Is there anything better than heading out to the cinema on an overcast, winter’s day, knowing exactly when you’re going to laugh at every off-beat punchline?

We may be entrenched in the film awards season, but there’s something wonderfully contrary about setting out to see an old film on a big screen. Run Riot’s Guest Editor this week is Steven T Hanley, Moth Club’s film curator, who runs Deeper Into Movies, screening films many of its biggest fans were never old enough to see the first time they were released. They’re often paired with thoughtfully chosen documentaries to re-establish the defining aspects of the film, or accompanied by DJs or bands with one-off cover sets. One of the defining aspects of these nights seem to be that they are always packed to capacity, thanks to the enduring nature of films that have sunk into a generation’s subconscious. You may not have seen Paris, Texas, but you can probably recognise Ry Cooder’s soundtrack and tell me something about Harry Dean Stanton, right?

Deeper Into Movies deal in well-chosen nostalgia. In a city where things never get any cheaper, the enduring popularity of independent cinemas and film nights certainly manage to shine through. In these places- as Steven goes on to list- there’s a refreshingly no-brow approach to cinema. These are where the real cult classics live out their days. It doesn’t necessarily matter how new, old, respected or contentious these films are in wider circles. They manage to strike a chord with their audience and pack out Deeper Into Movies’ screenings, in a way that defies the expectations of multiplex cinemas, blockbusters and endless Marvel sequels.

Run Riot: Have you seen La La Land? What did you make of it?

Steven T Hanley: HELL NO. I'm pretty nauseated by the hype surrounding that movie already....But I need to see it if just to have an opinion on it. Marc Maron said something great about catching up on stuff in your own time when the shit storm has settled I think it was: "I'm gonna wait until the parties over - that way I know if I'm having a good time".

RR: Why do you think nostalgia has become such a popular source of entertainment in the past few years? Do you think there is anything at risk by retreating back into familiar films and characters?

STH: Oh man nostalgia and retro culture is so fucking huge. The big social commentators and cultural thinkers say our generation has no movement or scene so we’re just a fucking mess! An assortment of appropriations and cultural artefacts from the past. Kinda explains why every guy who serves me coffee or beer looks like they're about to operate a steam engine or got dressed running through a time machine…this coming from the guy who owns 2 VHS players and searches eBay on the regular for Seinfeld and Blockbuster memorabilia..

RR: How do you tread a line between nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, and learning something from previous cinematic events?

STH: I kinda see that as two different things. I don't mind nostalgia. Hey if you wanna watch Clueless and Pretty in Pink and remember being 13 that's fine. Take comfort where you can! Those movies are still dope as fuck.

RR: When did you start programming for Moth Club and Deeper Into Movies? What kind of nights did you set out to create?

STH: My pal Michael Galinsky, who is an amazing photographer and musician and now documentary maker at Rumur Films kept telling me to screen his movie from the 90’s called Half-Cocked (1994).It’s about a group of slackers who steal a band’s music equipment and their tour van and head off on the road pretending to a band. I watched and thought “This is amazing! How have I not seen this before?” I messaged Moth Club and said "This movie has some real potential it’s got a ton of cool people in it. Can we screen it?" I had a quick meeting with Jamal [Guthrie] who works in the office and he said sure. I got a healthy turn out for that so I asked can I try and screen Fugazi: Instrument (1999). This when it really came together: Fugazi: Instrument sold out in a day so I got a message saying we had to do two nights screenings then another message from Jem Cohen, the director of the Fugazi documentary. He was coincidentally in London screening some of his work at The Barbican. He was stoked to hear the screenings were a hit and invited me down to meet him. I rushed down to The Barbican and the film curators there introduced me to Jem and let me record a video introduction for my screening. They really seemed excited and happy that I’m running a DIY film night. After the film, during the Q&A, the host gave me a shout out on stage saying “head down to moth club tomorrow for a real DIY screening”. That really inspired me - a great institute like Barbican calling me out and giving me a shout out.

Shortly after I screened Kids (1995) which went fucking nuts – sold out again it - was like a Supreme pop up store. We had to remove all the tables to make space for more chairs. We ended up using every chair in the building and people were sitting on the floor, on top of the piano, on the side of the stage. After it's been similar sized crowds ever since.

RR: Had you been to anything else like it in London or other cities that you wanted to emulate?

STH: Absolutely the trifecta is: BFI Southbank for their curation and their mission statement of preserving film culture and film history. They show awesome film seasons every month and most importantly they restore and save film prints that otherwise would otherwise just crumble away and never be seen ever again. They're a national treasure. I've seen so many great movies there Paris, Texas, The Long Goodbye, The Thing, Heaven’s Gate, Godard and Truffaut movies, Harmony Korine in conversation etc.

Then The Prince Charles Cinema- those guys can do no wrong: Midnight movies, film marathons, double and triple bills, VHS nights, trashy horror movies, Jackie Chan movies... Again great memories there I saw Kids (1995) there when I was 19 and it changed my life. 
 And then Quentin Tarantino's New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. I remember reading that he does most of the programming and if he wants to see a movie he just screens it and I thought “man that's fucking life goals”.

RR: When are the golden ages of cinema in your eyes? What made them so?

STH: The 1970s and the 1990s. The ‘70s saw the power in the hands of the directors, not the studios. It's the golden era of American cinema. The new Hollywood movement marked a significant shift towards independently produced and innovative works by a new wave of directors like Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Robert Altman and Francis Ford Coppola. If you look at films from that era the list is fucking insane - Don’t Look Back, Point Blank, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rosemary’s Baby, Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy, The French Connection, Harold and Maude, Taxi Driver, Rocky, Mean Streets, The Long Goodbye, Eraserhead...

And the '90s saw a similar movement with Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, Gus Van Sant, Hal Hartley, Richard Linklater, Whit Stillman, Alexandre Rockwell and so many great movies starring Steve Buscemi and Chloë Sevigny. Welcome to the Dollhouse, Kids, Rushmore, Hard Eight, Clerks, Slacker, Do the Right Thing, Heathers, My Own Private Idaho, Before Sunrise, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and The Virgin Suicides. Now compare this to the movies at the moment- Lego and Marvel movies!

RR: So there’s this no-brow approach to cinema that I think a lot of film programmers are beginning to embrace. Would you say you do, or what would you say are your low-brow-no-goes? Would you ever set out to avoid screening any types of films?

STH: I don't believe in guilty pleasures at all. I'll happily show anything if I think it's a good movie. I don't believe in showing anything that’s done with a smirk. I don’t do ironic programming. Anything I screen I really genuinely love and think other people will.

RR: What appeals to you about watching films that are decades old?

STH: I don't really consider the age of the movie. If its good its good.

RR: Has there ever been a film you’ve rewatched and totally changed your perception of, or your reading of it?

STH: My pal Michael Salerno, who makes art under the name kiddie punk, raved to me about the film Birth (2004) which I'd seen years ago and remember enjoying. But I rewatched it last year and it’s one of the greatest films of all time. Hands fucking down. I think it was so hard to market or label or pitch in a sentence that it kinda miffed people. Birth is about a woman (played by Nicole Kidman, in a really great and quite strange performance) who believes a 10-year-old boy is the reincarnation of her dead husband. The scope, ambition, and themes of the movie are just stunning: a grand scale meditation on love and grief. The opening shot alone is a masterpiece and one of the greatest openings of any movie ever. The director Jonathan Glazer brought in Stanley Kubrick's steadicam operator for one day just to shoot that. That's worth the entry ticket alone!

RR: And lastly- what’s coming up for Deeper Into Movies?

STH: We've got a Jim Jarmusch season, a David Lynch season, and a huge Twin Peaks night which were keeping details of under wraps. I want to do a season of female directors, there needs to be more women making movies. Chloë Sevigny is letting us screen her short film. I just wanna keep finding and presenting interesting and unusual film programs and hopefully build a regular crowd of film lovers where we can watch great movies, discover new ones and listen to good music.

Header photo of Steven T Hanley by Cressida Djambov.

Deeper Into Movies will screen Harold and Maude on 12th February at Moth Club, E9 6NU. Follow Deeper Into Movies over on their Facebook page to learn about new screenings and events, and you can see everything Moth Club has got going on here.