Hacked Off Presents: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Last term the Tab were kind enough to invite us to write about the Future Shorts Festival, and now they’ve asked us back to preview our whole term. Hacked Off Films are running a number of events this Hilary, starting this Friday, and we’re really excited for it all to begin.

After last term’s massive ‘Harry Potter and the College Dining Hall’, where we took over Exeter’s hall and decked it out with chocolate frogs, jelly beans and a surprise appearance from Quirrell, we’re making our mark on the English Faculty for ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’.

The cult 80s hit from John Hughes will be brought to life in an event that is bigger, messier and has far more surprises than the Harry Potter event last term. We’re taking over the Grade II listed building, recreating locations from the film, and then clearing up the mess we make. We’d like you to join us, but maybe not for the clearing up.

Even better, we’re partnering with ExVac, an amazing charity that gives kids a holiday who would otherwise be unable to get away, by creating our own ‘Save Ferris’ fund. There’ll be collection tins going about throughout the evening asking for money to give kids that, unlike Ferris, genuinely need a day off.

There’ll be actors that you can interact with, food and drink from a couple of the original sponsors of the film, and some rather great t-shirts. Hacked Off Films has always aimed to make watching film an event again, and with Ferris Bueller we think we’ve gone a stage further away from the multiplex, blockbuster film experience that currently dominates cinema.

Oh, and we’re asking everyone to don their best 80s getups – perms, leg warmers and leopard-print waistcoats are all very welcome.

Once Ferris is all over, we join the Turl Street Arts Festival in 5^th week with a brand new Future Shorts Festival – part of the world’s largest pop-up film festival. We’ve got comedy from The Awkward Silence, music from Arthur Sawbridge and, as ever, BAFTA and Oscar winning short films from around the globe, all in one evening.

Returning to the Oxford Hub, a venue that is amazing for this sort of night, it will be the third event of this kind that we’ve run. And after this? Well there’s one more event currently being planned for this term, but we’re keeping tight-lipped about what it is and which unusual Oxford venue we’re taking over.

In the meantime, we’d love for you to join us at Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or the Future Shorts Festival, as these events are all about the people who come to them.

For more information visit our Facebook page , and tickets for both events are available now.