Scotland – Page 2 – Matchbox Cine

Destination Wedding UK Premiere

_J4A4682a_web — Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder in *Destination Wedding*

We’re excited to announce that we’re closing KeanuCon 2019 with the UK premiere of Destination Wedding. Keanu Reeves stars alongside Winona Ryder in Victor Levin’s romantic comedy. KeanuCon, Europe’s first Keanu Reeves film festival, takes place at CCA, Glasgow, on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28^th April, 2019.

Frank and Lindsay have a lot in common: they both hate the bride, the groom, the wedding, themselves, and most especially each other. For 72 hours, they are trespassers in paradise. But the weekend’s relentless events continually force them together, and if you fight with someone long enough, anything can happen. When the instinct to love proves very difficult to kill, they must decide which is stronger: their hearts or their common sense.

Destination Wedding is Keanu and Winona’s fourth onscreen coupling since filming 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula – during which Ryder insists the two were married for real (director Francis Ford Coppola confirms the wedding scene he filmed could be legally binding).

Of his character, Keanu says, “I liked his wit and his suffering. You root for Frank. I root for Frank. He’s trying to overcome his past when he meets Lindsay and finds himself attracted to her.” But, on the other hand, “Love is good for other people, but he knows it will just end in disaster for him. So, why bother? Save yourself the pain.”

_J4A8998.CR2 — Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder in *Destination Wedding*

Producer Lyon says, “Keanu has a natural sense of timing and delivery. He is a hilariously funny person with a dry sense of humour and just a pleasure to work with. I think it was fun for him to demonstrate a side that hasn’t been seen before and allows him to show a piece of who he is as a person.”

However, while we’re happy that KeanuCon will end well, we’re not sure Destination Wedding will, especially if we take into account this poster capitalising on Keanu’s recent John Wick success, which purports to be for the Thai release of the film…

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Matchbox Cineclub’s KeanuCon features ten and a half films over two days, including My Own Private Idaho, Speed, The Matrix, Constantine, Keanu’s directorial debut, Man of Tai Chi, and John Wick. There will be a rare screening of Keanu’s first lead role in a Hollywood feature, Permanent Record, accompanied by an even rarer outing for his film debut in the National Film Board of Canada short, One Step Away.

Day two closes with a double bill of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, followed by a live performance from Wyld Stallyns, before KeanuCon 2019 closes with the UK premiere of Destination Wedding.

Weekend Passes for KeanuCon are sold out; very limited single tickets are on sale via our online shop.

Death of the Mod Dream

The £250, semi-psychedelic musical made in Amsterdam, London and Knockentiber

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In 2012, I had been asked to contribute a chapter to the book World Film Locations: Glasgow on underground filmmaking in the city, of which whatever there was was not particularly well documented. Luckily, Billy Samson, who died last week, had just co-directed, with Gavin Mitchell, Death Of The Mod Dream. In the book, I likened their film to “a Scottish no-wave film directed by Roy Andersson,” but really there’s not much like it.

Purportedly based on a 1980 novella – Death Of The Mod Dream, by Edna Barnstaple – Billy and Gavin’s film concerns “a young man out of time who considers himself to be the last Mod on Earth. He lives in the City Of Scotland, a depressed, paranoid, curfew-controlled community with his mother and sister, who all fail to understand each other.” The synopsis continues:

“One day, this humdrum existence is disrupted when he uncovers what he has been led to believe is a mysterious ‘Mod time capsule’ buried on the beach. He takes it home, hoping for at best a wallow through a glorious mythical past he never knew. Little does he know the contents of the capsule are not what they seem and his reality is about to be turned upside down…”

Anyone will tell you making a feature-length film is a very particular achievement, requiring equal measures of talent, inspiration and determination. To make an episodic, blackly comic, semi-psychedelic musical in Scotland, for £250, also takes admirable perversity. Death Of The Mod Dream, like Billy, is a little extraordinary.

The questions I asked Billy in 2012, via Facebook message, were mostly for background research. This interview is published here for the first time, unedited. RIP Billy x

How much and what was shot in Glasgow/where?

All of the indoor scenes at the mod’s house were shot between 2 friends’ flats in Glasgow. The indoor parts of the dream/horror sequences were shot in Glasgow or Knockentiber, depending on where the actor lived, with black bin-liners/green screens taped to the ceiling to give it continuity. The beginning and climactic scenes at the beach were filmed between Irvine beach and an embankment in Crosshouse (for the scooter plummet). The cop sequences were done in a pub in Kilmarnock that was halfway through being redecorated. Extra bits were filmed by ourselves and others in Edinburgh, London and Amsterdam. All the special effects/animation sequences were done at home.

How did you go about picking the locations and did you have any problem getting permission to film/did you even have to ask?

Just had to ask to use people’s houses, which was handiest for all concerned so they all agreed to it. The beach stuff we just turned up and filmed. Only minor problem was concealing the camera so passers-by didn’t keep jumping in front of it.

Can you give me some technical details – budget, casting, equipment used, how long the production took?

Budget worked out at around £250 (probably), which mostly went towards transport costs and endless AA batteries swallowed up by the camera. All actors and contributors gave their services for free, on the condition they’d get something out if it in the event it went global 😉. The bulk of the film was shot on a 1st generation Flip camera a friend ‘borrowed’ from her work. When that had to be discreetly returned, the last few bits were filmed on actors’ own cameras. Casting was straightforward- Adam Smith was such an obvious choice to play the main character we barely had to think about it! Most roles were like that, didn’t have the time or budget to train up ‘proper’ actors (and didn’t it want to seem ‘stagey’) so just used friends for their obvious attributes that would suit the role. Although we did chop and change between cast and crew- some actors were originally to be soundtrackers/effects people and vice versa. Filming started early June and the final edit was around early October. The editing + effects (and waiting for other parties’ contributions) took substantially longer than the live-action filming.

Did you have any support or advice from institutions/individuals or funding at all?

We never approached anyone for funding, mostly through not knowing how to go about it, but also because we thought it probably wouldn’t be necessary (and a worry it may involve compromises to get access to that funding) considering it would always be low-budget (we had no intention of casting any megastars, or real actors come to that). Various people advised us on certain effects, for example my dad suggested filming a glass of Resolve in close-up for the underwater sequences. Ended up using it for blood cells and cloudy wispiness in the horror + dream sequences (by utilising different filters) too.

What was the inspiration to make the film and do you see it as part of any kind of continuum in Scottish/contemporary filmmaking?

It arose from a drunken night with Gav, the co-creator. We imagined a film billed as the ultimate mod sci-fi experience, but with loads of Phil Daniels/Leslie Ash types storming out the cinema when they discovered all it involved was 3 boring hours of a guy playing My Generation at every speed on his record player then jumping off his bed. But other ideas arose, and gradually we realised the story had a deeper resonance which we could flesh out. Once we took it seriously, it rapidly began writing itself. While of course, remaining faithful to Edna Barnstaple’s original novel 😉. I’m not sure where it fits in, historically. I liked the idea of an ambiguous story which the viewer could interpret as merely having been a figment of the central character’s warped imagination, like Once Upon A Time In America or JG Ballards’ Unlimited Dream Company (the Keith Moon/Rolls Royce/fish tank sequence was subconsciously inspired by the cover of my edition of that book). Plus of course it’s a musical where no-one literally bursts into song, like Dirty Dancing!

Have you heard about any similar projects taking place? I.e. other independent or DIY features getting made?

Heard about quite a few short films, which friends and friends-of-friends have been involved in. I read something about a feature length film in Scotland recently, looking to attract some big names, but I can’t remember much about it.

What’s the plan for releasing and distributing it?

I honestly don’t have much of a clue! There’ll be a premiere at the Old Hairdressers on 3rd Feb, and it’ll probably be made available online at some point. Still to work out how one goes about having it on iTunes and suchlike. Promotion will probably be just the usual haphazard spammy way I plug any records I’ve been involved with!

Will you do another and what if any are your plans?

No plans as such, I never consciously set out to be a director of feature-length films, this one just kind of ‘demanded’ to be made. Particularly once we recruited Adam in the lead role, he insisted we should start ASAP and it rapidly grew legs from there, interrupting a Paraffins promo video I’d half-filmed and have still to resume! But who knows, I’ve had plenty other addled conversations with friends about imaginary films, so there’s every chance another one might demand to be made 🙂.

Sean Welsh

Buy or rent Death Of The Mod Dream on Amazon here (or watch it on YouTube below)

Brothers In Arms Scotland offer support to men in Scotland, of any age, who are down or in crisis and empower them to ask for help when they need it, without feeling a failure if they do.

KeanuCon film programme announced!

Matchbox Cineclub follow up the sold out Cage-a-rama 2 with KeanuCon…the world’s first Keanu Reeves film festival?

KeanuCon_CCA_babe — KeanuCon illustration by Vero Navarro

On Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th April, we’re bringing 9.5 Keanu Reeves classics to Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow for the inaugural KeanuCon. Our broad theme is following Keanu’s career from babe to baba yaga, and we have an eclectic programme that takes us from his earliest Canadian roles to his latest world-smashing franchise.

Along the way, we have cult classic My Own Private Idaho, the “criminally underappreciated” Permanent Record and an extremely rare screening of Keanu’s first film role, the National Film Board of Canada short One Step Away. We have his action classics Speed, The Matrix, John Wick and his directorial debut, Man of Tai Chi. We have Constantine, where Keanu is weirdly suited to playing a Liverpudlian occult detective originally modeled on Sting. And – best till last? – a most non-heinous double of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, followed by a very special Keanu-themed closing party.

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Guests and other bonus content will be announced at a later date, but suffice to say we’re working very hard to make this inaugural KeanuCon as stellar as humanly possible. We have weekend passes, day passes and a Bill & Ted double bill ticket, as well as limited single tickets – all on sale via our online shop, here.

The film schedule is as follows:

Saturday 27th April

Permanent Record (screening with One Step Away)
My Own Private Idaho
Speed
The Matrix
John Wick

Sunday 28th April

Man of Tai Chi
Constantine
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey

Keep up to date with our Facebook event page here, or join our mailing list here.

Cage, Cake and the Orgy

Matchbox Cineclub’s 2018 in pictures

2018 was the year Matchbox Cineclub stopped doing monthly screenings and ended up screening twice as many films. We launched three film festivals (even if one was postponed till 2019) and our online shop, coordinated Scalarama events across Scotland and organised a six-date tour of the UK. We hosted a world premiere, several Scottish premieres and a bunch of lovely guests, while a project we originated continued on to the Scottish Borders and Spain.

It hasn’t always been easy but we’re proud of what we accomplished this year, working with some incredible venues and a lot of our best bright and brilliant pals. We’re hoping 2019 will be our best year yet, but it’ll definitely be hard to beat 2018. The biggest thanks, as always, to everyone who came out for a Matchbox Cineclub event – you’re the ones who make it worthwhile. We always love to hear from you, so if you have any thoughts on the past year, or the next, please let us know. In the meantime, here’s our 2018 in pictures…

Cage-a-rama | After years of standalone pop-ups and our monthly residencies, this was our first time trying a new format, the micro-festival: six films over three days and as much bonus content as we could cram in. Selling it out in the early days of January gave us the encouragement to keep going. Which is a bigger deal than it maybe sounds. We couldn’t have done it without the Centre for Contemporary Arts and Park Circus supporting what we do, and of course all the Cage fans, who came from across the UK and as far afield as Dresden, Germany. We’re very much looking forward to Cage-a-rama 2: Cage Uncaged in January 2019.

Team Matchbox win the Glasgow Film Festival 2018 Quiz | Technically, Team GFF won, but since there were 18 of them and they had the inside scoop on their own programme, they were disqualified. We credit our victory to our ace in the hole, cine-savant Josh Slater-Williams. Also to the Nicolas Cage round. Thanks to the lovely Tony Harris (of Team GFF) for the photo!

Turkish Star Wars 2K world premiere | A while back, our pal Ed Glaser came into possession of the only remaining 35mm print of Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam, AKA Turkish Star Wars. Once it was all cleaned up and newly translated subtitles added, we had the chance to host the world premiere of the 2K restoration (simultaneously with our pals Remakesploitation film club in London). The May 4th screening was sold out but free entry. To cover our technician Pat’s wages, we took donations (and as usual spent way too much time on special graphics for the occasion).

Ela Orleans takes Cowards Bend the Knee to Alchemy | Our musical hero and good pal Ela Orleans took her live score for Guy Maddin’s Cowards Bend The Knee to the Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival in May. We originally commissioned Ela to write and perform her incredible new score during Scalarama 2017. Of course, 100% of the glory for the performances (Ela also later took Cowards to the Festival Periferia in Huesta, Spain), goes to Ela herself, but we’re very proud of the small part we have to play in the ongoing project. And, if you look very closely, you can see our logo in Alchemy’s Programme Partners on the screen behind Ela!

Weird Weekend | After Cage-a-rama was a success, we wanted to do something similar in the format but with Matchbox’s more typical programming – the outcasts, orphans and outliers of cinema. So, Weird Weekend was born and Scotland’s first festival dedicated to cult cinema took place at CCA in June. Over two days, we mixed cult favourites with lost classics and brand-new films and welcomed guests like The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb cinematographer Frank Passingham, Crime Wave star Eva Kovacs and Top Knot Detective co-directors Dominic Pearce and Aaron McCann. We also programmed a retrospective of our favourite local filmmaker Bryan M Ferguson’s shorts, and Bryan joined us for a post-screening Q&A. See Bryan’s latest work, including his celebrated music video for Ladytron, here: bryanmferguson.co.uk.

Alex Winter Q&A | The one and only Bill of Bill & Ted fame joined us via Skype after we screened his directorial debut Freaked at Weird Weekend. It was a fantastic screening and Q&A, all of it a mildly surreal high point. The whole thing was made totally normal, though, by the coolness of Alex and his team, who were also incredibly gracious in supporting our event with a bunch of press interviews. Of course, Alex is about to make Bill & Ted Face The Music, but these days he’s a pretty deadly documentary maker. See what he’s up to now: alexwinter.com.

Our founder returns | Matchbox Cineclub founder (lately of Paradise and Moriarty Explorers Club and, most recently, Trasho Biblio) Tommy McCormick returned for a cameo at Weird Weekend. Screening Soho Ishii’s The Crazy Family was a long-held ambition for Tommy, so when we managed to confirm a screening for Weird Weekend, he returned to pass on Ishii’s special message for the audience.

The Astrologer | We closed Weird Weekend with the Scottish premiere (and only the second UK screening) of Craig Denney’s The Astrologer (1976), such a deep cut that it can only be seen at screenings – no DVD, no VHS, no streaming, no torrent and very little chance it can ever be released. Bringing the DCP over from the States would have been 100% worth it anyway, before an unexpected onscreen mention for Glasgow melted everyone’s minds. Before all that, though, we got carried away with researching the mysterious and largely unreported story behind it and ending up writing the definitive 4,000-word article on it. Read it here!

CCA Closure | KeanuCon postponed! After Cage-a-rama, we polled the audience to see which icon we might celebrate next – Merylpalooza had a good run but Keanu was the clear winner. We debuted our trailer at a GFT late night classic screening of Speed in March and scheduled KeanuCon for the opening weekend of Scalarama in September. Unfortunately, the GSA fire meant the nearby CCA was forced to remain closed indefinitely and, try as we might, we couldn’t find a suitable alternative venue for the dates. On the bright side, our Keanu Reeves film festival will finally arrive in April 2019. And it was all almost worth it for our Sad KeanuCon image.

The World’s Greatest 3D Film Club | In July, our pals at Nice N Sleazy invited us to programme something there at the last minute. Their only specifications were for it to be something vaguely summery and fun. We had a bunch of red-blue anaglyph 3D glasses left over from when we screened Comin’ At Ya at The Old Hairdressers a couple of years ago, so we decided to screen Jaws 3D. When Sleazies had other free dates to fill, we later showed Friday 13th Part III and 1961 Canadian horror The Mask.

Scalarama | We took a lead role in coordinating Scalarama activity across Scotland again this September. KeanuCon was meant to open activities in Glasgow, but luckily Pity Party Film Club were able to fill the void with an incredible Hedwig and the Angry Inch event. We also hosted a sold-out screening of B-movie documentary Images of Apartheid at Kinning Park Complex, teamed-up with Video Namaste for another Video Bacchanal, this time at The Old Hairdressers, and screened Joe Dante’s epic The Movie Orgy (see below). Before all that, though, we hosted the Scalarama Scotland 2018 programme launch in August at the Seamore Neighbourhood Cinema in Maryhill, with a special Odorama screening of John Waters Polyester. Our pal Puke (pictured) volunteered as a Francine Fishpaw ring girl to cue the scratch and sniff action.

Joe Dante’s The Movie Orgy | We’d wanted to host this for a really long time and it took a lot of leg work, including a last-minute zoom to Edinburgh International Film Festival, to finally make happen. But it did! And, incredibly, Joe Dante himself recorded us an intro (pictured), after EIFF’s iconic Niall Greig Fulton introduced us to him in June and we got the OK to screen it. With CCA still closed, we had the opportunity to return to our old home, The Old Hairdressers, for this five-hour, sold-out screening. The film editor of the Skinny called it “Scotland’s movie event of the year”, which is daft but also we’ll take it.

#WeirdHorror with Kate Dickie | We started off the Halloween season doing a 31 days of #WeirdHorror countdown, then when CCA’s oft-postponed opening was finally confirmed, we offered to do some last-minute screenings. The idea was to celebrate CCA reopening and maybe help spread the word – which, it was super busy anyway but it was a great opportunity to team up with our pals Pity Party Film Club and She’s En Scene for some co-screenings. The four-night pop-up series had an amazing climax with legendary local hero Kate Dickie very graciously joining us for The Witch and an in-depth Q&A afterwards.

Matchbox Birthday Cake | Finally, this was just a very nice birthday surprise. Coming up in 2019, though, we have a LOT of surprises in store. First up, Cage-a-rama 2, Auld Lang Vine and KeanuCon. See you there!

Vanquish FOMO with our mailing list, here

Keep up-to-date on our Facebook page, here

Or get in touch directly: info@matchboxcineclub.com

Auld Lang Vine | #RIPVine

Matchbox Cineclub present a funeral tribute to Vine, the dearly departed platform for 6-second comedy genius

Dearly beloved, join us to mourn the passing of the 6-second wonder that was Vine. Expect a funeral-turned-party featuring over 500 of the greatest Vines and a very special eulogy. Full guest line-up to be announced soon (follow our Facebook event page here for announcements and up-to-date details)

Auld Lang Vine is a tribute to the 6-second icons that have given so much joy to millions the world over. The event centres around two big-screen compilations of the all-time greatest Vine loops, curated by our friends at Pilot Light TV Festival.

Join us as we celebrate the life of one of the biggest comedy phenomenons of recent times and move along to the final stage of grief: acceptance.

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Tickets, on sale in our shop here, are priced on a sliding scale, based on your circumstances. These are in three tiers: Free/£2, £4/£6 and £8. Read our PDF guide on what to pay here (with thanks to Scottish Queer International Film Festival), or in text here:

Sliding Scale: What Should I Pay?

FREE or £2
• I frequently stress about meeting basic* needs and don’t always achieve them.
• I have debt and it sometimes prohibits me from meeting my basic needs.
• I rent lower-end properties or have unstable housing.
• I sometimes can’t afford public or private transport. If I own a car/have access to a car, I am not always able to afford petrol.
• I am unemployed or underemployed.
• I qualify for government and/or voluntary assistance including: food banks and benefits.
• I have no access to savings.
• I have no or very limited expendable** income.
• I rarely buy new items because I am unable to afford them.
• I cannot afford a holiday or have the ability to take time off without financial burden.

£4 or £6
• I may stress about meeting my basic needs but still regularly achieve them.
• I may have some debt but it does not prohibit attainment of basic needs.
• I can afford public transport and often private transport. If I have a car/access to a car I can afford petrol.
• I am employed.
• I have access to health care.
• I might have access to financial savings.
• I have some expendable income.
• I am able to buy some new items and I buy others second hand.
• I can take a holiday annually or every few years without financial burden.

£8
• I am comfortably able to meet all of my basic needs.
• I may have some debt but it does not prohibit attainment of basic needs.
• I own my home or property or I rent a higher end property.
• I can afford public and private transport. If I have a car/access to a car I can afford petrol. • I have regular access to healthcare.
• I have access to financial savings.
• I have an expendable** income.
• I can always buy new items.
• I can afford an annual holiday or take time off.

*BASIC NEEDS include food, housing, clothing and transportation.

**EXPENDABLE INCOME might mean you are able to buy coffee or tea at a shop, go to the cinema or a concert, buy new clothes, books and similar items each month, etc.

Tickets are on sale from our online shop here.

Keep up-to-date with our Facebook event page here.

This programme is part of Comedy Genius – a nationwide celebration of comedy on screen, led by BFI, the Independent Cinema Office and BFI Film Audience network, supported by funds from The National Lottery. For more screenings go to bficomedy.co.uk.

Going Full Cage: Exploring the Enigma of Nicolas Cage

Tara Judah and Ti Singh bring their sell-out show to Cage-a-rama 2019

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We are beyond thrilled to bring Going Full Cage, the extremely popular, sell-out event from Bristol’s Watershed, to Glasgow for Cage-a-rama 2: Cage Uncaged. In January, two of the UK’s foremost film experts will explore the phenomenon of Nicolas Cage and debate the case for and against the best/worst actor of our times.

Nicolas Cage has been nominated for more Razzies than he has Oscars (The Golden Raspberry Awards recognise the worst in film), and yet he remains an Academy Award winning actor, thanks to his outstanding performance in Leaving Las Vegas. But just how can one man be recognised by both the industry’s most esteemed and most mocking award ceremonies? As fascinating as he is baffling, who is this enigmatic man? Is he utterly brilliant – in on the joke – or is he an overrated actor taking whatever pay check comes his way?

Whatever your opinion, we can say for sure that this member of the Coppola clan has worked with both the best and the worst in the business. From the Coen Brothers to the Kaufmans, with David Lynch and Neil LaBute, Nic Cage has entertained cinema audiences for almost forty years. Famous for his outlandish purchases, including oddities as wide-ranging as a castle in Bath (where he used to live!) and an illegal dinosaur skull, it’s no wonder he’s earned a reputation for eccentricity.

Nic Cage super fans Tara Judah (Watershed Cinema Producer) and Timon Singh (Bristol Bad Film Club Founder), will be diving deep into the bottomless abyss of the enigma. Presenting their cases for and against his brilliance in back to back presentations with clips, quotes and context, before discussing and debating their findings. Join us on Saturday 5th January as Tara and Ti dare to go Full Cage.

Whether you’ve seen the best or the worst of his career, this session will equip you with the tools, anecdotes and arguments to understand the curious career and big screen allure of one of Hollywood’s most unconventional A-listers.

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Tara Judah is Cinema Producer at Watershed in Bristol, and has worked in programming and editorial for the cinema’s archive, classic and repertory film festival, Cinema Rediscovered since its inception in 2016. Tara is also a freelance film critic and has contributed to Senses of Cinema, Desist Film, Monocle and Sight & Sound. Tara is a director on the board of trustees at one of the UK’s longest continuously operating cinemas, Curzon Cinema Clevedon. Tara’s favourite Nic Cage movie is Wild at Heart and her least favourite is City of Angels. (WHYYYY?) She especially loves it when Nic Cage sings.

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Timon Singh is Campaign Managers for Film Hub South West and also runs Bristol Bad Film Club and Bristol Sunset Cinema in… well, Bristol. He has previously written for Den Of Geek UK and Cineworld Magazine and his first book Born To Be Bad: Talking to the greatest villains in action cinema is out now. Timon is also the writer/producer on the upcoming documentary film In Search of the Last Action Heroes. His favourite Nicolas Cage film is Wings of the Apache. His worst is the first Ghost Rider. At the least the sequel had the decency to go Full Cage…

Going Full Cage, Saturday 5th January 2019, CCA Glasgow, part of Cage-a-rama 2: Cage Uncaged. All tickets on sale via our online store, here.

Cage-a-rama 2: Cage Uncaged

Europe’s longest-running Nicolas Cage Film Festival returns to Glasgow

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Matchbox Cineclub present Cage-a-rama 2: Cage Uncaged, a two-day film festival celebrating the wild, weird world of Nicolas Cage. Europe’s longest running Nic Cage film festival returns on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th of January 2019, to the Centre of Contemporary Arts, Glasgow.

Cage-a-rama 2: Cage Uncaged fully unleashes the wild side of Cage with eight films, classic and brand-new, featuring the Oscar-winner’s most iconic meltdowns, freak-outs and outbursts. The festival also features a range of bonus content, including Cage’s 55^th Birthday Brunch + Quiz and Going Full Cage, a live event hosted by Tara Judah (Watershed Cinema producer) and Ti Singh (Bristol Bad Film Club founder and author).

The full programme will be announced on Wednesday 24/10.

Programmer Sean Welsh says, “People flew in from across Europe to attend the first, sell-out Cage-a-rama in January 2018. We wanted to raise the stakes with this sequel, so Cage-a-rama 2: Cage Uncaged is going to be an even more intense experience for fans. Last year, our campaign to #BringCage2Glasgow netted his official stand-in, Marco Kyris, so this year we’re upping our game to get him.”

Weekend passes for Cage-a-rama 2: Cage Uncaged are on sale now in our online shop. Limited day passes and single tickets will be on sale Friday 26/10.

Sign up to Matchbox Cineclub’s mailing list to get updates on Cage-a-rama and more: eepurl.com/duX1R9.

Joe Dante’s The Movie Orgy

A mind-bending predecessor to the modern mash-up, The Movie Orgy (1968) is also the Rosetta Stone for Joe Dante’s oeuvre and a must-experience for movie fans and cinephiles alike.

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Before Gremlins, before The Howling, before he started his career cutting trailers for Roger Corman, Joe Dante hosted the 7.5 hour All Night Once In A Lifetime Atomic Movie Orgy. An ever-evolving edit, it was a communal experience – a mind-bending predecessor to the modern mash-up with no definitive version. Matchbox Cineclub programmer Sean Welsh charts the evolution of The Movie Orgy through five key dates.

October 9^th 1965, The Playboy Theater, Chicago

The first screening of An Evening With Batman and Robin, one of two key inspirations for The Movie Orgy. The other was Susan Sontag’s Notes on “Camp” (1964), which popularised the term and inspired the repackaging of the 1943 Batman serial as a single 4.5-hour programme. Audiences laughed at its phony climaxes, marveled at its blatant xenophobia, and it began touring college towns. When Dante caught it, at the World Theater in Philadelphia, he was particularly struck by the camaraderie of the crowd, who “came out into the lobby as if they’d just gotten off a sinking ship.”

Early 1966, Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia

Inspired, Dante, a second year student but already a programmer at PCA, decided to host his own Camp Movie Night. The exact date is lost to history, but Dante and collaborator Jon Davison rented the only complete serial available on 16mm in Philadelphia, The Phantom Creeps (1939). They stretched it to seven hours with serials, clips, ads, industrial films and cartoons from their 16mm collections. Its success meant several follow-ups, each a step towards what would shortly become The Movie Orgy, then variously The Movie Orgy 2, The Movie Orgy Strikes Back, Son of the Movie Orgy, Escape to Movie Orgy and Son of Movie Orgy Rides Again.

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March 8^th 1970, Filmore East, New York

Although 1968 is commonly held as the term “The Movie Orgy” was first used for Dante and Davison’s project, the performance that film archivist and Orgy expert David Neary describes as “the most important Movie Orgy of all” came in 1970. 1970 was peak Movie Orgy for the pair, who employed dueling projectors (tipping their hats to Andy Warhol’s Chelsea Girls). Davison’s would show various features – in lieu of new serials – and Dante’s would interject, drawing on his panoply of 16mm weirdness. They took their cues from the audience, so no two screenings were alike. Press coverage of the Filmore Orgy drew the attention of Schlitz Beer, who sponsored Orgies to tour colleges for years. But when the new material the Orgy drew upon to keep it alive began itself to be infected with self-referential camp, it was time to call it a day. Dante, already in Hollywood, sold syndication rights for “The Video Orgy” to be screened on college campuses’ closed circuit TV networks.

April 22^nd 2008, New Beverly Cinema, Los Angeles

The grand finale of Dante’s Inferno, a two-week retrospective at LA’s legendary rep cinema. Joining the scores of curious film fans were Davison, Allan Arkush, Bill Hader, Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino. Dante enjoined the crowd to move about, go outside, have a smoke, grab a pizza and wander back in. The Movie Orgy was always intended as a movie to be walked out on. But the director was curious to if it would play – have any relevance – after years in his vault. It brought the house down.

September 9^th 2018, The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow

We’re screening the digital version Dante made for the New Beverly (not the 90min “UK cut” previously screened in London). It’s 4.5 hours long, the official Movie Orgy, “distilled, recaptured and re-curated”, according to archivist David Neary. It’s not the full, wild 16mm experience, of course, but there’s also no Blu Ray coming. “It’s more like a concert in a way,” Dante says, “It’s something that you really have to be there for.”

Sean Welsh

Joe Dante’s The Movie Orgy screens at The Old Hairdressers, Sunday 9th September

Facebook event here. Tickets here.

An edited version of this article originally appeared in the Scalarama 2018 newspaper.

Friday 13th Part III – in 3D!

Friday 13th_evenbrite

We had such a great time with Jaws 3D at Nice N Sleazy that we’re returning with Friday 13th Part III – in 3D! What will henceforth be known as the World’s Greatest 3D Film Club presents the second sequel to the horror classic, in classic red/blue 3D, on Wednesday 25th July.

Jason Voorhees dons the hockey mask for the first time in this classic sequel. Time Magazine’s review said, “The way the eyeball of one of Jason’s victims pops out of his skull and seems to sail over the audience’s head is alone worth buying a ticket and putting on funny glasses.” YES.

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Now you can see Friday 13th Part III (Steve Miner, 1982) as it was always meant to be seen – on a summer’s night in the basement of NICE N SLEAZY, through flimsy cardboard glasses. Our £3 ticket price includes a free pair of red/blue anaglyph 3D glasses.

Friday 13th Part III – in 3D! screens at Nice N Sleazy, Wednesday 25th July

Facebook event here. Tickets here.

Jaws 3D – in 3D!

Jaws-3D

Filmed at a landlocked water park, it’s been described as “a terrible, stupid movie that is easily the lowest point in the Jaws series and arguably one of the worst atrocities mankind has ever visited upon itself.”

The second Jaws sequel started life as a parody, to be directed by Joe Dante (Piranha), with a script entitled Jaws 3, People 0. The studio ultimately decided a spoof was the wrong way to go, and Jaws 3D was…the right way to go? Ultimately, they recruited Manimal himself, Simon MacCorkindale, Marty McFly’s mom, Lea Thompson, the mom from My So-Called Life, Bess Armstrong and Dennis Quaid, by all accounts the highest he’s ever been (off his tits on coke in “every frame”), for what may be the worst film in the franchise.

And now you can see it as it was always meant to be seen – on a summer’s night in the basement of NICE N SLEAZY, through flimsy cardboard glasses.

Jaws 3D – in 3D! screens at Nice N Sleazy, Saturday 7th July.

Facebook event here. Tickets here.