UWE Bristol experts join film Q&A exploring music and melodrama

University academics will take part in this month’s Cary Comes Home Festival, with a special post-screening Q&A exploring music, melodrama and emotional storytelling in classic cinema.

The discussion, on 29 November at Bristol Megascreen, is supported by the university’s Screen Research and follows a showing of the tear-jerking 1941 film Penny Serenade, which earned its Bristol-born co-star Cary Grant his first Oscar nomination.

The festival, directed by Dr Charlotte Crofts, Professor of Filmmaking at UWE Bristol, celebrates Cary Grant’s ongoing legacy in his home city. This long-anticipated screening includes live elements such as a choir performing songs featured in the film, a DJ spinning original 78rpm records, and complimentary Cary Grant-branded tissues for those moved by the film’s emotional highs and lows.

Dr Crofts said: “We’ve been dreaming of showing Penny Serenade on the big screen for years - and now it’s finally happening. This is a film that deserves to be experienced in all its emotional glory, and there’s nothing like sharing those tears and laughter with a live audience.”

In the film, Irene Dunne triggers flashbacks from the ups and downs of her life and marriage as she re-listens to memories-soaked 78rpm records while on the brink of divorcing her husband, Roger (Cary Grant).

Dr Crofts added: “It would spoil it to give too much of the plot away but both Irene and Cary have named this as their finest work and it’s certainly a film which pulls at the heart.”

An expert panel, supported by UWE Bristol’s Screen Research, will lead the post-film Q&A, including academics Dr Estella Tincknell, a Visiting Fellow and former Associate Professor in Film and Culture, and Dr Kathrina Glitre, a senior Lecturer in Film Studies at UWE Bristol.

The session will examine how Penny Serenade uses music as a narrative driver, why melodrama continues to resonate with contemporary audiences, and how classic Hollywood films are reinterpreted through modern exhibition practices.

Bookings are open now using a sliding scale of ticket prices via www.carycomeshome.co.uk or Headfirst https://hdfst.uk/e139428

This event is happening as part of TOO MUCH: Melodrama on Film, a major UK-wide season celebrating cinema’s biggest emotions and heightened dramatics from around the world. Presented with the support of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from the National Lottery.