“One is starved for technicolor up there!”

So goes the famous line from Powell & Pressburger’s classic romantic fantasia A Matter of Life and Death (1946), in which the stark monochrome of the after-life acts as a striking counterpart to the bold, rich colours of the world of the living.

One will certainly not be starved for Technicolor at Watershed this December – we’re putting on an expansive season that showcases the mesmerising power of the format.

The season runs starts with an expanded Technicolor-takeover of the Café & Bar from DJ Cheeba after the opening night screening of A Matter of Life and Death on Fri 1 Dec. On 15 Dec we’ll be screening The Red Shoes (1948) from a radiant new 35mm print, with an introduction by writer and critic Pamela Hutchinson (author of the new BFI Classics book on the film).

For a final highlight, we’ll be closing out the season on Wed 20 Dec with a site-specific screening of Powell & Pressburger’s erotic melodrama Black Narcissus (1947) at a breathtaking converted church in the city centre, The Mount Without. A darkly grand film that won Oscars for Alfred Junge's art direction and Jack Cardiff's vivid cinematography, Black Narcissus is one of British cinema’s greatest achievements, and epitomises the focus of this season – films that are full of colour and larger than life.

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