Scalarama sweeps the nation this September and in Leeds there’s a whole heap of independent cinema action for you to enjoy. We’ll be teaming up with a great group of venues and fellow exhibitors to bring you a fantastic selection of cult, classic, world and indie film. First up is a special collabration at Seven in Chapel Allerton, with Laura Ager, programmer of The Little Reliance Cinema.
High above a jungle in Nepal, pilgrims make an ancient journey by cable car to worship at Manakamana Temple. A camera is placed in a fixed spot in the cable car, observing a series of very different passengers in real time on their journey up the mountainside with an extraordinary vista from the windows. An almost virtual reality travel experience and an ingenious device for people-watching, Manakamana is the latest feature documentary from The Harvard Sensory Ethnography Lab. It is also now a haunting reminder of the recent destruction of parts of Nepal after two huge earthquakes.
The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed more than 9,000 people and injured more than 23,000. Thousands of homes were destroyed across the country, with entire villages flattened near the epicenter. All-in-all, more than 450,000 people were displaced due to the earthquake’s damage.
This special presentation is Pay As You Feel: all proceeds from this screening will be sent directly to the villagers who feature in this film to help them rebuild their lives and community. This fundraising screening has been made possible by film distributors Dogwoof, who have kindly waived the screening fees.
The Sensory Ethnography Lab (SEL), directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and managed by Ernst Karel, is an experimental laboratory at Harvard University that promotes innovative combinations of aesthetics and ethnography. It uses analog and digital media to explore the aesthetics and ontology of the natural and unnatural world. The work produced through the SEL in film, video, phonography, and photography has been exhibited at the London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Berlin Kunsthalle, MoMA, the Museum of the Moving Image, Tate Museum, and selected for AFI, Berlin, Cannes, Locarno, New York, Leeds, and other film festivals.
This screening will be preceded by a short introduction from Andy Moore, a PhD researcher at University of Leeds who recently spent time at the SEL in the USA.
Manakamana screens at Seven in Chapel Allerton, Leeds on Wednesday 16 September at 8PM. Donations can be paid before and after the screening. If you would like to secure your seat early you can donate now at our Eventbrite page.
Scalarama is an annual celebration of cinema taking place every September. The season aims to unite all those who are passionate about showing films to one another, and to champion communal film watching and the cinema experience. Scalarama takes the form of a month long season of screenings taking place across the world at a wide range of venues, with all different types of exhibitors showcasing films from across the history of cinema and from all parts of the world.
Minicine 