Vamp it up!

Future Cinema is back under the arches of London Bridge, and this time it's gothic.

May 26 2006

Something is stirring in the vaults beneath London Bridge – something with teeth. Next Thursday, June 1, sees the 'Nosferatu'-themed resurrection of Future Cinema at the SE One club, a terrifically atmospheric venue under the London Bridge railway arches thoroughly in keeping with a night of gothic thrills.

An immersive night of entertainment suffused with a cinematic sensibility, Future Cinema made its sell-out debut at the same location (though using only half the total space) as part of last year's London Film Festival.

Brainchild of the Future Shorts crew, it takes the notion of combining film exhibition with a nostalgically luxurious setting to another level: as well as screening programmes of short films, it boasts performance artists, VJs, live music and, of course, booze in a carnivalesque atmosphere that encourages imaginative engagement rather than passive consumption. Think of it as the anti-multiplex.

This time round, the whole of SE One will be reborn as a Transylvanian horror show (complete with ballroom), centred around a new re-score by Darryn Harkness of FW Murnau's 1922 expressionist masterpiece 'Nosferatu'. Coffin based installations, gypsy revels and perhaps even a horse and carriage will add to the theme.

Specially selected packages of material from the FS stable will also play on multiple screens throughout the evening but, although there's plenty of top-notch product to take in, the emphasis is on roving and sampling rather than sitting and watching.

Intriguing interactive digital installation work has been lined up from audio-visual practitioners bodydataspace and United Visual Artists who, fresh from their work on Massive Attack’s latest tour, will present a hall-of-mirrors set-up that responds to visitors’ behaviour.

If last year's event is anything to go by, the overall feel is of a vigorously live contemporary celebration of a vintage moving image aesthetic: in November, witty performance pieces included a peek-a-boo recreation of silent-era peril in the form of a girl tied to railroad tracks by a moustachioed mountebank, and the ingenious interaction of a live performer with an image projected on muslin.

The hundred odd performers involved this time round should also ensure a similar kind of movie-based experience, from the theatrically warm welcome extended by the old-time usherettes to roving musicians, trapeze artists and the Esther Williams-esque Swimming Beauties, who added a decorative splash to the Dresden Dolls' recent Astoria gig and are guaranteed to raise a (not very gothic) giggle.

In fact, something of a crescendo is building for the Future Cinema team's live events, which got underway with the Vintage Cinema installed at Glastonbury in 2004 and 2005.

Next Thursday marks the first leg of a tour which takes Future Cinema to Bristol's stately Ashton Court and then Edinburgh in festival season before returning to London in autumn.

Meanwhile, at July's two-day Studio Artois Live Film event in Greenwich Park, the team will create a 'cinematic village', complete with big top, beach area and marauding performers up to all kinds of mischief in tune with the chosen themes: 'Kill Bill' for the first day, 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' for the second.

Also in July, Future Cinema descends on the Tooting Bec Lido for its centenary celebrations, offering a selection of aquatically-themed shorts and the perfect venue for the Swimming Beauties to strut (or should that be wade?) their stuff.

In the meantime, there's more ghoulish fun to be had down in the vaults, far from the light of day. Those of a nervous disposition should rest assured that it could have been worse: Future Shorts supreme Fabien Riggall was keen to secure real rats and bats for that extra authentic flavour, but saner heads prevailed…

Future Cinema (www.future cinema.co.uk) is at the SE One Club on Thursday June 1. Tickets available from wegottickets.co.uk or Ticketweb (08700 600100).

To read The TOMB's review of this event, click here.

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