The Aardvark Blog

Blow Up, Borderlines Film Festival, Blow-Up Part 1
4/03/2017

Yesterday afternoon we bunked off, leaving the shop in Petra's capable hands, and went to catch a performance of Antonioni's Blow -up which was being show as part of this year's Borderlines Film Festival. The Festival has a whole special programme of films this weekend at the Ludlow Assembly Rooms, and Blow-up was the first offering.

The film was introduced by Peter Burden who has just pproduced the first volume of the autobiography of David Hemmings that he worked on with Hemmings before his death in 2003. Since then the manuscript had lain unused until Peter dusted it down last year and Wigmore Books has now published it this weekend.

I first saw the film when I was in my late teens and it had a big impact on me, which subsequent viewings have confirmed. It provoked a heated debate about misogyny, with those of us who were defending the film relying on arguments to do with the monomania of the artist and the fact that it is probably a fair reflection of practices in the fashion industry then (and possibly even today). To me it remains a great if flawed film, with an ending that is curiously unsubtle and unsatisfactory. But it is a film that will always divide opinion and has been doing so now for 50 years.

Peter Burden's book will be available shortly from Aardvark Books and having started to dip into it last night, I can guarantee that it is a very rollicking read.

Borderlines is the largest film festival in the Midlands, and an annual fixture in the cultural life of the Marches and beyond. This year's programme is the most ambitious ever and once again hundreds of films are being shown in hundreds of different locations. For a full listing visit Borderlines Film Festival.

I have been buying books madly this week, with some really interesting Bloomsbury items, art photography books and much more. Check out new purchases in the shop or online on our Shop page!