The train has always been the most natural of subjects for the cinema. For many the train is the cinema, two machines entwined, uncannily combining both motion and stillness. This Experimental Film Club programme will examine cinema’s obsession with the train through iconic works by Stan Brakhage, Ken Jacobs, Henri Chomette, Peter Tscherkassky, Dónal Ó Céilleachair and Pip Chodorov.

These rare films will be screened from 16mm prints on loan from Lightcone, Paris and will be preceded by a brief introduction from Daniel Fitzpatrick looking at the cinema’s long-standing obsession with this ‘engine of modernity’.

“Suddenly something clicks, everything vanishes and a train appears on the screen. It speeds straight at you—watch out!” – read Daniel Fitzpatrick’s essay, offering fascinating parallels between cinema and the perceptual experience of train travel.