NEW INDEPENDENT CINEMA OPENS IN PLYMOUTH

The Jill Craigie's cinema in the Roland Levinsky Building at the University of Plymouth opens it's doors this month, and to celebrate they are screening a number of silent films, presented with brand new soundtracks by a diverse selection of musicians.

These reinterpretations of classic films will include Buster Keaton’s 1925 masterpiece The General, Broken Blossoms, South and Battleship Potemkin.

Each screening promises to offer the audience something very rarely encountered in cinema and because each performance is either being performed live or specially curated for the event there'll exhibit that "had to be there" quality usually reserved for gigs or premiere's. Check out these listings:

02 Oct
THE GENERAL
Dir: Clyde Bruckman/Buster Keaton
USA/75mins/1925
6.30pm/£5 (£3 over 60s/free to UoP Students, staff and Friends Plus)
A combination of Buster Keaton’s physical comedy with dramatic stunts, accompanied by live music from energetic pianist and improviser, Andrew Odber.

09 Oct
BROKEN BLOSSOMS
Dir: DW Griffith
USA/90mins/1919
6.30pm/£5 (£3 over 60s/free to UoP Students, staff and Friends Plus)
Set in the east end of London in the lime house district amidst opium dens, Broken Blossoms is a dream-like tale of love in the face of adversity. Seven-piece progressive folk outfit the Dharma Bums perform a live score alongside a screening of this intimate and poignant film. New addition to the group, electronics maestro Oliver Charles will make his debut as a Bum at the gig so don’t miss out!

16 Oct
SOUTH
Dir: Frank Hurley
UK/81 mins/1919
6.30pm/£5 (£3 over 60s/free to UoP Students, staff and Friends Plus)
South tells the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill fated journey to the Antarctic. The incredible voyage and subsequent marooning was captured by photographer, cameraman and adventurer Frank Hurley so there’s some pretty rare footage in this film. It will be accompanied by a new digitally generated score by composer Alexis Kirke, which captures the desolate, white landscape of Antarctica.

23 Oct
THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN
Dir: Sergei Eisenstein
USSR/75 mins/1925
6.30pm/£5 (£3 over 60s/free to UoP Students, staff and Friends Plus)
Eisenstein’s dramatisation of the 1905 Battleship Potemkin uprising against oppressive officers was intended as a piece of propoganda, but became an influential piece of film making because of the director’s use of montage, the influence of which can be seen in modern cinema – from Coppola’s Apocalypse Now to De Palma’s Untouchables. The screening will be accompanied by a specially developed digitally reconfigured orchestral piece from composer Shostakovich.

The Jill Craigie Cinema is in the Roland Levinsky Building at the University of Plymouth.
Box office: 01752 585050
www.peninsula-arts.co.uk