2014 was the inaugural year for Derby Film Festival, the new incarnation of what was previously Derby’s IDFest. This year’s theme – technology – has been loosely interpreted by the programmers as a springing board for various types of cinematic innovation. From the totalitarian sci-fi of 1984 to the depiction of the leap from silent to sound in Singin’ in The Rain, Derby Film Festival set off with a thoroughly eclectic bunch of movies, many of them genre-oriented. It was held at QUAD Derby, an imposingly modern building in the town square which boasts several gallery spaces and a BFI Mediatheque.
Their special section Fantastiq, held on the final weekend, focused on horror and science-fiction in earnest, from George Miller’s dystopian cult classic Mad Max (1979) to John Hough’s chilling Legend of Hell House (1973). Some of Derby’s ‘gala’ events and UK premiers included a Q+A with John Hurt, which I unfortunately missed, and Roman Polanski’s newest feature, a stage play adaptation called Venus in Fur. Itself an adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s 19th century erotic novel, the film is a comic exploration of power dynamics in sex and in art and deals with self-punishment in an intriguing, if occasionally heavy-handed, manner. Polanski seems to question what happens when a dominant man, play-acting at degradation, cannot step out of the role so easily. On an artistic register, the director seems to seek redress for a gendered power imbalance – and looking at his own intractable history, perhaps even some strange form of penance.
Other sections of the festival, which at times felt sorely under-attended, screened a handful of little self-reflexive gems; cinema about cinema, every cinephile’s favourite subject. Among these were the endearing British comedy, The Smallest Show on Earth (1957), from Basil Dearden, featuring a young couple who have unwittingly inherited a creaky art-deco movie palace. Referred to as ‘the fleapit’, Dearden’s film is rife with funny little moments – particularly the gag where Matt knocks each row of ancient cinema seats backward like dominoes or when the hapless couple are left to operate the projector and run the film reel upside down, silent, and fast-forward. It’s revealing about the culture of film-going in the 1950s, as the rowdy audience giggles along, unfazed and up for anything. Although there is little space for modernism or precociousness, The Smallest Show on Earth does show a smidgen of awareness about the power of cinema over its audience. It may be a trifle, but it is a deeply enjoyable one.
Others of a similar type came in the form of Joe Dante’s Matinee, featuring John Goodman as a B-movie producer in the early 1960s. A funny, nostalgic look at the era with an eye for detail, Dante’s 1993 film seems relatively forgotten now – all the more reason for it to be screened. Adjust Your Tracking, a Kickstarter-funded documentary about VHS collectors, dedicates itself to enthused talking heads waxing lyrical about the magic of the video cassette.
Finally, though, one of my highlights was Singin’ in the Rain – one of the great Hollywood movies about the movies. It was introduced by film lecturer David Leicester, who contextualised the film within its transitional historical period, using relevant clips from early sound musicals. Of course, it looked glorious on the big screen; its songs – and its sheer joyousness – are as infectious as ever. It’s evident that the programmers at Derby are enthusiastic about cinema which is exploratory, madcap, wildly inventive and sometimes romantic about all of the above things. Derby Film Festival may be small, but it is this strain of referential movie-worship that lends the event charm.
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