Taking place as part of the BFI: Thriller: Who Can You Trust? season which kicked off last week, the day long event celebrates the craft that goes into creating cinematic suspense.
Taking place on the 11th November, The Big Thrill will explore the nasty women of film and television and interview thrill-makers with a wide variety activities and events taking place across every corner of the BFI Southbank.
The day will include live story-telling and chilling VR performances propelling audiences into a different way of engaging with moving image and new technologies. Visitors can also take part in four individually ticketed events: award-winning writer Abi Morgan (The Hour, Shame) in conversation alongside Stellan Skarsgård who stars in Morgan’s critically-lauded TV thriller River; a special live edition of Edith Bowman’s acclaimed podcast Soundtracking; a sneak-peak at an upcoming thriller ahead of its UK release; and a special panel about the women who strike back in thrilling TV with guests including actor Morven Christie, who recently starred in BBC thriller The Replacement.
Other events that visitors can expect and access through a £10 wristband include a range of special events, Q&As, discussions, and screenings throughout the day. Highlights of the day will include:
– A rare screening of recent archive discovery The Patient Vanishes (aka This Man is Dangerous) (Lawrence Huntington, 1941); this long-missing thriller, recently rediscovered by archivists as part of the BFI’s ‘Most Wanted’ campaign, stars James Mason in an early role.
– An important and timely talk Trust No One: Conspiracy and Paranoia in the Age of Fake News led by host of BBC Radio 4’s Front Row Samira Ahmed.
– An event dedicated to the work of the incomparable Shonda Rhimes whose pulp TV thrillers such as Scandal and How to Get Away With Murderhave reinvented the genre and created a new destination primetime slot for women and multicultural audiences.
– A thrilling shorts programme, offering up seven gems of the genre.
– A panel event looking at the young writers who are reinventing the TV Thriller for Millennials, with guests Jess Brittain (Clique), Marnie Dickens (Thirteen) and Vinay Patel (Murdered by My Father).
– The All Day Doom Room, a boundary-pushing VR experience combining new technologies, installation and performance, taking audiences into a hypnotic world of hyper sensuality and suspense. Unmissable and definitely not for the faint of heart.
For more information about The Big Thrill taking place on the 11th November visit: https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/