Film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House

Film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House returns for two weeks in August, with a carefully-curated and distinctive selection of classic films, contemporary hits, cult favourites and red-carpet premieres, presented under the night sky.

This year, all films in the festival line-up take on the theme of dreams, focussing on fantasies, reveries, nightmares and nocturnes.  Filmmakers have long explored the language of dreams and this year’s selection will showcase the greatest cinema of the subconscious, allowing audiences to experience a sense of escapism both on screen and inside Somerset House itself.

Amongst the first films to be announced for the 2018 season are two fantasy favourites.  Director Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION is one of cinema’s most eloquent and exciting expressions of the dream state – a heist film told in a unique style with Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy in the all-star cast. Also showing will be the magical LABYRINTH, which brings together the extraordinary talents of Jim Henson, George Lucas, Terry Jones and David Bowie to create a beautifully designed musical adventure with something unexpected at every turn.

Having attracted much acclaim during this year’s awards season, Film4 Summer Screen will offer another chance to catch CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, in similarly scenic surroundings to those on screen.  Falling in love can feel like a dream and director Luca Guadagnino’s film is the ultimate romantic reverie, a sensual story of awakening desire that changes the lives of students Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and Oliver (Armie Hammer) over the course of a long, hot Italian summer.

The final film announced so far is BLUE VELVET, the controversial 1986 classic directed by David Lynch.  Starring Kyle MacLachan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper and Laura Dern, the Oscar-nominated mesmerising mystery probes beneath the picture-perfect surface of suburban America.

For fourteen summer evenings, more than 2,000 film lovers leave the hustle and bustle of London behind, escape to the intimate, spectacular surroundings of Somerset House (which has itself served as a set for many memorable movies) and enter into its fantastical world of films, coming together with fellow aficionados to be transported far away for a few hours.

People take their spot as the sun sets over London and soak up the sounds of live DJ sets inspired by the evening’s main event, with their favourite food and drink packed up in picnics or from the surrounding stalls.  They then settle in and snuggle up to see the finest films and share in the excitement and emotion.  All films are shown on London’s largest state-of-the-art outdoor screen, digitally projected with full surround sound, ensuring a truly immersive and cinema-quality experience.

David Cox, Film4 Summer Screen programmer, said: “Films and the subconscious have always had an uncanny affinity with one another, and to lose yourself within a film is to enter a type of dream state. This year we’re giving our audience the chance to dream together for a fortnight in an environment that encourages just this sort of shared transport, with films that offer flights of fantasy and inner journeys of discovery, explore worlds where things aren’t quite what they seem and – perhaps most importantly - celebrate inspiration, hope and desire.”

New this year, Somerset House has commissioned a short film, exploring the dream theme, to be screened ahead of each evening’s feature film, by performance artist Mel Brimfield and filmmaker Ewan Jones Morris.  Both are residents in Somerset House Studios, the experimental workspace inside Somerset House, which encourages multi-disciplinary collaboration. Somerset House provides a public platform for the work coming out of the Studios through its year-long series of events and exhibitions.

Behind the Screen, a series of talks, panel discussions, screenings and special events from illustrious industry talent ahead of selected films, will also return, making Film4 Summer Screen further stand out as the film fan’s choice of open air cinema experiences.

Tickets will go on sale in May, when the full festival line-up and further details about Behind the Screen will also be revealed.

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For further press enquiries, please contact Stephanie Pilling, Deputy Head of PR of Somerset House on press@somersethouse.org.uk or 020 7845 4624

Film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House, Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2 1LA

• Tickets will go on sale mid-May and will be available from www.somersethouse.org.uk
• Film4 Summer Screen runs from 9 – 22 August 2018
• Ticket prices start from £17 plus booking fee

About Somerset House

Inspiring contemporary culture

A unique part of the London cultural scene, Somerset House is an historic building where surprising and original work comes to life. From its 18th-century origins, Somerset House has been a centre for debate and discussion – an intellectual powerhouse for the nation. Somerset House is today a key cultural destination in London in which to experience a broad range of artistic activity, engage with artists, designers and makers and be a part of a major creative forum – an environment that is relaxed, welcoming, and inspirational to visit while providing a stimulating workplace for the cultural and creative industries. 

Since its opening in 2000, Somerset House has built up a distinctive outdoor public programme including Skate, concerts, an open-air film season and a diverse range of temporary exhibitions throughout the site focusing on contemporary culture, with an extensive learning programme attached. In October 2016, Somerset House launched Somerset House Studios, a new experimental workspace connecting artists, makers and thinkers with audiences. The Studios provide a platform for new creative projects and collaboration, promoting work that pushes bold ideas, engages with urgent issues and pioneers new technologies. Somerset House is also one of the biggest community of creative organisations in London including The Courtauld Gallery and Institute of Art, King’s College London Cultural Institute and over 100 other creative businesses. It currently attracts approximately 3.4 million visitors every year.  

www.somersethouse.org.uk

About Film4

Film4 is available for free to everyone with digital TV. A daily line-up of great movies guarantees a choice for every type of film fan, including the best of British film-making, US independent films, Hollywood blockbusters, mainstream drama and comedy. Film4 is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division, which develops and co-finances films and has an established track record for working with the most distinctive and innovative talent in UK and international filmmaking. Film4 has developed and/or co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years – Academy Award-winners such as Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Asif Kapadia’s Amy, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady, in addition to critically-acclaimed award-winners such as Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not a Witch, Andrew Haigh’s Lean On Pete, Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, Todd Haynes’ Carol, Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, Shane Meadows’ This is England, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and David Mackenzie’s Starred Up. www.film4.com | @Film4

About Mel Brimfield

Mel Brimfield’s lively and diverse visual art practice takes a skewed and tangled romp through the already vexed historiography of performance, appropriating theatrical and mainstream entertainment formats and genres to appraise the use and value of received cultural hierarchies. Drawing together multiple institutions, agencies, curators and producers representing a broad spread of disciplines, her work is the result of intensive collaboration with a rolling cast of actors, composers and musicians, designers, choreographers, dancers and singers, resulting in photographic, film and large-scale live performance works.

Mel recently collaborated with composer Gwyneth Herbert to create a musical documentary film in the form of a Living Newspaper about visionary socialist theatre director Joan Littlewood for Art on the Underground. She built an ersatz Fluxus pianola-based kinetic sculptural installation for The Government Art Collection at the Whitechapel Gallery, and restaged Andy Kaufman’s Intergender Wrestling with comedian Simon Munnery for the London Word Festival. Mel Brimfield’s solo exhibitions include 'Death and Dumb', John Hansard Gallery (Southampton) 'Between Genius and Desire', Ceri Hand Gallery, (London); 'This is Performance Art – Performed Sculpture and Dance', Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Quantum Foam, Kinsale Arts Festival (Ireland).

About Ewan Jones Morris

Ewan Jones Morris takes a multidisciplinary approach to filmmaking, often combing live action, collage, stop motion and CGI all within one project. He is also one half of directing duo Casey + Ewan, directing and co-directing music videos for the likes of DJ Shadow, Leftfield, John Grant, The Human League, Cate Le Bon and many more. 

His work has attracted a number of awards and nominations, as well as being regularly featured at Adam Buxton’s BFI fixture BUG. His filmmaking collaborations with artist Bedwyr Williams have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Glasgow International Arts Festival and the Barbican. His recent BFI funded short film “This Far Up” was selected for the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand film festival.