The BFI's Gothic season is taking Britain to the dark heart of cinema

August 2013 – January 2014

http://www.bfi.org.uk/gothic    TWITTER: #BFIGothic @BFI

This week, the BFI unveiled GOTHIC: THE DARK HEART OF FILM, their blockbuster season celebrating one of Britain’s biggest cultural exports - outside of Shakespeare of course - through four themes Monstrous, The Dark Arts, Haunted and Love is a Devil. 

With over 150 titles, including Masque of the Red Death and Witchfinder General starring Vincent Price, and around 1000 screenings, plus DVD releases and a host of special events, Gothic celebrates the very British genius, rooted in literature and art, that gave rise to some of the most filmed characters in our on-screen history: Dracula, Frankenstein and Jekyll & Mr Hyde, and introduced the nation to sex, unleashing dark passions and breaking taboos along the way.

Is this really Chris Lee's cape from 1958's Dracula?

Heather Stewart, Creative Director, BFI said ‘With BFI Gothic Britain will be filled with dread and fuelled by lust. Gothic has never been more potent or popular, reflecting the turbulent times we are living in, our deepest fears and hidden passions. The British discovered sex in vivid Technicolor through Gothic. With a new generation gripped by the post modern Gothic world of Twilight’s ‘vegetarian’ vampires, Harry Potter’s spells and EL James’s 50 Shades, its meaning has mutated yet again. It’s now time to look back into the deep dark beating heart of Gothic film and give audiences the authentic thrill of this shape-shifting, perennially popular genre.’

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR...
• A four-month season of film, television and events ever to be held at BFI Southbank with special guests appearing on stage alongside exclusive previews including Roger Corman, George  Romero and many more.

• The BFI Monster Weekend at the British Museum with outdoor screening of restored versions of Night of the Demon, Dracula and The Mummy (29/30/31 August).

• Working with The National Trust to create unique events at historic places like Calke Abbey in Derbyshire and The Sticklebarn Pub in the Lake District.

• A partnership with Film4 celebrating cinema's ‘Dark Arts’ over the Hallowe’en period.

• A special talk at Somerset House on 15 August by Jasper Sharp on ‘Asian Gothic and the Japanese Ghost Story’.

• The Edinburgh International Festival (9 August-1 September) presents composer Philip Glass’s magical reimagining of Jean Cocteau’s 1946 La Belle et la Bête.

• Working with the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in conjunction with their ‘Witchcraft & Wicked Bodies’ exhibition, (27 July-3 November) and Filmhouse Edinburgh, which will be presenting a Gothic season of films and events.

• A major BFI Education programme inspiring a Gothic imagination in younger audiences, launching on Friday 13 September.

• Outdoor screening of The Shining (1980) at Mapledurham House, Oxfordshire (13 September).

• Nationwide BFI cinema releases of Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre – launching with Hallowe’en previews – and  Jack Clayton’s The Innocents, released on 13 December.

• Eight DVD releases with DVD and Blu-ray premieres, including the BBC TV adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Schalcken the Painter and younger viewers, Bumps in the Night; three scary stories from The Children’s Film Foundation film library.

• The illustrated new BFI publication Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film, featuring essays by Guillermo del Toro, Sir Christopher Frayling, Roger Corman, Mark Kermode and Jane Goldman.

• A Gothic double bill on 26 October at Cornerhouse Manchester.

• A partnership with Abertoir: Wales' International Horror Festival (5 – 10 November)

• A partnership with Angels Fancy Dress, who supplied the Dracula cape and costume for the launch.