Northern Soul Season Dedicated to Northern Women at Bradford’s Pictureville
by Northern Life
Part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture
From 30 January to 9 February, the newly reopened National Science and Media Museum’s Pictureville Cinema will host a season dedicated to northern women in film. The programme has been specially curated by West Yorkshire-raised writer-director Clio Barnard for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
Northern Soul kicks off Bradford: A City of Film, a programme of independent film across the Bradford district, launching in Yorkshire’s largest independent cinema.
Typist Artist Pirate King
Northern Soul showcases the diversity of perspective, experience and imagination of female voices in the north over six decades, from 60s British New Wave titles to more recent releases from across the region. Taking place in Yorkshire’s most prominent independent cinema, the inaugural season for Bradford: A City of Film shines a spotlight on the city’s UNESCO City of Film status whilst championing cinematic trailblazers on both sides of the lens.
A Taste of Honey
The season opens with Tony Richardson’s film adaptation of A Taste of Honey (1961), an original screenplay by Shelagh Delaney, on Thursday, 30 January. The screening includes a post-screening conversation with programme curator Clio Barnard, who described Rita Tushingham’s performance as protagonist Jo as ‘absolutely mesmerising.’. The season continues to tell stories of working-class girlhood, with Rita Tushingham also starring in a 35mm print screening of Under the Skin (1997) screening on Saturday, 1 February, with an introduction from Dr Karen Thornton.
Bhaji on the Beach
Other highlights from across the season include Gurinder Chadha’s frank yet touching comedy Bhaji on the Beach (1993), introduced by actress Shaheen Khan, Carol Morley’s Typist Artist Pirate King (2022), and Northern Soul (2014), which includes a post-screening discussion with director Elaine Constantine and artist and filmmaker Jeanie Finlay. For stories even closer to home for Bradford, Northern Soul also includes a 35mm print screening of Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel Wuthering Heights, introduced by BFI critic Kate Stables.
