Tuesday, March 10, 2015

SKY ARTS Monthly Literary Highlights April 2015



FRANKENSTEIN AND THE VAMPYRE
Monday 20 April, 8.30pm
Dramatised Documentary

A fascinating exploration of one of the most significant moments in gothic history – the night when Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and their cohorts gathered together at Lake Geneva to tell ghost stories. The night when Frankenstein and the modern vampire were born. All those involved in the events of the summer of 1816 wrote about their life-changing stay in Switzerland. This dramatised documentary is based on their letters, journals and diaries. The film also draws on British Library manuscripts and archive, and brings together a stellar cast of gothic, horror and science fiction writers, including Neil Gaiman, Charlaine Harris and Margaret Atwood, to discuss why one single night had such a significant impact on our culture.

FOUCAULT AGAINST HIMSELF
Friday 24 April, 8.30pm
Artist Biography
French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault died in June 1984. He left behind a legendary work that has been translated into all the languages of the world, and that has been the subject of a thousand interpretations. The man was much like his work: complex and contradictory. This documentary mirrors all the facets of his hectic life.

THE LAST POETS IN AMERIKKKA
Monday 27 April, 9.25pm
Poetry/History
In the ghettoes of Harlem, New York in 1968, a group of radical young poets got together and founded The Last Poets, whose politically-charged verses oozed with taut rhythms, cynicism and Black nationalism. The group denounced the oppression of African-Americans, while their cantos painted a devastatingly real, yet humorous picture of life in the ghetto, and saw them become the founding fathers of the hip hop movement. Nearly 40 years after their separation, the members of this legendary group come together for a one-off concert.

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