Bristol Film Festival from Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th March 2017
Posted on: 06 Mar 2017Movie buffs in the city are in for a full-on four-day celluloid feast this week when the Bristol Film Festival hits a raft of venues from Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th March 2017. Returning this year with a tantalizing panoply of cinematic treats, the thrilling calendar of events will actually stretch across the whole of the year with 'Tension' being the overarching theme of the festival.
As before, some of Bristol's most popular and iconic venues will provide the backdrops and screening rooms for a selection of the most groundbreaking, thought-provoking and pivotal movies of recent times, with the projector cranking up at apposite film-specific locations including showings of Mr Turner at RWA, Master and Commander at ss Great Britain and Jurassic Park at Bristol Museum.
Added to the list of key city locations this year is Arnos Vale Cemetery, which will be running a series of spookily macabre, family-friendly flicks.
March will also see the launch of @Everyman, with the recently restored The Everyman building itself providing the festival's base from 9th-12th March.
Thrillingly - and in-keeping with the festival's promise to broaden the movie-going experience in new, innovative ways by screening them in unusual venues - Redcliffe Caves will be the cinematic centre-point for a programme of controversial, cult and previously banned films for the launch of Underground Cinema. So, with the caves transformed into a Cold War-style bunker, you'll be able to immerse yourselves in the dark and twisted delights of such brilliantly unhinged and delightfully deranged classics such as American Psycho, Reservoir Dogs, A Clockwork Orange and Saw.
In addition to the film screenings there will also be a range of talks and workshops discussing the film industry. RWA and Cathedral will screen a selection of local independent features and shorts which will showcase some of the finest, up-and-coming filmmaking talent the city has to offer.
Music and the Movies will highlight the importance of the close relationship between music and the moving image, with organ-accompanied screenings of the silent classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame on Saturday 11th March at Bristol Cathedral, and a showing of the documentary Get Better: A Film About Frank Turner (with a Q&A introduction with director Ben Morse) on Sunday 12th March at Arnolfini.
But the film-based fun doesn't stop there, fellow cinefiles. The festival will also be collaborating with Bristol International Jazz & Blues Festival for a one-off screening of Fritz Lang's futuristic dystopian masterpiece, Metropolis. A new cut of the movie has been prepared especially for the festival, and local, well-renowned saxophonist Andy Sheppard and a his merry band of musicians will be performing a newly commissioned score live to picture.
Vintage Screenings - run in conjunction with Averys and Arch House Deli - will see a back-by-popular-demand screening of the modern classic Sideways on 9th March, and the Sean Connery-starring James Bond masterpiece From Russia With Love on 10th March. Both will see you're well lubricated with fine wines which have been especially selected to pair up with the requisite films.
And if you're going to match wines with movies then why not food too? Beyond Popcorn will do just that and will run throughout the rest of the year, with notable filmic highlights including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which will screen at Hotel du Vin on Saturday 11th March with the quintessential British accompaniment of afternoon tea.
This year, Bristol Film Festival is also particularly proud to launch a partner event with Knowle West Media Centre, presenting films from the venue's Her Point of View Project, a resource which offers aspiring female filmmakers the opportunity to create their own short films.
To find out more, get a full run-down of all the events, venues, talks and workshops and, of course, that all-important programme that is your passport to this exciting, dizzying celluloid nirvana, head to the website www.bristolfilmfestival.com and the official Facebook Page.
Article by:
Jamie is a writer, blogger, journalist, critic, film fan, soundtrack nerd and all-round Bristolian good egg. He loves the music of Philip Glass, the art of Salvador Dali, the writings of Charles Bukowksi and Hunter S Thompson, the irreverence of Harry Hill, and the timeless, straw-chomping exuberance of The Wurzels. You can sometimes find him railing against a surging tide of passing cyclists, or gorging himself senseless on the Oriental delights of a Cosmos all-you-can-eat buffet.
