Mark Kermode's Film Club...

Mark is back for a third year to programme some of his favourite films. This year, after the worldwide success of The Artist, he picks movies where sound (or 'silence') is a crucial factor.  Mark will present introductions to the films, explaining why they are so important to him, and provide some fascinating nuggets of information about the films and their makers.  (Movies will be screened from Thursday to Sunday from 5.30pm in Club Larmer, entrance is free and films will be certificated for age and suitability.)

We begin with Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail – a picture which began life as a silent film but which Hitchcock converted to sound midway through production, resulting in two distinct versions of the same film. We will be screening the original silent version.

The programme continues with Francis Ford Coppola’s compelling seventies thriller The Conversation about a surveillance expert who hears an incriminating conversation – or does he? – in which the soundscape provides the very heart of the unfolding mystery.

When ‘Bruce’, the mechanical shark, kept breaking down, Steven Spielberg turned to composer John Williams’ to fill a monster-sized whole in his blockbuster Jaws – with history-making results. Meanwhile, both the Spanish/Mexican chiller The Orphanage and the surreal David Lynch cult classic Eraserhead employ famously eerie soundtracks which are even more disturbing than the visuals.

Other treats include: Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie, a comic homage to the lost age of pre-sound cinema; Delicatessen, a superbly surreal French comedy from Jeunet and Caro; and Pixar’s brilliant Wall-E, with its wonderfully wordless opening movement.  And, in tribute to the late great Ken Russell who brought the house down at Larmer Tree a few years ago, there’s a special screening of his hallucinogenic sci-fi fantasy Altered States which will blow your eyes, your ears, and your mind...

The season culminates with The Artist – an enchanting film for young and old alike that proves you don’t need computer effects and big stars to win the audience’s heart.

Mark Kermode says: “At a time when the movie industry is attempting to give us all collective eye-strain with dreary 3D, it’s good to remember that the movies have always been as much about what you hear as what you see – even during the so-called silent era, which was never ‘silent’ at all!”

Thursday

5.30pm - Blackmail  (Director Alfred Hitchcock, Starring Anny Ondra and John Longden,1929,Cert PG) 

7.00pm - The Conversation  (Director Francis Ford Coppola, Starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale and Cindy Williams,1974, Cert 12)

9.00pm - The Orphanage (Director J A Bayona, Starring Belen Rueda and Fernando Cayo, 2007, Cert 15)

11.00pm - Eraserhead  (Director David Lynch, Starring Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart and Jeanne Bates, 1977, Cert 15)

Friday

5.30pm - Silent Movie  (Director Mel Brooks, Starring Mel Brooks, Marty Feldman and Dom DeLuise,1976, Cert PG)

7.00pm - Jaws (Director Steven Spielberg, Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfus, 1975, Cert PG)

Saturday

5.30pm - Wall-E  (Director Andrew Stanton, Starring Ben Burtt, John Ratzenberger and Sigourney Weaver, 1974, Cert U)

7.15pm - Delicatessen  (Directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Starring Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac and Jean-Claude Dreyfuss, 1991, Cert 15)

9.15pm - Altered States  (Director Ken Russell, Starring William Hurt and Blair Brown, 1980, Cert 18)

Sunday

5.30pm - The Artist  (Director Michel Hazanavicius, Starring Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman, and James Cromwell, 2011, Cert PG)

Make sure you read all about what else is on in Club Larmer, on the pages about Theatre & Talks for Adults. 

For a full timetable of events, don’t forget to buy your programme. They can be bought from Info at the festival.