Please note: This event took place in July 2025
This is part of a series of events which look at the UK-wide impact of London’s The Film Society in its centenary year. Co-curated by Bryony Dixon (BFI National Archive) and film historian Henry K. Miller.
"It was during the 1920s that people started treating the film seriously in Britain,” Rachael Low, historian of the British film industry tells us. In effect the Film Society was the original ‘Cinema Rediscovered’, although closer in age to the films it screened.
Set up in 1925 by a (very starry) group of cinephiles, the Society aimed to foster the appreciation of film as an art. This celebratory almost all celluloid programme will show and discuss examples of the creativity and diversity of filmmaking championed by the Film Society including films made under its aegis, a rediscovery premiered at Cinema Ritrovato and a very Bristol connection in composer Eric Walter White!
The Film Society had a huge influence on the setting up of the BFI (including the BFI National Archive) and the wider film society movement and, later, festivals such as Cinema Rediscovered and Film on Film. Presented by Bryony Dixon and Henry K Miller.
Films presented:
The Little Chimney Sweep (1934) 35mm sound, 18 mins - Lottie Reiniger with Eric Walter White
Manhatta (1921) Dir.Charles Sheeler, Paul Strand. 35mm silent, 7.5 mins
Tell Tale Heart (1928) Dir. Charles Klein. 35mm silent, 20 mins
Film Poster: Australian Wines (1930) Dir. Paul Rotha. 35mm silent, 2mins
C.O.D. A Mellow Drama (1929) Dir. Sinclair Hill, Desmond Dickinson, Harcourt Templeman et al. 35mm silent, 11 mins.
Every Day (1929) produced by the Film society, Hans Richter version, Swiss Archive - DCP silent, 16 mins.
With live piano accompaniment by Dominic Irving.
