Since December 2021, two brothers - Charlie and George Alexander - have been running Jackie Treehorn Productions, an independent film club showcasing a large variety of films throughout Nottingham. Inspired by other local independent programmers such as Kino Klubb, they use cinematic programming as a way of sharing films they love with more people (with the benefit of also being able to see those films on the big screen themselves).
Charlie and George came to love film from an early age. A formative experience for Charlie was seeing Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive for the first time at the age of thirteen. To him it was the very first film where he considered a movie more than just the means to tell a story. All the elements of the film, from the lucid, ethereal colour palette to the haunting synthwave soundscapes, added up to create something more than just the sum of its parts.
George on the other hand remembers watching Francis Ford Coppola’s Rumble Fish, a coming of age story about a troubled teenager who struggles to live up to his older brother’s shadow, at the age of sixteen. After receiving it as a Christmas present, he quickly became obsessed with it. So much that he is now afraid to revisit it in case the film doesn’t live up to his memory.
Jackie Treehorn Productions started out as frequent, one off screenings of films they loved. Inspired by the wealth of new films they saw during lockdown they decided to try their hand at programming. In the early days they moved from venue to venue before finding a more permanent home in the small but intimate Mammoth Cinema (formerly known as Screen 22). They have shown most of their films here, with the exception of occasional screenings at Broadway, and have developed a great relationship with the owner. It is here that the bulk of their new film program will be screened. Their new season is broken down into various themes, featuring films from all around the world.
The first batch of films (running July-August) are grouped together by the title “The Lord of the Flies” and focuses on capturing the slow descent into chaos when large groups of people stumble into isolation, exploring the raw humanity of survival. For this season they picked: Alejandro Landes’s Monos which focuses on eight teenaged guerillas who guard a hostage on a remote mountaintop; Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England, a historical horror set in the English Civil War following a group of deserters; and Claire Denis’ cosmic horror film High Life, an elliptic tale of prisoners stuck on a space prison which slowly drifts astray.
This group of films may be the duo's darkest selection of films, a habit which they admit they do indulge in. However, it is followed by a lighter pairing of more comedic films: One for the Road by Nottingham’s very own Chris Cooke (who now runs the brilliant Mayhem Festival) and Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Chevalier. These films form the section “Being a Man” and are grouped together by their depiction of toxic masculinity and focus on groups of men who constantly push each other to the limits. “Answers in Revenge” is the next block - featuring Shane Meadows’ Dead Man’s Shoes and Park Chan-wook’s revered cult classic Oldboy - with the title very much speaking for itself, two films solely focused on the grisly and brutal act of vengeance. These two films see Jackie Treehorn return to their more intense roots.
They are ensuring that Nottingham’s already varied cinematic landscapes remain fresh and thoroughly independent
Rounding off their program is a trio of films that fall under the category of “Uncontainable”. John McNaughton’s harrowing depiction of a serial killer in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer rounds out the program’s period at Mammoth, a film so shocking that it deserves to be witnessed on the big screen. After this, Jackie Treehorn will be celebrating their two year anniversary with two screenings at Broadway: Lynne Ramsay’s sparse psychological drama Morvern Callar starring the great Samantha Morton; and finally, Beau Travail - which sees Claire Denis return to the program - a dense and powerful adaptation of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, an absolute must watch which also ranked seventh place in the recent Sight and Sound critic’s poll.
This extensive list of films contains a multitude of genres, themes and countries that Charlie and George have hand-picked to showcase. Drawing from their own favourite experiences at the cinema - from seeing the 4k restoration of Apocalypse Now at Broadway’s Screen One, to witnessing Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard at BFI Southbank 1 they are ensuring that Nottingham’s already varied cinematic landscapes remain fresh and thoroughly independent.
Buy tickets for the screenings at mammothcinema.co.uk
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