5th - 7th December 1997 at Cober Hill, near Scarborough
around us the winds howled but inside the remarkable Cober Hill Conference Centre we were cosy and warm. The weather fitted the mood, however, for above all the movies reminded us that life in the Scandinavian countries can be very hard indeed. Of course there were many lighter, romantic and downright funny moments too but the overall air was sombre.
The Yorkshire Group of the British Federation of Film Societies presented a weekend which included rare archive titles and an extensive range of films covering some 80 years of innovative cinema. The archive material was accompanied by a specially recorded suite of music written and performed to suit the rapid mood changes of silent film.
Thomas Graffe's Best Film (Stiller, 1917) was a delightful find, a romance set in the early days of the film industry wth a feisty heroine; Sir Arne's Treasure (Victor Sjostrom, 1919) boasted wicked Scots pirate lairds as villains and the ghostly crew of The Phantom Carriage (Victor Sjostrom, 1920) were fascinating in their misery. They also touched on the vexing problem of how you tie up a ghost.
Many film societies will be familar with the powerful Ariel (Kaurismaki, 1988) and unforgettable Breaking the Waves (Alexander von Trier, 1996) ... though users of the 16mm print of the latter should be warned that the sound synch is noticeably off in the first spool which is very distracting. If your projector allows much loop adjustment we strongly suggest experimenting before the show to see if you can compensate.
Jan and I skipped a couple of films to enjoy a walk on Sunday morning when the weather had calmed down and the North Yorkshire coast was at its brooding, beautiful best. We did, however, catch the action-packed Pathfinder (Nils Gaup, 1988) and enjoyed for the umpteenth time Smiles of a Summer Night (Ingmar Bergman, 1955) ... though surely now we could have a version with subtitles for ALL the dialogue!
The other films screened were the melodramatic Raven's End (Bo Widerberg, 1964), Love '65 (Bo Widerberg, 1965) and The Best Intentions (Bille August, 1992).
There was a useful programme notes booklet written by Alan Foale and an audience who were enthusiastic, articulate and very friendly. The whole event was masterminded by the apparently inexhaustible Tony Davison who did all the projection. This was our second Cober Hill weekend and we look forward to the next one: it cannot be beaten for value and sheer cinematic pleasure.
- Dave Watterson