Round-Up: TT Cinema July-October

TT Cinema, our independent cinema space in Shoreditch, is back after its summer hiatus – with a series of new screenings to look forward to in the works.

In light of this return to form, we’ve decided to do a quick round-up looking back upon the previous few screenings – and give you an insight into what to look forwards to as we hurtle towards 2019 at break-neck speed.

July saw us team up with Kentucky-based bourbon purveyors, Rebel Yell, for a special screening of Luc Besson’s classic nail-biting masterpiece, Léon: The Professional.

Attendees were treated to a whole host of thrills and spills, as the story followed the exploits of professional assassin – Léon – on a gritty journey through the underbelly of 90s New York, as his young protegé Mathilda (Natalie Portman) attempts to wreak her revenge on the man who murdered her family – all the while learning the art of murder from her imperfect mentor.

As per, we had the liquid refreshments covered. Especially for the evening, our bar team were hard at work designing a bespoke serve which was available absolutely free of charge for one night only. We dubbed it ‘This Is For Mathilda’, and our events manager Jake had this to say:

If you’ve watched the film you may have noticed that pretty much the only thing that our protagonist, Léon, seems to drink is milk. There’s never a moment where a carton of the stuff is far from his hands. So we thought we’d acknowledge this fact with a milk-based cocktail for the night.

And a pretty classic combination with milk is cereal, right? So we thought we’d do something a little bit unusual and make a Crunchy Nut-infused milk to go into it. Then we added the dryness of the rye from Rebel Yell’s Small Batch, which cuts through the sweetness of the milk and the maple syrup. Finally we topped it off with a little dash of spiced chocolate bitters to balance out the whole act. So there’s a couple of really sweet ingredients and there’s a couple of really dry ingredients, and they all come together to create a pretty delicious cocktail.

Moving on into the summer we provided our guests with a screening with a difference, in that for the first time food was introduced into the concept.

Indeed, August saw us team up with Remy Martin, as well as film-and-supper club specialists Kino Vino, as we transported attendees to Paris’ romantic causeways and verdant gardens thanks to a 6-course banquet packed with the finest Parisian produce around, as well as a special pre-dinner screening of Pierre Jeunet’s whimsical romantic comedy – Amelie. Read the full review here.

Then, after a month off in September, TT Cinema returned in frightening fashion for Hallow’s Eve with a ghoulish screening of the absolute quintessential cult Halloween caper, Ghostbusters.

Starring Bill Murray in his pomp, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Harold Ramis, the film follows four hapless university scientists who, upon losing their cushy jobs, decide to become “ghostbusters” and wage high-tech battle with the supernatural for money.

Countless capers ensue, as they battle ghouls, supernatural hellhounds, and a giant corporate mascot made out of marshmallow, after inadvertently stumbling upon a gateway to another dimension, a doorway that will release evil upon the city. The task then falls to them to save New York from utter destruction. In other words, attendees were in for a treat.

And the treats extended to the complimentary cocktail serve for the night, for which we collaborated with Dan Aykroyd’s very own Crystal Head Vodka, and which we named ‘Stay Puft’ in light of it’s beautiful marshmallow top, and the eponymous 100-ft villain from the film itself.

All in all, then, much to look back upon – and many reasons to be excited about the future. Hit some of the links below to find out more about our upcoming screenings, and to book yourselves in before tickets run out.

November 20th – Being John Malkovich (1999): The first of our trilogy of Spike Jonze appreciation screenings – to mark the legendary videographer’s 49th Birthday – is the surreal and endlessly inventive cult-comedy, Being John Malkovich. 

November 27th – Gangs of New York (2002): The end of November sees us team up with the guys at Redbreast Whiskey to put on a screening of Gangs of New York, Scorsese’s epic 2002 period drama.

January 29th – Her (2013): Second up in our series of Spike Jonze masterclasses is his Academy Award-winning take on the modern love story, Her.

TBC – The Italian Job (1969): We’re blowing the bloody doors off 2019 here at TT with a screening of Peter Collinson’s sensational crime caper, The Italian Job.