SCALARAMA 2026: Jean Cocteau’s ‘The Blood of a Poet’ with Score by ‘Blood Niece’

Good Boys Film Club is proud to present a screening of Jean Cocteau’s 1932 film ‘The Blood of a Poet’, as part of SCALARAMA FILM FESTIVAL 2026.

A landmark of early experimental film, ‘The Blood of a Poet’ imagines the plight of an artist embarking upon creation, their journey woven through Surrealism’s magnificent tapestry and captured within a cinema of totalising affect. Tracing the connective tissue between art, sacrifice, and the weight of violence upon a shared consciousness, Cocteau crafts the syntax of subconscious feeling that would come to define the rest of ‘The Orphic Trilogy’. Arresting portraits of the inexpressible, vistas of oneiric quality, and vignettes of the repressed bursting forth all collate in wondrous montage, concretising the words of its creator: “Poets . . . shed not only the red blood of their hearts but the white blood of their souls,”.

The event consists of two parts, with the film being played twice. The first screening will feature a live score by Blood Niece (Clare Spollen, James M. Creed), followed by a second screening where you, the audience, will participate. Instruments and various sound-making objects alike will be provided, allowing you to soundtrack the film yourself and respond intuitively to produce an open and discursive reflection on Cocteau’s work.

Blood Niece is the duo of musicians Clare Spollen and James M. Creed. Accordion/guitar, producing splinters of layered drones.

Ticket Information
Tickets are PAYF, with a recommended donation of £5. The event is NOTAFLOF: please do message me if you would like to attend but cannot afford to come.

Wharf Chambers is a members’ club and you need to be a member, or guest of a member, in order to attend. To join, please visit their website (https://wharfchambers.org/membership/). Membership costs £2 and requires a minimum of 48 hours to take effect.

Accessibility
Wharf Chambers is a fully accessible venue. There is ramp access to the screening space and an accessible toilet located by the bar. For more information, visit their website (https://wharfchambers.org/accessibility-information/).

TIMINGS
DOORS: 7pm
SCREENING ONE (SOUNDTRACKED): 7:30pm
BREAK: 8:30pm
SCREENING TWO (AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION): 8:45pm
EVENT END: 9:40pm

Content warnings: mild horror, mild violence, frequent scenes of a surreal/dissociative nature, transphobia

THIS IS AN 18+ EVENT