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A Cinema of Forking Paths: Performance (1970)

Screening as part of the curated film season ‘A Cinema of Forking Paths – Films Inspired by Borges’.

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7pm - 10pm

£8 (£6 concession) in advance / £10 on the door


“..a virtuoso juggling act which manipulates its visual and verbal imagery so cunningly that the borderline between reality and fantasy is gradually eliminated.”

Born out of the psychedelic haze of the late sixties, Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell’s Performance (1970) combines philosophy with unadulterated pulpiness, a classically Borgesian combination. Chas (James Fox) is a crook who goes on the run from the law in a hallucinatory vision of London, taking refuge in the home of an ageing rocker played with typical bravado by Mick Jagger. Reality and identity soon begin to crumble.

Performance initially received an X-rating from the British censors due to its excess of sex and violence but by shining a brighter spotlight on the influence that Jorge Luis Borges had on Performance, we hope to draw out the more unconventional and literary influences found within the film.


Performance is screening as part of the curated film season ‘A Cinema of Forking Paths – Films Inspired by Borges’ in collaboration with the National Film and Television School.


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