Penda's Fen (1973) (A Screening)
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Special Session
Organizer Name
Tom White
Organizer Affiliation
Univ. of Oxford
Presider Name
Tom White
Start Date
10-5-2019 7:00 PM
Session Location
Fetzer 1005
Description
Originally shown on BBC1 in 1974 as part of the Play for Today series, Penda's Fen gradually took on a cult status in British film -- rarely rebroadcast, it was finally released on DVD and Blu Ray in 2016.
Written by David Rudkin and directed by Alan Clarke, the film is set in the Malvern Hills. At its heart is Stephen Franklin, a somewhat pompous and unsympathetic schoolboy and pastor's son. Stephen has his identity, sexuality and austere religious nationalism overturned by a series of dream visions and personal revelations. Piers Plowman provides the film's most apparent source, but as its title suggests, it looks even further back to Penda, the last pagan king of Mercia.
This screening celebrates the launch of Of Mud and Flame: A Penda's Fen Sourcebook from Strange Attractor press in December 2018, edited by Matt Harle and James Machin. Tom White
Penda's Fen (1973) (A Screening)
Fetzer 1005
Originally shown on BBC1 in 1974 as part of the Play for Today series, Penda's Fen gradually took on a cult status in British film -- rarely rebroadcast, it was finally released on DVD and Blu Ray in 2016.
Written by David Rudkin and directed by Alan Clarke, the film is set in the Malvern Hills. At its heart is Stephen Franklin, a somewhat pompous and unsympathetic schoolboy and pastor's son. Stephen has his identity, sexuality and austere religious nationalism overturned by a series of dream visions and personal revelations. Piers Plowman provides the film's most apparent source, but as its title suggests, it looks even further back to Penda, the last pagan king of Mercia.
This screening celebrates the launch of Of Mud and Flame: A Penda's Fen Sourcebook from Strange Attractor press in December 2018, edited by Matt Harle and James Machin. Tom White