Capital Celluloid 2018 - Day 15: Mon Jan 15

Secret Rites (Ford, 1971) & The Power of the Witch (Bakewell, 1971):
Regent St Cinema, 6.30pm



This evening, presented by The Final Girls, is part of the London Short Film Festival, the full programme for which you can find here. The Final Girls present two of the original 1970s documentaries that showcase the cultural obsession with witchcraft and the occult.

BFI review of Secret Rites:
Part Mondo movie, part countercultural artefact, this strange mid-length 'documentary' by sex film director Derek Ford lifts the lid on witchcraft in 1970s Notting Hill. Mystery band The Spindle provide the groovy, psychedelic sounds while tentative occult enthusiast Penny and a serious-sounding narrator introduce the viewer to three ritual acts. Far out. Alex Sanders and his wife and collaborator Maxine often appeared in the press in the 1970s, performing nude rituals. Maxine takes a back seat on this occasion but does appear in the more sedate pub scene, dragging on a cigarette. Alex's title King of the Witches came in part from his 1967 biography, which Penny refers to. Her interest in Wicca appears questionable, though - she featured in the Frankie Howard TV comedy Up Pompeii! and worked as a model. The film's authenticity is thrown into further doubt by sex film historian Simon Sheridan's observation that some coven members also appeared in contemporary underground hardcore porn.

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Dangerous Minds website review of The Power of the Witch:
An extremely rare documentary about Witchcraft aired once in the UK in 1971. Featuring contributions from Eleanor Bone, Cecil Williamson, Alex & Maxine Sanders, Doreen Valiente et al. Very much of its time and with some very rare footage, also includes reference to the famously unsolved murder of Charles Walton on Meon Hill.The Power Of The Witch is worth a watch even if you are not particularly interested in the occult - rather watch it as a document of its time, capturing as it does people’s attitudes, beliefs, fashions and plummy Brit accents. It’s a curious mixture of patriarchal stiff upper lip-ism and unerring belief in both Christianity and the forces of magic, making it feel very much as if it comes from a completely different era. 

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