Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month
SCALA!!!
Engrossing tribute to London’s legendary Scala cinema, aptly subtitled: 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.
Director: Jane Giles and Ali Catterall
Overview
During Britain’s post-punk Thatcher years, London’s legendary Scala cinema offered community refuge with a programme ranging from established classics and offbeat cult hits to sexploitation, horror, Kung Fu and LGBTQIA+ titles. Nudging the boundaries of convention, the cavernous picture palace acted as source of inspiration for movie lovers and creatives. Featuring a cornucopia of interviews, archive and film clips, this is an engrossing tribute to an indelible legacy.
SCALA!!! was made with the support of the BFI Doc Society Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.
Related
Enter the Scala!!! Enter the Scala!!!
Inside Film 2024 16 mins
Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.
Name Me Lawand Name Me Lawand
Documentary 2022 90 mins Director: Edward Lovelace
Edward Lovelace explores the power of communication and community with this rapturous portrait of a young deaf Kurdish boy.
Vision, Dreams and Magic: The Unmade Films of Michael Powell Vision, Dreams and Magic: The Unmade Films of Michael Powell
Short documentary 2024 41 mins Director: Nic Wassell
Discover the unrealised visions and passion projects of revered British filmmaker Michael Powell, in this fascinating documentary featuring Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
Anselm Anselm
Biopic 2023 94 mins Director: Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders' stately and beautifully scored study of Anselm Kiefer.
Flavio Flavio
Documentary 1964 11 mins Director: Gordon Parks
Photographer Gordon Parks’ remarkable film depicts a day in the life of an industrious 12-year-old boy living in the impoverished favela slums of Rio de Janeiro.
Everything at Once Everything at Once
Documentary 2021 103 mins Director: Alberto Fuguet
A peek behind the scenes at the homoerotic photography zine Kink, which has cultivated an intimate style employing non-professional models.
Of Time and the City Of Time and the City
Documentary 2008 74 mins Director: Terence Davies
Brilliantly mixing archive film and music, Liverpool-born director Terence Davies reflects with wit and wisdom on a times of change, for good or ill
The Beast The Beast
Comedy 1975 98 mins Director: Walerian Borowczyk
An outrageous classic of erotic cinema, Walerian Borowczyk’s playful and subversive fantasy finds a horny heiress courting the ravenous desires of a wild beast.
Pressure Pressure
Drama 1978 121 mins Director: Horace Ové
Hailed as Britain's first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted black youths in 1970s London; now available in its new restoration.
Eastern Condors Eastern Condors
Crime 1987 98 mins Director: Sammo Hung Kam-bo
Sammo Hung directs and stars in this high-kicking tribute to The Dirty Dozen, which sees ten convicts offered amnesty if the undertake a deadly mission behind enemy lines in Vietnam to destroy a top-secret munitions dump
Thundercrack! Thundercrack!
Comedy 1975 160 mins Director: Curt Mcdowell
One dark and stormy night a group of strangers take refuge in a remote house, and then… Not for the easily offended.
City of Lost Souls City of Lost Souls
Comedy 1983 90 mins Director: Rosa von Praunheim
Jayne County, Angie Stardust and Tara O'Hara star in Rosa von Praunheim's trans-punk groteskes-musical.
Enter the Scala!!! Enter the Scala!!!
Inside Film 2024 16 mins
Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.
Evil Does Not Exist Evil Does Not Exist
Drama 2023 106 mins Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s follow-up to Drive My Car is a hauntingly enigmatic eco-thriller. Winner of Best Film at the BFI London Film Festival.
Rare Beasts Rare Beasts
Comedy 2021 92 mins Director: Billie Piper
Billie Piper stars in her own directorial debut, a no-holds-barred, Fleabag-esque anti-romcom about a modern woman’s struggles in work and love.
Baltimore Baltimore
Historical drama 2023 98 mins Director: Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor
Imogen Poots grounds Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor's meditative portrayal of terrorist, disinherited heiress and expectant mother Rose Dugdale.
Four Little Adults Four Little Adults
Drama 2023 123 mins Director: Selma Vilhunen
A Finnish couple facing a marital crisis venture into the world of polyamory, in this mature meditation on love.
In Cold Blood In Cold Blood
Crime 1967 135 mins Director: Richard Brooks
Powerful adaptation of Truman Capote’s true-crime novel about the massacre of a family in Kansas, and the manhunt for the killers.
One False Move One False Move
Crime 1990 106 mins Director: Carl Franklin
Explosive thriller starring Bill Paxton as a small-town Sheriff, out to bust a gang of LA drug dealers… until he learns his ex-girlfriend is one of them.