SEVERIN FILMS ANNOUNCES U.S. PREMIERE ENGAGEMENT OF “RIOTOUS TRIBUTE TO ICON OF INDEPENDENT CINEMA.”
“The Scala had magic, it was like joining a club, a very secret club, like a biker gang or something. It’s like they were a country club for criminals and lunatics and people that were high. Which is a good way to see movies” -- John Waters
SEVERIN FILMS INVITES CINEMA AFICIONADOES FOR FRONT ROW SEATS TO AN ANARCHIC, UPROARIOUS DOC UNSPOOLING THE INSIDE STORY OF LONDON’S LEGENDARY SCALA CINEMA
THEATRICAL DATES w/ FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE
American Cinematheque | Los Angeles | July 18
Frida Cinema | Santa Ana, CA | July 19
Metrograph | New York, NY | July 21
More theatrical dates to follow!
*Theatrical bookings are serviced by AGFA: bret@americangenrefilmarchive.com
“A riotously entertaining yet also an impressively serious account” -- Mark Kermode, Kermode and Mayo’s Take, Film of the Week
“Richly enjoyable… a very entertaining madeleine for movie-going of the analogue age” -- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“Jane Giles and co-director Ali Catterall do a fantastic job of taking us inside the shuddering walls” -- Wendy Ide, Observer
“Winningly leftfield and wildly infectious…Take a trip to one of the cultiest corners of cinema and embrace the weirdness” -- Phil de Semlyen, Time Out
SYNOPSIS
Founded in 1979 by actor, producer, and director Stephen Woolley, for 15 years until its unceremonious closing, the Scala Cinema was THE legendary destination for adventurous London cinephiles with a taste for outlandish and eccentric fare. Inspiring a generation of movie-goers during Britain’s turbulent Thatcher years, over one million movie lovers passed through the Scala’s doors for its iconic daily changing programme of double-bills and All-Nighters, from high art and horror to sexploitation, Kung Fu, and LGBTQ+ featuring battered 35mm and 16mm prints of films by alternative auteurs such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Walerian Borowczyk, Russ Meyer, John Waters, Derek Jarman and David Lynch, alongside others who pushed even further at the boundaries of taste and convention.
SCALA!!! (or, The Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World's Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits), the feature-film debut of co-directors Jane Giles, a former Scala programmer and author of the award-winning Scala Cinema 1978-1993 (FAB Press) upon which this doc is based and Ali Catterall, an award-winning writer, is an anarchic, uproarious, and ultimately heart-breaking big screen feature-length documentary telling the riotous inside story of London’s legendary and notorious moviehouse.
A kaleidoscopic combination of unseen archival film and photography, eye-popping movie clips, graphics and animation, along with a thrilling new score by the celebrated musician Barry Adamson, SCALA!!! features new interviews with a diverse collection of former audience members who would go on to become world-renown filmmakers, musicians, writers, actors, activists and artists, presided over by ‘Pope of Trash’ John Waters, along with Cathi Unsworth, James O'Brien, Mary Harron, John Akomfrah, Ben Wheatley, Isaac Julian, Caroline Catz, Stewart Lee, Adam Buxton, Peter Strickland, Thurston Moore, Jah Wobble and many more. Recalling personal memories of the Scala, viewers will also be regaled with tall-tales such as an unlikely performance by wannabe popstar Boy George, the onstage electrocution of a lead singer, feline chaos, cottaging, ‘the Looking for Mr Goodbar incident’, audience mass participation, Barry the local drug dealer, mushroom-smoking box office staff menaced by tentacled monsters wanting to buy tickets, and the challenges of King’s Cross at 6:00 am on a Sunday morning.
With its universal themes of youthful discovery and the underdog versus the establishment, SCALA!!! is highly evocative but much more than mere nostalgia – it’s film is a universal shout-out to the power of cinemas to inspire impressionable young minds and create a sense of community for outsiders – a place where everyone is welcome.
SELECT FESTIVALS
- Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna Italy, June 2023 (World premiere)
- Etrange Festival, Paris, September 2023
- Fantastic Fest, Austin Texas, September 2023 (North American premiere)
- Dinard Festival du Film Britannique, France, September 2023
- Athens, Greece, October 2023
- London Film Festival, October 2023 (UK premiere)
- Adelaide, Australia, October 2023 (Australia/NZ premiere)
- Mumbai, India, November 2023 (South Asian premiere)
CO-DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHIES
Jane Giles is a writer, whose film books include Criminal Desires (Creation Press, 2002), The Crying Game (BFI Modern Classics, 1997), The Cinema of Jean Genet (BFI, 1991) and the award-winning Scala Cinema 1978-1993 (FAB Press) which inspired this documentary. She was programme manager at the Scala from 1988-1992 and took the rap in the notorious Clockwork Orange lawsuit.
Ali Catterall is an award-winning writer and journalist who cut his moviegoing teeth during the 1980s at the Scala, which he credits for turning him into a film critic. In 2001, he co-authored Your Face Here: British Cult Movies Since the Sixties, and in 2018 edited Jane Giles' Scala Cinema 1978-1993. He is currently working on a memoir about his bizarre childhood.
SCALA!!! (2023)
Written & Directed by: Jane Giles & Ali Catterall
Produced by: Alan Marke, Jim Reid, Andrew Starke, Andy Starke
Executive Produced by: Lisa Marie Russo
Cinematography by: Sarah Appleton
Editing by: Edward Mills, Andrew Starke
Genre: Documentary
RT: 96 minutes