The Garden Cinema Film Talk

We chat to a panel of producers, actors and directors about the current film scene in the Arab world, what is means to be an "Arab film", what the sources of funding tend to be, the topics and genres that appeal most internationally, the intricacies of subtitling and other issues our audience asked about. The event was held as a launch night for the Arab women filmmakers season at the cinema and involved producer and curator Elhum Shakerifar, actress and programmer Sarah Agha and filmmaker Soudade Kaadan.

To mark Italy's Liberation Day, we screened documentary Bella Ciao - Song Of Rebellion. The documentary traces the origins of the revolutionary song, the myths around it, its international appeal and use, its potential commercialisation. Directors Paul Russell and Andrea Vogt joined us to chat about making indie films, Bella Ciao and the deeply moving meanings behind it with Mydylarama journalist Steve Topple.

Teenage rebel Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) returns to his upper-crust English public school, caught between the sadistic older boys known as the Whips and the first-year students, known as Scum, who are forced to do their bidding. The petty thefts and anti-social behavior of Travis and his two henchmen, Johnny (David Wood) and Wallace (Richard Warwick), soon attract the attention of both the Whips and the school's out-of-touch administration, and lead to an unexpected showdown.

This British classic was screened at the Garden Cinema with a Q&A with David Wood. David co-starred as one of the three rebel schoolboys in a public school, alongside Malcolm McDowell (Mick) and Richard Warwick (Wallace), and they led the revolution against authority – which was regarded by many as a metaphor for the social and political situation in the UK.

Join us for this podcast to hear David sharing behind the scenes stories and other anecdotes. 

This film was proposed by our member Paddy Cooper. To propose your own screening, log into your members’ account to visit the Members’ Area. We also show members’ choice selections as regular ticketed screenings.

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We chatted to Italian director Mario Martone about his latest feature film, Nostalgia, which stars one of Italy's most famous working actors, ‎Pierfrancesco Favino, sporting am eerily accurate Arabic accent. We delve together into the film's esoteric and spiritual dimensions, its gorgeous and loving portrait of Naples and its depictions of the city's element of criminality. 

Curator, artist and Brighton-resident John Marchant joined us here at the Garden Cinema for a discussion following our screening of Laura Poitras's All The Beauty And The Bloodshed. The film tells the story of photographer Nan Goldin's tireless campaign to expose the crimes of the Sackler family and the part they played in the opioid crisis in the US and to kick the Sacklers out of the art spaces they gave money to to whitewash their actions. 

John tells us about her artistic process, her resilience, their work together and what the campaigning achieved.

We gathered here at the cinema after our screening of The Shining, as part of our Jack Nicholson season, with Professor Roger Luckhurst who wrote The Shining: BFI Film Classics. Roger shares with us gossip and tales from behind the scenes, tells us about the film's negative reception at the time and the differences with the novel and gives us some context to understand its place as part of the horror repertoire. 

Enjoy!

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We gathered in the Garden Cinema den with our regular group of City Lit film students to discuss and share anecdotes about Antonioni's The Passenger, screened as part of our Celebrating Jack Nicholson season. The Passenger was one of our most popular members' suggestions. Grab a drink and listen in!

Join us in the Garden Cinema Den for our post-film chat. 

Following our screening of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane, as part of our Hollywood on Hollywood season, we all huddled around a drink in the den to chat about the film and listen to Dr Lucy Bolton share with us the gossip, highlights from and insights into the shoot. We chatted about the film's "useless" men, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis's legendary rivalry, the former's star power, the latter's dedication to her craft, and everything from Oscar shenanigans to the evolution in women's representation on screen. 

We've recorded this discussion for everyone to enjoy remotely, from home or on their commute. 

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We held a Q&A with Dr Kiki Tianqi Yu following one of our screenings of Return To Dust. The film film follows Ma and timid Cao who have been cast off by their families and forced into an arranged marriage. Uniting with Earth’s cycles, they create a haven for themselves in which they can thrive.

Dr Kiki Tianqi Yu talks about the film's depiction of the connection between humans and land and its the philosophical connotations, the director's previous work, the issues around censorship and independent cinema in China. 

Find us on the usual platforms. Send us your comments, feedback and suggestions via Twitter @thegardencinema or by contacting us at [email protected]. 

We are joined by writer/director/actress Nana Mensah. Mensah's first feature film, the award-winning Queen Of Glory, will be screening at the Garden Cinema on 26 November. 

The film follows the trials and tribulations of Sarah Obeng, the brilliant child of Ghanaian immigrants, who is quitting her Ivy League PhD program to follow her married lover to Ohio. When her mother dies suddenly, she bequeaths her daughter a Christian bookstore in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx where Sarah was raised. 

We were also joined by Lily Parrott, co-director of the Migration Film Festival. We chatted about Nana's forays into filmmaking, her start as an actress, and its selection as part of the festival. 

Find us on the usual platforms. Send us your comments, feedback and suggestions via Twitter @thegardencinema or by contacting us at [email protected].