Arthouse film project brings premiere to St Andrews

Friday 29 February 2008

The Cinema and Cultural Engagement programme will bring the premiere of 'Miss Gulag' to St Andrews (photo: Alan Richardson, Pix-AR)

An innovative project aimed at bringing arthouse cinema to St Andrews will stage the Scottish premiere of a documentary about Russian beauty pageants.

The premiere of `Miss Gulag’ will be brought to St Andrews next month (11 March) thanks to a collaboration between the University of St Andrews and the New Picture House.

The latest lineup of the partnership started this week with `Southland Tales’, the long-awaited follow up to cult favourite `Donnie Darko’. Launched late last year, the new ‘Cinema and Cultural Engagement¿ project is curated by the University’s Centre for Film Studies and supported by a Russell Trust Development Grant.

Dr Leshu Torchin, lecturer in Film Studies, said, “We are pleased to announce the spring series of this programme designed to bring us film options beyond the usual Hollywood fare.

“With `Miss Gulag’, we are getting the Scottish premiere of a film that is still on the festival circuit. It’s exciting to get something that is not that easy to see. Its topic, a beauty pageant staged by the inmates of a Siberian prison, sounds fascinating.”

Through the project the Centre aims to bring arthouse films typically designated for larger cities and larger screens to St Andrews. While St Andrews is comparable to other British university towns, access to specialised films, whether the latest in art house cinema or the classics, is limited.

The screenings will take place throughout the academic year at the NPH Cinema, 117 North Street, St Andrews. Successful in their own bid to the UK Film Council to bring specialised films to St Andrews, NPH has signalled its interest in continuing to supply St Andrews with viewing options beyond Hollywood.

The full listings are:

Tuesday, 4 March, 18.10
12.08 EAST OF BUCHAREST (2006)
This superb, subtle comedy from Romania reflects on the revolutionary event thathappened when the people overthrew communism 16 years ago.

Tuesday, 11 March, 18.10
MISS GULAG (2007)
A documentary that charts the lives of female detainees in a Siberian prison, who stage a yearly beauty pageant.

Tuesday, 25 March, 18.10
BAMAKO (2007)
In this film, by the acclaimed Mauritania Sissako, the World Bank and the IMF are on trial for Africa’s woes.

Tuesday, 22 April, 18.10
TICKETS (2005)
An omnibus film by three of the great social-realist filmmakers of our time: Abbas Kiarostrami, Emanno olmi and Ken Loach.

One special May screening is yet to be announced.

Updates and news on the all the screenings can be obtained from the Film Studies’ website: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/filmstudies

ENDS

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews
Contact Gayle Cook, Press Officer on 01334 467227 / 462529, mobile 07900 050 103, or email [email protected]
Ref:  arthouse 290208
View the latest University press releases at www.st-andrews.ac.uk


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