Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair

Sun’s out, misery’s in! 

Presented in partnership with the American Cinematheque, Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair is an annual film festival showcasing some of the greatest works of cinema from across the globe that venture into the darkest sides of humanity and the bleakest points in human history.

The fifth annual edition expands to nearly 100 cinemas across the U.S., Canada, U.K. and South and Central America, with each venue presenting its own original curated lineup of uncompromising films defined by unpleasant truths and raw empathy. 

Here at Watershed we’ve put together a distinctively British selection of bleak cinema: right the way from the vicious 1948 noir Brighton Rock, to last year’s gripping, haunting drama Dragonfly. 

We’re kicking things off with Shane Meadows’ iconic revenge thriller Dead Man’s Shoes, before revisiting Andrea Arnold’s raw and earthy adaption of Wuthering Heights (a stark counterpoint to the visual excesses of Emerald Fennel’s recent version), and Lynne Ramsay’s astonishing debut feature Ratcatcher.  

For a bit more of a deep cut we have a double-bill of two staggering Alan Clarke films from 1987, produced for the BBC, Christine and Road – the latter adapted from Jim Cartwright’s award-winning stage play and featuring a young David Thewlis, six years before he’d take the lead in another bleak staple, Mike Leigh’s Naked. 

We’ll also be showing another BBC production from the 80s, with a screening of cult classic Threads - Mick Jackson’s intense and harrowing post-nuclear apocalyptic film.

The programme wouldn’t be complete without a tribute to the late, great Béla Tarr, an early champion of the festival. We’ll be screening one of his lesser-known and seen titles, The Man From London, starring Tilda Swinton.

Presented in partnership with the American Cinematheque and Prince Charles Cinema.