The Prince Charles Cinema and Park Circus today announced Check the Gate: a new season dedicated to presenting films on film that will run at The Prince Charles Cinema from 9 July to 20 August.
Check the Gate is a collaborative celebration of the big screen celluloid experience with a touring programme produced by some of the nation's finest independent programmers, journalists and film fans. Cigarette Burns Cinema, The Badlands Collective, The Bechdel Test Fest, Tim Robey (The Telegraph), Tom Huddleston (Time Out), Sandra Hebron (NFTS) and the team at The Prince Charles Cinema are a few of the curators who have scoured Park Circus' extensive collection of film prints to compile a diverse programme united by a common passion.
Check the Gate
CEO of Park Circus, Nick Varley said, "Park Circus has been leading the way in making classic films available in the digital format. However, we also know we have a responsibility to preserve and celebrate film heritage. We have continued to maintain an inventory of many thousands of 35mm prints, giving audiences a unique opportunity to see films in the format they were made for. We are delighted to work with The Prince Charles Cinema on this season celebrating film on film, they are the perfect partners for this initiative and we share their enthusiasm to bring these great titles back to the big screen in this format."
Head Programmer of The Prince Charles Cinema, Paul Vickery said, "The team at Park Circus have always been hugely supportive of our desire to screen films from film. Without them we wouldn't have been able to present half the films we have from 35mm or 70mm, so when they approached us about doing something to celebrate the format we were instantly excited about the prospect of filling our cinema with celluloid. And to make things a little more interesting, we thought we'd invite a few friends along to pick some films and help make the party that little extra special."
Prince Charles Cinema
Season ambassador, Richard Ayoade (Submarine, The Double) reflected on the joy of analogue projection and the ethos of the season as a whole, saying: "What I like about film presentations is that each experience is different, a one-off. There's a real artefact there, there's light going through the projector, something tangible and mechanical is happening and that magical feeling doesn't quite exist elsewhere.”
Ayoade has handpicked a number of films to screen as part of the season, including Federico Fellini's rarely screened Amarcord and Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia. A full list of the season's curators, titles and venues will be announced shortly, confirmed events at The Prince Charles Cinema currently include:
Opening night screening of Apocalypse Now (Theatrical Edition)
Closing night screenings of The Last Picture Show and Purple Rain
70mm presentations of Little Shop of Horrors and The Right Stuff
25th anniversary presentation of Thelma & Louise
Screenings of Innocent Moves, Modern Romance, In a Lonely Place and My Beautiful Laundrette
