BFI Launches Warp Films Celebration

BFI Southbank is showcasing the best of British cinema next month, in a 10th anniversary celebration of Warp Films.
A statement from BFI said: "Warp Films have in their way defined a decade and are helping to shape the future of British cinema, offering the opportunity for highly original and exciting talent to make films that might otherwise be overlooked."
BAFTA-winning films such as the This is England (2006), Four Lions (2010) and Tyrannosaur (2011) will all feature, but the season will launch with Shane Meadows' Dead Man’s Shoes (2004), including a live music accompaniment by musicians from UNKLE and Clayhill plus Jah Wobble, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Friday 29 March.
There will be an exhibition of newly designed Warp Film posters, by Sheffield-based artist Pete McKee, displayed exclusively in The Atrium at BFI Southbank.
When Warp Records launched in Sheffield, in 1989, the label’s output made an impact on British culture with innovative artists and diverse electronic music.
In 2001, founding partners Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett, enlisting the help of producer Mark Herbert, founded Warp Films with the same pioneering principles.
Famously working from a converted shed in his garden, Herbert produced the BAFTA award-winning short My Wrongs #8245-8249 & 117, starring Paddy Considine and directed by Chris Morris.
Herbert then encouraged Considine and director Shane Meadows to develop a new project. The result was Dead Man’s Shoes, set against the backdrop of small-town life in the council estates of the Midlands.
Meadows’ second feature for Warp Films brought the company its breakthrough success with This Is England, winning a BAFTA for Best British Film and eventually becoming serialised in This Is England ’86 and ’88, made for Channel 4.
To mark the house's first decade of achievement, this BFI event will aim to keep fans of Warp's sights and sounds on the edge of their seats, from the opening night held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, with BFI Southbank’s neighbours the Southbank Centre, and Adam Buxton’s themed BUG, through music and especially commissioned poster-art.
www.bfi.org.uk/southbank
(IT)