Cinema Rediscovered 2025

I may have been laid up on the sofa post knee surgery in May and June, and tragically unable to attend Il Cinema Ritrovato Film Festival in Bologna (aka Film Christmas), but luckily for me (and other cinephiles in the UK), the Watershed Cinema has an incredible rep film festival every July.

So, I hobbled my way down to Bristol and continued my recovery bingeing multiple international classic films a day, and networking with the great and the good of archive global cinema. Honestly, I am totally exhausted now, but my brain is alive with ideas, and I feel that delicious sensation of having been repeatedly humbled by such innovative cinema of the past. 

Before I get to the movies – the first few days were packed with industry gatherings and talks. The festival opened with a Symposium and a Summit – big grand words for big grand ideas. 

The REMIX Symposium on Race, Representation and Archives was an essential pre-festival palate cleanser, reminding us of the ongoing eruptions, disruptions and resolutions of Black artists, academics and curators. We heard a keynote from seminal Black Queer artist Topher Campbell as he reflected on his body and collection of club flyers as archive, to be viewed, experienced and engaged with in art and public spaces. 

I had to sadly leave this event halfway through the day to hop into the ICO’s Film on Film Summit, in which programmers and projectionists gathered to hash out how we can better work together as a network to facilitate even more film print screenings, with the ever-increasing (and amazing) demand for rep cinema. 

The following day was the Reframing Film Sessions, an opportunity for UK programmers and distributors to talk about the current affairs of rep, with presentations from loads of cool spaces – including yours truly talking about our beloved Hyde Park Picture House. In this first panel, ‘Repping Rep’, we, alongside Kino Rotterdam and Prince Charles Cinema hashed out our completely different styles to programming rep. It was giving Goldilocks three bears – Kino Rotterdam is internal curation first, Prince Charles is essentially a rep cinema public jukebox, and we are just nicely in the middle with a strong emphasis on partnership co-curations. 

The Leeds representation continued with Lee from What the Film Club and fellow panellists Abiba Coulibaly from Brixton Community Cinema & Atlas Cinema, and Milly Zhou from The Garden Cinema. They shared their frustrations and successes in niche film licencing – and we even got a great iceberg meme of where and how to source licences from easy access to the impossible.

Throughout the day, we also heard from Blu-ray and Restoration companies Powerhouse, R3store Studios and Arrow Films talking about their up-and-coming projects – and Radiance films were even on site with a pop-up shop. We also heard from rep distributors StudioCanal, Park Circus and BFI about the big anniversaries and re-releases coming up, many of which you will be able to catch at Hyde Park Picture House. Also, luckily for us, the film programme at Cinema Rediscovered is touring and at the end of this post, I will list all the films you can catch in Leeds this July – September. As a sneaky bit of industry intel - I managed to manoeuvre my way into this panel to share with the sector our up-and-coming Black History Month programme which will feature a retrospective on iconic Black British filmmaker Menelik Shabazz. We are offering this season to other cinemas across the UK, so if you have cinema mates in other cities, do let them know their cinema can show this programme too. Our own programme will officially go live in mid-August – so watch this space. 

By the end of this mammoth day, we had a much-deserved drink (from yummy sponsors 6 O’Clock Gin) and the film festival was officially declared open. What came next was five days of back-to-back films, mostly recently restored, and with multiple collaborations with external programmers. Strands included ‘Against the Grain: 1980s British Cinema’; an incredible selection of the films of Japanese filmmaker Yasuzô Masumura with the mesmerising actress Ayako Wakao, ‘Masumura x Wakao’; and the latest restorations in ‘Restored and Rediscovered’.

Some film highlights:

Much to my shame, this festival was my first viewing of the seminal Charles Burnett feature Killer of Sheep (1977). Watching his lost and re-found film The Annihilation of Fish was my best moment back in Cinema Rediscovered 2024, and I knew when I finally got to see his most celebrated film, it was going to be good. What I didn’t expect was a film so relatable, so child-centred, and also heartbreaking. I understand why this is the classic it is, and would recommend this as standard viewing for all. 

Badnam Basti / Neighbourhood of Ill Repute (1971) blew my little socks off, such avant-garde shots and progressive storytelling. I wasn’t prepared to see a black and white bisexual Indian love story that kept me gripped and amazed at what I was watching for its time. 

One Potato Two Potato (1964), the UK premiere of a small-budget interracial civil rights era drama. What a slap in the face of a film this was. It represents its time, and is obviously dated, but doesn’t hold back on the heightened racial divides of the time. I wasn’t alone leaving the cinema in tears. 

Czechoslovak New Wave director Věra Chytilová’s playful Kalamita (1982) was so much fun to watch with an audience. I really enjoyed the young Cressida Williams’ introduction, demonstrating the parallels between the disengaged Cold War youth and Gen Z today. 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the one-of-a-kind Malian film Yeelen (1987) directed by the recently late great Souleymane Cissé. This film was introduced by me in the special volunteer-run Cube Cinema, and it was my own first opportunity to see its wonderful Bambara cosmology story on the big screen (not just a little one at home).

On the last day of the festival, I watched an Anna May Wong silent double bill, Schmutziges Geld / Song (1928) and Großstadtschmetterling / Pavement Butterfly (1929). The latter was extraordinary. Incredible visuals, minimal title cards and a completely absorbing tragic story – really giving us the best of Wong's talent. 

And signing off the day was Seisaku no Tsuma / The Wife of Seisaku (1965), a powerful Japanese melodrama of love and obsession, leaving me extra excited for our upcoming melodrama programme this November – January at Hyde Park Picture House... things are going to get extra!

You can catch the following films at Hyde Park Picture House this August to September as part of the Cienma Rediscovered touring programme:

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) with pre-recorded introduction by actor Gordon Warnecke (Omar) and director Stephen Frears.

Amadeus (1984)

Badnam Basti / Neighbourhood of Ill Repute (1971) with pre-recorded introduction by Dr Omar Ahmed.

Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987) introduced by Green Carnation Film Club.

The Angelic Conversation (1987) introduced by Ghada Habib.

Nationalité: Immigré (1975) introduced by Mosaic Cinema Club.