Screening rare archive films at Birkbeck
An exclusive screening of rare archive films, including Victorian footage, was hosted at Birkbeck
An exclusive screening of rare archive films, including Victorian footage, was enjoyed by selected friends of Birkbeck at a special event in the Birkbeck cinema.
Professor Ian Christie of Birkbeck’s Department of Film, Media and Cultural Studies commented on the silent footage, which was accompanied by music from distinguished silent film pianist Stephen Horne.
The event on 11 September was hosted by Birkbeck’s School of Arts, and the footage shown was provided by the London Screen Study Collection at Birkbeck, part of the Birkbeck Institute of the Moving Image, and London’s Screen Archives.
Professor David Latchman, Master of Birkbeck, welcomed guests to the cinema – a ‘little gem’ tucked away in the recently refurbished School of Arts in Gordon Square. His welcome highlighted the place of philanthropic giving at Birkbeck, which is particularly visible in the School of Arts through the recent opening of the Peltz Gallery and the Heritage Lottery Fund hosted exhibition.
Professor Latchman also spoke about the autumn opening of University Square Stratford, a new state-of-the-art £33 million university campus shared by Birkbeck and the University of East London. The campus will extend Birkbeck’s reach, making Higher Education more accessible to communities in east London.
Archive material
Observing London through the camera lens, Professor Christie’s screening began with early film footage documenting Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1897, followed by snippets of London throughout the twentieth century. Cosmopolitan London and Bow Bells both documented London life through its diverse foreign communities in different pockets of the city. Professor Christie also screened a selection of footage from Attitudes, a pioneering mid-1970s industrial relations film. It is hoped that research being conducted within the School of Arts will shed further light on the intent of the film maker and commissioners.
Bringing us to the present day, Professor Christie concluded the screening with ‘Dancing Voices’ shot in Stratford in 2012 - an Olympics’ commission by the Westfield Centre, in partnership with East London Dance, featuring members of diverse east London communities performing in iconic Stratford locations.
Touching the Book exhibition
Toward the end of the evening guests were invited for drinks and canapés in the Peltz Gallery to explore the recently opened ‘Touching the Book’ exhibition. Curated by Dr Heather Tilley, Teaching Fellow in the Department of English and Humanities, the exhibition explores the development of literature for the blind throughout the nineteenth century. The exhibition brings together objects from the collections of the Royal National Institute for Blind People and the Wellcome Collection, as well as objects from private collections.