Cult film Shelf Life available to stream worldwide

Paul Bartel's 'lost' film screening with new cast Q&A

by Amber Wilkinson

Shelf Life was never released in cinemas despite a positive festival run
Shelf Life was never released in cinemas despite a positive festival run Photo: Courtesy of Matchbox Cine
There's a chance for audiences across the world to catch Eating Raoul director Paul Bartel's Shelf Life this weekend courtesy of Matchbox Cine.

The final film from the cult director of Death Race 2000, which was never released had been lost for 25 years. The new digital preservation of the only known 35mm print will be presented for the first time with new descriptive subtitles and audio description on matchboxcine.eventive.org from until midnight on August 29.

The film was conceived and written by O-Lan Jones, Andrea Stein and Jim Turner as a result of their rumination on “What must become of people boxed in tiny spaces for long, long periods of time.”

It tells the tale of Tina, Pam, and Scotty, who are taken down into their mum and dad’s well-stocked bomb shelter when Kennedy is assassinated in 1963...and never come out. 30 years later, Mom and Dad are a long-dead 'bag of bones' and the now-grown kids have created a life for themselves based on remnants from the '60s, intermittent output from the TV and their wild imaginations.

Screenings of the film are available worldwide with a new cast Q&A and a full supporting programme, priced on a sliding scale so audiences can just what they should pay for themselves.

The season is part of Film Feels Hopeful, a UK-wide cinema season, supported by the National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network. More details of the full Film Feels Hopeful schedule can be viewed here.

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