Northwest Film Event Highlights – July 2016
This month's best film events include a Nicolas Winding Refn-curated season at HOME, Manchester and more Studio Ghibli magic at FACT, Liverpool
If you missed Nicolas Winding Refn’s fleeting visit to HOME early last month, you needn’t panic. The Neon Demon director clearly has a soft spot for the city, as he’s personally hand-picking his very own film season for the Manchester arts venue. The line-up of cult films include Jerzy Skolimowski’s Deep End (17 Jul), George Miller’s breakneck Mad Max (9 Jul) and Planet of the Vampires (16 Jul) from Italian master Mario Bava. The season all kicks of with a Skinny pick: Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Click here for full details.
That’s not all HOME has planned for July though. You can catch Arnie’s defining role back on the big screen with The Terminator (9 Jul) and take a guided tour of the V&A Museum's recent sellout Bowie exhibition with an encore screening of documentary David Bowie Is (14 Jul). They’ve even got a special preview of Roy Cohen’s AI exploration Machine of Human Dreams (27 Jul) as part of their Science Friction film season. Uncanny.
Ponyo
In Liverpool, FACT are still in full Studio Ghibli mode following the UK release of the studio’s latest and possibly last, When Marnie Was There. Their season celebrating the quaint and always impressive work of this Japanese powerhouse features the Nemo-esque Ponyo (9 Jul), tiny adventure Arrietty (16 Jul), touching tale The Wind Rises (20 Jul) and the beautifully shot Tale of Princess Kaguya (27 Jul). Please don’t go away, Ghibli, we love you more than Ponyo loves ham.
Like their Mancunian counterpart, FACT have some nice hidden extras this month too. Expect Rob Reiner’s coming-of-age classic Stand By Me (17 Jul), Marilyn Monroe’s enduring turn in Some Like It Hot (20 Jul) and storybook fantasy The Princess Bride (30 Jul), all topped off with Tarantino’s slick second film Pulp Fiction (31 Jul) on August eve.
Pet Semetary
Meanwhile, in Manchester, Hold Fast Bar invite you to an evening of trashy monster madness with The Mighty Peking Man (5 Jul). Never heard of it? This sleazy, low budget fare was slapped together to cash in on the release of 1977’s King Kong remake starring Jeff Bridges and a scantily clad Jessica Lang. The Certificate X team have a few monkey themed extras and short films up their sleeves too, filling out their aptly titled, Night of Monster Apes. You’d be bananas to miss it.
Back in Liverpool, the Small Cinema guys remind us that sometimes dead is better with Mary Lambert’s 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s dark fantasy Pet Sematary (7 Jul). Head down early to catch some Grindhouse trailers beforehand for the full effect.
Follow Simon Bland at @SiTweetsToo
If you've a film event you'd like us to know about, send details to jamie@theskinny.co.uk