Potemkin release, special screening /Neil Q and A 5th September

[Sandy Shaw]

https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/news/2025 ... potemkin-4

To mark the centenary of Sergei Eisenstein’s legendary silent film, “Battleship Potemkin”, a restored version made by Deutsche Kinemathek, featuring the celebrated score by Tennant and Lowe of Pet Shop Boys, will be released for the first time in cinemas and on a two-disc Blu-ray and CD package by the BFI.

On 22 August 2025, “Battleship Potemkin” will open in selected cinemas in the UK and Ireland. Ahead of a week-long run, a special double screening event, at BFI Southbank on Friday 5 September 2025 at 6.30pm, will begin with Pet Shop Boys’ feature film “It Couldn’t Happen Here” (1988), in memory of its late director, Jack Bond, followed by a Q&A with Neil Tennant, hosted by Paul Tickell, and then a screening of Battleship Potemkin.

5 September is also the release date of the BFI’s Blu-ray package of the film, containing both a Blu-ray disc and a CD of the score, along with extra features and an illustrated booklet. Simultaneously, Parlophone will release the score on remastered CD and on vinyl for the first time on a double LP. All three formats are available to pre-order now at the link below.

The special features on the Blu-ray and CD are:

Hochhaussinfonie (2017, 68 mins): a multimedia musical production by the Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra and Pet Shop Boys, conceived by Markus Rindt and directed by Sven Helbig, on the evening of July 20, 2006, in Dresden
Trafalgar Square Highlights (2004, 4 mins): a behind-the-scenes film when Pet Shop Boys performed their newly composed score for Battleship Potemkin, accompanied by the Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra in Trafalgar Square, London
Trailer (2025)
A limited edition illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Chris Heath and Sarah Cleary, and archive pieces by Neil Tennant and Michael Brooke

[Sandy Shaw]

More info on BFI site for the event / release. https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/battleship- ... -shop-boys

Tickets for the 5 September Q&A screening at BFI Southbank will be on sale to BFI Patrons on 4 August, to BFI Members on 5 August and to the public on 7 August. Prices are: £28.00 standard, £25.50 members, £23.00 concessions.

A fixture in the critical canon almost since its premiere, Eisenstein’s film about a 1905 naval mutiny was revolutionary in both form and content. Battleship Potemkin is renowned for its dynamic compositional strength and editing of such frame-perfect precision that it’s hard not to be swept along. The set-piece massacre on the Odessa Steps still packs a sledgehammer punch.

First revealed at a free outdoor live performance and screening in front of an estimated 25,000 people in London’s Trafalgar Square on 12 September 2004, Pet Shop Boys’ score, performed with the Dresdner Sinfoniker conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer with orchestrations by Torsten Rasch, blends electronic beats with orchestral grandeur to create a rousing contemporary cinematic experience.

Since the premiere, Pet Shop Boys with Dresdner Sinfoniker have performed the music with the film in European cities including Frankfurt, Bonn, Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, and Segovia, Spain. On May 1, 2006, Pet Shop Boys with the Northern Sinfonia, performed the music with the film at a special event at Swan Hunter’s shipyard, Wallsend. The first UK cinema screening with the recorded Tennant/Lowe score took place at BFI Southbank as part of the 2013 Meltdown Festival curated by Yoko Ono.

[Morrie]

Fantastic and exciting to have the film and score together…but a single £50 p+p option to New Zealand is eye-wateringly expensive.

[DopeFiend]

Thanks, wise to create a new thread for the Q&A.
I'm hoping we get some interesting insights about ICCH.
We'll see.

For the sake of conversation, who's going? To the screenings or double screening.
I would if I could but I'm not in the UK.

[Sandy Shaw]

Thanks, wise to create a new thread for the Q&A.
I'm hoping we get some interesting insights about ICCH.
We'll see.

For the sake of conversation, who's going? To the screenings or double screening.
I would if I could but I'm not in the UK.

Thanks. Yes, felt like it needed a thread as was being discussed in threads that didn't completely match the topic.
I'd love to be there. Think I'll rejoin the BFI to get the advanced booking for the double screening and Q and A. I've taken the afternoon off on the day of the event so that I can arrive there without feeling stressed after work and get a return ticket if I haven't been lucky for any reason.

[Sandy Shaw]

Members on-sale 12 noon today. I've re-joined after a gap of many years.
Yippee! I'm in!!!

[IDontKnowWhatYouWant]

Were you able to grab a ticket ok? Got positioned about 49 in the queue, within 2 minutes had purchased a ticket. A good chunk of central seats had already gone but got a decent one in Row D.

I think we were at the Podcast walk this weekend just gone - this is Ian, proud wearer of the podcast T-Shirts

[coufy]

16 tickets left for non-members, sold out in few seconds.

[stussyboy]

Had 1 ticket in my basket, but sold out when I tried to pay
If anyone has a spare

[Sandy Shaw]

Had 1 ticket in my basket, but sold out when I tried to pay
If anyone has a spare

Check your PMs

[stussyboy]

Had 1 ticket in my basket, but sold out when I tried to pay
If anyone has a spare

Check your PMs

[Gabby]

Got my shipping notification from the OS yesterday for the BluRay and vinyl. Probably take a year or two to reach me but at least it's on its' way.

[OakeyDokey]

Anyone know what time the BFI gig will finish at?

[Vintage Youth]

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[Gabby]

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To be honest I think a double bill of ICHH and Potemkin could be quite a grueling 4 hours.

I'd certainly need a stiff drink or two before hand, and probably afterwards as well.