Watershed is back: find out what's on this weekend

Watershed is back: find out what's on this weekend

Posted on: 04 Sep 2020

Multi-arts venue, arthouse cinema and café bar Watershed reopened this week following months of closure.

 

Bristol film fans got some good news on Tuesday, as Watershed finally opened its doors to the public after being closed since March due to the coronavirus crisis.

 

Located on Canon's Road in the heart of Bristol's harbourside, Watershed is one of the city's best-loved cinemas and a proud champion of film in all forms, from big-budget pictures to independent and cult hits.

 

With Watershed now officially back open for business, read on for a quick rundown of what's on this weekend, including the Oscar-nominated Les Miserables, 50s classic Sunset Boulevard and Oliver Laxe's 2019 film, Fire Will Come.

 

 

Les Miserables | Friday 4, Saturday 5, Sunday 6 September

 

Inspired by the 2005 Paris riots, Les Miserables is a provocative insight into the tensions between neighbourhoods, residents and police in the French capital. 

 

Set among the same streets as the hit namesake musical, Les Miserables follows the story of new Anti-Crime Squad recruit Stéphane and his colleagues as they tackle cases in an increasingly volatile environment.

 

When the team find themselves overrun during an arrest, drone footage of the encounter and their actions threaten to expose the reality of everyday life in the Parisian suburbs.

 

Browse screenings across the weekend and book your tickets here.

 

 

Atlantics | Friday 4 September

 

Winner of the 2019 Cannes Grand Prix, Atlantics is a haunting, fantastical depiction of young love and migration, laced with incisive socio-political commentary.

 

In French director and actor Mati Diop's debut feature, Teenage Ada (Mame Bineta Sane) is in love with Souleiman (Ibrahima Traore), a young construction worker in Dakar.

 

Tired of labouring without pay, Souleiman sets off to undertake a treacherous journey across the Atlantic with his fellow aggrieved workers in search of a better life, leaving Ada to face an impending marriage to another man. 

 

While Ada grieves her lover, the young men return to Dakar as possessive spirits, unleashing a series of strange and supernatural incidents.

 

Book tickets for tonight's screenings of Atlantics here.

 

 

Sunset Boulevard | Saturday 5, Sunday 6 September

 

Featuring one of the most iconic opening sequences in cinema history, Billy Wilder's classic picture Sunset Boulevard is still regarded as one of the greatest-ever takedowns of Hollywood and celebrity culture, seventy years on from its release.

 

Peppered with real Hollywood figures - including director Cecil B DeMille, actor Buster Keaton and columnist Hedda Hopper - Wilder and co-scriptwriter Leigh Brackett’s insiders' take on Hollywood culture was famously lambasted at the time by studio mogul Louis B Mayer.

 

But, like Norma Desmond, the film’s allure continues - and its insights into the unforgiving world of Hollywood remain topical and savagely entertaining.

 

Tickets are selling fast for two screenings this weekend - book yours here.

 

 

The Wild Goose Lake | Saturday 5 September

 

Following on from the success of his 2014 film, Black Coal, Thin Ice, director Diao Yinan returned in 2019 with a hyper-stylised noir set in the underbelly of modern China.

 

In the city of Wuhan, a network of lakes provide the ideal cover for crime boss Zhou as he looks to lay low. While in hiding he meets sex worker Liu, who works for Zhou's boss and may or may not be there to save him.

 

Twisting genre conventions and boasting an impressive range of choreographed violence, The Wild Goose Lake is truly striking cinema. Book tickets for this weekend's screenings here.

 

 

Fire Will Come | Sunday 6 September


In Oliver Laxe's visually draw-dropping Fire Will Come, a pyromaniac returns to his mother's farm in an introspective look at the Galician landscape.

 

Winner of the 2019 Un Certain Regard at Cannes, the film follows Amador as he returns home after spending two years in prison. Life goes by slowly at first, until a fire devastates the farm and surrounding area, and locals quickly jump to conclusions in identifying to the culprit.

 

A raw, ravishing sensory experience filled with beautifully shot images of the Galician countryside, Fire Will Come is a hypnotic study of nature, human nature, and the areas in between.

 

Book tickets for Sunday screenings here.

 

 
 

Following months of closure, Watershed has issued an appeal for support to be able to navigate an uncertain future.

 

For more information on the cinema's approach upon reopening, or to donate, head to the Watershed website.

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Article by:

Matt Robson

 

Editor - 365Bristol.com & LOUD Magazine
 

Matt is a Journalism graduate and writer, passionate about supporting Bristol music, art and independent business. Get in touch via email at matt@365bristol.com.