The BFI has announced details of No Strings Attached: Puppets On Film, a new season coming to BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX this summer holiday that “celebrates the craft of puppeteers and the enduring power of practical performance in an increasingly digital age”.
Highlights from 1-31 August will include rare screenings of The Empire Strikes Back at both venues, 40th anniversary screenings of Little Shop Of Horrors (Director’s Cut), plus Godzilla, The Dark Crystal, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Alice, Child’s Play, Being John Malkovich, Team America: World Police, Annette and many more.
Special events will also feature Fraggle Rock co-creator and writer Jocelyn Stevenson, Yonderland creators Jim Howick and Laurence Rickard, and Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared creators Becky Sloan and Joe Pelling.
“From Miss Piggy to E.T. and Basil Brush, puppets have been a fixture of on-screen family entertainment for generations,” said the BFI.
“Yet puppetry has also been used to explore darker themes, made all the more chilling by their childhood association.
“Bringing together family favourites, cult classics and boundary-pushing comedy, this season, curated by BFI head of cinema programme Justin Johnson, includes a rare opportunity to watch The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980) at both BFI Southbank and on the UK’s largest screen at BFI IMAX.”
The BFI will also celebrate Television Puppets with an event on 1 August with a journey through the decades, looking at “some of the most memorable puppet personalities to have enlivened our homes”.
Full information is available on the BFI website.
