The BFI is taking Britain to the dark heart of film with Gothic, this year’s BFI blockbuster project celebrating one of Britain’s biggest cultural exports as revealed through four compelling themes: Monstrous, The Dark Arts, Haunted, and Love is a Devil.
As part of this celebration of the macabre, the BFI is releasing a lavishly illustrated publication called: Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film.
It will feature a range of new articles exploring the extraordinary and enduring appeal of Gothic cinema. The essays are written by some of the Gothic’s leading filmmakers, scholars and critics, including Kim, Guillermo del Toro, Mark Kermode, Sir Christopher Frayling, Marina Warner, Roger Corman, Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith, Ramsey Campbell, Anne Billson, David Pirie, Jonathan Rigby and Roger Luckhurst, among many others.
The Gothic season will also feature:
Spectacular screenings and events in stunning locations across the UK:
- the BFI Monster Weekend at the British Museum with outdoor screenings of Night of the Demon, Dracula and The Mummy (29/30/31 August)
- an exciting new partnership with The National Trust that will take us to some of the most historic places in the UK including Calke Abbey, Derbyshire and The Sticklebarn Pub in the Lake District
- a new partnership with Film4 that will find us celebrating ‘Dark Arts’ together over the Hallowe’en period, with a season on the channel that includes titles from Gothic and other films in a similar vein
- a return to Somerset House on 15 August with a special BFI talk by Jasper Sharp on ‘Asian Gothic and the Japanese Ghost Story’, part of the Behind the Screen strand of Film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House, before the evening’s outdoor screening of the BFI’s 35mm print of Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood
- 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 during this year’s Festival on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 August. La Belle et la Bête is organised and presented by the Edinburgh International Festival and is part of the BFI Gothic season
working with the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in conjunction with their ‘Witchcraft & Wicked Bodies’ exhibition, 27 July – 3 November 2013 and Filmhouse, Edinburgh which will be presenting a Gothic season of films and events - The Shining (1980) presented outdoors at Mapledurham House, Oxfordshire by Cult Screens (13 September)
- a Gothic double bill (film tbc) on 26 October at Cornerhouse Manchester by Manchester Metropolitan University as part of their city-wide Gothic Manchester events programme
- a new partnership with Abertoir: Wales’ International Horror Festival (5 – 10 November)
- a new partnership with the UK’s oldest costume house, Angels Fancy Dress, will give audiences all over the UK the opportunity to get into the spirit of Gothic with discounted costume hire and purchase during the project
- The longest-running season (4 months) 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 A. Romero, and many more
- Eight new BFI DVD releases with DVD and Blu-ray premieres including the much-wanted BBC TV adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Schalcken the Painter. For younger viewers there will be Bumps in the Night; three scary stories from The Children’s Film Foundation film library
- 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
- The new BFI publication Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film, featuring new essays by filmmakers and scholars such as Kim, Guillermo del Toro, Sir Christopher Frayling, Marina Warner, Roger Corman, Mark Kermode, and Anne Billson.
- ‘13 x 13’ – a major BFI Education programme inspiring a Gothic imagination in younger audiences, launching on Friday 13 September