Travelling Symphony Movie Club

The Preview Show: Blinded By The Light

We look forward to tonight's live watch-along of Blinded By The Light and discuss what we love about the film - its universality and message, as well as how well it captures the feeling of being a teenager discovering great music for the first time.

We also, of course, have our weekly parish notices.

If you'd like to watch along tonight, the movie is available on Amazon Prime in the UK, or you can rent it from Amazon, Apple, Sky Player or wherever you usually get your movies.

LINKS:

Instagram: @TSMovieClub

Live Text Chat: Join Here

The Imitation Game: The true stories of Bletchley Park, plus how Alan Turing was pardoned

We've got a sensational episode for this week's Imitation Game companion, with two brilliant guests to shed some light on the true stories behind the movie.

First, we speak to Professor Chris Grey, an expert in Organisational Theory and author of Decoding Organisation - a book detailing the inner workings of Bletchley Park during World War Two.

In our chat we discuss some of the key bones of contention about the accuracy of the film, including Alastair Denniston's portrayal as someone opposed to Alan Turing's work, whether MI6 were involved with the passing of information to the USSR through Soviet spies, the complexity of the Enigma, the role of women at Bletchley and whether Turing was as difficult a character as is made out in the movie.

We also cover loads of bits that weren't mentioned in The Imitation Game, like the role of Polish codebreakers before the war, and how decoded messages were passed securely to military commanders and politicians in London.

It's such a fascinating chat and adds so much more detail to the events of the film.

We also talk with John Leech, a Lib Dem Councillor and former MP who was one of the key figures behind the Alan Turing Bill, which secured pardons not only for Turing but for tens of thousands of men convicted of gross indecency because of their sexuality.

He tells us how he and his colleagues managed to get the bill through Parliament and how it felt to have a key role in such a significant law.

LINKS:

Prof. Chris Grey's book Decoding Organisation: https://amzn.to/2RiO26c
Travelling Symphony on Instagram: @TSMovieClub

The Preview Show: The Imitation Game

We look forward to Friday's live watch-along of The Imitation Game - it's available to watch for free as part of your Amazon Prime subscription (if you have one).

In this week's preview, we discuss not only how the film caused a bit of controversy over its historical accuracy, but also what the balance is between highlighting a specific issue and remaining faithful to the facts.

We're also joined by Philippa Lawley-Barrett, who nominated the movie for our community - she tells us what she enjoyed most about The Imitation Game and what she looks for in a great film.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and join for the live watch-along this Friday at 7:45pm.

LINKS:

Instagram: @TSMovieClub
Website: TravellingSymphony.com

Paddington 2: Sanjeev Bhaskar on community, favourite movies and Hugh Grant's improv skills

We're so excited for this week's Paddington 2 companion podcast as we got the chance to chat to actor, writer and overall cinema fan Sanjeev Bhaskar. Sanjeev played Dr. Jafri in the film and has a fantastic career across film, television and radio - he broke new ground with his TV shows Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at Number 42.

We covered all manner of subjects: immigration and representation, changing the notion of "their stories" to "our stories", his love of films and which ones he showed his son growing up and, of course, some of his best memories from making Paddington 2.

Also on the pod this week is Josh Hallam from Help Refugees, who brought Paddington's themes of integrating immigrants and refugees to life through his real-world examples and experiences working to assist those searching for a better life in a new place.

LINKS:

• Riz Ahmed's "Where You From" conversation with Guz Khan and Hasan Minhaj:  https://bit.ly/3dBRS3R
• Riz Ahmed's short film "The Long Goodbye": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzz50xENH4g
• Help Refugees: https://helprefugees.org/uk/

Follow Travelling Symphony:

• Instagram @TSMovieClub
• Twitter @TSMovieClub

The Preview Show: Paddington 2

We can't wait for our live watch-along of Paddington 2 on Friday evening, so we're chatting about some of the things that we think helped make this film the best-reviewed of all time on Rotten Tomatoes.

Storybook cinema, the positive influence of immigration on society and Hugh Grant's movie-stealing performance all feature as we preview one of the most beautiful movies in recent years.

There's also time for a quick peek at our interview with Josh Hallam from Help Refugees and our first look at Katie's Parish Notices, which may or may not be reflective of your own time in isolation.

Don't forget - our second Travelling Symphony is on Friday 27th March and starts with the Instagram Live pre-film show on @TSMovieClub at 7:45pm, before our live text chat on Discord at 8:00 and the after-film conversation back on Instagram Live at 9:45.

Instagram: @TSMovieClub
Discord: Join our chat group

See you on Friday!

I, Tonya: An athlete betrayed by her family, her sport and her nation

It's our first companion podcast! We'll be aiming to release one of these to go with every movie to explore its themes, ideas and concepts.

This week, we're talking I, Tonya with the fantastic Sarah Marshall - a native of Tonya Harding's home city of Portland, Oregon and the author of the 2014 essay that redefined the skater's reputation.

Read Sarah's essay 'Remote Control' here: https://believermag.com/remote-control/

We discuss how Tonya was discriminated against by the ice skating community, her ongoing legacy, the triple axel's impact on her career and whether anyone can be trusted to remember things they lived through correctly.

Sarah also co-hosts the podcast 'You're Wrong About' which analyses commonly misremembered events in recent history. Listen to their show on Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan here: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/michael-hobbes/youre-wrong-about/e/62653599

There's also a bit of chat about what else you can be expecting from us in the next week or so. We'll speak to you soon to talk our next movie choice!

Hi-De-Hi!

Hi-De-Hi team! This is our intro to Travelling Symphony, the free stay-at-home movie club.

We introduce ourselves (and Biggie the dog), along with all the info on where and how to get involved. Plus, an explainer on the name if you were ever curious.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram @TSMovieClub for the latest info, or you can sign up to our mailing list on https://travellingsymphony.com/join

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We’re a stay-at-home movie club, set up by UK-based Jon Naylor and Katie Hobbs, specifically created now that we’re all going to be spending a lot more time inside than we might have expected this year!

Our goal is to use film to bring people together, create a community and give us all a sense of togetherness in a time when most of us will be feeling very far apart from our loved ones.

We’ll be having regular (hopefully more than weekly) live watch-alongs, followed by a podcast with experts, thought leaders and interesting people to discuss not just the subject of the film, but the themes it covers and the ideas it brings forward.