Factory International kicks off winter programme with a weekend of special screenings

Factory International has announced a double bill of one-off screenings to kick off its upcoming winter programme.

First up, All of This Unreal Time, which was first presented as an immersive installation at Manchester Central during the 2021 Manchester International Festival, will return to the big screen on Sat 7 Dec.

The film stars Cillian Murphy, is written by Max Porter, and directed by Aoife McArdle, and features music by Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner and Jon Hopkins.

All of this Unreal Time follows the journey of a man – representing any man and every man – as he walks alone through the night and the city. From subway to pavement to wide open marshland, he confesses his failings: emotional, physical, political.

Ashamed and alarmed, he considers both the smallness of human life and the scale of the world, and ultimately our most pressing obligation: to care for those alongside us, and for the earth that sustains us.

Cillian Murphy says: “All of This Unreal Time is a project I have deep affection for…. It was made in the bleak depths of a pandemic, yet comes from a place of pure collaboration and love. We wanted to make a visual poem that scratches at concerns about masculinity, society, and personal responsibility… all of that knotty difficult stuff, but make it with an open and a broken heart.”

Returning to Manchester for one night only, the screening is followed by a Q&A with members of the creative team and live performances of new work inspired by the film from composers Jon Hopkins and Aaron & Bryce Dessner.

On Sun 8 Dec, thirty years since the original release of Derek Jarman’s BLUE, Factory International presents BLUE NOW; a live performance reimagined by Neil Bartlett.

Created in 1993, just months before his death from AIDS-related illnesses, BLUE is widely held as Jarman’s masterpiece. As AIDS progressively steals his sight, Jarman experiences the world through shades of blue, inviting the viewer to join him for 74 minutes.

BLUE NOW brings together a star-studded cast – Travis Alabanza, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Jay Bernard and Joelle Taylor. Together they perform Jarman’s powerful words (previously voiced by Nigel Terry, John Quentin, Tilda Swinton and Jarman himself) alongside a new score, performed live by original composer Simon Fisher Turner in collaboration with cellist and composer Lucy Railton.