Question: what do Alfred Hitchcock, Chiwetel Ejiofor, William Morris, Maggie O’Neill, Charles Hawtrey, Ken Russell, Thandiwe Newton, Broncho Billy, Charlie Chaplin, Naomi Ackie, Leslie Phillips, Captain Birdseye, Peter Greenaway and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band all have in common? Simple! They are lining up to join a cast of thousands on the big screen when the McGuffin Film Society hosts an affectionate celebration of Waltham Forest’s offbeat and often unsung film heritage.
With feature films, TV dramas, documentaries, shorts, silent comedies, newsreels, music videos and curios from movie-makers old and new.
Thanks to Bill Hodgson and the McGuffin Film Society for dedicating their efforts in 2003 to save the venue from being lost as an entertainment hub.
Each event will have a completely different line up of films, and we’ll be announcing details of each evening soon.
Highlights of the first evening will include a 25th anniversary screening of the classic crime comedy ‘It Was An Accident’ starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandiwe Newton, an early Ken Russell film unseen for over 50 years, documentaries including ‘The Curious Capers of Birt Acres’ and ‘Alfred Hitchcock in East London’, shorts from internationally acclaimed directors including Peter Greenaway alongside new work from the borough’s brightest young filmmaking talent as well as a tasty serving of celluloid rarities highlighting the venue’s illustrious movie heritage. Expect music videos, TV treats and a show-stopping Bollywood interlude along with bizarre vintage adverts, breathtaking trailers and a date with Britain’s first superstar female impersonator – and much, much more which is simply too tantalising to reveal in advance! Waltham Forest’s film history comes to life like never before… and possibly never will again.
The second evening’s line-up is still firmly under wraps but all will be revealed at the appropriate time. If you want some hints… you could think Maggie O’Neill, Dennis Spooner, Naomi Ackie, William Morris, Sushmita Sen, Frank Brangwyn, Vivian Stanshall, Sylvia Sidney… but then you’d hardly be scratching the surface of the riches we have planned…
Soho Theatre Walthamstow
186 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London, E17 4QH
We are a 5 minute walk from Walthamstow Central tube station, which is only 20 minutes from central London on the Victoria Line, and 15 minutes from Liverpool Street station on the Overground.
There are numerous buses that stop nearby and outside the venue.