PRIVILEGE  1967 * Directed by Peter Watkins * 103 minutes * In English with English subtitles

This is a film many film critics have included on their best film lists, but which, on the other hand, few have ever seen. After the success of his films for the BBC in England, Hollywood wanted to get in on the action and they allowed Peter Watkins (Punishment Park, The War Game) to make a film for them. The result was a devastating attack on the commercialization of the rock music industry... and although it was released in a few cinemas for limited bookings, it was quickly shelved and made more or less unavailable over all these years. It is one of the favorite films of Patti Smith, and she recorded the title song from the film on her Easter album.

Now, 35 years later, Privilege might in many ways have even more pertinence than it did back in 1967. Paul Jones (lead singer of Manfred Mann) plays Steve Shorter, a British manufactured rock'n'roll icon, who is shaped and molded into a tool used to sell every product imaginable. To the nation, Steve is a god. A symbol of everything that is pure and good. Unfortunately, Steve has no vision of his own and is easily led from concert to concert, commercial to commercial, and meeting to meeting by greedy corporate managers.

If anything, Peter Watkins was too conservative in his vision of the future. In today's media-saturated world, wannabe celebrities no longer accidentally fall into this situation; in fact movie stars and musicians willingly throw themselves onto the pyre of the marketplace with unfettered glee. This 60s cult classic is a dark surrealistic vision "set in the not so distant future!"

This will be a high-definition projection.

Doors open at 20:30 * film starts 21:00 * Visitors limited to 16