The War Game

1965 / UK / 48 mins / Dir: Peter Watkins
Cast: Michael Aspel, Peter Graham

Between the screenings of The War Game and When the Wind Blows will be a Q&A with Dr Michael Wayne (Brunel University).

This worst-case scenario docu-drama about nuclear war and its aftermath in and around a typical English city won an Oscar for Best Documentary, despite being fictional.

Initially intended as an hour-long programme to air on BBC 1, The War Game was deemed too intense and violent to broadcast and went to theatrical distribution as a feature film instead. Low-budget and shot on location, it strives for and achieves convincing and unflinching realism.

Winner: BAFTA, Best Short Film
            Academy Award, Best Documentary

‘The Cold War’s most sociopolitically vital film… required viewing’ The Village Voice

‘One of the most skilful documentary films ever made… They should string up bedsheets between the trees and show The War Game in every public park.’ Roger Ebert

When the Wind Blows

1986 / UK / 80 mins / Dir: Jimmy T. Murakami
Cast: Peggy Ashcroft, John Mill

Based on the graphic novel by Raymond Brigg’s (The Snowman) this moving animation features a soundtrack from the likes of David Bowie and Roger Waters.

An elderly British couple living in the countryside, Jim and Hilda Bloggs, believe that the government will always know what it is doing. The world is fast heading for nuclear world war between the US and the Soviets and so Jim prepares for it by building a shelter using government pamphlets. However, with vivid memories of the WWII, the Bloggs cannot fully comprehend a war that will be fought with nuclear weapons. All too soon, war breaks out and Jim and Hilda survive the blast. They stand back and wait for help from the government and for things to get back to normal, little knowing that help isn’t on its way, and that, unknown to them, Jim and Hilda are slowly dying from radiation poisoning.

  ‘Powerful stuff and in Brit-toon terms, a total one-off.’ Empire Magazine