London celebrates Hitchcock films

London celebrates Hitchcock films NEWS

Share this

The British Film Institute has revealed details of its celebration of Alfred Hitchcock's films for the London 2012 Festival, which will include restorations of his silent movies.

A three month long season will see all 58 of the British master of horror's films screened by the British Film Institution (BFI) including silent films Champagne and Blackmail, which will be shown with live music.

Heather Stewart, BFI's creative director, has said the BFI wants to get out its 'big guns' like other large cultural organisations during the Olympic year.

'The idea of popular cinema somehow being capable of being great art at the same time as being entertaining is still a problem for some people,' Stewart said. 'Shakespeare is on the national curriculum, Hitchcock is not.'

'After Psycho, in particular, film-making could never be the same again,' Stewart said, explaining that Hitchcock changed the face of film-making in the same way Picasso changed the face of modern art.

The 1929 film Blackmail will be shown in an open-air screening in the forecourt of the British Museum on 6 July.

The live score for the film has been created by award-winning composer and musician Neil Brand and performed by 18 musicians.

'What strikes me is the modernity of the project. We're seeing him now as a cool indie British film-maker,' said chairman of the London Film Critic's Circle Jason Solomons on the Hitchcock retrospective.

Sir Alfred Hitchcock was an English film director who has become a name synonymous with horror films. He created the first ever slasher film, Psycho and was nominated for five Oscars during his career spanning 6 decades. Hitchcock died in 1980 aged 80 years old.