Yes, one of the highlights of the TPFC calendar is back! back! back! A whole day of screenings, where each film is no more than an hour long (approx).
For the 6th Annual TPFCSFF we’ve put together a ‘best of’ selected from the previous five years. If you’ve never been to one of these before, all you need to know is that because of the nature of the festival there’s no need to book for individual screenings: just turn up n take a seat! We’ve programmed the films into thematic blocks with between 5 to 20 min breaks between each block.
Like all our screenings, the fest is members-only, but non-members are more than welcome to join on the day. (Annual membership is £20 - payable in cold hard cash, please - and entitles you to a year’s worth of free weekly screenings AND 10% off food on a film club night.)
Pub opens at 12.00pm with the first screening starting at 12.30 prompt. Here’s what’s showing… (& to make things a bit more interesting / “interesting” we’ve each selected a screening as our Pic o’ The Day!)
12.30pm - 1.35pm
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Walter Ruttmann, Germany, 1927) - 65 mins
We open with a classic of the ‘city symphony’ genre. Structured to follow the life of Berlin and its inhabitants over the course of a single day, from dawn to dusk, to create “a symphonic film with the thousandfold energies that make up the life of a great city.”
1.45pm - 2.50pm
The Day of the Fight (Stanley Kubrick, USA, 1951) - 16 mins
Kubrick’s self-financed debut revisits a subject he had covered as a photographer for Look magazine in 1949: Irish-American middleweight boxer Walter Cartier. At the height of his career we follow him on the day of a fight with middleweight Bobby James.
Stanley Kubrick's Boxes (Jon Ronson, UK, 2008) - 48mins
Stanley Kubrick’s widow grants investigative journalist Jon Ronson access to Stanley Kubrick’s personal archive of over 1,000 boxes of meticulously organised movie-related materials. An eye-opening glance into the hidden workings of an obsessive genius.
3pm - 3.40pm
Two: A Film Fable (Satjayit Ray, India, 1965) - 12 mins
Shot in Mumbai, Ray’s short shows an encounter between a child of a rich family and a street kid, viewed through the wealthy child’s window.
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.
Thunder Road (Jim Cumings, USA, 2016) - 16 mins
Winner of 2016 Short Film Grand Jury Prize. Shot in one take, the film depicts a police officer (and Bruce Springsteen fan) giving a eulogy for his mother. Let’s just say, it’s something to behold...
3.50pm - 4.30pm
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.”
*** Wayne’s Pic o’ the Day!!! Wayne Sez: “A playfully Nabokovian fever-dream of the afterlife (natch) with a great score by Michael Nyman to boot.!”***
4.40pm-5.30pm
Dance in the Sun (Shirley Clarke, USA, 1953) - 6 mins
Indie director Clarke’s first short film captures the sinuous choreography of professional dancer Daniel Nagrin as he performs from an internal to external space accompanied by the music of Ralph Gilbert.
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.
The Big Shave (Martin Scorsese, USA, 1967) - 6 mins
Scorsese mixes music and image to startling effect in one of his early shorts.
Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger, USA, 1963) - 28 mins
An enormous influence on artists as diverse as Martin Scorsese and David Lynch, 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.
5.50pm- 7pm
Sherlock Jr (Buster Keaton, USA, 1924) - 45 mins
Buster Keaton's silent comedy classic concerns a mild-mannered film projectionist (Keaton) who longs to be a detective and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a love- rival for a crime he didn’t commit. We're still in the foothills of American cinema and already it's getting all self-reflective.
Towed in a Hole (George Marshall, USA, 1932) - 21 mins
Although they are successful fishmongers, Stan convinces Ollie that they should become fishermen too, but making a boat seaworthy is not an easy task. One of Stan n Ollie’s very best.
7.15pm - 8pm
Momma Don’t Allow (Karel Reisz & Tony Richardson, UK, 1956) - 22 mins
Documentary about the Wood Green jazz scene of the mid-50s (stay with us) made by new wave / Kitchen Sink pioneers Karel Reisz (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning) and Tony Richardson (A Taste of Honey).
Heavy Metal Parking Lot (John Heyn & Jeff Krulik, USA, 1986) - 17 mins
Reportedly a favorite on the Nirvana tour bus (and for many years only available on bootleg VHS tape), this cult classic introduces us to the young fans gearing up for a Judas Priest concert in suburban Maryland. You ain’t seen nothin’ until you’ve seen the Zebra Man.
*** Nigel’s Pic o the Day! Nige Sez: “Hilarious doc that partly explains why I’ve never attended a heavy metal gig."” ***
8.15pm - 8.45pm
CLASSIC CARTOONS
A selections of our favourites from Warner Bros and Tex Avery.
9pm - 9.25pm
Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life (Peter Capaldi, UK, 1993) - 23 mins
Peter Capaldi’s Oscar-winning comedy 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.
9.30pm - 10.30pm
Magical Mystery Tour (The Beatles, UK, 1967) - 55 mins
Originally conceived as a Boxing Day treat for Beatles-loving Brits, the Fab Four’s hour-long TV special confounded as many viewers as it delighted. A psychedelic road trip through the English countryside, the music is, of course, glorious (and also briefly features Neil Innes’ Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.)
