A rare showcase of over 20 vintage films by post-punk British filmmakers and video artists will screen at Hong Kong's Broadway Cinematheque as part of M+’s latest screening program, from July 8-10.Presented in collaboration with the British Film Institute (BFI) National Archive and London-based film agency LUX, “M+ Screenings: This is Now” will feature over 20 Super 8 and 16mm films restored by the BFI, most of which are being screened for the first time in over 30 years.The series consists of six separate film programs that explore the legacy of British filmmakers and video artists who came to prominence during the post-punk era (1978-85).Drawing on readily available, often clunky domestic technologies in resourceful ways that were inspired by a do-it-yourself punk aesthetic, these artists were often sharply critical of the deluge of blandly sensational images in the mainstream media, subverting their messages with a wry, irreverent spirit.Equally, though, these mainstream media productions made up a rich, readymade pool of source material that post-punk artists gleefully plundered for their own creations.Emblematic of this approach, and also featured in M+’s program, are pioneering British “scratch video” artists George Barber, the Duvet Brothers, and Gorilla Tapes, who used found footage, rapid cutting, and a discordant sense of rhythm and movement to challenge the dominant production values of their era.In other instances, post-punk filmmakers also documented the more experimental margins of London’s creative scene. Case in point: John Maybury’s 1982 tour-de-force of Super 8 filmmaking “Court of Miracles” (1982), a gender-bending extravaganza that features Siouxsie Sioux (of alt rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees) and fashion designer David Holah in the leading roles.The supernatural and occult is another running theme here, as seen in Grayson Perry’s “The Green Witch and Merry Diana” (1984), Anna Thew’s “Lost for Words” (1980), or Steven Chivers’ “Catherine de Medicis Part 2” (1984) — all of which refigure the city of London as a bizarre, post-apocalyptic universe steeped in arcane folklore.“M+ Screenings: This is Now” runs July 8-10 at the Broadway Cinematheque in Yau Ma Tei.
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