At The Festival Friday 21st September 1145 Rome Open City Dir: Roberto Rossellini, 1945, 103 mins Rome Open City is a landmark of neo-realist cinema. Filmed in the aftermath of World War II on the war-ravaged streets of Italy, the film is a riveting account of life during the Occupation. Shot on location, using fragments of painstakingly spliced film negative and photographic stills, the film has inspired generations of filmmakers to experiment in the drama documentary genre. At the centre of the film is Don Pietro, a priest who risks his own safety by aiding members of the Resistance. Other characters include a communist who is on the run from the secret police, a pregnant young woman, and a junkie whose addiction endangers the lives of those around her. 1415 Cathy Come Home Dir: Ken Loach, BBC, UK, 1966 , 80 mins Perhaps the most ground-breaking TV drama documentary ever made. Cathy Come Home was produced in 1968 for the BBC's The Wednesday Play. This shattering story of a young homeless couple caught in a poverty trap coincided with the formation of Shelter, the homeless charity, and also helped to invent an entirely new kind of television drama. Director Ken Loach and producer Tony Garnett were keen to get their plays out of the studio and to harness documentary and newsreel techniques. Working with unknown actors to achieve performances of uncanny naturalism through improvisation, the resulting film, with its agit-prop narrations and fly-on-the-wall atmosphere, is as close to documentary as drama can be. 1615 Song Of Summer Dir: Ken Russell, BBC, UK, 1968, 77 mins Ken Russell's films for the BBC Monitor series during the 1960's are regarded by many as some of his finest and most inspired creations. One of Russell's most fondly remembered films is the dramatised biopic Song of Summer, which charts the unlikely collaboration between the young organist Eric Fenby and the composer Frederick Delius, blind and paralysed by syphilis. Fenby devoted himself to recording Delius's unfinished scores while coping with the demands of the tyrannical, dying composer. Based on Eric Fenby's 1936 memoir, 'Delius as I knew him', Fenby co-wrote the script with Russell. He is played on screen by former Royal Ballet star Christopher Gable alongside a superb Max Adrian as Delius. The film is an inspired drama documentary, bringing to life the work of the dead composer with all the flourish and creativity of Russell's imagination yet remaining faithful to Fenby's remarkable story. 1800 The War Game Dir: Peter Watkins, UK, 1965, 50 mins The War Game is a fictional, worst-case-scenario, docu-drama about nuclear war and its aftermath in and around a typical English city. Over forty years since its production, it remains one of the most disturbing and convincing films about the devastating effects of nuclear war. Directed by the young Peter Watkins for the BBC, its depiction of the impact of Soviet nuclear attack on Britain caused turmoil at the corporation and in government. Although it went on to win an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 1966, it was denied transmission until 1985. Announcing the decision to hold back The War Game in 1965, the BBC explained that the film was too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting, expressing a particular concern for "children, the very old or the unbalanced." 1930 Looking For Langston Dir: Isaac Julien, 1989, 46 mins Isaac Julien's sumptuous monochrome film is a lyrical and poetic consideration of the life of revered Harlem poet Langston Hughes, whom Julien invokes as a gay cultural icon. Extracts from Hughes' poetry are interwoven with the work of cultural figures from the 1920s and beyond, including black poets Essex Hemphill and Bruce Nugent, and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe - all combining to create a lyrical, multilayered narrative. Julien explores the ambiguous sexual subtexts of a period of rich artistic expression, and the enduring cultural significance of these pioneers' work. Shot by cinematographer Nina Kellgren, the film combines archival footage with newly staged set pieces, fantasy sequences, and an imagined love story. The result is a beautiful and ultimately celebratory piece about artistic expression and the nature of black gay desire. Accompanied by Call Of The Mist, Dir: John Akomfrah, 1998, 10 mins Pre-Screenings 5th & 13th September Screenings Saturday 22nd September Screenings Sunday 23rd September Picture Credits (left to right): THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR, Peter Kosminsky, Laurie Sparham, courtesy of Channel 4 THE HAMBURG CELL, Antonia Bird, Phil Fisk THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR, Peter Kosminsky, Laurie Sparham, courtesy of Channel 4