Leith Kino announces new season of community cinema screenings
The Leith Depot mainstay has announced its first batch of screenings, including a special tribute to Sam Neil
Leith Kino, the community cinema project which screens art films and cult classics, has announced its next programme, featuring a curious spoof on television advertising, a John Carpenter curio starring Sam Neill, a critically lauded Brazilian drama and more.
The season will begin with The Ballad Of Suzanne Césaire, a ‘revisionist’ biopic of the surrealist poet Suzanne Césaire shot on 16mm. That will be followed by Buffet Infinity, the debut feature from Canadian director Simon Glassman, which constructs the strange story of a local diner via spoof tv adverts and news stories. Then it's Last And First Men, the only film from director Jóhann Jóhannsson, which depicts an abstract future where humans are on the brink of extinction.
Next up will be Dirty Money, directed by Denys Arcand, a Quebecois neo-noir with a gleefully grim edge. Then A Hora de Estrela, a romantic Brazilian film about the pursuit of happiness in love. Taking a very different tack is I Love Maria, a wacky Hong Kong sci-fi featuring cops and killer robots.
Paying homage to Sam Neill, who passed away earlier this year, In The Mouth Of Madness is John Carpenter’s story of an insurance salesman (Neill) on the hunt for a missing horror novelist. The final film to be screened will be Possession (pictured above), Andrzej Żuławski’s classic psychosexual horror which also stars Sam Neill.
News of the new season comes as Leith Kino prepares for screenings at this year’s Book Fringe, a series of alternative literary and cultural events taking place at Lighthouse Books, Argonaut Books and Slow Progress Records throughout August. Films screened (all of which will be hosted at Argonaut) will be The Inugami Family, Ikarie XB-1, The Swimmer, and the Francis Ford Coppola classic Rumble Fish.
In further community cinema news, local programmers Cinetopia have announced a Scotland-wide tour of Jean Epstein’s 1929 Finis Terrae, which features an original score from composers Daniel Abrahams and Philippe Boudot. The first stop on the tour will be the LandxSea Film Festival at Montrose Playhouse on Saturday 12 September, with further screenings at Dunkeld’s Birnam Arts on Sunday 13 September, Inverness’ Eden Court Cinema on Monday 14 September, Dundee Contemporary Arts on Tuesday 15 September, and Edinburgh’s Filmhouse on Wednesday 16 September.
Leith Kino, Leith Depot, Edinburgh, various dates.