Cinema Rediscovered – the UK’s leading festival of classic cinema – returns to venues in and around Bristol: UNESCO City of Film from Wed 26 - Sun 30 July with a 50+ screenings and events combining screenings of newly restored films, rediscoveries and rarities with expert-led talks, Q&As, workshops, themed walks, a quiz and a multitude of starting points for lively conversation.

The unifying theme for Cinema Rediscovered 2023 is Other Ways of Seeing, inspired by the surprise taker of the top spot in the latest Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll - Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975). Not only is this the first time a female filmmaker has taken the number one spot since the poll’s inception in 1952, it is also an astonishing work - one that has been argued over and analysed for decades. 

The festival will explore the alternative cinematic practice that Jeanne Dielman presents to mainstream cinema and look at the ever-increasing role of lists in shaping and navigating film culture.

Here are some of the highlights of the Festival’s 7th annual line-up, with lots more to be revealed from mid-June when tickets go on sale:

(Image: Bushman (1971) c/o Kino Lorber)

UK Premieres of 15 Restored Classics 

The festival opens with a selection of restored cinema gems, including the 4K restoration of Sofia Coppola’s sensuously melancholic debut The Virgin Suicides (1999) prior to its UK cinema release on Fri 28 July, and the original cut of legendary director Stanley Kubrick’s debut feature Fear and Desire (1953); and closes with David Schickele’s politically astute Bushman (1971). In between, there’s Wayne Wang’s vibrant pulp trip Life is Cheap...But Toilet Paper Is Expensive (1990), Hou Hsiao-Sien’s seductive dive into the techno-scored neon nightlife of Taipei, Millennium Mambo (2001); Seijun Suzuki’s brutally absurdist Branded to Kill (1967); György Fehér’s stark murder mystery Twilight (1990) and Kōzaburō Yoshimura’s riveting melodrama Undercurrent (1956).

(Image: Serpico (1973) c/o Park Circus and Paramount)

Look Who’s Back: The Hollywood Renaissance & The Blacklist

The first chance to see a young Al Pacino in a new 4K restoration of the ground-breaking NYPD cop corruption thriller Serpico (1973) before its 50th anniversary cinema re-release (18 August) and alongside it, a selection of socially-savvy 1960/70s Hollywood films (including Uptight, Claudine, M*A*S*H, Midnight Cowboy and Shampoo), which introduced new on-screen talent and grittier stories to mainstream Hollywood whilst seeing the return of filmmakers previously blacklisted 20 years earlier due to the rise of McCarthyism.

Down & Dirty: American D.I.Y. Restored

(Image: Variety (1983) c/o Other Parties)

A showcase of newly-restored punk era gems and lo-fi provocations - among them, UK Premieres of Bette Gordon’s pioneering Variety (1983) and Beth B’s anarchic comic satire on religion, greed and consumerism Salvation (1987), screening alongside Juliet Bashore’s queer docufiction Kamikaze Hearts (1986) and Cauleen Smith’s beacon of 1990s Black DIY filmmaking Drylongso (1998).

Film on Film

(Image: Wanda (1970) c/o Janus Films)

Lovers of analogue are in for some very special treats. In partnership with BFI, this year's lineup includes a number of BFI Film on Film special events, featuring screenings of new 35mm prints of Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar (2002), Barbara Loden’s Wanda (1970) and Shirley Clarke’s Portrait of Jason (1967); celebrations with live music for the 100th anniversary of the invention of 16mm, a presentation on 9.5mm and the South West premiere of a new short by BAFTA winner Mark Jenkin, A Dog Called Discord on 35mm, screening alongside Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid’s avant-garde classic Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) on 16mm.

Festival founder Mark Cosgrove summed up the programme saying:

“The popularity of previous editions of Cinema Rediscovered proves there is an appetite to experience classic films on the big screen. Similarly, the reaction to Jeanne Dielman topping Sight and Sound’s all-time best poll showed how much audiences enjoy it when a once little-known film is brought to their attention. Cinema Rediscovered this year is all about inviting more cinema-goers to share this sense of excitement and discovery while also disrupting some previously held views - whether it’s through a first encounter with the wild exuberance of Antonio Carlos da Fontoura’s The Devil Queen, seeing films on 35mm, 16mm (and even 9.5mm!), taking a fresh look at a long forgotten box-office hit or hearing the inimitable director Carol Morley discussing her love of great British filmmaker Muriel Box.” 

(Image: The Devil Queen (1974) c/o  Antonio Carlos da Fontoura)

Local highlights will include the gripping Yield to the Night (1956) starring Swindon born Diana Dors as Mary Hilton, a woman awaiting execution for murder, directed by Bristol-born Oscar and BAFTA nominated director J. Lee Thompson; and cinema walks led by Bristol-based film enthusiast Mark Fuller.

Cinema Rediscovered 2023 is taking place at Watershed, 20th Century Flicks, Clevedon’s Curzon Cinema & Arts, the ex-IMAX cinema at Bristol Aquarium and, as part of Bristol’s Summer Film Takeover, the crypt of St John on the Wall Church and The Galleries shopping centre.

The festival is delivered in collaboration with a whole range of partners from South West Silents and Film Noir UK to Bristol Black Horror Club ,Twelve30 Collective, T A P E Collective and Invisible Women. Watch this space for more announcements on joint events.

Prices

Early Bird Passes are now on sale, allowing you to make the most of Cinema Rediscovered at a much reduced price (£85 full / £65 concessions / £50 aged 24 and under.)

Passes allow you to select from the 50+ screenings and events taking place across the festival (subject to availability), and all Pass Holders will get a free three-month trial and tote bag from curated online film streaming platform MUBI. As an Early Bird Pass holder, you get priority booking for tickets from Wed 14 June 12:00 (before tickets go on public sale Thu 15 June). Book your early bird passes here.

Film Critics Workshop

The call for this year’s Cinema Rediscovered Film Critics Workshop focussing on Video Essays is open until Thu 15 June. Led by film historian, editor and video essayist Jonathan Bygraves, with guests including Will DiGravio joining us from New York, Dublin-based Liz Greene and Tara Judah who will connect with participants in person here in Bristol. The workshop will run from July - Aug 2023. Find out how to apply here.

Cinema Rediscovered is a Watershed production. Its principal funders and sponsors are BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, MUBI and Park Circus. The festival will be followed from August 2023 on by a UK and Ireland-wide highlights tour, supported by BFI. 

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