Dec
17
5:32 pm17:32

V-Day London presents a Mad and Strange/Strange and Mad Evening at the Horse Hospital

Friday 19th DecemberDoors 7:30pm £7/£5 mems/concs featuring Bonfire Madigan Shive: iconoclastic singing cellist from NYC/SF Richard Strange: songwriter, author, actor, and punk legend and DJ Riz Maslen/Neotropic: original member of Future Sounds of London '... composer, cellist and vocalist Bonfire Madigan Shive is an electrifying one-woman heavenly choir.' - San Francisco Chronicle. '18 years after first meeting him, just thinking about Richard still reduces me to a state of near hysteria…and terror. He restores one's faith in the ability of the human spirit to soar.' - James Nesbitt Proceeds will benefit V-Day London 2009, a festival of Words to End Violence Against Women 14th - 21st February. See www.vdaylondon.com for details.

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Dec
15
11:10 am11:10

RAINDANCE FILM-Christmas Evil

Wednesday 17 December 2008Doors at 7pm FREE We: Supply the mulled wine!! You: Bring the mince pies!! CHRISTMAS EVIL Lewis Jackson 1980 Widely recognized as the best of the Christmas horror efforts, Christmas Evil is the story of a boy who loves Christmas. He is scarred as a boy when he learns that Santa is not real. Throughout the rest of his life, the toy-maker tries to make the Christmas spirit a reality. He becomes obsessed with the behavior of children and the quality of the toys he makes. When he is met with hypocrisy and cynicism, the resulting snap causes him to go on a yuletide killing spree to complete this dark comedic horror. Please RSVP for this event. Guests welcome. For more information visit RAINDANCE FILM CLUB or email FilmClub@raindance.co.uk RaindanceLaurierinv.jpg

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Dec
11
10:49 am10:49

Company FZ presents Flick Ferdinando in Horse...

Created by Flick Ferdinando, John-Paul Zaccarini and Derek IvesTuesday 9th December - Thursday 11th December 2008 Doors: 7:00pm Performance times: 8pm Tickets: £7/£5 members & concessions Performed by Flick Ferdinando One woman sits alone in a stable where she delves into a life of horse thoughts and gallops through observations of horsey behavior. She conjures a world where imaginary horses are ridden, tragic songs are sung and hilarious antics on a gym horse dissolve into a desperate desire to have one of her own. Horse is funny, tragic and surprising. Horse is a thrilling new piece from Company FZ, renowned for their unique synthesis of comedy, visual imagery, text and circus inspired choreography which is human and compelling to watch. Tickets available from: www.companyfz.com/horse This is a scratch performance where the performer can experience engagement with an audience at an early stage in making process, and the audience get to preview work and inform its development. Supported by Arts Council England, Trinity Buoy Wharf and Mudchute Park & Farm.

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Dec
10
11:10 am11:10

HORSELENGTH

Sunday December 14th3pm-9pm FREE Marking 3 years of Wavelength on Resonance 104.4FM hosted by William English and 15 years of The Horse Hospital, the following programme will take place on December 14th commencing at 3pm: MICHAEL SNOW WAVELENGTH Canada, 1966-67, sound, colour, 45 mins, 16mm 'Described by its creator as a continuous zoom which takes 45 minutes to go from its widest field to its smallest and final field' Wavelength is at once one of the simplest and most complex films ever conceived. Literally oscillating between the conceptual and the immediately real, its four human occurrences interrupt yet remain in to the flow of continually metamorphosing variations on the unrelenting crescendo of its 'one shot' toward and into the four windows of a Canal Street Loft.' - Film Quarterly. WILLIAM ENGLISH 16mm FILM, 20 mins ANDREW GREAVES DVD Jonah DVD 9'28" Narcissus DVD 12'34" Peypes Pipe DVD 11' DAVID LEISTER "a seasonal offering" 16mm films 30 mins LOUIS BENASSI Trouble in the Magic Circle, 2007 8min standard 8 colour on dvd RICHARD THOMAS Installation: The 117 Steps, DVD 90 minutes ENDGAME: Leicester's foremost electronic improvising band: Alan Freeman: synthesizer, gadgets, effects. Steve Freeman: cassette 4-track, processing, etc. Jim Tetlow: digital electronics, computer, etc. Formed July 1999. Endgame are always evolving sonically, especially with the diverse range of musics that make up our live concerts. Ever more so, we are exploring intuitively a broad palette of experimental, electroacoustic and synthesizer/cosmic musics, always furthering our expression and range with new techniques, instruments and gadgets. There are no rules to the Endgame, and when live in concert the tension rides the edge. Such is the nature of Endgame that every performance is a totally new creation. So, if you miss it - you may never catch it again!

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Nov
28
5:14 pm17:14

FLIXATION

Saturday 6th December 8:30pm £5-£4 mems/concs Flixation Underground Cinema Club, London's most intoxicating regular showcase for underground film, video Art, digital craft, amateur television, folk cinema, performance and music. Fresh from sleighing them in Finland... Flixation drag along friends and familiars: Sean Reynard, Daniel Bell, Charlie Starkweather and many, many more to share the silver screen with Flixie folk: Duncan Reekie; Caroline Kennedy; and Clive Shaw. The past year featured meat-flinging; prizes giving; the odd bruised stylus; machine-gun patter of MC Ray Beam alongside the finest freakin underground moonshine. Don't let the year out any other way. Film makers etc, contact us anytime about getting in on our programs: duncanreekie@yahoo.co.uk www.flixation.org.uk www.myspace.com/flixation

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Nov
20
12:52 am00:52

30,000 years of cryptomnesia

Exhibition: Saturday 8th November - Saturday 29th November12-6pm, Mon-Sat Private View: Friday 7th November 7.30pm Sophie Carapetian Andy Healy Victor Jakeman Joseph Lewis Patrick Moran Screenings + Events Friday 14th November: CryptoKino 7.30pm - £7/£5 members/concessions Film Program in two parts: Assortment of obscure b-film trailers Interplanetary Revolution, N Khodataev, (1924), 7:49 mins Le train en marche (the train rolls on), Chris Marker, (1971), 32:49 mins 2084, Chris Marker, 1984, (9:45) mins interval Assortment of obscure b-film trailers Music Television from Rhodesia ( 20 mins) Excerpt from - Häxan, Benjamin Christensen, (1922) (aprox 50 mins) Wednesday 19th November: Cryptomnesia Symposium The artists discuss the source material for their work in an open forum. No pre-booking required. 7.30pm - FREE Friday 28th November: Rough Music Joseph Lewis will play the ancient "anglo-celtic zither instrument", the Spiritcatcher. Black metal band Whitby Bay comprised of Victor Jakeman and Patrick Moran will also perform. 7.30pm - FREE 30,000 Years of Cryptomnesia is a collaboration between 5 young artists that work together to create immersive environments - structures that act as a medium within which they display their work; beautifully crafted prints, instruments, costumes, manifestos, films and objects, mythological commodities, time bandit vessels, folky, pagan, black metal artefacts. Exotic and earth-like. Come on in, dear viewer, to where the exhibition is the best part of our day. Normal people, people who walk the street, cannot understand this exhibition. Because, when this exhibition swells; there's not going to be room for anyone else but you, dear viewer, flowing with the power of the exhibition. Load the spaceship with rocket fuel, load the spaceship with the exhibition, because the spaceship is full of juice to carry it as far as it wants to go. It starts low in the tip of your toes, in the very foundation of the maniacs. It's like euphoria. It's like a feeling, a power surge that an exhibition's never felt before. It pumps the life through the blood veins, through the delts all the way up through the neck, into the brain. A feeling that the exhibition will be reborn in the world as the strongest force in the universe. There's only going to be one that survives. How would you feel, if your exhibition was forced by my exhibition to let another exhibition slap it in the face? How would it feel? The family that I live for only breathes the air that smells of combat. You run a pawn shop and I sell valuable collectibles. I look above the Gods, but, when they fall below the skeletons of the exhibitions past -should I jump from the highest building? Should I lay down and let the lawnmowers roll over me? Should I go to the exhibition and be troubled by it? You've been injected with the minimum dosage of poison of the power of the exhibition. Explode off the launching pad. You're right; you don't know where the exhibition's coming from. You don't know anything about the exhibition; because it's mind-boggling to you.

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Nov
12
5:33 pm17:33

STRANGE ATTRACTOR PRESENTS: WELCOME TO MARS LAUNCH

Tuesday 18 November 2008 7pmLive electronic music from Simon James. Free Entry WTM (1).jpg Welcome to Mars: Fantasies of Science in the American Century, 1947-1959, by Ken Hollings 'Welcome to Mars is a map of the post-war Zone, a non-fiction Gravity's Rainbow that follows the arc of Germany's V2 rocket to the end of the rainbow - to America.' Erik Davis Welcome To Mars draws upon newspaper accounts, advertising campaigns, declassified government archives, old movies and newsreels from this unique period when the future first took on a tangible presence. Ken Hollings depicts an unsettled time in which the layout of Suburbia reflected atomic bombing strategies, bankers and movie stars experimented with hallucinogens, brainwashing was just another form of interior decoration and strange lights in the sky were taken very seriously indeed. "Ken Hollings shows brilliantly how the extraordinary web of technologies that drove the Cold War have shaped not just our culture but the very way we think of ourselves as human beings. Welcome to Mars offers a rare and fascinating glimpse of the roots of the strange humanoid culture we live in today." Adam Curtis 'Ken Hollings has placed his critical focus at the precise point where the high technologies of information control and social manipulation intersect the passionate search for scientific ways to probe the human mind. Welcome to Mars is a searingly accurate and deeply disturbing exposé of the fantasies of American modernism that have inspired the many nightmares and the few hopeful visions of our new Millennium.' Dr Jacques Vallée The first 200 orders of the book will receive a free hour-long CD of classy analogue Outer Space exotica by Simon James. A small run of postcards have also been produced using images from the book and these are being sent out with any orders from Strange Attractor Press. For more information, please contact: www.strangeattractor.co.uk OR www.kenhollings.blogspot.com

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Nov
10
12:55 am00:55

RAINDANCE FILM CLUB

Wednesday 12th NovemberDoors at 7pm FREE MIDNIGHT MADNESS MidnightMadness(1).jpg Following our 16th festival, which was by far our biggest and best yet, we present the next date in our Film Club series with Midnight Madness, a stark portrayal of London-based basketball players. These young men are given the chance of the lifetime to compete with NBA players through a tournament established to tackle inner-city crime. The film follows Nhamo Shire as he stages basketball tournaments around the country, conveying his personal vision of the sport as a means of uniting communities haunted by gang warfare. Not only does Midnight Madness strike up a worthy social cause in the context of an athletic celebration, but it also embodies the Raindance ideal, having been completed on a scant budget of £15,000 by BIFA-winning director Charles Henri-Belleville in his documentary follow-up to The Inheritance. David Boaretto, the film's Producer, will be in attendance for a Q&A after the screening Please RSVP for this event. Guests welcome. For more information visit RAINDANCE FILM CLUB or email FilmClub@raindance.co.uk RaindanceLaurierinv.jpg

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Nov
2
12:43 am00:43

STUMP

Exhibition: Saturday 11th October - Saturday 1st November12-6pm Mon-Sat Private View: Friday 10th October 7.30pm MAURICE BURNS Loaded with absurdity and an occasional smattering of punk aesthetic, Maurice Burns's drawings strike a precise balance between darkness and horrified amusement. With a grounding in and passion for printmaking he now works more directly by drawing, which allows him to use a full combination of pattern, line and other graphic techniques. The end result is a powerful narrative furiously told in stark black and white images. Maurice was born in 1968 in Lurgan, Northern Ireland. He has exhibited steadily since graduating with a BA in Fine Art from Cardiff College of Art in 1991. As well as exhibition work he has provided illustrations and graphic design for a variety of print media. CARLO KESHISHIAN Carlo Keshishian is an artist of Armenian descent born in London in 1980. He has been producing both visual and sonic art for the past 14 years, his sonic pieces have featured on a number of CD and vinyl releases but his drawings and paintings have rarely been exhibited outside of his immediate social circle. His work ranges from intricate abstract pieces which show an almost obsessive level of self-discipline and attention to detail, to more confessional, almost comic book like pieces which offer an unguarded glimpse into his inner life. This introverted nature is reflected in Carlo's use of art as a tool for self analysis and self improvement, he sees his work as a "visual diary of his thoughts" and, like a diary, his work often communicates the passing of time and it's sometimes illusionary nature. His sparing use of colour explores contrast and intensity, sometimes leading to optical effects, which although not initially planned, add another layer of impact to his work. The use of rhythm and texture in his visual work is directly related to his musical output, one influences the other and both show the passionate, obsessive, confessional and emotional elements which are intrinsic to Carlo's vision of himself and the world around him. JOE WILSON Joe's work consists of painstakingly detailed, hand-drawn illustrations, usually in fine-line pen or pencil, that are then scanned and edited on the computer. He takes his influence from an array of sources including old engravings, 70s Vinyl covers and surrealist art. He is particularly interested in ideas of how nature and man interact and creating images that are made up of smaller elements. Born in Leicester Wilson studied at Leeds Metropolitan University, Graduating with a BA in Graphic Arts and Design. He took an interest in printmaking at university and studied this heavily, with most of his work taking the form of Etchings and Screenprints. These techniques now inform the way in which Wilson works. With aspirations to establish himself firmly as an illustrator, he hopes to work on many more commercial projects whilst continuing to produce more expansive personal work. Joe's unique drawing style attracts a mixture of different clients from editorial to fashion, he has produced work for clients such as: The Guardian, Mojo magazine, Topshop, Prospect Magazine, RKCR/Y&R, and Peter Werth. JOE WILSON PRINTS FOR SALE *Image: Joe Wilson, Trophy Room

Carlo Keshishian, Family Maurice Burns, Jesus the Bogeyman Version 2

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Nov
1
6:14 pm18:14

THE ITALIAN FILM SOCIETY

Oct 31st Halloween Nightbabl.jpg Part of our on-running Fashion and Film series, we will be screening Blood and Black Lace on Halloween night.. 1966, 88 mins. language: Italian with English subtitles Blood and Black Lace, by the Italian godfather of horror films, Mario Bava, is generally considered one of the earliest and most influential of all giallos, and served as a stylistic template for the body count slasher films of the 1980s. Tim Lucas has noted that the film has "gone on to inspire legions of contemporary filmmakers, from Dario Argento and Martin Scorsese to Quentin Tarantino. Filmed under the working title The Fashion House of Death, it revolves around dubious secrets involving a group of nerve-wracked fashion models, and a certain red diary. Like the sumptuously baroque fashion salon, the murder scenes are meticulously staged, with bodies often re-arranged for yet more breathtakingly spectacular effect. Son of Eugenio Bava, an accomplished cinematographer in Italian silent cinema, Mario himself was a brilliant and innovative technician, highly regarded for his use of colour and lighting. DETAILS: WHERE: The Horse Hospital - Colonade, London Directions - coming out of Russell Square station, go left, and take your first left down a small street..it will be across from a pub. WHEN: Friday, 31st of October Halloween doors open at 7:30 for an aperitivo, film starts 8:00ish TICKETS: £8, payable at the door. Spaces are limited, kindly RSVP to info@italianfilmsociety.co.uk. ***Halloween costumes are encouraged and a prize will be given to the best costume of the night. Prizes donated by Wallflower Press (http://www.wallflowerpress.co.uk/) grazie, Ashley and Frankie

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Nov
1
11:43 am11:43

DAY OF THE DEAD

Saturday 1st NovemberDoors 7:30pm £7 A collaborative seasonal event from Strange Attractor, Dreamflesh and Liminal Nation at the wonderful Horse Hospital. Come celebrate with us for a night of focussed high strangeness with talks, music and remembrance. Three initial presentations will consider the ayahuasca art of Pablo Amaringo (Donal Ruane), encounters with death on DMT (David Luke) and a visionary exploration of Northern England's rock art (Gyrus), followed by a Q & A. South London sorcerer Stephen Grasso will then guide us over the crossroads and through the veil of night, carried by the transcendental sounds of the Raagnagrok All-Stars (every man and every woman is an all-star) featuring Allison Brice (electric dulcimer), Zali Krishna (guitar/effects), Paul May (drums) and Mark Pilkington (synth and electronics). A key focus for the night will be an altar of our lost cultural icons and inspirations - please bring images and offerings of the lost people, animals and places who have guided and informed you through your life thus far. There will be talks, discussion, performance, music, magic, stalls and fun late into the night. We expect the event to be quite busy, so reserving a place in advance is advised - you can do this via the DOTD web site

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Sep
26
6:58 pm18:58

Italian Film Society

image002.jpgThursday 9th October 7:30pm Entry is £8 The Italian Film Society of London dates back to 1915 but has ceased to exist for many decades. It's revival took place on 19 September at the Horse Hospital with a screening of the legendary 8 ½ by Fellini to a audience of over 80 people. The Italian Film Society is back. The Italian Film Society cordially invites you to... 'I Pugni in Tasca' (Fists in the Pocket) Marco Bellocchio, 1965 108 mins Language: Italian with English subtitles 'Fists in the Pocket' was 27-year-old Bellocchio's startling debut feature. Released to much controversy, it tells a disturbing story of madness, murder and incest within a bourgeois family living in a small provincial town. It is a mesmerising indictment of the destruction of moral values that the director observed in Italian society. Lou Castel gives an intense performance as the epileptic youngest son Alessandro, driven to frenzied acts of violence. Details: Doors open at 7:30 for an aperitivo, film starts 8:00ish * Free Italian Vanity Fair magazines for the first 15 people.. Entry is £8 Space is limited; Kindly RSVP total number of guests to info@italianfilmsociety.co.uk (visit www.italianfilmsociety.co.uk for more info)

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Sep
24
11:55 am11:55

The Good, The Bad and The Necessary - Celebrating 15 Years of The Horse Hospital

Exhibition: Saturday 6th September - Saturday 27th September12-6pm Mon-Sat Private View: Friday 5th September 7:30pm A SPECIAL PROJECTED INSTALLATION Featuring The Work of Almost Every Artist Who Has Ever Shown at The Horse Hospital! LAUNCH PARTY Fri 5th Sept 7:30pm *Live Music . DJ's . Special Guests* You are invited to join us for a unique evening of bizarre Horse Hospitality! Celebrating 15 years of creating an alternative, of irreverence, individualism, anti-conformism, diversity, sincerity and integrity. Of championing the outsider, the unfashionable, the other. Of embracing the DIY, the independent, the uncompromising, the difficult, the intuitive, the romantic, the visionary and the life affirming. To another 15 years of operating in constant, fluctuating, joyous opposition! To celebrate our 15th anniversary, throughout September we will be screening 26 great films from the archive + a short film archiving The Horse Hospital activities over the last 15 years. MAIN SCREENINGS Friday 12th September doors 7:30pm £7/£5 mems/concs No Age, New York + Cutting moments Fr 19th September doors 7.30pm £7/£5 mems/concs Terror of Tiny Town + The Rough South of Harry crews Wednesday 24th September doors 7:30pm £7/£5 mems/concs The Northerners + A Reason to Live Saturday 27th September - Triple Bill £12 mems/10 concs All 3 Films or £5 mems/4 concs per session, Ghosts of the Civil Dead -Screening at 4:30pm R.I.P. Rest in Pieces: Joe Coleman - Screening at 6.30pm Holy Mountain - Screening at 8:30pm ++++++ SPECIAL AFTERNOON SCREENINGS (6th Sept - 27th Sept, Mon-Sat) Films Start Each day at 4pm, £5 + A celebratory drink on us! N.B. The will be no screening on Saturday the 20th September as we are taking part in London Open House Sat 6th: Freaks Uncensored Mon 8th: Mon Oncle Tues 9th: Rubin and Ed Wed 10th: Europa Thurs 11th: Peeping Tom Fri 12th: Hotel Room Sat 13th: Even dwarfs started small Mon 15th: Annie Sprinkle's Herstory of Porn Tues 16th: Cinema of Transgression Wed 17th: Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life Thurs 18th: Grey Gardens Fri 19th: The Night of the Hunter Mon 22nd: Space is the Place Tues 23rd: The Singing Ringing Tree Wed 24th: Careful Thurs 25th: Gummo Fri 26th: Saint Clara MORE DETAILS ------->>

SCREENINGS Friday 12th September 7:30pm £7/£5 mems/concs No Age, New York Dir: Nick Abrahams & Ana Cory Wright. 1992, 50 min Documentary featuring interviews with Nick Zedd, Beth B, Henry Rollins, Lydia Lunch, Richard Kern and other NYC underground artists. + Cutting moments Dir: Douglas Buck, 1997, 29 min In the center of a monotonous suburban existence, Sarah lives silently and in subservience to her icy husband Patrick. They have been together far too long, and Patrick's affections for his wife have all but vanished. Instead, his sexual urges are tempting him to lust after their own son. Realizing how far gone her husband is, Sarah undertakes drastic, shockingly sickening measures to salvage some sense of her life and purge her years of festering resentment. + Other Shorts TBC Friday 19th September 7.30pm £7/£5 mems/concs Terror of Tiny Town Dir: Sam Newfield, 1933, 62 min An evil gunslinging midget comes to terrorize the good little people of Tiny Town. The townspeople organize to defeat him, and zany antics ensue + The Rough South of Harry crews Dir: Gary Hawkins, 1991, 55 min This in-depth documentary examines the life and work of cult writer Harry Crews. Wednesday 24th September 7:30pm £7/£5 mems/concs The Northerners Dir: Alex van Warmerdam, 1992, 108 min A surreal black comedy set in a decrepit 1960's housing development. When his mother is drawn into sainthood and the resulting frustrations of his father become too difficult to manage, Thomas, a young boy, becomes obsessed with events on the broadcast news. The liberation of the Belgian Congo is taking place and Thomas becomes Lumumba, one of the contenders as the Congo's new leader. He is encouraged in this escapism by Plagge, the postman who reads all the mail and knows all of the bizzarre and intimate secrets of the eccentric inhabitants of the estate. + A Reason to Live Dir: George Kuchar, 1976, 30 min Classic Kuchar joy Saturday 27th September - Triple Bill £12 mems/10 concs All 3 Films or £5 mems/4 concs per film Ghosts of the Civil Dead -Screening at 4:30pm R.I.P. Rest in Pieces: Joe Coleman - Screening at 6.30pm Holy Mountain - Screening at 8:30pm Ghosts of the Civil Dead Dir: John Hillcoat, 1988, 93 min Written by Nick Cave. Prison gangs clash in a high-tech security jail where there are no rules. R.I.P. Rest in Pieces Dir: Robert-Adrian Pejo, 1997, 91 min An examination of the controversial work of New York shock art painter and performance artist Joe Coleman, whose act includes biting off the heads of live mice while wired with explosives. It is the depiction of a manic moralist, who will very likely soon be promoted from subculture to established artist status: It is the portrait of an American actionist who diagnoses (and exorcizes) the ills of society in himself--and who uses his extremism and contradictions to sketch a remarkably clear picture of the world Holy Mountain Dir: Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973, 114 min A Christlike figure wanders through bizarre, grotesque scenarios filled with religious and sacrilegious imagery. He meets a mystical guide who introduces him to seven wealthy and powerful individuals, each representing a planet in the solar system. These seven, along with the protagonist, the guide and the guide's assistant, divest themselves of their worldly goods and form a group of nine who will seek out the Holy Mountain, in order to displace the gods who live there and become immortal. Saturday 6th September 4pm £5 + A drink Freaks Uncensored Dir: Ari M. Roussimoff, 1999, 100 min A comprehensive history of human oddities and their relationship with society throughout the ages. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Monday 8th September 4pm £5 + A drink Mon Oncle Dir: Jacques Tati, 1958, 117 min Monsieur Hulot visits the technology-driven world of his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, but he can't quite fit into the surroundings. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Tuesday 9th September 4pm £5 + A drink Rubin and Ed Dir: Trent Harris, 1991, 82 min Reclusive Rubin Farr teams up with vocal but unsuccessful multi-level salesman Ed Tuttle on a quest to bury Rubin's dead cat in the "perfect spot." Their trip takes them across Utah's desert where they have run-ins with Ed'd ex-wife Rula and an elusive Andy Warhol critic. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Wednesday 10th September 4pm £5 + A drink Europa Dir: Lars von Trier, 1992, 112 min Just after WW2, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Thursday 11th September 4pm £5 + A drink Peeping Tom Dir: Michael Powell, 1960, 101 min A young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Friday 12th September 4pm £5 + A drink Hotel Room Dir: David Lynch, 1993, 90 min The lives of several people spanning from 1936 to 1993 are chronicled during their overnight stay at a New York City hotel room. The hotel room undergoes minor changes through the century, but the employees of the hotel remain unchanged, never aging. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Saturday 13th September 4pm £5 + A drink Even Dwarfs Started Small Dir: Werner Hierzog, 1970, 96 min The inhabitants of an institution in a remote country rebel against their keepers. Their acts of rebellion are by turns humorous, boring and alarming. An allegory on the problematic nature of fully liberating the human spirit, as both commendable and disturbing elements of our nature come forward. The film shows how justifiable revolt may be empowering, but may also turn to chaos and depravity. The allegory is developed in part by the fact that the film is cast entirely with dwarfs. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Monday 15th September 4pm £5 + A drink Annie Sprinkle's Herstory of Porn Dir: Annie Sprinkle + Scarlot Harlot, 1999, 69 mins What it says on the tin. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Tuesday 16th September 4pm £5 + A drink Cinema of Transgression Dir: Various From Nick Zedd to Beth B, 141 mins Compilation of films made by avant-garde filmmakers and artists based in the New York City's Lower East Side between 1979 to 1993. In 1984 the manifesto for the `Cinema of Transgression' was announced, a movement looking to transform values by breaking all taboos of cinematic expression, conservative religion, politics and aesthetics. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Wednesday 17th September 4pm £5 + A drink Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life Dir: Michael Paxton, 1997, 145 min Ayn Rand was born in 1905 in St. Petersberg, Russia. She escaped to America in 1926 amidst the rise of Soviet Communism. She remained in the United States for the rest of her life, where she became a much respected author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. The themes of freedom and individualism were to be her life's passion, and would win her a devoted following among readers. Her books continue to sell over 300,000 copies each year. Upon her arrival in America, Ayn Rand applied for a screenwriting position at the DeMille Studios in Hollywood. On that same day, a chance meeting with DeMille brought her to the set of The King of Kings where she was hired as an extra for the film. But, it wasn't until her 1936 Broadway success, Night of January 16th, that she first achieved fame as a writer. The play, a courtroom drama that was tried before a jury drawn from the audience each night, had two endings for each verdict. Although a success, it was Ayn's first struggle to keep the integrity of her script intact from those who did not share her vision. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Thursday 18th September 4pm £5 + A drink Grey Gardens Dir: Ellen Hovde / Albert Maysles, 1975, 100mins The Maysles brothers pay visits to Edith Bouvier Beale, nearing 80, and her daughter Edie. Reclusive, the pair live with cats and raccoons in Grey Gardens, a crumbling mansion in East Hampton. Edith is dry and quick-witted - a singer, married but later separated, a member of high society. Edie is voluble, dresses - as she puts it - for combat in tight ensembles that include scarves wrapped around her head. There are hints that Edie came home 24 years before to be cared for rather than to care for her mother. The women address the camera, talking over each other, moving from the present to events years before. They're odd, with flinty affection for each other. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Friday 19th September 4pm £5 + A drink Night of the Hunter Dir: Charles Laughton, 1955, 93 min A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Monday 22nd September 4pm £5 + A drink Space is the Place Dir: John Coney, 1974, 85 min Sun Ra--space-age prophet, Pharaonic jester, shaman-philosopher and avant-jazz keyboardist/bandleader--land his spaceship in Oakland, having been presumed lost in space for a few years. With Black Power on the rise, Ra disembarks and proclaims himself "the alter-destiny." He holds a myth-vs reality rap session with vblack inner-city youth at a rec center, threatening "to chain you up and take you with me, like they did you in Africa" if they resist his mplea to go to outer space. He duels at cards with The Overseer, a satanic overlord, with the fate of the black race at stake. Ra wins the right to a world concert, which features great performance footage of the Arkestra. Agents sent by the Overseer attempt to assassinate Ra, but he vanishes, rescues his people, and departs in his spaceship from the exploding planet Earth. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Tuesday 23rd September 4pm £5 + A drink The Singing Ringing Tree Dir: Francesco Stefani, 1957, 74 min A brave prince wants to win the heart of a stubborn princess by finding the singing, ringing tree for her. He finally locates it in the magical realm of an evil dwarf who offers him a deal: he can keep the tree if it starts singing before sundown - which it will only do if the princess truly loves him. Otherwise, he will be turned into a bear. Reminiscent of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Wednesday 24th September 4pm £5 + A drink Careful Dir: Guy Maddin, 1992, 100 min In the remote Alpine village of Tolzbad at the turn of the century, people talk quietly and restrain their movements lest avalanches come and kill them. This atmosphere lends itself to repressed emotions - shown through the parallel stories of butler student Johann lusting after his mother (an old flame of the mysterious Count Knotkers) and Klara's attraction to her father (who lusts after his other daughter), leading to duels and suicidal plunges galore. All this is shot in the style of an early German sound film, complete with intertitles, deliberately crackly soundtrack and 'hand-tinted' colour effects. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Thursday 25th September 4pm £5 + A drink Gummo Dir: Harmony Korine, 1997, 89 min Lonely residents of a tornado-stricken Ohio town wander the deserted landscape trying to fulfill their boring, nihilistic lives. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes Friday 26th September 4pm £5 + A drink Santa Clara Dir: Ari Folman + Ori Sivan, 1996, 85 min The year is 1999 and the storyline is actually a number of sub-plots all revolving around the 13-year old Clara, a girl that can predict the future and has telekinetic powers. The sub-plots include a boy in her class who has a crush on her, his family, her family and her principal that keeps talking French for some strange reason. Based on a novel by Czech writers Pavel and Yelena Kohout. Clara is a 7th grade Russian emigre to this Negev town, and lives in a trailer on the edge of town. She is surrounded by some nutty Russian characters, many of whom are played by actors from Israel's Gesher Theatre Troupe. Clara will lose her powers to predict winning Lotto numbers if she falls in love, and then she meets the anarchist rebel hunk at Golda Meir High School. + The Horse Hospital 15 years in 15 Minutes

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Sep
8
6:38 pm18:38

RAINDANCE FILM CLUB

Wednesday 17th SeptemberDoors at 7pm FREE TWENTY TO LIFE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN SINCLAIR In the USA of 1967, the minimum mandatory sentence for possession of marijuana was 20 years in prison with a maximum of life. Steve Gebhardt's film recounts how the cultural activist, poet, MC5 manager and White Panthers founder, John Sinclair, found himself at the mercy of the American narcotics laws. It is this laughable drugs charge (Sinclair was sentenced to ten years for passing two joints to an undercover police officer) that captured the media's attention and the wider public's imagination including John Lennon, who wrote a song in solidarity with the Free John Sinclair campaign. However, this documentary pieces together the abundant exploits of a man and a community who believed that 'life without resistance wasn’t worth living' and formulated a political programmme which sought cultural revolution through racial inclusion, rock and roll, dope and fucking in the streets. As Sinclair puts it: 'the marijuana issue is a free speech issue', not so much about smoking weed but about living life according to one's beliefs, this essential film sings the blues of America's recent history; interweaving Sinclair's own poetry backed by the brilliant Blues Scholars, footage of John Lennon and Allen Ginsberg with the sounds of Chuck Berry and Charles Neville. John Sinclair will be in attendance for a Q&A after the screening Please RSVP for this event. Guests welcome. For more information visit RAINDANCE FILM CLUB or email FilmClub@raindance.co.uk RaindanceLaurierinv.jpg

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Aug
30
1:59 am01:59

From Fear to Sanity - CND and the art of protest from 1958-1963

As part of CND's 50th anniversaryThe Chamber of Pop Culture is proud to present: From Fear to Sanity Exhibition: Saturday 9th August - Saturday 30th August 12-6pm Mon-Sat Private View: Friday 8th August 6.30pm CND2.jpg In association with CND, the exhibition aims to focus on the importance of the visual language in the early years of CND activity and the founding and propagation of its distinctive graphic aesthetic. Through rare, original photographs (many of which have never been seen), film, artwork, posters, leaflets and documentation dating from its inception 50 years ago. From Fear to Sanity is a celebration of CND's essential legacy, as pertinent now as ever, if not more. Much of the unique body of work on display captures the mood and inherent fear surrounding the abstraction that was the nuclear bomb. The exhibition also acts as a testament to the time and the spirit of those 5000 ordinary people who assembled in Trafalgar Square on that cold wet Good Friday in 1958, before setting out on their momentous four day, 50 mile march, to the Aldermaston Nuclear Bomb plant. Here this strong gathering of men, women and children peacefully protested against the manufacture, testing and employment, of the most terrifying weapon ever created by man. Includes work by Gerald Holtom, Henrion, Ian McCaren, Briggs and McCaren, Poster Press, Robin Flor, Quaylestone and APA studios. SCREENINGS + EVENTS Tuesday 12th August 7:30 pm FREE The early years of CND Kate Hudson - Chair CND Ernest Rodker - Peace activist since 1958 + others TBC in conversation Friday 15th August 7:30 pm £5 The March To Aldermaston Produced by Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz, Chris Menges & Derrick Knight Narrator: Richard Burton 1959, 33 min, black & white The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's 1958 march from Trafalgar Square to the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. + Trinity & Beyond Director/producer Peter Kuran Narrated by William Shatner 1996, 92 mins The Ultimate Film about Weapons of Mass Destruction! Thursday 21st August 7:30 pm £5 The Atomic Cafe Directors/ Jayne Loader and Kevin Rafferty 1982, 86 min Disturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety. + The March To Aldermaston 1959, 33 min, black & white Thursday 28th August 7:30 pm £5 On The Beach Dir. Stanley Kramer 1959, 134mins Gregory Peck , Ava Gardner , Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins The residents of Australia after a global nuclear war must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months. + The March To Aldermaston 1959, 33 min, black & white With the kind contribution of CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) Getty Images Hulton Archive Collection Ernest Rodker - peace activist since 1958 The Peace Museum University of Bradford LSE (London School of Economics) Contemporary Films Ltd The Cartoon Museum

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Aug
29
1:33 am01:33

THE LONDON INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL

LIAF 08 logo.jpgMonday 1st September Session 1: 7pm: Idiots and Angels Session 2: 8-30: The Kings of Time Session 3: 10pm: Late night Bizarre £7/£6 members & concessions OR £15/£12 members & concessions all 3 sessions THE LONDON INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL returns to the Horse Hospital to present 3 sessions of amazing animation to kick-start this year's festival. Join us on the opening night of LIAF 08 for the British premiere of two feature films and the welcome return of our 'Late Night Bizarre' short film programme - guaranteed to offend and entertain in equal measures! For more information about everything else screening at this year's festival, the UK's largest stand-alone animation festival, please refer to the festival website at www.liaf.org.uk SESSION 1 7PM 'Idiots and Angels' (Director: Bill Plympton) USA, 2008, 80 MINS Over 20 years into his career Bill Plympton still hand draws each cel. Rough and visceral, his cartoons display the pleasure and challenge of every line he draws. "Idiots and Angels", his sixth feature, is a dark comedy about a man's battle for his soul. Angel, a selfish and morally bankrupt man, wakes up one morning with wings on his back. He tries to hide them, but eventually everyone at Bart's Bar, where he hangs out, discovers them and ridicules him about his bizarre appendages. This slyly sardonic black comedy full of sexual longing and twisted fantasy showcases his unique graphic pencil-drawn style, and is underscored by the groaning music of Tom Waits, Pink Martini, Moby and others. SESSION 2: 8-30 The Kings of Time (Director Mait Laas) Estonia, 72 MINS This thoroughly engaging documentary tells the story of the world-renowned Estonian puppet animation studio Nukufilm - a documentary with elements of animation about 85-year-old Elbert Tuganov and 80-year-old Heino Pars - two animators and artists who despite changing times have become masters of their domain... In the 1950's when the first Sputnik was launched into space, rivers were reversed and hydraulic power plants built, at the same time, in a far corner of the Soviet Union, two Estonian men started to play with puppets. Why? The protagonists of the 72-minute documentary are two different film directors, two different creators: Elbert Tuganov and Heino Pars, who, in spite of changing times, have established themselves as the kings of time. SESSION 3: 10pm LATE NIGHT BIZARRE SESSION - 17 short films (approximate running time - 75 minutes) eve.jpg Crazed, weird, extreme or just impossible to explain plots - a mind-boggling compendium of the wildest animated ideas horse-whipped up to warp speed and transported back from parallel universes. It's a fairly eclectic mix with something to offend and entertain in fairly equal measure so sit back, buckle up and check out this collection of porn loving popes, psychotic giggling farmers, animals getting their heads ripped off, vegetable races and psychedelic amoeba sex. The Evil Empire, The Harvester, Golden Age: Lancaster Loon, 13 Ways To Die At Home, Fish Getting Pissed On A Semi, Her Lovely Fears, Golden Age: Hansel And Gretel, Global Warming, Eden, The Elastic Barber, Golden Age: Antsy And The Bugaboos, The Legs, Elephant Girl, Our House, ¡Ay Caramba!, Golden Age: Sketch Towers, Walk For Walk, MORE INFO---->

The Evil Empire Russell Lowe, Federico Solmi Australia, 2008, 4'15 A porn crazed pope sends an army into battle. WARNING: This film contains content of a graphic sexual nature which may offend some viewers. The Harvester Wei-Chang Sun Korea, 2007, 1'00 Laughter maybe the best medicine - but what if you're completely nuts to start with. Golden Age: Lancaster Loon Aaron Augenblick USA, 2007, 3'00 Seeing a man completely strung out on addictive cereal is a horrible sight. 13 Ways To Die At Home Lee Lanier USA, 2007, 3'00 By this we mean... 13 Ways To Die At Home that you'd never be able to imagine in a million years. Fish Getting Pissed On A Semi Jeremy Austin Australia, 2007, 2'00 The title probably tells you all you need to know. Her Lovely Fears Ben Wheele UK, 2007, 2'45 With a hefty nod to a kind of digital Terry Gilliam, this film sets about showing us why a mad menagerie of creatures is so obsessed with Dabeir. Golden Age: Hansel And Gretel Aaron Augenblick USA, 2007, 3'00 Did they or didn't they? Global Warming Sheldon Lieberman, Igor Coric Australia, 2007, 2'00 An hilarious musical homage to denialism. Eden Hye-Won Kim Korea, 2007, 3'45 A naked, head rippin', horn pullin', animal skinnin' romp through God's original garden of bounty. The Elastic Barber Milla Nybondas Finland, 2007, 5'30 Shivering sheep have to wait for their haircuts while the giraffe chases down the killer bee that stole his cap. Golden Age: Antsy And The Bugaboos Aaron Augenblick USA, 2007, 3'00 A tribute to the original bug band and the fragile insect genius behind their rise and their ultimately unlistenable album Firefly Fart Fondue. The Legs Hae-Young Lee Korea, 2007, 8'30 One man's eye-popping battle with a set of crazy legs. Elephant Girl David Lobser USA, 2007, 4'30 An invasion of moths and rolling eggs quickly leads to some twisting tongue action on a couch - until the tongue breaks free. Our House Stock'n'Wolf Germany, 2007, 8'30 A warts and all fiesta of stop-motion techniques and surprises. As we wait for the spider on the top floor to finish her web, we fill in the time witnessing a catalogue of homicidal chain reactions that highlight the risks of living so close to your neighbours. ¡ Ay Caramba! M. Harzog, M. Lukhaup, V. Pfeifenberger, R. Ziegler Germany, 2007 3'45 A sponge, a salad, a balloon, a car and a pair of socks take part in an epic race under the gaze of an omnipresent jury who seem happy to randomly interfere for no other purpose than the pleasure of exercising their rights as gods. Golden Age: Sketch Towers Aaron Augenblick USA, 2007, 3'00 A place of horror and intrigue where old, barely imagined and unfinished animated characters are locked up forever. Walk For Walk Amy Lockhart Canada, 2006, 10'00 The ultimate fully loaded, 240volt, chrome plated, nuclear powered, chocolate dipped romp on the psychedelic side.

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Aug
20
1:21 am01:21

RAINDANCE FILM CLUB

Wednesday 20th AugustDoors at 7pm FREE Best of 15th Raindance Film Festival Shorts August's edition of the Raindance Film Club will be holding the World Premiere of the Best of 15th Raindance Film Festival Shorts DVD. The sixth in the Raindance DVD series, the Best of the 15th Raindance Film Festival Shorts is a unique collection of innovative short films from the 2007 festival. This eclectic mix includes festival award winners, award nominees, the 2007 festival trailer and the Making of the 15th Raindance Film Festival directed by Jonathan Caouette [Tarnation]. For a full list of the films and synopses click HERE Come along to check out the very best shorts from around the world and for your chance to win a free DVD. Please RSVP for this event. Guests welcome. For more information visit RAINDANCE FILM CLUB or email FilmClub@raindance.co.uk RaindanceLaurierinv.jpg

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Jul
26
6:35 pm18:35

Instead of Wives, They Shall Have Toads

The Chamber of Pop Culture Is Proud To Present:'Instead of wives, they shall have toads' An exhibition by Stephen Fowler Exhibition Saturday 5th July - Saturday 26th July, 12-6pm Mon-Sat Private View Friday 4th July, 6.30pm till late The artist will be in residence on Thursday, Friday & Saturday of each week. Stephen Fowler is a Folk Artist of extraordinary complexity, who over the past 5 years has created a vast body of work illustrating a deep emotional journey of personal identity. Discovering Fowler's work is literally like leafing through the pages of a giant eclectic scrapbook, which at first glance could have been created half a century ago, for Fowler's multifarious practice embraces many traditional crafts, forgotten techniques and skills that belong to bygone age, drawing freely from the worlds of Dada, Surrealism, Constructivism, Abstract Expressionism, Outsider Art and Steam Punk to create his own diverse aesthetic. From naïve paintings of remote architecture, places of worship and hospitals, to moving portraits of troubled individuals, plant life and shell fish, Fowler presents us with a plethora of assorted drawings, paintings, prints, posters, intricate handmade bookworks, leaflets, flyers, badges, sculptures, found objects and ephemera which reflect his various obsessions for graphics, poetry, old records, photographs, film. "Instead of wives, they shall have toads" reveals a feast of delights and allows us to glimpse inside the complex mind of this sensitive artist. Fowler is well known for his creative collaboration with: The Murri Folk Club, Tapestry Music Festival, Tatty Devine, Zeel, Mark Pawson, Rob Ryan & Rocky Alvarez. To accompany the exhibition there will be a programme of film and live music events. Curated by the artist. FILM NIGHTS Wednesday 9th July, 7.30pm £5-£4 mems/concs We Have No Art 1967 26 minutes + Mary's Day 1964 12 minutes Two documentaries on the Artist, Teacher, Nun; Sister Corita. + Danielson: A Family Movie (or, Make a Joyful Noise HERE) 2006 105 minutes Starring Danielson Famile & Sufjan Stevens with cameos from Steve Albini, Rick Moody, David Garland and DANIEL JOHNSTON. Tuesday 15th July 7:30pm £5-£4 mems/concs Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum Directed by Lynn Shores 1940 B/W 66 minutes Wax figures, hidden rooms, secret passage ways and pelting rain. Sidney Toler stars as Charlie Chan in this claustrophobic museum setting. + The Bat Whispers Directed by Roland West B/W 83 minutes 1930 An old dark house melodrama. Friday 25th July 7:30pm £7/£5 members & concessions Home Made Record Sleeve Performance (D.Js Nervous Stephen and Rocky play records from 'Home made records sleeves volumes 1 and 2' books, as corresponding record sleeves are projected). + William Fowler Band (Post Barrett Space Folk) Monogram (Old Timey tunes) The Country Teasers (The Fall meets The Carter Family)

FILM NIGHTS Wednesday 9th July, 7.30pm £5-£4 mems/concs We Have No Art 1967 26 minutes (Filmed at Immaculate Heart College,Los Angeles) From Marshall McLuhan,Corita quotes the Balinese saying,"We have no art, we do everything as well as we can". She comments,"I think that should be our motto for the art department...You see, you don't have art off in a special category" she says ,"Ideas can come from anywhere". Her Pop Art serigraphs famously use advertising slogans and imagery, as well as words from literature and the news. Her 'happenings' heighten awareness for a classroom or an auditorium of 500. Her drawing class visit a car wash for an exercise in looking. Mary's Day 1964 12 minutes (Filmed at Immaculate Heart College, Los Angles) This Documentary records an experiment in making a traditional celebration contemporary with Pop Art. Admired by Charles and Ray Eames, Buckminster Fuller and Saul Bass, Sister Corita Kent was one of the most innovative and unusual pop artists of the 1960s, battling the political and religious establishments, revolutionising graphic design and encouraging the creativity and practising as a Catholic nun in California. Mixing advertising slogans and poetry in her prints and commandeering nuns and students to help make ambitious installations, processions and banners, Sister Corita's work is now recognised as some of the most striking - and joyful - American art of the 60s - Julie Ault. Danielson: A Family Movie (or, Make a Joyful Noise HERE) 2006 105 minutes Starring Danielson Famile & Sufjan Stevens with cameos from Steve Albini, Rick Moody, David Garland and DANIEL JOHNSTON. Creativity vs. accessibility Christian faith vs. popular culture Family vs. individuality This intimate and eloquent documentary traces the unorthodox path of Daniel Smith - eccentric musician,visual artist and devout Christian - as he creates a musical phenomenon with siblings and friends under the name Danielson Famile, eventually struggling to realise his own identity as an artist once the family members begin their own adult lives. Along the way he mentors an unknown singer-songwriter named Sufian Stevens whose subsequent success stands in contrast to the music world's uneasy reception of Danielson just a few years earlier. Combining hybrid story telling, essential live performances, animated sequences and danielson archives, director J.L Aronson offers a provocative yet subtle look at life outside the mainstream. Tuesday 15th July 7:30pm £5-£4 mems/concs Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum Directed by Lynn Shores 1940 B/W 66 minutes Wax figures, hidden rooms, secret passage ways and pelting rain. Sidney Toler stars as Charlie Chan in this claustrophobic museum setting. Boasting a group of intricately interrelated suspects, the picture opened with the escape gangster Marc Lawrence, whom Chan had helped convict for murder. Vowing vengeance, Lawrence hid out at the wax museum of discredited doctor C.Henry Gordon,famous for his plastic surgery on the faces of wanted criminals. After Gordan operated on Lawrence, Lawrence convinced Gordon to invite Chan to a weekly radio broadcast emanating from the museum. His plan: to kill Charlie Chan. Chan accepted. He was joined there by several characters, including his meddling number two son; reporter Marguerite Chapman; Criminologist Michael Visaroff; and Hilda Vaughn, peculiar widow of Lawrence's executed associate, a presumed dead murderer now known to be alive and (disguised by plastic surgery) somewhere in their midst. Other suspects congregated on this stormy night were dotty old watchman Charles Wagenhiem and doctor's blonde assistant. - Doug McCelland, The Golden Age of B Movies. The Bat Whispers Directed by Roland West B/W 83 minutes 1930 An old dark house melodrama. "Like a bat, he chose the night for his work" from the script of the film, Mary Roberts Rinehart "one of the most oppressive films ever made...the distorted sets, odd angles and restless camera make it West's most Germanic work...this claustrophobic little nightmare would be fully at home in a retrospective of the American avant-guarde film. Elliot Stein, Cinema: a Critical History - The Major Film Makers. Friday 25th July 7:30pm £7/£5 members & concessions Home Made Record Sleeve Performance (D.Js Nervous Stephen and Rocky play records from 'Home made records sleeves volumes 1 and 2' books, as corresponding record sleeves are projected). + William Fowler Band (Post Barrett Space Folk) Monogram (Old Timey tunes) The Country Teasers (The Fall meets The Carter Family)

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Jul
25
2:55 pm14:55

RAINDANCE FILM CLUB

Wednesday 23rd JulyDoors at 7pm FREE Wrong Numbers Raindance Film Club proudly presents Wrong Numbers, the debut film from Alex Holdridge, director of the highly acclaimed In Search of a Midnight Kiss. Made on a shoestring budget in Austin in 2001, it was Alex's intention to head to LA to remake the film with a large studio. Unfortunately the deal collapsed, but curiously enough in 2006 that same studio released Superbad, an almost identical film that went on to become a huge international hit. Screwed over? We think so. Featuring Midnight Kiss' leading man Scoot McNairy, this hilarious indie gem is currently without UK distribution, so for the time being this is the only place you can see it. Please come and support this fantastic and shamefully overlooked film. Synopsis: James wants to have fun, but cynically realizes that life has little fun to offer. Turning nineteen has been a souring experience filled with disappointments. The added pressures of manhood have begun to weigh in as friends become scarce. He needs a good night out and his only hope lies with his best friend Russell, whose own world was perfect until his girlfriend, Jennifer, announced that she was "going out with some other guy" that night. The two nineteen-year-old men simply want to forget their individual problems over a few beers and set out into the underage world where strange things happen. Bad directions, bad luck, and teenage-harassing cops stand in the way of these two slackers as they hopelessly meander through the streets of Austin, Texas trying to buy a case of beer. Their patience and worries are pushed to the limit until they are forced to do the unthinkable. Please RSVP for this event. Guests welcome. For more information visit RAINDANCE FILM CLUB or email FilmClub@raindance.co.uk RaindanceLaurierinv.jpg

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Jul
25
1:55 am01:55

'Instead of wives, they shall have toads' MUSIC NIGHT

Friday 25th July 7:30pm£7/£5 members & concessions Home Made Record Sleeve Performance (D.Js Nervous Stephen and Rocky play records from 'Home made records sleeves volumes 1 and 2' books, as corresponding record sleeves are projected). + William Fowler Band (Post Barrett Space Folk) Monogram (Old Timey tunes) Country Teasers (The Fall meets The Carter Family)

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Jul
24
3:55 pm15:55

FLIXATION

Saturday 26th July 8pm £5-£4 mems/concs After the triumph of June's mind stabbing cine spectacular we return with another fist full of underground film, Artist's video and Avant Grade cinema. Featuring: Stewart Home 'Brown Julius in the Fountain of Modernism' Tom Dale 'Shot Through' Ulf Kristiansen 'She Burns' Magnus Renfus 'Wuthering Heights' Johanna Vaude 'De l'Amort' Mark Pyper 'CUBS, scary crapper' Arthur Lipsett 'A Trip Down Memory Lane' Clive Shaw 'I, a Bear' MC King Shaw and DJ ALSO surprise guests, righteous tunes and free gifts ! If you have any work you'd like to show or a performance you'd like to do - contact Clive on 07966201826 or email duncanreekie@yahoo.co.uk www.flixation.org.uk www.myspace.com/flixation

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Jul
16
6:02 pm18:02

THE SUAREZ SÉANCE

Thursday 17th JulyDoors 7:30pm £7/£5 members & concessions The Sohemian Society presents: THE SUAREZ SÉANCE Revisiting the dark world of Derek Raymond with the original 'Dora Suarez' soundtrack performed live by James Johnston, Terry Edwards and Richard Strange. To celebrate the re-release of the classic 1993 album 'Dora Suarez' by Derek Raymond, James Johnston and Terry Edwards on Sartorial Records and the reprint of the original novel 'I Was Dora Suarez' by Serpent's Tail, a night of music, film and conversation saluting the godfather of British Noir. In 1993, the author Derek Raymond and the multi-instrumentalists James Johnston and Terry Edwards of Gallon Drunk came together to record an extraordinary artifact. The text of Raymond's landmark novel 'I Was Dora Suarez' was set to an original score by Johnston and Edwards, that lifted the worlds of an unnamed Detective Sergeant, a psychopathic killer and his victim, the beautiful Dora Suarez, off the page and into a sonic séance. Using the sounds of the streets as their guide, these two highly talented and original musicians wove a nightmarish soundtrack to the unforgettable spoken word of Raymond, immortalising a book that would change the very course of British crime fiction. The trio performed this work once, at the NFT in a sell-out concert in the summer of 1993, the first time that a music event had ever taken place at this venue. Derek Raymond died in 1994, leaving a body of work that would inspire a new generation of crime writers and steadily gain a following of new fans as Serpent's Tail began republishing his canon in 2006. Now, James and Terry revisit the scene of the crime, conjuring Dora back from the darkness once more, with guest performer Richard Strange in the role of Derek Raymond, live on the Horse Hospital stage. To further channel the spirit of Raymond, the performance will be complimented by a rare screening of the 1993 documentary 'Passages in Black: Three Days With Derek Raymond' directed by Agnes Bert, and conversation with Raymond's friend and literary executor John Williams and Geoff Cox, the man who came up with the genius idea of putting the 'Suarez' project together in the first place. This is a night not to be missed for all fans of Derek Raymond, Gallon Drunk and noir literature in general. BOOKING RECOMMENDED: 020 7833 3644 www.sohemians.com www.serpentstail.com

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Jul
15
7:02 pm19:02

RAINDANCE FILM CLUB

Wednesday 16th JulyDoors at 7pm FREE Brittown features legendary underground mechanic and Britbike connoisseur "Meatball" from the Hell On Wheels bike shop in Anaheim, CA as he eats, drinks, and sleeps British iron; using all his skill to transform an old 650 Triumph Bonneville motor into a barely-legal road racer. Embracing the legacy of Steve McQueen, Meatball runs his old BSA in vintage motocross races, flies down the Willow Springs raceway on his Norstar, and conquers the So Cal freeways with the No Gooders motorcycle club while still finding time for his family and his rock band Smiling Face Down. From Scott Di Lalla and Zack Coffman, directors of the award-winning custom motorcycle documentary Choppertown comes a second intimate inside look at biker culture. With more skoots, grease, and honeys than you can shake a stick at, Brittown is a true-life adventure not to be missed! Please RSVP for this event. Guests welcome. For more information visit RAINDANCE FILM CLUB or email FilmClub@raindance.co.uk RaindanceLaurierinv.jpg

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Jul
12
3:48 pm15:48

INSTEAD OF WIVES, THEY SHALL HAVE TOADS KINO

Wednesday 9th July, 7.30pm£5-£4 mems/concs We Have No Art 1967 26 minutes (Filmed at Immaculate Heart College,Los Angeles) From Marshall McLuhan,Corita quotes the Balinese saying,"We have no art, we do everything as well as we can". She comments,"I think that should be our motto for the art department...You see, you don't have art off in a special category" she says ,"Ideas can come from anywhere". Her Pop Art serigraphs famously use advertising slogans and imagery, as well as words from literature and the news. Her 'happenings' heighten awareness for a classroom or an auditorium of 500. Her drawing class visit a car wash for an exercise in looking. Mary's Day 1964 12 minutes (Filmed at Immaculate Heart College, Los Angles) This Documentary records an experiment in making a traditional celebration contemporary with Pop Art. Admired by Charles and Ray Eames, Buckminster Fuller and Saul Bass, Sister Corita Kent was one of the most innovative and unusual pop artists of the 1960s, battling the political and religious establishments, revolutionising graphic design and encouraging the creativity and practising as a Catholic nun in California. Mixing advertising slogans and poetry in her prints and commandeering nuns and students to help make ambitious installations, processions and banners, Sister Corita's work is now recognised as some of the most striking - and joyful - American art of the 60s - Julie Ault. Danielson: A Family Movie (or, Make a Joyful Noise HERE) 2006 105 minutes Starring Danielson Famile & Sufjan Stevens with cameos from Steve Albini, Rick Moody, David Garland and DANIEL JOHNSTON. Creativity vs. accessibility Christian faith vs. popular culture Family vs. individuality This intimate and eloquent documentary traces the unorthodox path of Daniel Smith - eccentric musician,visual artist and devout Christian - as he creates a musical phenomenon with siblings and friends under the name Danielson Famile, eventually struggling to realise his own identity as an artist once the family members begin their own adult lives. Along the way he mentors an unknown singer-songwriter named Sufian Stevens whose subsequent success stands in contrast to the music world's uneasy reception of Danielson just a few years earlier. Combining hybrid story telling, essential live performances, animated sequences and danielson archives, director J.L Aronson offers a provocative yet subtle look at life outside the mainstream.

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Jul
11
3:54 pm15:54

IBIZA - A reading for 'The Flicker'

Saturday 12th JulyDoors 8:30pm £5 IBIZA: A reading for 'The Flicker' is a solo performance by Ian White. A real life true story and the image-less hallucinogens of Tony Conrad's 1966 film 'The Flicker' are presented simultaneously, like parallel lines in a face-off. IBIZA is a question about the real: an assertion of difference or a kind of hopelessness with nonetheless some good energy, a response to a specific place and a specific time, a personal history and imaginary space. Not Ibiza, but the room we're in.

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Jun
29
5:31 pm17:31

Sacred Pastures

Exhibition: 7th June - 28th JuneMon-Sat 12-6pm Private view: Friday 6th June 6:00pm The Horse Hospital presents Sacred Pastures, a three person exhibition that for the first time brings together contemporary religious/apocalyptic painter Norbert Kox, multi-passioned visionary artist Cathy Ward and transpersonal self-taught painter Eric Wright. Sacred Pastures highlights each artists' dedication to revelatory and pietistic concepts within their work. While producing a highly distinctive range of imagery drawn from diverse sources of inspiration, the artists share a canon of practice that emphasizes the work as a means by which inner discoveries can be made manifest. Each has staked out a territory within the realm created by the intersection of intuition and the objective world. The exhibition highlights the diverse manner in which a bold romantic spirit is returning to contemporary artistic practice. Here are artists that eschew irony in favour of conviction and do not shrink from self-portrayal. Together presenting the antithesis to nihilistic self-referenced output while avoiding sentimentality. Norbert Kox presents a challenge to accepted christian orthodoxy of any sort while at once presenting powerful prophetic biblical revelations. His work takes forms ranging from symbolic metaphors and visual parables to revelatory land and seascapes. Informed by his own traditional bible study as well as computerised deciphering of coded messages within the same book, the work presents Kox's warnings of christian falsehoods and counterfeits, discoveries of spiritual promise and visions of the coming end-time. Cathy Ward obsessively explores a heady topography of remembrance, sexuality and mythology which is wound together and presented with the weight of personal experience and the depth of folk tradition. Her incredibly detailed drawings move effortlessly between an abstracted dream world and a representational landscape that is more otherworldly still. Her images are more an epitaph to primal memories than a reminiscence of personal or collective histories. It is from this vein that the work inhabits a spiritual dimension that erupts from the twisted lines in a Dionysian frenzy. Eric Wright draws from a singular viewpoint to reveal a world laden with amorphous import. His archaic treatment of his chosen subjects be it portraits or landscapes exhibit in the labour of their creation a demiurgic inspiration. He uses realism and narrative devices to open a raw seam of transpersonal foreboding firmly rooted in his personal and cryptic lore. Exhibiting overt allusions, Wright's work goes beyond the banality of rock lyricists and other cod-romantics. The absence of any provenance for all of weighty intimation propels the work as it takes it's place in the firmament of our consciousness.

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Jun
23
5:25 pm17:25

Sacred Pastures KinoKULTURE

Wednesday 25th JuneDoors 7:30pm £7/£5 members & concessions kox_photo.jpg Norbert H. Kox, American Visionary Artist approximately 20 minutes (Disinformation). American Outsiders: Norbert Kox approximately 20 minutes (Pulse). To Hell and Back: Norbert H. Kox approximately 20 minutes (various newscasts). Sonafeld Animation by Cathy Ward with sound by Stephen O'Malley 5 minutes Norbert Kox will speak and answer questions after the programme. Norbert Video See Norbert's youTube video message here. A trio of films that provide an insight into Norbert Kox, his work and the world in which he lives. Featuring the London Premier of Norbert H. Kox, American Visionary Artist produced by Disinformation in an extended 20 minute cut. This sympathetic documentary takes us into the studio and mind of the self-professed apocalyptic surrealist and gives Kox the stage to help us understand the meaning and purpose of his work. American Outsiders: Norbert Kox gives a mainstream version of Kox's work providing insight into how the fringes of the establishment try to come to grips with his full-on vision of our near future. To top it off To Hell and Back: Norbert H. Kox shows, through a collection of news clips from his Wisconsin environs the difficulties brought in harboring a vision at odds with both secular and christian orthodoxy. Also showing is Sonafeld a unique animation that brings the evocative worlds of Cathy Wards drawings into hyperreality. Sonafeld features the track "Keep an Eye Out" by Stephen O'Malley.

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Jun
21
11:57 am11:57

FLIXATION

Saturday 21st June 8pm £5-£4 mems/concs You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen... Lose yourself in the enchanted wood of no-budget underground cinema, international video Art, digital craft, performance and music. Featuring the world premiere of Caroline Kennedy's 'Barker's Eggs' and new work from Sacrifical Totem and Happy Cloud. ALSO returning to the scene of the crime MC Doctor Reekie and flicking the toggle - DJ Grassy Knoll. Plus special guests and midsummer quiz with FABULOUS prizes. If you have any work you'd like to show or a performance you'd like to do - contact Clive on 07966201826 or email duncanreekie@yahoo.co.uk www.flixation.org.uk www.myspace.com/flixation

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