Nightwatching

The first feature in Greenaway's "Dutch Masters" film series has been described by co-producer Jean Labadie as "a return to the Greenaway of The Draughtsman's Contract". As his subject he chooses Rembrandt and his most famous work, The Night Watch, the creation of which, it is suggested, changed his life from celebrity to outcast. When convinced by his wife to accept a comission to paint group portrait of the Amsterdam Musketeer Militia, Rembrandt discovers a murderous conspiracy within the regiment of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch, and decides to expose the murderers - and this sordid and fraudulent side of the rich and powerful in Dutch society - in the highly prestigious commission. By doing so not only did he immortalise the conpsiracy theory, but provoked his own social and financial ruin at the revengeful hands of the accused.

* We are delighted to welcome director Peter Greenaway for a Q&A following the screening.