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SCALA!!!

By Jane GILES, Ali CATTERALL

BFI DISTRIBUTION - BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE - as SALES / DISTR

First film - Completed 2023

An anarchic, uproarious, and ultimately heart-breaking big screen feature-length documentary telling the riotous inside story of London’s legendary Scala cinema, 1978-1993.

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Il Cinema Ritrovato 2023
Time Machine
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    • Year of production
    • 2023
    • Genres
    • First film, Book adaptation, Documentary
    • Countries
    • UNITED KINGDOM
    • Languages
    • ENGLISH
    • Duration
    • 96 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Jane GILES, Ali CATTERALL
    • Producer(s)
    • Alan MARKE (FIFTY FOOT WOMAN LTD), Andy STARKE (Anti-Worlds), Jim REID (Channel X)
    • Synopsis
    • During Britain’s politically turbulent post-punk ‘Thatcher years’ over a million people from all over the UK passed through the doors of the Scala cinema. For 15 glorious years, it inspired an entire generation with its iconic monthly repertory programmes, which included everything from high-art classics to sexploitation, horror, Kung Fu and LGBTQ+ in daily-changing double-bills and unforgettable All-Nighters.

      Battered 35mm and 16mm prints of films by alternative auteurs such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Walerian Borowczyk, Russ Meyer, John Waters, Derek Jarman and David Lynch formed the beating heart of the Scala's monthly programme, alongside others who pushed even further at the boundaries of taste and convention.

      The Scala was formed in 1978 out of the defunct socialist collective The Other Cinema (1976-77), purpose-built on the site of the old Scala theatre (1905-69) in Fitzrovia, where the Beatles had staged their climactic gig for Richard Lester’s film A Hard Day’s Night (1964). The Scala’s young manager Stephen Woolley championed an eclectic American rep-style programme and put on landmark gigs by the likes of Spandau Ballet and Throbbing Gristle, attracting a young music-loving cinephile audience. In 1981, the Scala moved from Fitzrovia to King’s Cross, when the new offices of Channel 4 took over their building.

      And it was in the King’s Cross cinema that the Scala legend really took hold. First opened in 1920, this cavernous, crumbling picture palace also had a music history. Iggy Pop and Lou Reed played their first UK gigs here in 1972, as recounted in the film by eyewitness Nick Kent. Reverberating with the rumbling of the underground trains below, the Scala became infamous for its edgy programming, resident cats, and off-screen mayhem. It would finally implode in a perfect storm of recession, technical changes and the rise of home video, plus a ruinous lawsuit... But what a legacy!

      Many of the Scala’s young audience members went on to become musicians, writers, artists, actors, activists and, of course, filmmakers. Presided over by ‘Pope of Trash’ John Waters, some of the other famous names appearing in the documentary include Cathi Unsworth, James O'Brien, Mary Harron, John Akomfrah, Ben Wheatley, Isaac Julian, Caroline Catz, Stewart Lee, Adam Buxton, Peter Strickland, Thurston Moore, and Jah Wobble.

      A kaleidoscopic combination of archive film and photography, eye-popping movie clips, graphics and animation alongside the interviews, SCALA!!! is highly evocative but much more than mere nostalgia. The film is a universal shout-out to the power of cinemas to inspire impressionable young minds and create a sense of community for outsiders – a place where everyone is welcome.
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