Untitled - Koregos

Offscreen Film Festival, RITS School of Arts, ULB and Maastricht University present
Wednesday 19 March and Thursday 20 March
CONFERENCE – IMAGINING THE PAST:
KEN RUSSELL, BIOGRAPHY AND THE ART OF MAKING HISTORY
EN
The international conference Imagining the Past: Ken Russell, Biography and the Art of Making
History seeks to show how Russell's work helps us to understand how cinema (re)constructs
narratives about ourselves and the past. There will be discussions of Russell’s approach to
biography, his documentaries on artists, and the feature films in which he imaginatively presents the
lives of artists.
NL
De internationale conferentie Imagining the Past: Ken Russell, Biography and the Art of Making
History wil aantonen hoe Russells werk ons helpt om te begrijpen hoe cinema verhalen over onszelf
en de geschiedenis (re)construeert. De conferentie biedt analyses van Russells benadering van
biografie, zijn documentaires over kunstenaars, en de langspeelfilms waarin hij de levens van
kunstenaars op een creatieve manier herinterpreteert.
De voertaal van de conferentie is Engels.
FR
Le colloque international Imagining the Past: Ken Russell, Biography and the Art of Making
History propose de montrer comment l'oeuvre de Russell nous aide à comprendre les stratégies
artistiques dont se servent certains cinéastes pour élaborer des narrations sur l'humanité et sur
l'histoire. Les conférenciers se pencheront sur la façon singulière dont Russell a créé ses
biographies, ses documentaires d'artistes et ses grands films dans lesquels il (ré-)imagine la vie de
quelques artistes.
Les présentations seront en anglais.
Wednesday 19 March > 9:30 – 18:00
Thursday 20 March > 10:00 – 18:00
Cinema Rits, Rits Erasmus Hogeschool
70, Rue A. Dansaertstraat
1000 Brussels
Participation is free but registration is required due to the limited seating capacities.
Please confirm your participation at: russellconference@offscreen.be
IMAGINING THE PAST
Ken Russell, Biography, and the Art of Making History
Conference Programme – Day One
Wednesday 19 March
09:30 Registration and Coffee
09:45 Welcome and Introduction
– Christophe Van Eecke (UM), Karel Vanhaesebrouck (ULB) and Muriel Andrin (ULB).
Session 1: The Gentle Art of Biography
10:00 Approaches to the Ken Russell Biography
– Paul Sutton
10:30 Ken Russell as a Challenge to the Theory of Biography
– Maaike Meijer
11:00 Break
11:30 Filming Artists' Lives - But How About the Art?
– Sandra Kisters
12:00 Plenary discussion
13:00 Lunch
Session 2: Early Russell in Context
14:00 The Russell of Film: The Role of 35mm
– Roger Crittenden
14:30 The Origins, Hallmarks and the Development of the Ken Russell Film Style
– Paul Sutton
15:00 Break
15:30 Blurring the Boundaries between “Fact” and “Fiction”: Ken Russell, the BBC and
“Monitor”
– John Hill
16:00 Ken Russell’s “Pop Goes the Easel”: Fact, Fiction and Fantasy in “Swinging London”
– John Wyver
16:30 Experiments in Television and Biography: Ken Russell's Work for the BBC and the
Challenge to Public Service Broadcasting
– Matt Melia
17:00 Plenary discussion
IMAGINING THE PAST
Ken Russell, Biography, and the Art of Making History
Conference Programme – Day One
Thursday 20 March
Session 3: Devils Above! The Masterpiece in Context
10:00 Ken Russell: Paracinema and Cult
– Xavier Mendik
10:30 “The Devils” in Britain: Cult, Culture and Controversy
– Jamie Sexton
11:00 Break
11:30 “The Devils” as Theatrum Mundi
– Christophe Van Eecke
12:00 Plenary discussion
13:00 Lunch
Session 4: Phantasmagoria! Themes and Images
14:00 Russell's Wartime Imagery
– Kevin Flanagan
14:30 Altered Titles - Typography in Ken Russell's Title Sequence for “Altered States” (1980)
– Jack Post
15:00 Break
15:30 “Mahler”: Musical Phantasmagoria
– Pascal Vandelanoitte
16:00 Music and Mental Spaces: “Savage Messiah” and “Mahler” Revisited
– Dominique Nasta
16:30 Plenary discussion
17:00 Concluding Remarks
– Christophe Van Eecke
Offscreen Film Festival:
KEN RUSSELL RETROSPECTIVE
THU 13.03
21:30 | CINEMATEK
TOMMY
UK, 1975, 35MM, 110’
The musical odyssey of a deaf, dumb and blind kid that makes it to pinball champion, rock star and
the new Messiah of a religious cult. Ken Russell transforms The Who's classic concept album to a
purely sensory experience which can best be described as an LSD version of “Jesus Christ
Superstar”.
FRI 14.03
21:00 | CINEMATEK
THE MUSIC LOVERS
UK, 1970, 35MM, 123’
Russian composer Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky (Richard Chamberlain) struggles against his
homosexuality. He marries in order to obtain social acceptance, but unfortunately chooses a
nymphomaniac (Glenda Jackson) whom he cannot satisfy. A lavish film filled with brilliant music
selections.
SAT 15.03
21:00 | CINEMATEK
THE BOY FRIEND
UK, 1971, 35MM, 109’ – US VERSION
Fashion icon Twiggy makes her screen debut in this colourful tale of theater hopefuls with stars in
their eyes. An affectionate screen adaptation of Sandy Wilson’s London/Broadway stage hit, which
director Russell turns into an extravagant homage to the kaleidoscopic stagings of Busby Berkeley.
SUN 16.03
17:00 | CINEMATEK
VALENTINO
UK, 1977, 35MM , 127’
Ballet-dancer-turned actor Rudolf Nureyev stars as Rudolf Valentino, the adored silent screen actor
of early Hollywood. The film begins at his funeral in 1926 and backtracks to his glory-days when
the former ballroom dancer used his good-looks and charm to become one of the first male screen
idols.
TUE 18.03
19:00 | CINEMA RITS
THE DEVILS – THE ORIGINAL “X” VERSION
UK, 1971, DIGIBETA, 111’
In 17th-century France, Father Grandier uses his powers to protect the city of Loudun from
destruction at the hands of the establishment. Soon, he stands accused of the demonic possession of
Sister Jeanne, whose erotic obsession with him fuels the hysterical fervour that sweeps through the
convent.
TUE 18.03
21:00 | CINEMATEK
SAVAGE MESSIAH
UK, 1972, 35MM, 103’
Henri Gaudier is a young Parisian sculptor of enormous talent but prone to rash,exuberant behavior.
He begins a platonic but emotionally intense relationship with Sophie Brzeska, a cultured Polish
woman 20 years his senior, whose air of intelligent refinement positively impacts his life and work.
WED 19.03
17:00 | CINEMATEK
LISZTOMANIA
UK, 1975, 35MM, 103’
One of Russell’s most outrageous films: an audacious, vulgar, freewheeling fantasy about the life of
pianist Franz Liszt, rock star, circa 1840. Featuring Roger Daltrey as the composer, a cryogenic
Viking and machine-gun wielding robot Nazis, a finale out of Flash Gordon and Ringo Starr as the
pope.
WED 19.03
19:00 | CINEMA RITS
SONG OF SUMMER: FREDERIC DELIUS
UK, 1968, VIDEO, 73’
Russell's BBC adaptation of Eric Fenby's biographical memoir on the life of composer Frederick
Delius tells the story of his twilight years in a simple, elegiac way. This deeply moving story of
sacrifice, artistic struggle and endurance is among the greatest pieces of television ever made.
WED 19.03
21:15 | CINEMATEK
CRIMES OF PASSION
US, 1984, 35MM, 107’
By day, Joanna (Kathleen Turner) is a prim fashion designer. At night she becomes China Blue, a
kinky hooker on the streets of LA. But when she finds herself being stalked by a fanatical preacher
(a truly over-the-top performance by Anthony Perkins), her depraved double life threatens to
explode.
THU 20.03
20:00 | CINEMA NOVA
CLOUDS OF GLORY (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner & William and Dorothy)
UK, 1978, DIGIBETA, 106’
An idiosyncratic two-part mini-series on the relationship between poet William Wordsworth and his
beloved sister Dorothy, and the battle with laudanum faced by his friend and fellow poet Samuel
Taylor Coleridge. Long considered lost, (re)discover this TV drama for the first time on the big
screen.
FRI 21.03
10:00 | CINEMA RITS
THE BIG SMALL SCREEN: KEN RUSSELL AT THE BBC (YEARS 1962-1965)
14:00 | CINEMA RITS
THE BIG SMALL SCREEN: KEN RUSSELL AT THE BBC (YEARS 1965-1967)
Ken Russell made a name for himself during 1960s by directing a series of iconoclastic TV
dramatizations of the lives of famous composers and dancers. On Friday March 21 at Cinema Rits
we present a small selection of his early work, made for the BBC, which set new standards in
documentary filmmaking.
10:00 - BBC YEARS 1962 TO 1965
ELGAR (1962, 50')
A partly dramatized account of the life of classical composer Sir Edward Elgar.
THE DEBUSSY FILM (1965, 82')
An impression of the music and life of French composer Claude Debussy.
14:00 - BBC YEARS 1965 TO 1967
ALWAYS ON SUNDAY (1965, 45')
An interpretation of the life of French primitive painter Henri Douanier Rousseau.
ISADORA DUNCAN, THE BIGGEST DANCER IN THE WORLD (1966, 67')
A dramatized biography of the American dancer Isadora Duncan.
DANTE'S INFERNO (1967, 90')
A film showing the private life of the emotional poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
FRI 21.03
19:00 | CINEMATEK
MAHLER
UK, 1974, BETA SP, 111’
Robert Powell stars as Mahler, the great Jewish romantic from 19th-century Vienna, drafting
enormous symphonic works in the midst of rising antisemitism. An excursion into the cinema of
pantheism, mixing lyrical tableaux and comic fantasy that adds up to a stirring, dream-like
experience.
FRI 21.03
22:00 | CINEMA NOVA
ALTERED STATES
US, 1980, 35MM, 103’
Research scientist Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) believes other states of consciousness are as real as
everyday reality. Using sensory deprivation, then adding powerful, hallucinogenic drugs, he
explores these altered states... and endures experiences that make madness seem a blessing.
FRI 21.03
24:00 | CINEMA NOVA
THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM
UK, 1988, 35MM, 93’
Russell uses “Dracula” author Bram Stoker’s final novel as the basic springboard into a surreal,
campy and dark-humored tale concerning a bizarre cult and a series of sacrificial murders in honor
of an ancient pagan god. He also manages to pack in enough phallic imagery to make a Freudian's
head swim.
SAT 22.03
22:00 | CINEMATEK
SALOME’S LAST DANCE
UK, 1988, 35MM, 86’
Russell’s extremely outlandish and visually startling adaptation of the notorious Oscar Wilde play, a
fetishist retelling of the John the Baptist and Salome story from the Old Testament, with a few
dollops of sexually perverse imagery thrown in for good measure.
SUN 23.03
17:00 | CINEMATEK
WOMEN IN LOVE
UK, 1969, 35MM, 132’
Glenda Jackson garnered an Oscar for her role in this adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s classic novel.
Russell captures the author's radical and uncouth thoughts about love and marriage in 1920s
England and shocks 1970s England with a nude wrestling scene between manly men Alan Bates
and Oliver Reed.
RITS
Rue Dansaertstraat 70 Brussels
CINEMA NOVA
Rue Arenbergstraat 3 Brussels
CINEMATEK
Rue Baron Hortastraat 9 Brussels
Organization Conference:
Muriel Andrin (ULB), Christophe Van Eecke (UM & ULB), Karel Vanhaesebrouck (ULB)
Contact Festival:
Dirk Van Extergem // dirk@offscreen.be // 0032 (0)477-782316
www.offscreen.be
Met de Steun van / With the support of / Avec le soutien de