Hackney Premiere of Anja Kirschner and David Panos' film,'TRAIL OF THE SPIDER'

'Trail of the Spider' is a Western shot in Hackney and Essex, with a cast of actors and non-actors including many residents of East London.

The film recreates the epic panoramas of the Wild West using landfill sites in the Thames Gateway, gravel pits serving the Olympic Park, and Hackney Marshes - an area affected by the land grab accompanying the 2012 Olympics.

Trail of the Spider takes elements from the history of the Western (the stylized violence of Spaghetti Westerns and the melodrama of golden era 'Horse Operas') and combines them with the suppressed history of the multi-racial American West, where many cowboys were black, and alliances that crossed racial boundaries were common.

The film also addresses class conflict and displacement in East London today. By using standard Western plot devices of the 'arrival of the railroad' and the 'end of an era', Trail of the Spider explores the compromises and struggles of a population facing a new order of property speculation and gentrification.

Thursday 24 July 2008. 7.30pm doors: 8pm screening: Party 'till late at Chats Palace Arts Centre, 42-44 Brooksby's Walk, Homerton, Hackney, London, E9 6DF

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the makers of the film + bar and DJs MIZ CB2000 & guests.

TRAIL OF THE SPIDER (UK, 2008)