Learn more about films and the issues they raise at our Film Extra events.
These evening courses and Saturday schools are delivered by experts: film writers, curators, screenwriters, teachers and historians; all of whom are passionate about films and the ways we see the world through them.
Everyone is welcome. You don't need any previous knowledge, experience or qualifications. We cover a broad range of subject areas and film periods, and keep things fresh by responding to exciting new releases and trends.
To book tickets, please contact the box office on 0844 856 3797.
Upcoming Film Extra events
Kurosawa: World Cinema Master (1910-1998)
During the 1950s and 1960s, Akira Kurosawa was arguably the most influential filmmaker in the world. As well as producing popular hits in what was then the world’s largest film industry in Japan, he became one of a handful of filmmakers whose humanist vision established the idea of ‘World Cinema’ in art cinemas across the globe.
The National Media Museum is celebrating Kurosawa’s centenary with a season of films during August and September. The season will be introduced with an illustrated lecture outlining the extent of Kurosawa’s achievements, highlighting the diversity of his work, his sources of inspiration, and his influences on other filmmakers such as George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone.
A full day event on Saturday 4 September will explore a central fascination in Kurosawa’s work – his ability to meld stories from different cultures using specifically Japanese cultural and historical ideas. Throne of Blood (Japan 1957) sees Shakespeare’s Macbeth re-imagined as a tale from the sixteenth century civil wars of Japan and features a riveting performance by Kurosawa’s star player, Toshiro Mifune.
Illustrated Lecture
Sunday 22 August 12.50 – 13.50
£8.50 (£7.00 concessions)
Includes screening of Seven Samurai
Tutor: Roy Stafford
Saturday School
4 September 10.30 – 16.30
£17 (£13 concessions)
Includes refreshments and screening of Throne of Blood
Tutor: Roy Stafford
Women in Film: Agnes Varda
Saturday School 11 September 10.30 – 16.30
The “grandmother of the French New Wave” continues to exert a particular fascination for film audiences – not just because of her seminal historical role in that influential film movement, but also because of the rich multiplicity of her continuing work and exploration of what cinema is and does. Essayist, documentarist, fiction filmmaker, photographer, installation artist; Varda experiments with film form and genre, an “artistic gleaner”, but always in service of her subjects, interested in the way in which people are never “pre-formatted”. As the day’s screening, her 1962 film Cléo de 5 à 7 demonstrates her already confident, hybrid aesthetic voice and her ability to construct imaginative digressions rather than be bound by conventional narrative. Around this, we will examine her range of work and how Varda can be contextualised by a number of film ‘places’ – French, woman, New Wave, experimental – without ever being defined by them.
£17 (£13 concessions)
Includes refreshments and a screening of Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)
Tutor: Rona Murray
Jour de Tati
Saturday School 18 September 10.30 – 16.30
Tati was one of the most distinctive and idiosyncratic talents in film comedy. Mime and the visual dominated his art. His comic situations were constructed around innocents confronted by the complications endemic in modern living. His perfectionism limited his output to only five major features, his style was leisurely to allow for long and often complex visual gags. These film comedies have outlived their creator and provided a major influence on subsequent filmmakers.
£17 (£13 concessions)
Includes refreshments and screening of Jour de Fête
Tutor: Keith Withall
Music on Film
Thursday evenings 30 September – 18 November (8 weeks)
18.15 – 20.15
Music has always been central to cinema. ‘Silent Cinema’ was often accompanied by music and going to the pictures has always been about listening to as much as watching what happens. But how much do we appreciate this? Apart from the occasional hit song, do we really notice how music in film works to produce meanings? This short course offers you the chance to consider the different ways in which music is used on film and to explore how to discuss what you hear. No musical knowledge (or talent!) is required, but if you are a musician do come and share what you know with us. Three full screenings will offer films about music musicians, films with composed scores and films which use found examples of popular and classical music. In five classroom sessions we’ll learn some basic techniques for studying music on film.
£70 (£50 concessions)
Includes screenings of Marnie, Three Colours Blue, Mean Streets
Tutor: Roy Stafford
Architecture & Cinema Evening Course
Tuesdays 5 October – 2 November (18.15 - 20.15) & Saturday 6 November (19.30) 6 sessions
This short course examines the long-standing relationship between film and architecture. The course will cover the uses of architecture in film design, uses of the cinema to explore the impact of architecture and the effect of screenings within architectural spaces.
Special attention will be paid to the city in film as this connects with Bradford’s recent UNESCO City of Film award. The course includes a special screening of Murray Grigor’s powerful Space and Light double-screen film which will be showing at Bradford Cathedral.
£47 (£33 concessions)
Includes screenings of Metropolis, Los Angeles Play’s Itself, Light and Space
Tutor: Mark Goodall
Film of the Week
The Secret in their Eyes
Dir. Juan José Campanella
Argentina/Spain , 2009, 129 mins
Live Broadcast
The Fry Chronicles
Live from the Royal Festival Hall, this special event marks the publication of Stephen Fry’s new autobiography The Fry Chronicles.
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