The Thief of Bagdad with short film

See three films in our Powell & Pressburger season for £21 – select your tickets and the discount will be applied at checkout. Please note this offer excludes The Boy Who Turned Yellow, which is Pay What You Can.

This screening will be introduced by visual artist Michelle Williams Gamaker and will feature a screening of her short film, The Eternal Return. This screening is part of Cinema Unbound – our 14 screening Powell and Pressburger retrospective celebrating Britain’s greatest and most enduring filmmaking partnership.

The triple-Oscar-winning The Thief of Bagdad offered audiences an exotic and lavish distraction from the privations of the Second World War, with its fantastic tale of a young king who must outwit a scheming vizier. Powell directed some of the most spectacular sequences, having been brought in by Alexander Korda who had lost faith in Berger’s approach.

Michelle Williams Gamaker’s short film The Eternal Return explores the phenomenon of how a performer of colour such as international actor Sabu, who stars in The Thief of Bagdad, might be treated and thought of in a way analogous to the animals with whom he appears. 

Short Film - The Eternal Return
Director: Michelle Williams Gamaker / UK / 2018 / 20m / 12A

Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFl's Film Audience Network and National Lottery funding from the BFI.