Film Festival and Freda Stark

[vilakins]

The annual international film festival starts here next week, and I've booked 10 films in three weeks. This is up on last year but I've been to as many as 17 in the past. I'm especially looking forward to the three Miyazaki films I haven't yet seen.

In the back of the festival catalogue is an advertisement for Stark's Bar which I've mentioned here before because both the name and logo fascinate me.



You'd swear by both that it was owned by a Farscape fan but it's named, as I suspected, for Freda Stark who was a famous dancer at the Civic Theatre (which the bar is right beside) and a gay icon. I'm not sure what the logo stands for, but for those who are interested in Freda, a fascinating woman with an equally intriguing life, here's a bit about her biography.

Comments

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Since she was born in 1930 I assume Freda was dancing in the late 40s early 50s. I have my parents wedding photos(1947) and all the young women (and my Grandmother, she was always as fashionable as she could afford) are wearing hats that are narrow and tilted down over one eye. I can see those hats taken to the extreme would look like the logo of Starks Bar

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

She hit the headlines in the 30s so I'd guess she was born around 1900 - 1910. She died in the 90s; I can still remember an interview with her as a very old but still lively and articulate woman when they reopened the Civic, which is an amazing theatre like an Arab palace.

But maybe the logo is indeed due to a style of hat. Or a dance of seven veils which is Greg's theory. I must go in when the bar's not too busy and ask.

[kernezelda]

If you're interested, another Miyazuki fan is veritykindle, aka Katya, who introduced me to "Spirited Away" last year.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks. I also recommend 'Princess Mononoke', a story of legends, spirits, ecology, and technology with complex and intriguing characters, and 'Castle in the Sky', in which the castle is Laputa, the floating island from Gulliver's Travels. This is a sort of alternate history in which I imagine it's the 20s or 30s but with steam-driven tech. Beautiful and fascinating films.