It’s in the trees, it’s coming! Not The Devil Rides Out (as I mistakenly announced at the last film night) but for April we turn to a folk horror classic from 1957: Night of the Demon, sampled by Kate Bush and adapted from the MR James story, Casting the Runes. American professor John Holden (Dana Andrews) arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was killed in a freak accident the day before. It turns out that the deceased had been investigating a cult lead by Dr. Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis). Though a skeptic, Holden is suspicious of the devil-worshiping Karswell. Following a trail of mysterious manuscripts, Holden enters a world that makes him question his faith in science. Night of the Demon has a great cast, moves a fast pace, is full of atmosphere and has plenty of folk horror tropes from a scene at Stone Henge to cults, curses and paganism!

A special night dedicated to our local waterways with talks from those who study, walk and live on them. Learn about Sussex’s lost rivers (including Brighton’s own Wellsbourne), take a psychogeographical walk along the Cuckmere and discover the highs and lows of life on a Shoreham houseboat.
With live music from The Duck Pond Sailors and the Brighton Folk Choir.

Hosted by David Bramwell

Cuckmere River – Rachel Poulton

Writer, photographer and educator Rachel Poulton takes us on an atmospheric wander along East Sussex’s Cuckmere River that wends its way from the Weald to the sea, to explore the ghosts and lore that lie en route – from the ancient burial mounds on Windover Hill, guarded by the Wilmington Giant; to the medieval ghost village at Exceat and the World War Two pillboxes, mingling with memories of nineteenth century smuggling gangs down at Cuckmere Haven.

Asteroid’s Story – Jackie Blackwell

Jackie Blackwell – a part time wedding registrar, funeral assistant and celebrant – lived in Brighton for over 30 years, until she moved to live on a houseboat in 2017. Asteroid’s Story is a true tale from the riverbank in Shoreham, where she shares part of her fascinating story as well as the history of this once grand boat.

Riverine Resurrections: A history and celebration of the irrepressible waterways of Sussex – Vera Zakharov

Whatever happened to the bournes of Brighton, and can we still find them? And what of the old ways of the Sussex Ouse? Humans have an ambivalent relationship with waterways, perceived as nourishers of the body and soul, and yet demonised (much like the deities associated with them). Vera takes a personal, cartographic and queer ecological journey along the buried and re-emerging waterways of the local area to discover what nature can teach us of our own liberation.

The Duck Pond Sailors and the Brighton Folk Choir
As we sit in Horatio’s Bar above, and surrounded by, the sea what better place for a few sea shanties performed by Brighton’s community choir and Catalyst favourites, The Duck Pond Sailors.

Dress code: large flappy bellbottoms, beard, fishing rod, inflatable life vest, rubber waders. Fish optional.

During a family holiday in Cornwall, writer and broadcaster John Doran decided to drag his long-suffering family around as many Aphex Twin related places of interest as they could reach in one day, taking in the curious speaker cone shaped amphitheatre the Gwennap Pit, the dreamlike coastal settlement of St Michael’s Mount and the mysterious Logan Rock. The jaunt became the basis of Selected Ambient Walks: Aphex Twin And Cornish Mythology, a lecture to be presented at The Bosco in full 5.1 AFX Vision*. The talk draws many links between the tin mining industry, West Country witches, the legend of Merlin’s keep, state vandalism of the Logan rock, Michel Foucault and the stunning history of the Cornish pasty.

John Doran is the co-founder and editor of the Quietus website. He is a regular guest and presenter on BBC Radio. He wrote and presented the award winning documentary In Search Of Aphex Twin for BBC Radio 4 and wrote and presented Radio 4’s New Weird Britain series.

*it’s a Powerpoint slide show with some music

Join us for a deep dive into the folklore of standing stones. We explore Sussex’s monuments old and new with David Bramwell and Philip Carr-Gomm. Katy Soar editor of Circles of Stone (British Library Tales of the Weird) and Strange Relics (Handheld Press) will take us on a journey into the ancient rites and sights of Pagan Britain, and Simon Costin of The Museum of British Folklore will discuss folk customs, costumes and preserving folk histories with Stone Club’s Matthew Shaw. Plus a 1953 Folk Film special.

Simon Costin is the founder and director of the Museum of British Folklore and the director of the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall. He is best known for his catwalk show designs for Alexander McQueen.

Katy Soar is Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology at Winchester University. In addition to Circles of Stone and Strange Relics Katy has written on folk horror in the Routledge Companion to Folk Horror, Hellebore Zine and the Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain.

Philip Carr-Gomm is an author in the fields of psychology and Druidry, a psychologist, and one of the leaders and former Chosen Chief of The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.

Marra is a deep interrogation into the dialect and ceremonies of West Cumbria, endangered voices and esoteric rituals from auctioneers to gurners. A set of short films comprise music, art and general all-pervasive weirdness as Sharp documents her experience as a second-generation immigrant in a small northwestern farmers town.
From Eskdale sheep dances to the Seychelles Sega, Sharp’s ancestors bounce in the sand singing in sugar cane plantations as the World’s Greatest Liar spins a tale from the south lakes. Climb the greasy pole and smoke the fastest pipe, catch the apples from Egremont crab fair. And why are all these Cumbrians turning their faces inside out? Reigning champion of the worlds ugliest face, Tommy Mattinson, contorts his face into a wolf. Then it’s time for a wrestle in your long johns over the frozen lake Windermere. Entropy at its finest. Transcend into chaos with the Cumbrians!

Natalie Sharp is a British artist, musician, and radical body activist of dual heritage, at the forefront of what The Quietus described as ‘New Wyrd Britain’. Her work is rooted in radical body activism, aiming to challenge ableist structures and promote a more inclusive society.

@Nat__Sharp. www.nataliesharp.co.uk

In April Cole Moreton shared the stories of a few courageous individuals from his book Everything is Extraordinary and author Tom Cutler revealed the hilarious tales behind his alter-ego Tomas Santos, Sarah Ticho was planning to talk to us about VR, wellbeing and an award-winning VR experience called Soul Paint but after suffering mild concussion when an ostrich egg fell on her head she sent along her collaborator Niki Smitt instead!
We’re back in May with David Young, Dorothy Saul Pooley and Sussex University’s Lynne Murphy.

In April Jackie Blackwell took us on the journey of the life (and death) of a Shoreham houseboat, Asteroid; Sussex author David Arscott shared the life of Hillaire Belloc with poetry readings from Jill Arscott; and Chris Hogg told the fascinating history of The Friday Night Service, which mixed rave culture with Christianity to great success but also exposed the dark side of its ‘cult leader’ Chris Brain.
We’re back a couple of weeks later than usual, on Wed May 22nd, with Joe Speaking, Leo Jaxan Phoenix and Colleen Slater.

Exist beyond so-called norms in this unique evening of startling and transgressive performance art that looks to the future but also pays tribute to the legacies of sound pioneers Throbbing Gristle, Genesis P.Orridge, Fist-F***, the anti-art happenings of Coum Transmissions, the occult and sex magick themes of Coil and the sigil-driven ‘modern primitives’ cult of Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth.

DEER PARK (DIR. ANDREW FINCH)
Tracing a psychogeographic link between East Sussex, London and Somerset, Andrew’s newest work weaves through landscapes inhabited by Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and Coil, unearthing a treasure map into the dark woods of British industrial music. Live accompaniment from Ghostlore of Britain.

SOFT BODIES (MIKE SEFTON)
Mike Sefton performs with film, electronic music, his own not-voice, and the disembodied voices of the neither dead nor living to interrogate the vulnerability of the body – how it holds the surfaces and depths of our psyche and the place of our mysteries, subjectivities, pleasures, harms and histories.

RAW UNKNOWN (JILL WESTWOOD)
An audio-visual-poetic encounter as Jill Westwood (ex. of female power electronics duo FistF***) delves into the materiality of her ‘life as art’ experiences, feeling into the sacred and RAW UNKNOWN and asking, “What lies hidden in the depths of the unconscious waiting to be felt by the touch of art?” ‘

COUM FLAKES
Led by Foxtrot Echo – one of Coum’s early offshoot members – this live collective hold dear the COUM mission to shake up expectations using light, sound, noise, filmic, spasmodic, fluidic, balletic and the artistic’ .

After inheriting a century-old moustache in a box, David Bramwell embarks on a ten-year odyssey to discover all he can about its former owner – a former freak show host – and why this object had fallen into his possession. His quest draws him into the underbelly of Brighton – its séances, spiritual churches and a seedy basement club – where he unwittingly becomes the host of a modern-day freakshow. Coming to believe that his ‘hairloom’ is possessed, Bramwell joins a cult, dabbles with Amazonian psychedelics and, well, goes a bit loopy. Can he uncover the occult secrets of his singular inheritance before his sanity gives in? Where does Salvador Dali fit into all of this? And who is the mysterious Drako Zarharzar?
This award-winning monologue is a supernatural coming-of-age story, an exploration into magic and an affectionate portrayal of Brighton’s rich counterculture.

‘Such fabulous material crafted into a piece that sometimes runs ahead of even the performer himself. A five star show to watch more than once’ Fringe Review

‘An exceptional storyteller who weaves the truth about a strange inheritance into a hypnotic tale of obsession’ Radio Times

‘Neurologically, this will light you up like a Christmas tree’ Alan Moore

Directed by Nicky Haydn