Thirty-seventh session, Cine_ilegal

Screening of a film proposed by Peio Aguirre, followed by a debate.

Performance (Donald Cammell / Nicolas Roeg, 1970, 105 min.)

Gangster in a tight corner finds shelter in the home of an elusive rock star. This might sum up Performance, co-directed by Donald Cammel and Nicolas Roeg in 1968 and first shown in the UK in early 1971. Legend tells that when Warner Brothers saw the first cuts of the film they were shocked by its explicit sex and violence and formal radicalism, and tried to destroy the negative. Performance is a story of criminal underground London in the 60s, the so-called Swinging London, a unique protrayal of the spirit of an entire generation and an opening into the abyss of sexual and social identity.

Peio Aguirre (Elorrio, 1972) is a writer, art critic, independent curator and editor based in Donostia-San Sebastián. He writes habitually for his own blog “Crítica y Metacomentario” ( http://peioaguirre.blogspot.com ).