Film: A fresh take

Last week I spoke about some of CINECITY’s wonderful films and I hope you managed to catch some over the festival’s opening weekend! If not, never fear, there are many more wonderful things to see. This year, CINECITY is spotlighting the significance of new beginnings and cinema’s continual reinvention with innovative debut features and fresh takes on old films.

Central to CINECITY 2014 is a film set installation for an imagined screen version of Berg, Brightonian experimental author Ann Quin’s debut novel. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the book’s publication, this free exhibition housed at the University of Brighton is complemented by an array of screenings and talks.

Building on the concept of imaginary and obscure cinema, there is a ‘creative dialogue’ – as the festival creators call it – running through the programme. This includes the UK premieres of new live underscores to cinema classics, location pop-ups and Edible Cinema, in which the audience are given numbered boxes with food and drink to be sampled along with a film. An experience for all of the senses!

There are two projects based on film history that I am particularly excited to see:

On Thursday 27 November, 1961’s Last Year at Marienbad will be screening in Brighton’s Museum and Art Gallery. The film tells the tale of an unnamed man who meets an unnamed woman in a grand hotel and attempts to persuade her that not only have they met before, but were romantically involved. The plot may seem deceptively simple but the twisting cinematic puzzle is one of the most iconic and influential films ever made. It has an Oscar-nominated screenplay by Alain Robbe-Grillet and is fully deserving of your time.

However, if you don’t get a chance to see it then you absolutely must catch Francois Truffaut’s 1966 adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 on 28 November. This classic dystopian tale of a society where books are outlawed is screening as part of the BFI’s ‘Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder’ UK-wide season and is poignantly displayed amongst the empty shelves of the old Brighton Reference Library. It is Truffaut’s only English-language film and stars Oskar Werner as the book-burning fireman who falls in love with Linda (Julie Christie) and slowly discovers his own love of literature.

There are also many events that one might describe as being quite ‘out there’: I do tend to find that each year there are a few things that are a little too … experimental for me, and others have said the same. But that is the beauty of this festival; there will always be something for you to dislike and there will always be something for you to love. Don’t be put off by the age of a picture or the style in which it is presented. Take a chance and see what you will discover!