The Passenger, dir. Antonioni – Special screening + panel discussion at Curzon Renoir

A special screening of Antonioni’s The Passenger + panel discussion at the Curzon Renoir presents a rare opportunity to see the film in the linked setting of the The Brunswick Centre.

The Passenger tells the story of an Anglo-American journalist, David Locke (Jack Nicholson) who assumes the identity of a dead businessman while working on a documentary in Chad, unaware that he is impersonating an arms dealer with connections to the rebels in the current civil war.

Using the dead man’s diary as his guide, he embarks on a dangerous adventure, moving around Europe in a rented convertible with a girl he meets by chance (Maria Schneider). Antonioni’s mise-en-sce?ne highlights the psychological dimension of both urban and natural landscapes – including The Brunswick Centre that marks the arrival of the main protagonist in London from the desert – as well as the location of his first encounter with a mysterious woman.

Q&A screening: A panel discussion will follow the screening featuring David Levitt of Levitt Bernstein architects who worked closely on The Brunswick Centre with the late Patrick Hodgkinson and  Broadcaster Farrah Jarral who recently wrote and presented the 10 part series BBC Radio 4 series From Savage to Self. Further guests to be announced.

This screening is held to coincide with Passen-gers, a site-specifc exhibition series based at the Brunswick Centre that brings together artists that have an interest in the real and imaginative environments we construct and inhabit. A tour of their exhibition Deserts on the moons of other planets by Julie Hill is offered to interested guests after the screening and discussion.

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The Renoir Cinema Located in the Brunswick just off Russell Square, this historic arthouse cinema was recently refurbished to the highest technology and design specs. All screening rooms have Sony 4K projectors, and the main screen is only the second venue in central London to adopt Dolby Atmos sound system for a multi-dimensional cinema experience, making it the ideal location for lm premieres and galas. Influenced by the materials and style of post-war Modernism, as well as films by Tarkovsky and Greenaway, the redesign of Curzon Bloomsbury by architect Takero Shimazaki is intended to showcase great fllms in a minimalist setting. The cinema's furniture was created according to original designs by renowned British modernist Eileen Gray and supplied by Aram. The five screens are named after historic venues operated by Curzon since 1934, including the Renoir. The largest theatre-style auditorium (Renoir) seats up to 150 and includes a separate VIP balcony. The more intimate screening rooms seat between 50 and 28. Fully licensed bars are on three levels including a ground floor foyer with outdoor seating. Access: Disabled access is available for all screens.

Passen-gers is a site-specific exhibition series that explores the historical, social and material context of the Brunswick Centre.Artists present work sequentially to explore the real and imaginative associations of the site. The title references the 1975 lm The Passenger by Michelangelo Antonioni that uses the Brunswick Centre as a powerful and otherworldly mise-en-sce?ne. The plot follows a journalist who assumes the identity of a dead businessman while working on a documentary in Chad, unaware that he is impersonating an arms dealer with connections to the rebels in the current civil war. This notion of a ‘passenger’ as someone who inhabits transient identities and spaces, relates to how each artist is rendered a passenger within the larger exhibition structure – a structure that is generative and multi-directional, allowing different ideas, themes and narratives to emerge, overlap and intersect, creating dialogue over time. www.passen-gers.co.uk

The Brunswick Centre is a grade II listed residential and shopping centre designed by Patrick Hodgkinson in the mid-1960