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A Way to Die: The Short Films of Coil

Xavier Laradj & Maxime Lachaud, France, 2024, 100mins, no cert (over 18s only)

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Thu 14 May // 20:00

Tickets: £8

Book tickets

After collecting together the photographic and pictorial work of Peter Christopherson (1955-2010) and John Balance (1962-2004) - better known as founding members of the now legendary artists COIL - the French publishers of fringe, underground and neglected art, Timeless Editions have restored the duo's filmed archives to reveal a previously rarely-glimpsed side of their work.

Spanning a period from the early 70s to the early 90s, and incorporating medical art, homoerotic performances and body horror – A WAY TO DIE paints a raw, hallucinatory and immersive portrait via a collection of music videos, home movies, experiments and other ephemera. These short 8mm and 16mm films track a journey rooted in the industrial aesthetics of the post-punk era and beyond. At the intersection of Eros and Thanatos, and evoking the spectres of Georges Bataille, J.G. Ballard, Jean Genet, Derek Jarman and the Viennese Actionists.

Accompanied by previously unreleased COIL compositions, A WAY TO DIE is a unique document: sensual, disturbing, and profoundly haunted.

 

Sorry for the higher ticket price here! The filmmakers are raising funds for an official release of this film at a future date.