Last Friday a friend invited me to a little film soiree hosted by the 'Assembly Film Society'. The event was held in a small hall resembling a primary school gym in Pimlico (where I never go apart from to go to the Tate Britain, this got me thinking about how much of a ‘Londoner’ I really am). Vintage educational short films based on the topic 'The Not So Lonely Planet: An Assembly Introduction To Anthropology' were projected onto a screen. However, the unique thing about this film event was that the music was live – short silent films brought to life and given new meaning by someone in the corner playing an oboe, guitar, or violin.
Most of the documentaries were created by filmmaker and animal rights activist Christian Zuber and husband and wife adventure duo Armand and Michaela Denis.
THE FILMS
Penguin Island
Le Temps Des Amours
On Safari
Les Sternes Des Seychelles
De L'Iguane A L'Ours Panda
Le Combat Des Oiseaux
Cormorant Fishing
La Capture Du Rhinoceros
Pygmies Of The Congo
Tigres: Princes De La Jungle
Monkey Nuts
Le Massacre Des Bebes Tortes
My personal favourite were 'Penguin Island' and 'Le massacre Des Bebes Tortes'. Oh and 'Cormorant Fishing': did you know that....
In olden day China, Japan and Macedonia fish loving Cormorant birds were exploited for their fishing skills. A snare was tied near the base of the bird's throat, which restricted the birds’ ability to swallow big fish. The bird was then lowered into the water where its innate behaviour drove it to catch the fish, but alas, the fish would get caught in its throat where a fishamen wearing an obligatory peculiar hat could conveniently collect the goods. So dark.
Having started my bank holiday with the joy of film i decided to end it with the joy film: I was the box office girl for my friends ‘Killing Me Softly Film club’ which organises a monthly film event in a room above The Green Man Pub (note: The Green Man sells the most potent cider i have ever had, it’s called 'Spesh' and is sold at the reasonable price of £3.40 – one = wasted, everything is hilarious). The theme this month was 'CODE OF THE STREETS', the films: 'A Prophet' and 'La Haine'. I am probably the only person in the entire world who was not that impressed with ‘A Prophet’, I won’t go into it now but the plot, although a clever one, needed to move at a much faster pace.... maybe the point of this glacial pace was to give the audience a sense of the protagonist’s lengthy 6 years in prison. I’m not saying it isn’t a good film though so don’t jump on me. 'La Haine' on the other hand - big fan. Anyway. If you haven’t attended a 'Killing Me Softly' film viewing, you must! It’s a pleasant family affair with a great ‘end to the weekend’ atmosphere – random old English furniture and good central heating makes it very cosy and the chips from the pub kitchen are really tasty.
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