// Screening No. 7 'At Five in the Afternoon' //

Screening Outside Sassoon Gallery

Screening No.6 // Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Czech: Valerie a týden divů) by Jaromil Jireš

Dear all,

We'd like to invite you to the 6th in our film series---->>

WHEN :: Monday 19th October, 7.30pm
WHERE :: Sassoon Gallery, (Behind Bar Story, under Peckham Rye train station arches // (FIND US HERE: http://www.thesassoongallery.co.uk/SASSOON_GALLERY/CONTACT.html)
PRICE :: FREE
WHAT :: Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Czech: Valerie a týden divů) by Jaromil Jireš (cert. 15)

About the film....

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a dark and fantastical story: Heavily imbued with Freudian symbolism, we are presented with a young girl (Valerie) who faces unprecedented challenges, often surreal and disturbing as we follow her passage into adulthood. Going hand-in-hand with the underlying and uncovering of Freudian sexual desires that are central to the theme of the film, voyeurism is also key to her perception and position. However, as we follow this film through the eyes of the protagonist, it therefore differs from our usual defined idea of what this means; as this young girl watching is far from the scopophilic gaze. This film is less about male fantasies, rather we could read it as an act of a passive, almost "virginal," curious contemplation.
There are points of course, when the idea of the scopophilic gaze is largely at play - and aimed at Valerie. Yet, we are led to believe that her naivity lends itself towards her ability to explore the world of sexuality.

The film is held in high critical acclaim and has earned its place as a cult classic; the imagery and cinematography are truly spectacular. This is not one to miss!



See you there,

Lydia and Rachel

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Screening 5: Michael Powell's 'Peeping Tom'

Hello all you film lovers!

We would like to invite you all to our second film screening at the new location of the Sassoon Gallery, Peckham Rye on Monday the 12th of October at 7.30pm. We will be screening Michael Powell's 1960 film Peeping Tom as the second in the series on the theme of Gender and Differentiation. Under this theme we hope to explore representations of gender, sexuality, sexual difference and categorization as well as the nature of the presentation of the other. Not forgetting the importance of film as a medium in contributing to the selected archive of cultural knowledge.

The Series will consist of four films, one screened each Monday evening at 7.30pm. Alongside each series we hope to hold an event and discussion on relevant themes to be held at the end of each month. To give you a taster; future series titles will be; 'Censorship in Eastern European Film,' 'Colonialism and Notions of the Post' and ‘Baroque and Further Symbolism.'

The nature of each event will be fairly open, featuring both artists and theorists in order to attempt to cover such wide-ranging topics. We will establish a cultural and critical hub for all that wish to participate. The initial thought being to establish something with intent in the critical and cultural realm, which will be a result of a contribution from all.

And about the film...

Powell's psycho thriller has become a cult classic in the spectrum of horror. So you may be asking why we have chosen this title under the 'Gender and Differentiation' series. The clue is in the title...as Laura Mulvey points out the sadistic and voyeuristic themes explored present an outlandish example of the male gaze on the female body reducing the female 'form' to a mere surface shine promoting a culture of self blame for the feminine. The protagonist records each of his victims murders because he likes to watch.





Hope to see you there.

Lydia and Rachel

Screening 4: A Funeral Parade of Roses

Toshio Matsumo’s 1969 film A Funeral Parade of Roses gives a rare portrayal of Japanese gay subculture. Using a quasi-documentary approach the film investigates themes of sexuality, traditional hierarchies, censorship, drugs and the traditional role of film uniting in a dreaming and alluring portrayal of the existential experience.

Regarding the question of the traditional role of film it seems important to mention the role of Kabuki theatre in Japan. Kabuki’s all male theatre ethos meant that men would take on female roles not only on stage but in a all consuming manor, method acting per se. Not surprisingly Kabuki was outlawed in 1912 by Japans newly appointed power, the Japanese National Party on the view that the actors were encouraging and ‘naturalising’ effeminate behaviour and disturbing the traditional family unit…let the censorship begin!

A censorship on sexuality is what this film outwardly does not have. There is an open display of nudity, sex and drugs. This film may be claiming to glimpse into the gay ‘underworld’ however, I cannot help but be distracted by the pleasing avant-garde sheen. This film is indeed guilty of glamorising its subjects and making a spectacle of them as the Other (as is the viewer, which is perhaps what the film is getting at!). The drag queen subversion produced does not give the protagonists a greater sense of sexual freedom as they seem to take on the traditional submissive role of woman in sexual acts and otherwise in order to ‘live in drag’. The men at the center treat the queens as a currency in their economy, ‘a man loves a man as a queen.’

In the end the defiance of sexual norms and incest ends in death. The transsexuals behaviour is justified through violent pasts and a drug fueled present. Ultimately traditional values prevail and the protagonist is punished. However, besides this the film does attempt to portray gender as a mask in its avant-garde nature producing a vital part of the edifice that shakes the heterosexual binary.

Series 1: Gender and Differentiation

We would like to invite you all to our first film screening at the new location of the Sassoon Gallery, Peckham Rye on Monday the 5th of October at 7.30pm. We will be screening Toshio Matsumo’s 1969 film A Funeral Parade of Roses as the first in the series on the theme of Gender and Differentiation. Under this theme we hope to explore representations of gender, sexuality, sexual difference and categorization as well the nature of the presentation of the other. Not forgetting the importance of film as a medium in contributing to the selected archive of cultural knowledge.

The Series will consist of four films, one screened each Monday evening at 7.30. Alongside each series we hope to hold an event and discussion on relevant themes to be held at the end of each month. To give you a taster future series titles will be; 'Censorship in Eastern European Film,' 'Colonialism and Notions of the Post' and ‘Baroque and Further Symbolism.'

The nature of each event will be fairly open, featuring both artists and theorists in order to attempt to cover such wide-ranging topics. We will establish a cultural and critical hub for all that wish to participate. The initial thought being to establish something with intent in the critical and cultural realm, which will be a result of a contribution from all.

Hope to see you there.

Lydia and Rachel