To accompany the current exhibition at Durham University’s Palace Green Library, which explores time travel and stories, a special series of time travel-themed films will be showing at the Gala Theatre and Cinema in Durham. Screenings range from 80s classics through to recent releases.
The season begins with a double bill of films by one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of the 21st century; Christopher Nolan. There will be a short introduction by Professor Madeline Eacott (Durham University) on the theme of memory, ahead of Memento (2000), followed by a screening of the 2010 blockbuster, Inception.
That will be followed on 20 June by the 1002 film Donnie Darko which takes the viewer on a funny, moving and distinctly mind-bending journey through suburban America.
12 Monkeys, starring Bruce Willis and directed by Terry Gilliam will be shown on 27 June and on 4 July at 6pm, Interstellar, starring Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey, transports us to the Earth’s future, with a global crop blight rendering the planet uninhabitable.
On 11 July, Groundhog Day sees Bill Murray doomed to relive the same day over and over again, and on 18 July Arnold Schwarzenegger travels from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor in The Terminator.
The month ends with the 80s classic Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, where Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are high school buddies who travel to various points in history, returning with important figures to help them complete their final history presentation.
In August, the ultimate time travel film, Back to the Future, will be showing on 5 August and the season culminates with an HG Well’s double bill, showing the 1960 classic Time Machine and the 1979 fantasy thriller based on a fictional version of Wells himself, Time After Time.
All screenings are taking place at the Gala Theatre and Cinema in Durham and tickets can be booked via the Gala box office:www.galadurham.co.uk or 03000 266 600. There’s a 10% discount for anyone with a ticket to the Palace Green Library exhibition, Time Machines: The past, the future, and how stories take us there.