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Hyde Park Film School: Forbidden Films... in a Day

£35
Hyde Park Picture House
A woman with big ginger hair in a yellow one piece stood against an orange striped wall and next to a wooden chair with a white rabbit on it. She is holding an empty frame and has her right arm up.

Charlie Shackleton presents an enlightening day of rare films diving into censorship over the ages.

This special programme will explore the history of big-screen taboo, looking at those who’ve fought to keep cinema’s wildest excesses under wraps, and those who’ve fought back.

From the unconstrained sexuality of a young Barbara Stanwyck in 1933’s Baby Face, to Tinto Brass’s daring attempt to blend historical epic and explicit sex in his 1979 biopic Caligula, we’ll screen a variety of work once banished from the screen, and ask what might be forbidden in today’s cinema—and by whom.

Presented by Charlie Shackleton as part of our Hyde Park Film School strand, this day-long programme will consist of:

10.30am – Introductory talk

11.30am – Baby Face (1933)

12.45pm – Lunch

1.30pm – Reflections Baby Face, talk

1.45pm – Window Water Baby Moving on 16mm

2pm – Screen Taboos talk

2.35pm – WR Mysteries of the Organism (1971)

4pm – Concluding talk

5.15pm – Break

6pm – Caligula: The Ultimate Cut (2023)

Tickets include entry to all talks and films – including our public preview screening of Caligula: The Ultimate Cut the same evening – as well as free hot drinks served throughout the day.

While the talks are interactive, you’ll be invited to participate at a level that works for you: join friendly group discussions, or just sit back and listen.

This is a limited capacity event so please book your tickets in advance.

Charlie Shackleton is a nonfiction filmmaker, critic and curator living and working in London. His most recent work, the one-on-one performance film As Mine Exactly, won the Immersive Art & XR Award at last year’s BFI London Film Festival and went on to have extended runs at the Barbican Centre in London and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.

As an extra treat, we are thrilled to be presenting Charlie Shackleton’s film The Afterlight the following day on Sunday 12 May at 2pm as part of our ReRun strand. This film will be presented on the only 35mm copy in existence and will be introduced live by Charlie. Tickets and more information here.

Hyde Park Picture House

Event information

Duration: 8hrs

Certificate: TBC

Triggers and advisories: Content guidance unavailable

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