It Used to be Witches: Ryan Gilbey + Theorem

✍ Film, LGBTQ+, Memoir

Q&A with Ryan Gilbey, author of It Used to be Witches, followed by a screening of Theorem.

Playfully blending personal memoir, criticism and candid new interviews with filmmakers from across the LGBTQ+ spectrum, Ryan Gilbey's engaging and dynamic It Used to be Witches is a non-chronological treasure-hunt through queer cinema past and present, chaired by Rosie Beattie.

This Q&A will be followed by a screening of Theorem. A handsome, enigmatic stranger (Terence Stamp) arrives at a bourgeois household in Milan and successively seduces the son, the mother, the daughter and the father, not forgetting the maid. Then, as abruptly and mysteriously as he arrived, he departs.

In this cool, richly complex and provocative political allegory, director Pier Paolo Pasolini uses his schematic plot to explore family dynamics, the intersection of class and sex, and the nature of different sexualities. After winning a prize at the Venice Festival, Theorem was subsequently banned on an obscenity charge, but Pasolini later won an acquittal on grounds of the film's ‘high artistic value’. A visually ravishing film, with superb performances from all the cast, it also has a brilliantly eclectic soundtrack - with music ranging from Mozart and Morricone to the natural sound of chirping birds.

Please note: this event will start promptly at 4pm with no adverts or trailers. Full schedule below:

4pm – Ryan Gilbey Q&A

4.50pm – Theorem screening

6.30pm – book sales / signing

7.15pm – Ends

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