Film / News
Paul McGann celebrates Withnail and I in Bristol
The I to Richard E. Grant’s Withnail, Bristol’s very own Paul McGann will attend a special 30th anniversary screening of the restored version of Bruce Robinson’s enduringly popular British comedy classic Withnail and I at the Arnolfini on December 9. He’ll be discussing the film’s impact and legacy with critic Anna Smith. Playing the potentially lethal Withnail and I drinking game is presumably optional. This one is certain to sell out quickly. Bag your tickets here.
This event is the latest to be announced in Bristol Film Festival‘s packed autumn and winter programme. Several of the screenings in the ever-popular Horror in the Caves series in Redcliffe Caves later in October have already sold out, including Pan’s Labyrinth, It Follows, The Devil’s Backbone and The Descent. An additional screening of Pan’s Labyrinth has now been added to the programme, along with a matinee screening of the original 1958 version of The Fly.
Also sold out is the festival screening of The Silence of the Lambs in Averys wine cellar (with Chianti, naturally) on Oct 28. But tickets are still available for many other events. These include Cabaret at the RWA (Oct 24), the Cary Grant black comedy classic Arsenic and Old Lace at Averys (Oct 28), a candlelight screening of the 1920 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with live musical accompaniment at Bristol Cathedral (Oct 28), and the evergreen Some Like It Hot at Aston Martin Bristol (Nov 16).
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The Festival also comes over all Christmassy with a bunch of events at the Passenger Shed, which will be transformed, it says here, into a ‘New York-themed winter wonderland’ on December 17 & 18. These include four screenings of Elf (three of which have already sold out), the 1947 Miracle on 34th Street (aka the anti-Bad Santa) and, er, Die Hard (hey – it’s set on Christmas Eve, remember?).
Finally, if you’re looking to fill the dead space between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the Festival is taking over Bristol City Museum on December 28 for an ‘immersive screening’ of the beast-unleashing ’90s family romp Jumanji, starring the late Robin Williams. Released in cinemas during the same week is the remake Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, in which a video console takes the place of the original board game. That’s progress, apparently.
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