting with fifty students and narrowing them down to twenty five. “We were far from what your hear about casting teenagers: ‘We saw 3000 kids and, all of a sudden, we found the pearl.’ No, we found some pearls more or less everywhere,”admits the director. Teachers in the film are teachers at Dolto in real life, the students’ parents are their real parents (with one exception, Souleymane’s mum), the school head is played by Dolto’s deputy head, etc. Why didn’t Cantet simply make a documentary film? “When you stand in front of a documentary filmmaker, you protect yourself,” he tells a blogger. “But here, the kids could be inside the characters, and that was a form of protection that allowed them to be more sincere (…) than they could be if they didn’t have the characters to play.”

If you are interested to read more, there is an interesting interview writer/actor Bégaudeau gave to the Guardian and, for the Francophones amongst you, the official website with some more interviews and a making of. But you have been warned: don’t use pétasse next time you cross the Channel.