You are warmly invited to the Cinema and Television History (CATH) Research Centre's ‘View from Underground’, three screening-based events at the Regent Street Cinema in April 2018, inspired by research in De Montfort University’s Peter Whitehead Archive and exploring aspects of the London counterculture in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Each event has its own theme – underground film, the music press, and women’s contribution – but all will draw on the contacts and collaborations that have resulted from CATH’s archive acquisitions and last year’s ‘Peter Whitehead Residency’ during the Royal Albert Hall’s ‘Summer of Love Revisited’ season.
The programme kicks off on 5 April with ‘Projecting Psychedelia’, a cornucopia of delights, featuring the 1960s work of independent film-makers Anthony Stern (Whitehead’s assistant director) and Kevin Whitney (official artist for the Olympic Games). Both have significant Pink Floyd connections. Stern’s short experimental film ‘San Francisco’ uses the first recording of the Floyd’s legendary ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ as its soundtrack. The band gave the track to their friend Anthony for his exclusive use. Witney’s split-screen ‘Psychedelia’ includes rare footage of Syd Barret in 1968. Both films will celebrate their 50th anniversaries in the presence of their directors. Other highlights include the premiere of unseen work by Anthony Stern, an interview with Peter Whitehead from 1968, and live accompaniment for Whitney’s films from London space-punk band, Cut. In the interval, psych-fanciers will be able to sample the effects of the extraordinary Hipnagogic Light Machine. The programme is curated by Sophia Satchell-Baeza (King’s College London), who also collaborated in the staging of some of last summer’s Royal Albert Hall events.
The CATH Centre is bringing over the acclaimed Canadian film-maker Leslie Ann Coles for the screening on 11 April. Her feature-length documentary, ‘Melody Makers’, the story of the London-based music paper and its chief photographer, Barry Wentzell, during the sixties and seventies, has been winning nominations and awards on the film festival circuit. As well as a host of former ‘Melody Maker’ journalists (and Peter Whitehead), the film has interviews with rock stars such as Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Eric Burden (The Animals), and Sonja Kristina (Curved Air). The evening will conclude with a Q&A with Leslie Ann and some of those featured in her film. She will then spend a few days in Leicester, screening ‘Melody Makers’ at the Phoenix Cinema (14 April) and a programme of short films by women directors from her annual Canadian Female Eye Festival at DMU (13 April).
Whilst the revolutionary possibilities of the late 1960s often appear framed solely by male voices, stories and actions, our ‘Women of the Counterculture’ event on the 25th of April, will offer a frank examination of the experience of creative women innovating and experimenting amidst the turbulent upheavals shaking London. The evening will open with live discussion with some of the key women who were there – including: folk icon, activist and television presenter, Julie Felix; singer-songwriter, Carol Grimes; important countercultural figure, English Boy model and part of the Pink Floyd crew, Jenny Spires; artist and Exploding Galaxy member, Jill Drower. The evening will finish with a rare screening of the evocative Dope (1968, 90 mins). This impressionistic study of a woman who turns to heroin use was co-directed and virtuosically-edited by American film-maker, Diane Rochlin (now Flame Schon), and shot in the haunts of Hippy London in 1967. This event will be co-ordinated by Alissa Clarke (co-curator of CATH’s Peter Whitehead Archive and co-producer of the ‘Peter Whitehead Residency’ at the Royal Albert Hall) and Sophia Satchell-Baeza (King’s College London).
For further information:
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
https://www.regentstreetcinema.com/view-from-underground/
To book tickets:
https://www.regentstreetcinema.com/programme/page/3/
Dr Alissa Clarke
Senior Lecturer in Drama Studies
De Montfort University
Clephan, 2.18
The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH
0116 2078953 / [log in to unmask]
www.dmu.ac.uk/alissaclarke<http://www.dmu.ac.uk/alissaclarke>
Learning support and feedback sessions:
Wednesday 12 - 1pm and Thursday 3.30 - 4.30pm.
Please email to book an appointment.
--------------------------------------------------------
MeCCSA mailing list
--------------------------------------------------------
To manage your subscription or unsubscribe from the MECCSA list, please visit:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=MECCSA&A=1
-------------------------------------------------------
MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education.
This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members. It is an unmoderated list and content reflect the views of those who post to the list and not of MeCCSA as an organisation.
MeCCSA recommends that the list be used only for posting of information (for example about events, publications, conferences, lectures) of interest to members or to promote discussion of current issues of wide general interest in the field. Posts to the MeCCSA mailing list are public, indexed by Google, and can be accessed from the JISCMail website (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/meccsa.html).
Any messages posted to the list are subject to the JISCMail acceptable use policy, which states that users should avoid engaging in unreasonable behaviour, or disrupting the general flow of discussion on a list.
For further information, please visit: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/
--------------------------------------------------------
