An all-day event to enjoy some our favourite films that are under an hour long!
Download a printable version of the programme (A4 PDF)
12.30pm
Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life (Peter Capaldi, UK, 1993) - 23 mins
We begin with Peter Capaldi’s Oscar-winning comedy which stars Richard E Grant as the eponymous Czech writer, blocked and trying to pen Metamorphoses. As Kafka struggles he has to contend with a loud Christmas party downstairs and several unexpected guests, including a sinister knife salesman (Ken Stott) who has a bone to pick with Our Franz.
George Lucas in Love (Joe Nussbaum, USA, 1999) - 8 mins
Parodying Shakespeare in Love this joyous short imagines what inspired Lucas to write his legendary space opera while a student at the University of Southern California.
INTERMISSION - 1.15pm
1.30pm
A Trip to the Moon (Georges Melies, France, 1904) - 13 mins
One of the earliest sci-fi films and unquestionably one of the most influential films in cinema history. Melies took inspiration from Jules Verne in his unforgettable tale of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule.
Laughing Gravy (James W. Horne, USA, 1930) - 28 mins
On a freezingly cold night, Stan and Ollie try to evade eviction by hiding their pet dog, Laughing Gravy, from their mean-tempered landlord, who has a strict ‘No Pets’ policy. BIG LAFFS ensue.
INTERMISSION - 2.15pm
3pm
A Walk Through H: The Reincarnation of an Ornithologist (Peter Greenaway, UK, 1979) - 41 mins
Just what is A Walk Through H? Poetical, whimsical, faintly sinister, enigmatic and strangely beautiful. Or, in Peter Greenaway’s words, “the journey a soul takes at the moment of death, to whatever other place it ends up - H being either Heaven or Hell.”
INTERMISSION - 3.45pm
4pm
Around the World with Orson Welles: London (Orson Welles, UK, 1955) - 25 mins
An episode from the travelogue series Orson made for ITV in the 1950s. In London he meets old women living in Hackney almshouses and spends the afternoon with a colourful troupe of Chelsea pensioners.
Fishing With John: Tom Waits (John Lurie, USA, 1991) - 30 mins
Another travel programme with a difference. Musician and actor John Lurie (Down By Law) goes fishing in Jamaica with his old pal Tom Waits. Seasickness and very few bites on the line test the pair’s friendship.
INTERMISSION - 5pm
5.30pm
Looney Tunes (Chuck Jones, USA, 1949 - 57)
A selection of our favourite Warner Brothers cartoons from the 1940s and 50s: The Ducksters (1950), Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z (1956), What's Opera, Doc? (1957), For Scent-imental Reasons (1949) and Duck Amuck (1953). Preceded by Tony Zhou’s short documentary Chuck Jones: The Evolution of an Artist (2015).
INTERMISSION - 6.15pm
6.30pm
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (Les Blank, USA, 1980) - 20 mins
Living up to a promise he made fellow filmmaker Errol Morris that he’d scoff his boot if Morris completed his debut feature Gates of Heaven the legendary German director does exactly that (boiled with garlic, herbs, and stock for five hours).
The Short & Curlies (Mike Leigh, UK, 1988) - 18 mins
A wonderful slice of Mike Leigh’s London with Alison Steadman as a chatty hairdresser, Sylvestra Le Touzel as her daughter Joy, and David Thewlis as the bloke who chats her up (via a series of truly awful jokes) while buying Durex at the chemists where she works.
INTERMISSION - 7.15pm
8pm
La Jetée (Chris Marker, France, 1962) - 28 mins
Marker’s masterpiece is a time travel film with a difference. Composed almost entirely of still images it tells the tale of a man sent back and forth in time to find a solution to the world's fate.
Daybreak Express (D.A. Pennebaker, USA, 1953) - 5 mins
An early short by documentary legend Pennebaker (Dont Look Back, The War Room). It’s an exhilarating ride on a Manhattan train accompanied by Duke Ellington on the soundtrack.
Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger, USA, 1963) - 28 mins
An enormous influence on artists as diverse as Martin Scorsese and David Lynch to Adam Ant, Anger’s underground classic mixes 50s pop (Elvis, The Crystals, Bobby Vinton singing Blue Velvet) with leather-clad bikers, phallic chrome and religious and political imagery. Ahead of its time. And one of a kind.
INTERMISSION - 9.15pm
9.30pm
Life Lessons (Martin Scorsese, USA, 1989) - 40 mins
Nick Nolte plays Lionel Dobie - an acclaimed New York artist who finds he is unable to paint without the sturm und drang generated by his on-off-I-said-OFF! relationship with beautiful younger assistant Rosanna Arquette. Originally filmed as part of the New York Stories anthology (along with Woody Allen’s great Oedipus Wrecks and Francis Ford Coppola's frankly awful Life Without Zoe) Life Lessons is a little lost gem in Scorsese’s cannon - and one that deserves to be seen by a wider audience.
Because of the nature of the day with potential for lots of people wandering in and out, we've decided to make this event Members Only - but, of course, non-members are more than welcome to join on the day (membership costs £15 per year, which entitles you to free entry to all our screenings as well as 20% off food at The Star on a Film Club day, %10 off all other times.)
