Celebrating 25 editions of Widescreen Weekend

Bill Lawrence, Founding Festival Director:

“25 years: a long time and many happy and crazy memories, and some not so good. The great thing about Widescreen Weekend is that it was a happy accident created by the fans and one programmer paying attention to who was turning up at the cinema. Without those people who believed in Cinerama and 70mm it wouldn’t have happened. Without Willem Boumeester servicing IMAX projectors, Keith Swadkins and his International Cinerama Society newsletter then maybe Cinerama would never have been installed in Pictureville Cinema. Without John Harvey in the States, we would not have had a technical go-to person or a print of This is Cinerama that got it all going again in 1993, and without Johan Wolthuis and the International 70mm Newsletter we wouldn’t have been plugged into a fantastic network of very knowledgeable widescreen fans around the world.

“One of those fans sent a fax to me at the museum in 1995, Udo Heimansberg, who said he knew of four Cinerama prints in the basement of a cinema in Essen, Germany: Seven Wonders of the World, Cinerama Holiday, Windjammer and How the West Was Won. The latter two eventually found their way to Bradford. Windjammer was very pink, but ran well through a projector so why not show it to those who turned up to the weekend—and a surprise hit it became. But the treasure was How the West Was Won, a stunning Technicolor print that had survived. However, of course, it was the German print and so had a German soundtrack. To the rescue came Jean-Pierre Verscheure in Belgium who had an English soundtrack and Cinerama being what it is, 3 x 35 prints and separate 35mm mag track, it is a simple job to ship it over to Bradford and we have a full English print. Well, not quite. The German print was slightly edited. Certain violent scenes had been cut out and so the print was shorter than the soundtrack.

“This is where passion comes in. The wonderful late Tony Cutts and Duncan McGregor set about the task of filling the gaps with black spacer—on three films for each panel of Cinerama—and then running the print, often overnight, to ensure that it all remained in sequence. I don’t know how long it took, but I know it wasn’t part of the day job. Eventually, they felt it was ready and time to launch to a public audience at the 1996 Bradford Film Festival, on 10 March at 19.30. Sales were excellent and 240 people crammed into Pictureville (the edge seats are not so good for Cinerama), and the lights dropped and Alfred Newman’s magnificent soundtrack kicked in with full stereophonic sound. That alone made the hairs stand up, but then the curtains pull back and the screen opens on Das war der Wilde Westen. Yes, it still had the German titles. But my god, it was still exciting and the atmosphere electric. It had all been worth it.

“Unfortunately, at that point I had to head across town to do a Q&A for a film, Tattoo Boy, with the director and producer. But it was only 88 minutes and I was back in time for the end and the final summary from Spencer Tracy. To stand there, at the end of that screening, is one of the favourite memories of my life. To listen, to grown men, deeply emotional, seeing something from their younger lives that they thought they would never see again was such a privilege. A wonderful night in the cinema—and what a start to Widescreen Weekend.

“Over the years, so many people contributed, but two stand out to me. Howard Rust, whose joyous enthusiasm for Cinerama never left him and was able to pass it on to so many others, including me. Thomas Hauerslev, who took over In70mm from Johan Wolthuis and became co-programmer of the Weekend. These were guiding spirits, but never as strong in their guidance or spirit as the fans who turned up year-on-year and became a family for an extraordinary three or four days of celebration of the great days of cinema when everything was possible.”

Widescreen Weekend is proudly a community of likeminded individuals, gathering in film each year. Made up of movie buffs, ex-projectionists, and everything in between, our cohort is passionate about cinema and are dedicated to seeking out the rarest and best experiences film has to offer. Many of our own delegates will also come to us with their own expertise and delight our audience with talks and presentations on a range of interesting subjects in film.

Much as Cineramacana—our ‘show and tell’ of filmic delights—does each year, we welcome input from our devoted visitors and embrace the co-operative spirit on which the festival was founded.

Hector Warr, Widescreen Weekend delegate:

“The festival is an inspiration to movie buffs. I grew up with projected film and to see that format once again at the forefront is an incredible experience. To see 3-strip Cinerama for the first time with How the West Was Won was something I will never forget.

“In 2017 I was inspired by the announcement that Grand Prix would feature in the 2018 programme, took a deep breath, and emailed Kathryn Penny to ask if I could do an introduction. Much to my surprise and delight, she agreed that I could present alongside Dave Strohmaier. I spent the ensuing months immersed in research and writing, excited to be a part of Widescreen Weekend. This sums up the spirit of the festival: generous and inclusive. Long may it continue.”