Boris Johnson pleased the film industry today by highlighting new powers for councils to close roads for up to 24 hours to better enable filmmaking around the capital. Recognising the power of the silver screen in promoting London as a tourist destination (or fancying himself as Hugh Grant in Notting Hill) Boris bigged up the local industry, committed more funding to grass roots development of young film-making talent and threw his weight behind an annual London Film Day.
This movie meeting was timed to coincide withthe London Film Festival and if you missed out on the red carpet this time around, perhaps you can partake of the grey paving of Trafalgar Square. Tomorrow there's a free al fresco screening of silent classic High Treason (1929), preceded by the 10min short The Fugitive Futurist (1924) – both offering audiences a 1920s take on visions of London in the future. Then on Friday 24, a special screening of a film not seen in the UK for over 100 years. Living London was an ambitious 1904 documentary originally made to show London off to the world, recently rediscovered and restored.
And if, like us, you were unimpressed by the Memory Cloud the other week, you can get your name up in lights before the shows by emailing what you love about London, or alternatively digital photos of favourite London landmarks, to [email protected]. Include your name and your London location and tell Trafalgar what you love. If you say Londonist, we'd be bowled over and definitely need a snapshot.
Wrap up warm. Take a flask of soup. From 6.30pm.
Odeon West End image by catya-maria via the Londonist Flickrpool
