Black Narcissus 1947 PG
      Production still from Black Narcissus 1947 / Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger / Image courtesy: Park Circus / View full image
When
1.30 pm, Sat 2 Mar 2024 (100 mins)Where
Gallery of Modern Art, Cinema A
Accessibility
- Closed Captioned
 - Wheelchair Accessible
 
About
Please note this screening is preceded by a fascinating In Conversation between program curator Kiki Fung and Kevin Powell, son of Michael Powell and editing assistant on They're a Weird Mob 1966. This In Conversation is at 1.00pm in Cinema A.
High in the Himalayas, Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) is tasked with a mission to establish a school and a dispensary out of a local warlord’s abandoned palace. The idealistic sisterhood, including the unstable Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron), is immediately confronted by a foreign culture and climate, with exotic music, unrelenting gales, and unpredictable local politics contribute to a mystical presence that threatens to inflame unfamiliar passions – a situation already aggravated by the warlord’s local agent and emissary, Mr Dean (David Farrar). Adapted from the novel by Rumer Godden, and shot in Technicolor almost entirely on a highly-stylised set at Pinewood Studios, the Archers manufacture a unique aesthetic that highlights a world of repressed desires and heightened senses, in a liminal space between fantasy and reality. The film was awarded Best Cinematography (Colour) and Best Art Direction - Set Decoration (Colour) at the Academy Awards.
Black Narcissus will screen from an imported, restored 35mm print.
PG | Adult concepts
Production Credits
- Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
 - Script: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
 - Based on: the novel by Rumer Godden
 - Cinematographer: Jack Cardiff
 - Editor: Reginald Mills
 - Cast: Deborah Kerr, Sabu, David Farrar
 - Print Source: British Film Institute, London
 - Rights: Park Circus
 - Year: 1947
 - Runtime: 100 minutes
 - Country: United Kingdom
 - Language: English
 - Colour: Colour
 - Shooting Format: 35mm
 - Screening Format: Restored 35mm