SCREENING: Landmarks of French avant-garde film (total programme length: 115 mins.)

We mark 100 years since silent cinema reached its extraordinary peak as an international art form – distinct and different from the sound cinema that dominated screens from the 1930s, and, in some respects, superior.
This season, entitled 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐌𝐀, 𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟒–𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟔: 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 & 𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 celebrates both acknowledged masterpieces and bold rediscoveries from across the world, offering a rich cross-section of styles, from realism and psychological drama to avant-garde experimentation.
Friday 24th July
𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭-𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦 (𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡: 𝟏𝟏𝟓 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐬.)
𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 (𝐝𝐢𝐫. 𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟒; 𝟏𝟔 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐬.)
𝐋𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐭 𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲𝐦𝐚𝐧 [𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲𝐦𝐚𝐧] (𝐝𝐢𝐫. 𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐜, 𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟖; 𝟒𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐬.)
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢 𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐭 [𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐲] (𝐝𝐢𝐫. 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫, 𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟒; 𝟓𝟗 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐬.)
Realism and logical narrative were never the only directions cinema could take. In 1920s France, images danced, feminists took revenge, and Paris succumbed to surreal comic chaos. This programme gathers three of the best, from a decade of great achievement for French avant garde and artist cinema.
Léger’s 1924 Ballet mécanique was inspired by Chaplin as much as by Cubism and other movements. La Coquille et le Clergyman, from a script by theatre radical Antonin Artaud, first shown in 1928, provoked controversy for its woman director, Germaine Dulac, a long-over-shadowed, key pioneer of the avant-garde. In the hilarious Paris qui dort, by the great René Clair, the city awakes to the madness provoked by a scientist’s “crazy ray”, which can "freeze" people, mid-motion, at will (usually, this being French, in compromising positions). Introduction by Dr. Natasha & Dr. Joss.

📽️ Tickets and season info at kentmomi.org/events
📽️ Doors open 5.30, for drinks & nibbles. Films start 6.30 with a brief introduction from the curators.
📽️ Entry is free with a yearly ticket, although we suggest a small donation of £5 per head to help us keep the lights on! Yearly tickets giving full access to the museum can be purchased on the door (£7.50 adult / £6.00 concessions).
📽️ If you buy tickets and are subsequently unable to attend, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can give your seat(s) to someone else.