If like us, you’ve seen Top Gun or Airplane! more times than you can count, there are probably not many surprises left in these movies. But have you ever seen them under the wing of a Concorde at Aerospace Bristol? David Lynch’s psychological horror Eraserhead doesn’t make us jump in the way that it used to either. That was, until we watched it in the spooky man-made tunnels of Redcliffe Caves.
Because that’s what Bristol Film Festival does. It takes iconic movies from the past 60+ years of cinema and revitalises them in some of Bristol’s strangest and spookiest locations. You could catch The Godfather in Averys Wine Cellars, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid at Clifton Observatory, or Jurassic Park in the Bristol Museum. You’ve seen these movies a thousand times, but we promise you never like this.
Director Owen Franklin started Bristol Film Festival back in 2015. The festival provides a different experience for cinephiles that lets them watch movies in some of Bristol’s most iconic locations. Owen selects all the locations and films carefully himself, so that they complement each other.
This summer (July 28 to 30) Bristol Film Festival will be hosting its inaugural Clifton Summer Screenings. Located in the centre of Clifton, The Mall Gardens provides a summery backdrop to a jam-packed programme of blockbusters. There’ll be fifteen classic films playing throughout the weekend; from Star Wars to Shrek, from Disney hits to Dirty Dancing, it’s set to be a proper feel-good film fest for everyone.
The pop-up cinema will seat up to 200 guests, with a state-of-the-art LED screen and wireless headphones providing first-class audio. While you’ll be able to treat yourself to a relaxing drink in the Gardens before and/or after the film.
In October, we expect there to be a major tonal shift to focus on horror movies for Halloween, with the utilisation of the absolutely terrifying Arnos Vale Cemetery. But there are a whole host of movies and locations scheduled all the way up to Christmas. (And yes, according to Bristol Film Festival, Die Hard is a Christmas movie.)
There are too many film screenings to all list here, however, so to find out more about what’s showing head here.