This film is part of Rentals
Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project
The taped crusader: VHS nerds, media scholars and archive enthusiasts will appreciate this documentary about the African-American activist who recorded 30 years of TV news.
Director: Matt Wolf
Overview
Everyone’s an amateur archivist these days, but few match the pre-internet dedication of public access TV producer Marion Stokes. Philadelphia’s visionary hoarder recorded 70,000 VHS tapes filled with news broadcasts, from 1979’s Iranian hostage crisis to the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012. Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project shows how this librarian, computer collector and Star Trek-loving civil rights activist quickly perceived the ways 24-hour cable television was rewiring viewers’ minds. Hence her obsessive preservation project, captured to brilliant effect by celebrated documentarian Matt Wolf, who previously directed Teenage (2013). Enhanced by Owen Pallet’s score, the film’s cathode ray tube textures and armchair sensory overload will mesmerise everyone, from curious cultural historians to extreme analogue technology fetishists.
Related
Supersonic Supersonic
Documentary 2016 117 mins Director: Mat Whitecross
Relive the stratospheric rise of the kings of Britpop in this rousing nostalgic trip from the producers of Amy.
Gascoigne Gascoigne
Documentary 2015 87 mins Director: Jane Preston
Documentary portrait of the mercurial football genius who inspired the game’s modern renaissance while battling personal demons.
Bye Bye Tiberias Bye Bye Tiberias
Documentary 2023 83 mins Director: Lina Soualem
A daughter’s powerful love letter to her mother and the strength of four generations of a Palestinian family.
Together with Lorenza Mazzetti Together with Lorenza Mazzetti
Documentary 2023 55 mins Director: Brighid Lowe
Brighid Lowe’s intimate documentary about the Italian-born artist and filmmaker who became a vital part of the Free Cinema movement in '50s Britain.
Phantom Parrot Phantom Parrot
Documentary 2023 85 mins Director: Kate Stonehill
A top-secret surveillance programme is revealed in this razor-sharp analysis of technology, human rights and structural racism.
blur: To the End blur: To the End
Documentary 2024 104 mins Director: Toby L
Britpop legends Blur reunite for their biggest gig at Wembley Stadium, in this raw documentary steeped in nostalgia.
Ballast Ballast
Drama 2007 96 mins Director: Lance Hammer
Three haunted souls are thrust into co-existence in this searing debut work from Lance Hammer, a double prize winner at the Sundance Film Festival.
Assault on Precinct 13 Assault on Precinct 13
Police drama 1976 91 mins Director: John Carpenter
Besieged in an abandoned police station, a lone cop and his skeleton staff recruit a condemned killer from the cells in a desperate battle to survive the night, in John Carpenter's brutal and unrelenting cult classic.
Babylon Babylon
Drama 1980 95 mins Director: Franco Rosso
A young Rastafarian toaster (rapper) aims for success at a Reggae Sound System competition, in this cult classic from Franco Rosso that pulsates with an irresistible dub soundtrack.
Another Country Another Country
Documentary 2015 75 mins Director: Molly Reynolds
The late great Australian Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil tells us a story about the clash between old and new cultures, and the havoc that results.
Beneath Clouds Beneath Clouds
Road movie 2002 85 mins Director: Ivan Sen
Lena, a light-skinned Aboriginal girl living in a remote Australian town, finds herself on a journey of necessity with Vaughn, a Murri boy doing prison time in Ivan Sen’s Golden Bear-nominated feature film debut.
Banel & Adama Banel & Adama
Drama 2023 87 mins Director: Ramata-Toulaye Sy
In this compelling love story set in Senegal, Banel and Adama’s relationship is tested by a devastating turn of events that challenges their village’s way of life.
Girls Will Be Girls Girls Will Be Girls
Drama 2024 119 mins Director: Shuchi Talati
Teenage romance simmers in a strict Himalayan boarding school in this sublime coming-of-age tale. Winner of the 2024 Sundance audience prize.
The Goldman Case The Goldman Case
Drama 2023 116 mins Director: Cédric Kahn
Gripping courtroom drama based on the explosive 1976 murder trial of French political activist, Pierre Goldman.
My Favourite Cake My Favourite Cake
Romance 2024 97 mins Director: Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha
Life begins at 70 for Mahin, who decides to shake her life up in this charming, quietly subversive tale from Iran.
In Camera In Camera
Drama 2024 95 mins Director: Naqqash Khalid
A struggling actor faces relentless knockbacks in Naqqash Khalid’s sharp-witted comment on race and identity in the film industry.
Kneecap Kneecap
Drama 2024 105 mins Director: Rich Peppiatt
Fantastically outlandish biopic about the anarchic Belfast rap trio and their fight to save the Irish language.
About Dry Grasses About Dry Grasses
Romance 2023 198 mins Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Turkish Palme d’Or-winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan returns with an icy portrait of a teacher whose life unravels following an accusation of inappropriate behaviour.