Celluloid on Sea sailing into Belfast
Date Posted: May 23, 2017
The Celluloid Sail tour will visit the Abercorn Basin on the 14th and 15th June offering the public a unique film experience set around a three-masted barque, the Kaskelot during her stay in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter.
The 14th of June is the Celluloid Sail free archive experience. On this day audiences who visit the ship can climb aboard and explore secret spaces in the bowels of the boat and discover footage of Great British beach holidays and experimental coastal films from the archives. As night falls, this experience extends into the evening as light and projection animates the ship’s sails with stories of Belfast’s harbour past.
On the evening of Thursday the 15th, the vessel will then be transformed into an expanded cinema for an outdoor screening of cult-classic, The Life Aquatic. Before the film starts, audiences sat on the water’s edge will be treated to an archive film infused live circus performance on the ship’s rigging. Ticket holders for this special event will be offered the opportunity to experience the on board archive at allocated times before the show.
The tour is curated by Compass Presents, a BFI Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) event, in partnership with the BFI’s ‘Britain on Film’ project which launches Britain on Film’s Coast & Sea programme – a collection of newly digitised archive films drawn from the BFI National Archive and the UK’s Regional and National Film Archives, including Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive – available mostly for free on BFI
The ship will be visiting Belfast as part of Kaskelot’s eagerly awaited tour that starts in Plymouth before visiting Belfast, Bristol and London over the summer and into autumn.
Tara Sachdeva, creative producer of Celluloid Sail, commented: “Britain’s national archives are bursting with unseen content located around the British coast. We are really excited to unveil some of these treasures that show Belfast’s history and harbour communities.”
The activity on Wednesday 14th June will be free to attend and entry onboard is between 14.00 – 21.00; space is limited so entry may be staggered. The experience will allow visitors to visit the hold, captain’s room, the forecastle and view located footage through specially made binoculars. Access to this area requires audiences to climb into the heart of the ship, which in places are hard to reach, dark and not for the faint-hearted.
For a real spectacle arrive after sunset to view ship-sail projection from the shore from 9pm – 11pm. Footage will entertain viewers with historic clips of archive film relating to Belfast, some with an experimental edit.
The screening of The Life Aquatic will be a ticketed event. Tickets are on sale now here. Audiences can arrive from 5pm to step aboard and visit the pre-show archive exhibition. Before arrival you will be contacted to choose a half hour time slot between 17:00- 20:00, should you wish. At 22:30 the boat will close and audiences can find a seat on the waterside, and prepare for the show to begin. For further any information visit the Compass Presents website.
