Archaeo-Heritage Film: Into the Depths Double Bill – ‘Gorgo’ (1961) & ‘The Lighthouse’ (2019)

Presented by Archaeo-Heritage Film. From cult classics to contemporary documentaries they explore the connections between archaeology, heritage and cinema.

Gorgo (1961)

Dir. Eugène Lourié

Off the coast of Ireland, a small group of sailors encounter a monstrous sea creature of legend. After catching and selling ‘Gorgo’ to the circus, they realise that they’ve unleashed something much larger than expected and now there’s bigger fish to fry.

This screening will be accompanied by an introduction by Kaiju expert Steven Sloss on the cultural context of Gorgo, along with short film ‘Waiting for Gorgo’ (2009).

The Lighthouse (15)

Dir. Robert Eggers

Sent to tend a remote lighthouse, Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) and Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) are locked into a punishing routine of hard labour and long nights. As tempers flare, reality warps, and the sea closes in, a gripping descent into isolation and obsession follows with deadly consequences.

John Boorman and Bristol: Part II

Before he went on to Hollywood fame, film director John Boorman (Deliverance, Excalibur, Point Blank) worked at BBC Bristol where he made many films about the city.

Last year South West Silents showed his six-part series about Bristol, The Newcomers, to a sold out audience. We continue our celebrations of his Bristol work by screening five documentaries and one fictional film.

Almost all are set in Bristol and the West of England. None of these titles have been seen for decades, and this is a very rare chance to see them for a long time to come. And we are showing them on Bristol’s biggest screen.

The event will be showing:
The Globe Shrinkers about early work on supersonic flight/ Concorde at Filton (transmitted 3 April 1963).

Let’s Imagine: Being an art student about the West of England Art College (21 June 1963).

Citizen 63: Barry Langford about an entrepreneur and later BBC producer (28 August 1963).

Citizen 63: Richard Callicot about the work of a police inspector at Trinity Road Police Station, Bristol (4 September 1963).

Citizen 63: Marion Knight about a rebellious teenager in Portsea (11 September 1963).

The Quarry: Portrait Of A Man As A Paralysed Artist (27 February 1966) set partly in Bristol.

Boorman and his talented team made brilliant television. This is a rare chance to see some of the highlights of his work in Bristol.

With thanks to the BFI National Archive and the BBC Archive.

Entry requirements: 16+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio

Rip It Up Sixties Double Bill

South West Silents presents a special double including Some People (1962), A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Buster Keaton short Cops (1922). Plus a chance a chance to purchase the new BFI Classics book A Hard Day’s Night with broadcaster Samira Ahmed.

Some People (1962): Entirely shot on location in and around the Bristol area; 1962’s Some People is lively musical tale of teen rebellion starring BAFTA winner Kenneth More alongside a group of young actors on the cusp of bursting onto the Swinging London film scene. Ray Brooks, Annika (Anneke) Wills and David Hemmings play the young, bored rebels “living for kicks” in this key British film from the early 1960s. Some People is featured here as a brand-new High Definition restoration from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio.

Young and bored, Johnnie, Bill and Bert are teenaged tearaways whose only interests are motorbikes and rock music. When they are banned from riding and fined heavily, they become convinced that society has no use for them. But a choirmaster finds them playing rock on a church organ and, for some of them at least, there seems to be a way out of a no-hope situation.
With thanks to StudioCanal.

A Hard Day’s Night (1964): Meet the Beatles! Just one month after they exploded onto the U.S. scene with their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, John, Paul, George, and Ringo began working on a project that would bring their revolutionary talent to the big screen. This film, in which the bandmates play slapstick versions of themselves, captured the astonishing moment when they officially became the singular, irreverent idols of their generation and changed music forever. Directed with raucous, anything-goes verve by Richard Lester (The Knack . . . and How to Get It) and featuring a slew of iconic pop anthems—including the title track, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Should Have Known Better,” and “If I Fell”—A Hard Day’s Night, which reconceived the movie musical and exerted an incalculable influence on the music video, is one of the most deliriously entertaining movies of all time.
With thanks to Janus Films.

With special intro by writer and broadcaster Samira Ahmed (author of the new BFI Classics book A Hard Day’s Night) with copies of her new book for sale at the event.

This South West Silents event is presented in collaboration with BFI Audience Network as part of the RIP IT UP season and Bloomsbury Publishing.

Entry requirements: 14+, any under 18s accompanied by an adult

The Big Bike Film Night 2026

Wednesday 14 October 2026 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Let the good times ROLL in Bristol!

The screening sensation known as The Big Bike Film Night is riding into town with your bike film fix for ’26!!!

What’s it all about??? We’re on a mission- bringing the best cycling short films from around the world together for you. This film fest is unashamedly and utterly, utterly, utterly designed and devised to delight the two-wheel devotee!

Showcasing 2.5 hours of dazzling bike films that have everything a cycle-centric audience could want – action, drama, humour, and plenty of inspiration, they’re going to spin your wheels, crank your dial, and ring your bell!

These short films are a great reminder of why we love to ride our bike. All celebrate the fun, the adventure, and the joy that cycling enables.

So…listen to the voice inside you; it’s telling you to go. Grab your mates, GO ON… grab your bike and come along for the ride!!

ATTENDEE’S COMMENTS:

“Inspiring | Breathtaking | Heartwarming | Quirky | Bonkers | Funny as F##k“

“If you haven’t experienced the cinematic excellence of The Big Bike Film Night – then YOU MUST!!!”

Alfred Hitchcock Double Bill

South West Silents throws you into the paranoid world of the great Alfred Hitchcock this autumn.

Marking the 100th anniversary of the making of his breakout silent film thriller The Lodger (1927) starring Ivor Novello, June Tripp and Malcolm Keen. The SWS team is pairing this gem of the British silent era (with live music by Neil Brand) with his most profound Hollywood calling card, Vertigo (1958) starring James Stewart and Kim Novak.

The Lodger (1927): With his third feature film, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, Alfred Hitchcock took a major step toward greatness and made what he would come to consider his true directorial debut.

This haunting silent thriller tells the tale of a mysterious young man (matinee idol Ivor Novello) who takes up residence at a London boarding house just as a killer known as the Avenger descends upon the city, preying on blonde women. The film is animated by the palpable energy of a young stylist at play, decisively establishing the director’s formal and thematic obsessions.
Live music by writer, broadcaster and composer Neil Brand.

Vertigo (1958): Considered one of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest cinematic achievements, Vertigo is a dreamlike thriller from the Master of Suspense. Set in San Francisco, the film creates a dizzying web of mistaken identity, passion and murder after an acrophobic detective (James Stewart) rescues a mysterious blonde (Kim Novak) from the bay and must unravel the secrets of the past to find the key to his future.

Recognised for excellence in not only the BFI’s Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll (which it has appeared five times) and the AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies, Vertigo is a “great motion picture that demands multiple viewings” (Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide).

Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio)