Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell & Pressburger
The Red Shoes - plus guest introductions
Regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, a young ballerina is torn between her art and her romance with a young composer. Includes recorded intro from Sight and Sound film critic Pamela Hutchinson, and live introduction from artist and psychotherapist, Glenys Jacques.
Director: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
Cast includes: Moira Shearer, Marius Goring, Gordon Littmann, Billy Shine Jr
Includes guest introductions from Pamela Hutchinson and Glenys Jacques
Powell and Pressburger's visually ravishing masterpiece returns to cinemas to mark its 75th anniversary!
It's a famous re-work of the gruesome Hans Christian Andersen tale, which delightfully, then darkly depicts the eternal struggle all serious artists will face. The Red Shoes is a masterpiece that is named as an influence by Martin Scorcese, Greta Gerwig, Wes Anderson, Baz Luhrmann and Kate Bush and we screen it here in all its restored glory as the culmination of our Powell and Pressburger season and BFI celebration!
The Red Shoes follows Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), an aspiring ballerina who joins the world-renowned Ballet Lermontov, who tests her dedication to the ballet by making her choose between her career and her romance with composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring). Dance impresario Lermontov, ballet dancer Page and Craster the composer, dance through this movie like a technicolour dream - which is beautiful and inspiring, strange and frightening as the most talented love triangle in cinema history.
This screening will be introduced by artist, film historian and Electric Palace volunteer Glenys Jacques, and accompanied by a recorded introduction by film critic Pamela Hutchinson (author of BFI Film Classic: The Red Shoes).
About Glenys Jacques
Glenys Jacques is a psychotherapist and artist, who has been volunteering at the Electric Palace since it opened. She is passionate about promoting feminist films, and encourages women filmmakers and writers.
During her introduction, Glenys will explore the layered history of The Red Shoes. Combining symbols of fairy stories into film, the unconscious is shaken into reflecting on meanings relevant to individual and social freedoms of today.
About Pamela Hutchinson
Pamela Hutchinson is a freelance critic, curator and film historian based in West Sussex. She is the author of BFI Film Classics on The Red Shoes and Pandora's Box. Her curation projects include seasons on Marlene Dietrich and Asta Nielsen for BFI Southbank. She is a columnist for Sight and Sound and edits the Weekly Film Bulletin.
Screening as part of Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell + Pressburger, a UK-wide film season supported by National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network.
bfi.org.uk/powell-and-pressburger
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