Film Group London

London Film Festival announces outdoor Trafalgar Square screening

London Moves Me, taking place on Thursday, October 22 at 6:30pm, is a celebration of transport in London – a whistle-stop tour from 1896 to 2009 with more than 20 films.

With live piano accompaniment by Neil Brand, we invite you to cross the capital by the usual trains, buses and bicycles, but for the more adventurous we offer the odd skateboard, airship and canoe.

Victorian ladies skilfully negotiate the art of cycling in long skirts in Hyde Park Cycling Scene (1896) while Edwardian Ealing is revealed in Panorama of Ealing from a Moving Tram (1901).

Tower Bridge Boats on Thames (1905) shows the river as a place of work rather than pleasure, but the younger generation is allowed a spot of aquatic fun on Clapham Common in Paddle Your Own Canoe (1922).

In Barging Through London (1924) a horse-towed barge makes its journey along the Regent’s Canal – from Limehouse, under Mile End Road, through Hackney to Kings Cross, Kentish Town, Camden and on to Paddington Basin.

Unimpeded by concerns for the environment, the early colour film pioneer Claude Friese-Greene filmed the sights of London from his sporty Vauxhall D-type as seen in The Open Road (1925).

Scenes at Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park Corner Underground Stations (1931) is captivating amateur footage – possibly shot by a London Underground worker – that captures the almost ethereal beauty of the tube in the early Thirties.

And your journey comes right up to date with Project One (Yohan Forbes, 2009), following a young skateboarder’s odyssey from the Thames Barrier to the South Bank.

The event runs for approximately 90mins.

Continuing the festival’s theme of transport in London, the 2009 Archive Gala screening is Anthony Asquith’s classic, Underground (1928), a tale of love, treachery and murder on the Tube.

Screenings commence at 6.30pm and are free and open to all.

by filmgrouplondon.com