The Red Shoes: Powell / Pressburger Film Season

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale, Powell and Pressburger’s visually ravishing masterpiece tells the story of a young woman whose desire is to become a leading dancer. Victoria Page (played by real-life prima ballerina Moira Shearer) secures a transformative role at the Ballet Lermontov, that of a girl beguiled by a pair of magic red slippers. Gradually, the boundaries between fact and fiction blur as Page’s life intertwines with the feverish part she dances and she finds herself driven to breaking point by obsessive Russian impresario Lermontov (Anton Walbrook). THE RED SHOES revels in the captivating centrepiece ballet sequence and the backstage intrigue, unfolding against the double Academy Award-winning production design and score, as we follow characters for whom art is more important than life itself. 

The most iconic dance film of all time, THE RED SHOES came 67th in the top 100 of Sight and Sound’s world-renowned Greatest Films of All Time Critics’ poll in 2022. 

“The greatest film about ballet ever made.” L.A. Weekly