Northwest Film Event Highlights – May 2013

First up, ace Brit director Shane Meadows brings his rock-doc The Stone Roses: Made of Stone to Manchester’s Cornerhouse on 30 May. Chronicling the band’s road to reunion and trio of sold-out Heaton Park shows, Made of Stone promises a never-before-seen glimpse at these local legends. Following the screening, Meadows will appear via satellite to host a Q&A with some as-yet unannounced special guests. The whole shebang will be zapped live to over 100 cinemas nationwide ahead of the doc’s full release on 5 Jun.

The Art of Pop Video exhibition at Liverpool’s FACT will screen Rob Reiner’s untouchable mockumentary This is Spinal Tap on 8 May. Expect a tiddly Stonehenge and amps that go all the way up to 11 in this story of a faux metal band with more hair than brain cells. The exhibit will also show the Beastie Boys’ Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! on 1 May. This unique doc saw Mike D, Ad-Rock and the late MCA dish out 50 cameras to gig-goers at their sold-out Madison Square Garden show and ask them to hit record. Definitely worth ch-ch-ch checkin’ out.

Horror troupe Grimm Up North are hosting a Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator double-bill at Stockport Plaza on 2 May. These campy cult faves balance gore and dark humour effortlessly and are somewhat responsible for unleashing the controversial fast moving zombie on audiences. Speaking of which, Reel Zombies and The Eschatrilogy (Book of The Dead) get a back-to-back screening at the same venue on 21 May. Like your horror a little more hand made? Then this one’s for you.

Finders Keepers Records kicks off its new monthly film night, Hocus Focus, with a double feature for B-movie junkies at Manchester’s Dancehouse Theatre on 3 May that is brilliantly described on its website as a 'cinematic speedball bikesploitation clash.' The films in the bill are Stone, in which the titular Sydney cop goes undercover to prevent the assassination of a biker gang, and Werewolves On Wheels, in which... well, you can work it out.

On 1 May, Screen Stockport presents Ken Loach’s post wartime nostalgia doc The Spirit of ‘45 at the Stockport Plaza and on 9 May one of 2013’s most hyped (and secretive) summer movies Star Trek Into Darkness hits Manchester Printworks’ epic IMAX screen. As one of just 12 giant venues in the UK, to miss JJ Abrams’ second Trek on the biggest of big screens would be, as Spock would put it, highly illogical.