Peter Wollen: Arrows of Desire + Friendship’s Death
classified 18 (CTBA)An in conversation and screening celebrating the work of film writer, critic, maker Peter Wollen.
Peter Wollen was one of the influential pioneers of film writing, theory and criticism in the UK. His book Signs and Meanings in the Cinema (1969) was a pivotal work in reshaping how we might think about film, filmmaking and cinema Playful, theoretically rigorous and historically precise, Wollen’s writing reinvented criticism as a formally experimental practice mapping intellectual, political and artistic histories of the twentieth century. This new book published by Verso brings together previously unavailable writings which reveal the rich polymath range of Wollen’s interests which brought cinema and filmmaking into a dynamic relationship with the wider world of art, culture and politics.
Arrows of Desire: Selected Writings 1963-2002 co-editor Oliver Fuke will be in conversation with UWE Professor of Film and Literature Mark Bould about the influence of Wollen’s work, the discovery of previously unavailable and inaccessible writings and how that reshapes our thinking of Wollen’s impact on the worlds of film and culture.
Following the conversation, we'll be screening Wollen's film Friendship's Death:
Wollen worked on many influential films with his fellow film theorist and partner Laura Mulvey. His own directorial feature was Friendship's Death is a witty prescient exploration of the relationship between man, machines, mortality and the nature of warfare. It stars Tilda Swinton in an early role as the android "Friendship" who enroute to America on a peace mission, ends up barricaded in a hotel with war journalist Bil Parterson whilst the civil war in Amman explodes around them. Arrows of Desire features newly discovered production notes, set ups and complex camera moves involved in the film.
Presented in partnership with UWE Screen Research. Copies of the book Arrows of Desire: Selected Writings 1963-2002 will be available to buy on the evening courtesy of Bookhaus.
- Peter Wollen: Arrows of Desire + Friendship’s Death on Tue 8 Dec is part of our Cinébites deal: get 30% off any main dish in the Café & Bar with a valid ticket for Club Shed members.