OUTSIDE THE BOX: Cinematic Classics, Academy Ratio Screenings And More At REGENT STREET CINEMA In The NEW YEAR

Celebrating 5 years since the re-launch of London’s glorious REGENT STREET CINEMA, the cinema presents an array of cinematic treats showcasing classics shot in academy ratio, pre-Hays code naughtiness, Warhol shorts presented on 16MM and unearthed workers films and newsreels

ACADEMY AT REGENT ST.
Before the advent of widescreen formats such as CinemaScope, VistaVision and Todd A-O, all films were shot at the (by modern standards) boxy aspect ratio of 1.37:1, also known as the Academy ratio. Some of the greatest films ever made were produced on this format and we’re delighted to bring them back to the big screen.

King Kong + intro - January 5
A film crew goes to a tropical island for an exotic location shoot and discovers a colossal ape who takes a shine to their female blonde star. He is then captured and brought back to New York City for public exhibition. Despite all the high-tech remakes, Schoedsack and Cooper’s still impresses for its technical effects.

Introduced by the Harryhausen Foundation.

Citizen Kane - January 19
The film that regularly tops the list of greatest films ever made. Orson Welles’ epic tale of the rise and fall of Charles Foster Kane, the publishing tycoon. Once seen, never forgotten.

Letter From An Unknown Woman - January 26
One of cinema’s most achingly poignant romances, based on Stefan Zweig’s novella set in fin de siècle Vienna. About to leave the city in order to avoid a duel, concert pianist Stefan Brand receives a letter from a woman he can no longer remember. A wry meditation on memory and misplaced desire.

Diabolique - February 2
This thriller from Henri Georges Clouzot, which shocked audiences in Europe and the U.S., is the story of two women—the fragile wife and the wilful mistress of the sadistic headmaster of a boys’ boarding school—who hatch a daring revenge plot. With its unprecedented narrative twists and terrifying images, Diabolique is a heart-grabbing benchmark in horror filmmaking.

Top Hat - February 9
Screwball comedy classic. American showman Jerry Travers (Astaire) shows off some new moves in his producer Horace Hardwick’s London hotel room. A disgruntled Dale Tremont (Rogers) complains about the noise and sparks instantly fly between her and Travers, whom she believes to be Hardwick….

Battleship Potemkin - February 16
Originally conceived as part of a cycle of films commemorating the revolutionary events of 1905, Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin recreates in documentary-style the failed mutiny of the Black Sea fleet and the subsequent massacre of the people of Odessa. Innovative cinematography and editing techniques heighten the horrific nature of events.

Although banned outright in many countries outside Soviet Russia, the film became an international sensation, and has had a lasting impact on world cinema. The arresting sequence of the massacre of civilians on Odessa’s steps is one of the most celebrated, analysed, and quoted in cinema history.

PRE-CODE AT REGENT ST.
The 1934 Motion Picture Production Code (also known as the Hays Code) attempted to ensure that “no picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it.” In the brief window of major Hollywood productions pre-Code, however, many films did just that. And we are delighted to screen them for you…

Design For Living - January 5
In this film, based on the stage comedy by Noel Coward, playwright Fredric March and artist Gary Cooper both fall in love with Miriam Hopkins, an American living in Paris. The girl can’t make up her mind between the two men, so the threesome decide to move in together.

Baby Face - January 26
A young woman, sexually exploited all her life, decides to turn the tables and exploit the hapless men at a big city bank – by gleefully sleeping her way to the top.

Forbidden - February 9
In this fast-paced potboiler, Barbara Stanwyck stars as a staid librarian who falls in love with a married district attorney Adolph Manjou on a cruise. Wrestling with how a working mother can find fulfilment without being forced to choose between her career and her children is still a relevant topic today.

The Photographers’ Gallery
To coincide with the current exhibition Feast for the Eyes at The Photographers’ Gallery, join us for a unique screening of Andy Warhol’s Eat (1963) and Restaurant (aka L’Avventura) (1965). The former captures the simple act of a man eating mushrooms in a one-man show starring Robert Indiana in a single 35-minute shot. Restaurant, on the other hand, is a moving still life, opening with a tight shot of a chequered tablecloth. With off camera conversations and the appearance of Warhol superstars like Edie Sedgwick, this 34-minute film documents a staged dinner in a New York restaurant.

CREAM Screen presents: Revolutionary Cinema, Radical Archives
A rare opportunity to view examples from films by the little known Workers Film and Photo League in a screening of Victoria Wegg-Prosser and Terry Dennet’s compilation film Workers’ Film of the Thirties, 1981. Between 1934-1939 British Film and Photo League produced film by and for the Labour Movement challenging the official view of society portrayed by the Newsreels of the time.

CREAM researcher, Sam Stevens, will introduce the film alongside his own, Spanish Labyrinth, 2016-19, a biographical account of revolutionary filmmaker Eli Lotar’s attempts to film the political events of Republican Spain which are woven amongst contemporary realities such as climate change and food poverty in Andalusia today.

The screening will be preceded by an afternoon workshop at Regent St Campus that considers the role of radical film and photography archives within the context of Workers’ Film and Photography and Media today.

About Regent Street Cinema
Built in 1848 and housed within the Polytechnic Institution on London’s Regent Street, the cinema was the first in the country to show moving pictures. In 1896, the cinema showcased the Lumière brothers’ Cinématographe to a paying audience, and, as the curtain fell, British cinema was born.

After being used as a student lecture hall by the university since 1980, it was restored into a working cinema featuring a state-of-the-art auditorium as well as an inclusive space for learning, cultural exchange and exhibitions. It is a truly landmark venue for the British film industry in the heart of London’s West End.

The cinema is one of the few in the country to show 16mm and 35mm film, as well as the latest in 4K digital film. It offers exclusive premieres, repertory screenings, retrospectives, documentaries, animation and experimental cinema. You can also experience double bills, showcasing the best of home-grown British talent, world cinema and classic movies in a classic environment.

The University of Westminster has always been at the centre of innovation in film production and cinematography. Many of the university’s alumni occupy prominent roles within the industry. The Regent Street Cinema will provide a platform for film students and professionals to come together and showcase their outstanding work.