As we say goodbye to summer and welcome a new season, our Cinema programme team (Curator Mark Cosgrove and programmer Steph Read) share some of the highlights we’ll be welcoming to Watershed’s cinema screens throughout Autumn, including ass-kicking action films, celebrations of local talent, and hot new releases. 

 

September 

Seasons 

Every month we present a Sunday season of specially curated films – with September’s season being part of Other Minds, our month-long exploration of different kinds of intelligence, from the animal, to the mechanical, and collective.  

In the cinemas we’re showing four recent sci-fi inflected films which each meditate on what it means to be human. Ranging from mysteries and thrillers (Moon, Ex Machina) to thoughtful dramas (Her, After Yang), they dig into identity and consciousness and complement the Lunchtime Talks and events hosted by the Pervasive Media Studio also part of Other Minds – check out the full Other Minds programme here. 

One-offs 

We’re celebrating local talent towards the end of the month with two special one-offs focusing on both new and established filmmakers. Bristol Short Film Showcase (Sun 29 Sept, 14:30) includes new films from two of the city’s most prominent filmmaking talents (Michael Jenkins and Paul Holbrook), as well as recent shorts produced through BFI NETWORK South West. 

Adventures in Animation: The Art & Artistry of Richard Williams (Sat 28 Sept, 14:30) pays homage to the legendary animator Richard Williams (1933 – 2019), best known for his work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit (which earned him two Oscars®). In his later years, Richard was a much-loved figure around Bristol, and we can’t wait to celebrate his life with the event and launch of a book, written by his wife and collaborator Imogen Sutton. 

New releases 

Make up your own mind about legendary director Francis Ford Coppola’s grand futurist fantasy Megalopolis, which split the critics in Cannes, plus Coralie Fargeat’s audacious body horror The Substance, and Nora Fingscheidt’s poignant adaptation of Amy Liptot’s award-winning memoir The Outrun. 

 

October 

Festivals 

The 68th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) returns to Wed 9 – Sun 20 Oct and Watershed will be hosting 12 special premieres, including films from Steve McQueen, Sean Baker, Andrea Arnold, Marielle Heller, Walter Salles and more.

Seasons 

We partner up with Bristol Photo Festival (Wed 16 Oct – Sun 17 Nov) again for their second edition, bringing a season of films celebrating the photographer’s eye.  

To link up with their exhibition by Greenland indigenous photographer Inuteeq Storch (taking place at Centrespace), we are screening Twice Colonized, a documentary about an Inuit lawyer who embarks on a mission to hold Denmark and Canada accountable for their colonial past, and I’m Not Everything I Want to Be, an experimental documentary about Libuše Jarcovjáková, who has been dubbed the ‘Nan Goldin of Czechoslovakia’. 

Steph Read, Watershed Cinema Programmer says; 

“One of my real highlights and surprise discoveries from this year’s Berlinale was Klára Tasovská’s unconventional documentary I’m Not Everything I Want to Be.  

The film unfolds entirely through a pacy slideshow of her shots with the photographer narrating her own diary entries, charting the eventful time she spent between Prague, Tokyo and Berlin through the 70s and 80s.  

As someone with a bit of an aversion to the traditional ‘talking heads’ doc format, I was really taken with the boldness of the choice to use entirely static imagery. I’m really excited to be able to bring this to Watershed, especially as part of the excellent wider Bristol Photo Fest programme, which I urge you to check out.”  

Over October half-term, families can look forward The Wild Robot, the latest from the director of How To Train Your Dragon, as well as a shorts programme from German filmmaker Lotte Reiniger, an early pioneer of silhouette animation, and a chance to get creative with a workshop based on her techniques at an accompanying workshop. 

Our Black History Month season will include Black Bristol on Film presented by Fam Films on Sun 27 Oct. Expect a collection of short films delving into the rich and complex history of Bristol’s Black community, from the 60s bus boycott to the birth of St Paul’s Carnival the 80s riots and beyond plus special guests including Creative Media Producer Rob Mitchell and Director/Producer Colin Thomas.  

We’re also partnering with Afrika Eye Festival to bring you Mati Diop’s Golden Bear winner Dahomey, a timely documentary on the restitution of looted artifacts to Benin, and we bring back Charles Burnett’s newly restored The Annihilation of Fish, a playful rumination on romance which had its UK Premiere here in Bristol as part of Cinema Rediscovered in July.  

New releases  

Bristol favourite Pedro Almodóvar makes his hotly anticipated English language feature debut with The Room Next Door, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, plus Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Nickel Boys is vividly brought to life in a masterclass adaptation. 

 

November 

Seasons 

It’s all kicking off (literally) in November with the start of the Art of Action, a UK-wide celebration of the artistry behind action films. Presented by the BFI Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) and co-ordinated behind the scenes by Watershed Producer Timon Singh, it will take us on a journey through action choreography, from silent film stunts right through to today’s dazzling set pieces. 

Our own Art of Action season, co-curated by filmmaker Nida Manzoor (Polite Society), will celebrate women in action, on screen and behind the camera. Kathryn Bigelow’s cult classic Point Break rides a wave of cracking films including a strand of Hong Kong action flicks, the Wachowskis’ The Matrix, and more. 

While we'll be celebrating the vibrant physicality of bodies on the cinema screen upstairs, our immersive gallery Undershed will be opening its doors for the first time, with a programme that questions how we all use the bodies we live in to connect with the constantly shifting world around us. Register for updates on Undershed here. 

Festivals 

Afrika Eye Festival, the South West’s celebration of African cinema and culture, returns on Sat 16 Nov with a selection of under-screened gems and some late-night live music in the Café & Bar. 

New releases 

Don’t miss Claire Keegan’s moving portrait of 1980s Ireland Small Things Like These, Andrea Arnold’s tender fable Bird, Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora, and Payal Kapadia’s poetic Mumbai tale All We Imagine As Light. 

Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator says; 

“It’s exciting to bring some of the talking point films we saw at Cannes, including provocative body horror The Substance and Coppola’s divisive Megalopolis, to Watershed and if you join those up with the new films making their premieres with us as part of London Film Festival on Tour, such as Steve McQueen’s Blitz, you have a thrilling discovery-filled autumn at the cinema.”  

 

Stay in touch  

That’s just a few of the highlights coming up this month in the cinemas – make sure you sign up to our Weekly Newsletter for all the latest in the cinemas and beyond. Listen to our monthly Cinema Podcast for more curatorial insights and keep an eye out for the launch of Watershed’s Letterboxd HQ account, launching soon. 

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