The Liberated Film Club

The Liberated Film Club is a collection of transcriptions, special commissions and texts anchored in a series of screenings held at London's Close-Up Film Centre, 2016 to 2020, and curated by Stanley Schtinter. From its onset to its end, the Club guaranteed a wide wingspan for critical conversation. Screening liberated film (titles drawn from Schtinter's expansive archive of 'lost, suppressed and impossible' motion picture), a guest would be invited to introduce a film; an audience seated to watch it through; but there'd be a disruption to that typical format. Neither the audience nor the guest would have any idea what would be shown, and this anonymised arrangement would invite broad and antagonistic perambulation on the what, the why and the how of film; on the act(s) of showing, sharing, and seeing. Playing with the ways we reproach the institutions built around all our cultures of making, and the manners and methods of an elsewhere dominant culture of consumption, the Liberated Film Club was a rare reflection on the act of reflection itself. This collection-an unabridged collation of works pertaining to this series-is a unique proposition. It is urgent, exciting, and sincere in its silliness; challenging received notions of critical exchange, and abandoning entirely the dogma of atomised, predictable viewing. It is a profound celebration of community and conversation, and a timely paean to free, shared space.