Sunday 1 December 2019

NEWS: Retrospective of acclaimed Manchester-born screenwriter Robert Bolt coming HOME in January!

                                                                                  image from Lawrence Of Arabia.


                 Retrospective of acclaimed Manchester-born screenwriter Robert
            Bolt kicks off HOME’s 2020 film programme
          Sun 5 - Wed 22 Jan 2020

HOME is delighted to announce that its annual British Screenwriters season will be dedicated to Manchester-born and educated Robert Bolt in January 2020. The acclaimed stage and screen writer initially made his name in theatre with his 1960 play about Sir Thomas More, A Man for All Seasons, before developing a powerful creative partnership with director David Lean, collaborating on epic works including Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Dr Zhivago (1965).

Curated by Andy Willis, HOME’s Senior Visiting Curator: Film and Professor of Film Studies at the University of Salford, the season will screen three of Bolt’s award-winning collaborations with Lean: Lawrence of Arabia, recipient of seven Oscars in 1963 including Best Film and Best Director, with a Best Screenplay nomination for Bolt; Doctor
Zhivago, which won Bolt his first Oscar and Golden Globe; and Ryan’s Daughter (1970),
a double Oscar-winning epic romance set against a backdrop of war and political turmoil. Also screening is the 1966 screen adaptation of Bolt’s internationally successful stage play of the same name, A Man for All Seasons, with Paul Scofield reprising his West End and Broadway role as Sir Thomas More - for which he was awarded an Oscar - alongside a cast including Robert Shaw, Orson Welles, Vanessa Redgrave and John Hurt and directed by Hollywood veteran Fred Zinnemann (High Noon, From Here to Eternity). Rounding off the season is Bolt’s final film, The Mission - the haunting, epic tale of a missionary in 18th-century South America starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons and directed by Roland Joffé - winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival as well as a final Golden Globe for Best Screenplay for Bolt.

Curator Andy Willis will kick off the season with a special One Hour Intro about Bolt and his career on 5 January, he comments: 
“Bolt is a true Manchester success story - born in Sale and educated in Manchester, he studied at Manchester University before and after serving in World War II. We’re excited to be celebrating this brilliant writer who enjoyed critical and commercial success across such a vast range of theatre and film writing, and possessed a true knack for making history contemporary and tackling moral issues dramatically.”

Alongside the best new independent film releases, HOME’s 2020 film programme will be packed with retrospectives, special seasons and one-off screenings, full details of which will be announced in due course. Some confirmed highlights include:
-       The recently announced In Her View season (Wed 15 - Thu 30 Jan) will celebrate women documentary filmmakers, historically overlooked in the male-dominated documentary film world
-       Adaptation: Impossible Novels - a February season dedicated to film adaptations of those supposedly “unfilmmable” novels, full details announced soon
-       ¡Viva! Spanish & Latin American Film Festival will return for its 26th edition, promising a cinematic celebration of Spanish and Latin American Culture, including UK premieres, special events and cinema classics (Fri 6 - Thu 26 Mar)
-       The Reflecting Screen: Filmmaking on screen - HOME’s major 2020 summer film season will showcase a range of films that explore the filmmaking process with its trials and tribulations, power struggles and self-doubt - a rich subject for a variety of established and emerging filmmakers, both established and emerging.

#RobertBoltatHOME 
@HOME_mcr
 
https://homemcr.org/event/british-screenwriters-robert-bolt/



BRITISH SCREENWRITERS: ROBERT BOLT
PROGRAMME DETAILS
One Hour Intro/ Robert Bolt
Sun 5 Jan, 13:00
Tickets: £4 full / £3 concs
This One Hour Intro will discuss the work of Manchester-born screenwriter Robert Bolt. First finding praise as a theatre writer, then collaborating on a series of memorably epic films with director David Lean before finding acclaim for his script for The Mission, Bolt’s sometimes controversial career often challenged the ambition and scope of British cinema. 
Led by Andy Willis, Professor of Film Studies at the University of Salford and HOME’s Senior Visiting Curator: Film.

A Man for All Seasons (U)
Sun 5 Jan, 14:15
Tue 7 Jan, 20:20
Wed 8 Jan, 13:00
Dir Fred Zinnemann/GB 1966/120 mins
Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Robert Shaw
In 1960 Robert Bolt enjoyed great success with the original London production of his play about the final years of Sir Thomas More, A Man for All Seasons. Following great international acclaim, Bolt successfully adapted his theatrical work for this film version directed by Hollywood veteran Fred Zinnemann. The writer’s script would once again be rewarded with a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar and a Golden Globe.
Alongside these, the critical acclaim for the film saw it awarded further Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Lead Actor (for Paul Schofield). 

Lawrence of Arabia (PG)
Sat 11 Jan, 16:00
Dir David Lean/GB 1962/228 mins
Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness
David Lean’s epic telling of the story of T. E. Lawrence won seven Oscars including Best Film and Best Director Oscars and made an international film star of Peter O’Toole. When Lean controversially rejected screenwriter Michael Wilson’s contribution to his Lawrence of Arabia project he approached Robert Bolt to work on the script. The result would catapult Bolt into the higher echelons of international screenwriters and see him nominated for an Academy Award. Wilson’s contribution to the script was finally acknowledged by the Academy in 1995. 

Ryan’s Daughter (CTBA)
Sun 12 Jan, 16:00
Dir David Lean/GB 1970/195 mins
Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, John Mills
Following their great success with Lawrence of Arabia and Dr Zhivago writer Robert Bolt and director David Lean were reunited for another epic tale with Ryan’s Daughter. Here, Bolt once again turned his imagination to an expansive tale creating a script that told the story of the romantic entanglements of the inhabitants of a small Irish village across the years 1917 and 1918 and set against a backdrop of war and political turmoil.

Doctor Zhivago (PG)
Sat 18 Jan, 14:30
Dir David Lean/US IT GB 1965/200 mins
Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin
An epic tale of love in times of turmoil, Dr Zhivago proved immensely popular at the global box-office.
Collaborating once again with David Lean, this adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s novel Dr Zhivago saw Robert Bolt establish himself as a screenwriter adept at creating works with an epic scope. The film would receive five Oscars including one for Bolt, who would also win a Golden Globe for his work on the script.

The Mission (PG)
Sun 19 Jan, 13:00
Tue 21 Jan, 20:15
Wed 22 Jan, 13:00
Dir Roland Joffé/GB FR 1986/125 mins
Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally
Starring Jeremy Irons and Robert De Niro, and winner of both a Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival and a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay, The Mission once again reveals Robert Bolt’s ability to write scripts on an epic scale. Completed after the writer had suffered a stroke, The Mission saw Bolt once again engage with the questions of morality, here around the experiences of a Jesuit missionary in 18th- century South America, that had interested him across his career.

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