Thursday 1 - Sunday 4 September 2011
Venues include: Light House Wolverhampton, New Art Gallery Walsall, Black Country Living Museum, The Public
Heavy metal has had an up-and-down relationship with cinema over the years, but here we celebrate some of the highlights with a packed weekend of screenings across the Black Country.
At the Light House in Wolverhampton cult classics like Heavy Metal Parking Lot (celebrating its 25th anniversary) and In Bed With Chris Needham sit alongside an excellent overview of the music in Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey and latenight chills from Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath and 80s video nasty The Beyond (selected by Napalm Death lynchpin Shane Embury). On Sunday afternoon, delve into the roots of metal with an archive programme exploring chain-making in Cradley Heath, West Brom’s footballing legends and the mean streets of Aston in pioneering docudrama Cathy Come Home, presented by producer Tony Garnett.
Out and about you can find a rolling programme of free screenings on the Vintage Mobile Cinema, a 22-seat picturehouse on wheels which has been restored to its former glory, and archive gems will also be popping up at venues including the Black Country Living Museum and New Art Gallery Walsall. At The Public on Saturday afternoon there’s a chance to see Finland stake its claim as the new Home of Metal and filmmaker Jeanie Finlay will show her latest documentary Sound It Out, a touching portrait of Teesside’s last surviving independent record shop.
The full schedule is below. To book for screenings at the Light House call them on 01902 716 055 or visit www.light-house.co.uk. As well as the events listed below there is a free programme of archive material called Metal Roots screening at various venues including The Public and the Black Country Living Museum, and there's more info on the Black Country Weekender at www.homeofmetal.com.
Metal on Film is part of Home of Metal, a full summer of exhibitions and events across Birmingham and the Black Country.
Thursday 1 September
3-8pm
Vintage Mobile Cinema
Beautiful 1960s film-bus, hosting screenings throughout the afternoon.
Queen Square, Wolverhampton
Free entry
8pm
Heavy Heads
Gird your loins for a packed weekend with a night of short films and musical trivia. Includes heavy metal bingo and Name That Riff.
Walkabout, Wolverhampton
Free entry
Friday 2 September
10am-4pm
Vintage Mobile Cinema
Beautiful 1960s film-bus, hosting screenings throughout the day.
Dudley Museum & Art Gallery, Dudley
Free entry
6-9pm
Patch Jacket
Programme of live footage, promos and cult shorts, as part of special event Between the Hammer and The Anvil.
New Art Gallery Walsall
Free entry
6.30pm
This documentary by a metal-loving sociologist is an excellent introduction for the uninitiated. Interviewees include Tony Iommi, Lemmy and Alice Cooper.
Light House, Wolverhampton
£5.80/£4.40 concessions
9.15pm
Dream Deceivers: The Story Behind James Vance vs. Judas Priest
A portrait of the legal and media storm stirred up when the parents of a young suicide victim took Judas Priest to court.
Light House, Wolverhampton
£5.80/£4.40 concessions
11pm
I tre volti della paura (aka: Black Sabbath)
The film which gave the band their name, Mario Bava’s cult 1963 horror still retains the power to chill.
Light House, Wolverhampton
£5.80/£4.40 concessions
Saturday 3 September
11am-4pm
Vintage Mobile Cinema
Beautiful 1960s film-bus, hosting screenings throughout the day.
New Art Gallery Walsall
Free entry
2pm
Finnish metal pioneer Kimmo Kuusniemi (Sarcofagus) returns to his home country to find out how bands like Lordi took metal to the mainstream.
The Public, West Bromwich
Free
4pm
Jeanie Finlay presents her new documentary, about Teesside’s last surviving independent record shop.
The Public, West Bromwich
Free
Saturday 2nd continued...
6pm
In Bed with Chris Needham + More Bad News
Two milestones of metal filmmaking, one a Video Diary by a Loughborough teenager and the other a Comic Strip spoof which climaxes at Monsters of Rock. Followed by a Q&A with Chris Needham himself.
Light House, Wolverhampton
£5.80/£4.40 concessions
8.30-11pm
Heavy Metal Parking Lot - Silver Jubilee
This year celebrating its 25th anniversary, Krulik and Heyn’s VHS document of Judas Priest fans outside a gig in Maryland is the essence of 1986 and was apparently staple viewing on the Nirvana tour-bus.
Light House, Wolverhampton
Free entry
11pm
Napalm Death lynchpin Shane Embury has selected one of his favourite horror movies, this classic Lucio Fulci video nasty about a hotel concealing the gateway to hell..
Light House, Wolverhampton
£5.80/£4.40 concessions
Sunday 4 September
11am-4pm
Vintage Mobile Cinema
Beautiful 1960s film-bus, hosting screenings throughout the day.
Haden Hill House
Free entry
Midday
Rarely-screened BBC documentary on the 80s metal boom, featuring Slayer, Napalm Death, Sabbath and many more. Plus a new Sky Arts documentary on Home of Metal.
Light House, Wolverhampton
£4.70/£4.20 concessions
1.30pm
Joe the Chainsmith + The Saturday Men
Two snapshots of Black Country masculinity in the days before metal.
Light House, Wolverhampton
£4.70/£4.20 concessions
3.30pm
Ken Loach’s ground-breaking 1968 docu-drama was partly filmed in Aston, in the neighbourhoods where Black Sabbath grew up.
Light House, Wolverhampton
£4.70/£4.20 concessions
3.30pm
Shorts, animation and artists’ film of a metallic bent including Dylan, Ania Winiarska’s beautiful portrait of a Belfast teenager.
Light House, Wolverhampton
£4.70/£4.20 concessions
6pm
Terrific Vice documentary about young Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda, and their efforts to rehearse, perform and survive while the city around them is torn apart.
Light House, Wolverhampton
£4.70/£4.20 concessions
8.30pm
The mother of all metal films, and one of the funniest comedies ever made.
£4.70/£4.20 concessions
