July 2021 Cinema Podcast

Watershed Podcast

In this month's podcast Mark Cosgrove (Watershed Cinema Curator) and Adam Murray (film programmer, critic, writer and broadcaster) look forward to Watershed's Cinema Rediscovered festival at the end of July – a celebration and re-framing of cinema's rich 125 year history.They share the strands and films they can't wait to bring to the big screen – screening in some cases for the first time in decades, if not ever in the UK.Mark's highlights include 1971: The Year Hollywood Went Independent, a programme of films exploring the essential contribution that women made to The New Hollywood era; when outsiders, independents and mavericks were welcomed into the mainstream. Plus the amazing background to The Story of a Three-Day Pass – a nouvelle vague infused film by young Black American Melvin Van Peebles made in Paris, never released in the UK and now restored to its former glory.Adam looks forward to Blue Collar, an uncompromising tale set in Detroit of three-working men; starring Yaphet Kotto as Smokey James alongside double trouble Richard Pryor and Harvey Keitel. Released in 1978 Adam discusses the extraordinary performances exploring race, unions and working class masculinity; and surely one of the greatest, grimy, opening scenes and soundtracks in a film ever.Finally Adam looks forward to launching his Bristol Black Horror Club at the festival with a screening of The Beast Must Die – a fun, camp, werewolf thrill-ride with a great soundtrack and a Black actor in a multi-dimensional lead role.