AN INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY CINEMA SHOWING A DIVERSE SELECTION OF HIGH QUALITY FILMS.
Waltham Forest Cinema Project presents a special event celebrating the new restoration of a underseen French gem, Simone Barbès or Virtue, featuring a specially recorded introduction by Charlotte Wells (Aftersun) and an illustrated lecture by cinema expert Nigel Smith on the history of London's pornographic cinemas.
Simone Barbès or Virtue is set across one Parisian night, as we follow sex cinema usher Simone (Ingrid Bourgoin) and her colleague Martine (Martine Simonet) as they deal with the attendees of the screening, by turns amused, bored and intimate. As they clock off from this site of male desire, we follow them into the night and to the lesbian cabararet bar, where a whole other circulation of erotic pursuit is in play. Like a version of Variety directed by Chantal Akerman, this is a brilliantly observed look into hidden nightlife. Newly restored, this classic of lesbian cinema is now ripe for rediscovery.
Before the screening, there will be a specially recorded introduction by Charlotte Wells, director of Aftersun, on why Simone Barbès ranks among her favourite films. Following the screening, there will be an illustrated lecture by cinema tour guide Nigel Smith on the history of London's sex cinemas.
Actors dress up as animals in this inventive Taiwanese curiosity from 1961, in which the happy lives of the forest creatures are shaken when a pack of wolves suddenly attacks. Amidst this threat, the Sika Deer is busy fighting with the Elk for the love of the demure Miss Deer, which arouses the jealousy of the manipulative Foxy. Apparently intended as a children’s film, The Fantasy of Deer Warrior now has queer camp appeal for its animal cosplay, while some viewers have sensed political undertones. Is it anti-communist? Anti-nationalist? Or just an ingeniously designed and costumed adventure? Whimsically incorporating elements from Aesop’s Fables, Zhang Ying’s film is a uniquely imaginative gem.
