Film Screening: The Magic Lantern

£3 / £1.50 donation.

In response to the current exhibition Elin Jakosdóttir, Hinges Between Days The Magic Lantern presents a selection of films that explore the ineffable truths, hidden meanings and surreal paradoxes that lie beneath the familiar routines of the everyday.

Downloadable Programme, part 2

Don’t Bother Me

Emak-Bakia, dir. Man Ray, 1926, France, 16 mins

Of the small handful of films that the great surrealist artist Man Ray made in the 1920s, Emak-Bakia is arguably the one that adheres most closely to the principles of Dadaist surrealism.   It is also perhaps the most baffling of Man Ray’s films, involving some of his most extraordinary abstract visual imagery. The title "Emak-Bakia" was taken from an old Basque expression, which translates as "Don’t bother me."


Dirty Pictures, dir. John Smith 2007, UK, 14 mins

Moving from one hotel in Bethlehem to another in East Jerusalem, the filmmaker encounters a series of problems involving a ceiling, a video camera and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Dirty Pictures is the seventh episode in John Smith’s ‘Hotel Diaries’ series, a collection of video recordings made in hotel rooms which play on chance and coincidence, utilising furnishings and decoration to relate personal experiences to contemporary world events.


Two Men And A Wardrobe, dir. Roman Polanski, 1958, Poland, 15 mins

The most famous of Roman Polanski's short films, made while he was a student at Lodz Film School, this eloquent fantasy-parable elucidates the problems of maintaining a private life in the world today. Filmed without dialogue, it is an excellent example of absurdist cinema. The triumph of coldhearted cynicism foreshadows much of his later work, in which the protagonist is consistently defeated by an overwhelming force of evil and corruption.

Replay, dir. Matt Hulse, 2005, UK, 9 mins

Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me
Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)
Memories? All recording is in vain. Everything is erased eventually. Replay was shot in Vienna and Dresden in response to a specially composed soundtrack by David Shea. The film was commissioned by Rotterdam International Film Festival's innovative educational project Zien Kijken Filmen.


Memo Mori, dir. Emily Richardson, 2009, UK, 23 mins

Best known for her series of time-lapse films imbuing inanimate objects and seemingly empty landscapes with agitated life, in the attempt to capture the histories inscribed in place, Emily Richardson’s latest film is something of a departure in form, if not in theme.  Using fragments of footage shot by Richardson over the last three years, Memo Mori is a journey through Hackney tracing loss and disappearance. With commentary and readings from ‘Hackney, That Red Rose Empire’ by Iain Sinclair.


Hibernation, dir. John Williams, 2005, UK, 15 mins

1985. A secret tree house. Two children disguised in animal costumes experiment on reviving a bee. But they are searching for a way to bring back something much bigger. Animator John William’s first live-action film won him the Best British Short Film Award at Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2005.