Shots in the Dark
Originally created in 1991 by Broadway’s first Director and Film London’s current CEO, Adrian Wootton, our crime, mystery and thriller film festival Shots in the Dark ran until 1999 and welcomed a number of internationally renowned filmmakers and crime writers to Nottingham including James Ellroy, John Woo, and a young Quentin Tarantino, who presented a screening of Reservoir Dogs in 1992, and returned the following year to host an unofficial first UK screening of Pulp Fiction.
Over the years, Shots in the Dark has also played host to an exclusive opening gala preview screening of the soon-to-be-classic Silence of the Lambs in 1991, and introduced cinema audiences to Nottingham director Shane Meadows back in 1996 with the British premiere of what would become his debut feature, Small Time.
Quentin Tarantino at Shots in the Dark
Broadway’s founding Director Adrian Wootton was scouring the Variety reviews one afternoon in 1993 and came across a write-up of a tiny independent film called Reservoir Dogs. Desperate to meet the director, he went to see the film at the Cannes Film Festival. Afterwards, he introduced himself to Quentin Tarantino, gave him his card, and invited him to come to England to screen his film here at Broadway - and he agreed.
Tarantino came over to Nottingham to showcase Reservoir Dogs in 1993 and stayed for the whole week! According to the Nottingham Post, he said: “I come here because I really like the festival… seeing the different movies and hanging out with all the people here [at Broadway], who I have got to know a little bit, is fun.”
Shortly after that festival, Tarantino started to write Pulp Fiction. Adrian went to Los Angeles and saw the director editing the film, and spent some time with him. Then the film went to Cannes and Adrian told him he wanted him back at Shots in the Dark with Pulp Fiction. It was agreed that Broadway could screen it at Shots in the Dark 1994 as an unannounced, surprise film - the first cinema in the UK to show it, making our screening the film’s unofficial UK premiere. Tarantino personally brought the film reel on the plane over from Cannes with him, complete with French subtitles!
