UK Double Bill: The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister & The Sleeping Beauty of East Finchley
This evening we offer a real treat... a special choral music presentation by The Caledonias followed by two fantastic critically acclaimed British films guaranteed to win your hearts and spirits. The Caledonias are a contemporary all women’s a capella group comprised of Queen’s University students who love to sing and put a divine twist on contemporary beats!
Sunday, January 30th
6pm
•
Ellis Auditorium
The Sleeping Beauty of East Finchley
dir : Seamus Rea
2010/ UK / 50 min
Joan's life is passing her by. She seems to have nothing apart from an elderly mother to look after, church on Sunday and a dead-end job. But her mother's nurse Pat overhears Joan singing to herself one day and realizes that there is more to Joan than meets the eye. But can she persuade Joan to step out of her comfort zone and join her choir "The Friends of Dusty"- a lesbian choir with a chorus of out and proud women? Featuring scenes filmed at the Various Voice Festival in 2009 a 4-day festival of GLBT choirs from around the world on London's South Bank, this enjoyable and touching story is a fresh point of view in queer cinema.
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
dir : James Kent
2010 / UK / 90 min
In 19th century Yorkshire, wealthy orphan Anne Lister lives with an aunt and uncle anxious for her to marry well and blissfully-unaware that she is a lesbian. Anne is recording her thoughts and exploits in a coded diary. When her lover Mariana Belcombe makes a marriage of convenience to rich old Charles Lawton she feels betrayed and although Mariana visits her, the relationship is going nowhere. Helped by old flame Tib she makes a play for innocent Miss Browne but sees she is barking up the wrong tree and diverts herself by renovating the family hall. A drunken Tib almost exposes her secret and scornful mine-owner Christopher Rawson, whose marriage proposal she rejects, tells her that her sexuality is a subject of local gossip...
