The Cinema Museum, London

Screening of Remembrance (1982) plus Q&A with Hugh Stoddart

Fri 21 Mar 2025 @ 19:30 · Events

RemembranceA rare opportunity to see this re-discovered British film from 1982 on the big screen, which was Gary Oldman’s first film, and also starred Tim Spall and John Altman.

Remembrance was released in 1982. It won the Grand Prize at the Taormina Film Festival and was screened in the first month of Channel 4’s existence.

A group of young Royal Navy sailors spend their last night ashore before leaving on a six-month tour of duty. Set around the pubs and clubs of the notorious Union Street in Plymouth, the film cuts between interweaving stories of several characters: some are happy to go, others sad to be parting from families friends and lovers. And for one, there is a score to settle. Central among these stories is a mystery: who is the young man who we meet at the start of the film, so drunk, so adrift – and at risk?

“It’s what British cinema does best: no frills, no pomp or pretension, just vivid characters, real emotion and real grit. The whole cast is remarkable (including Timothy Spall and John Altman, later Nick Cotton on TV’s EastEnders), but it’s Gary Oldman who steals the show. He’s so alive, so uninhibited, and brilliant. He is reminiscent of De Niro in Mean Streets (1973), with which this film has curious parallels.” Paul Rowlands, Facebook comment. Website: http://www.money-into-light.com

RemembranceRemembrance was the third in the sequence of six films made between 1978 and 1988 by director Colin Gregg and screenwriter Hugh Stoddart, and perhaps it was the speed with which they were being funded to make films at the time that might explain why Remembrance was allowed to disappear. The Falklands War, happening between the shoot and the film’s release, rightly attracted huge attention and may have pushed aside a fictional film set in peacetime.

It was shot entirely on location in Plymouth, much of it at night, using Super-16mm stock. It has now been meticulously restored by the British Film Institute and re-issued in their Flipside series.

Doors open at 18.30, for a 19.30 start.

Refreshments will be available in our licensed cafe/bar.

TICKETS & PRICING

Tickets £10.

Advance tickets may be purchased from Ticketlab, or direct from the Museum by calling 020 7840 2200 in office hours.
Remembrance