"Whatever You Say, Say Nothing": A Double-Bill of Alan Clarke and Gus Van Sant's Elephant
The Reptile House, DM FOR ADDRESS, LS12
Sunday 14th December 2025
Good Boys Film Club and Sam Gillibrand are proud to present a double bill of Alan Clarke's Elephant (1989) and Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003)
~
Before, during, after: extreme violence forms an indelible mark upon our culture, permeating beyond its moment of infliction to become a pervasive reminder of total and collective failure. They search, vainly, fruitlessly, to bridge all ellipses of knowledge pointing to its origin, presence, and execution. They'd have you believe the answer for such evil is ephemeral, tied to the corrupting force of cultural and social arbitrators, or kept hidden in the bedrooms of disturbed teens.
They are not looking. They are not looking to see what manifests so plainly. Violence is at the core of our institutions, systems, and lives, standing obvious and proud.
Alan Clarke's Elephant (1989) is a nearly-wordless short film depicting eighteen killings in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It is a stark, clinically-rendered piece that eschews all arguments for conflict, tracking only an inevitable ascension to the fascistic implementation of force.
Filmed over a decade later, Gus Van Sant responds with Elephant (2003), made in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre. Borrowing formal elements from Clarke, Van Sant constructs a temporally dislocated narrative of a school shooting that strikes, presciently, at our voracious desire to know evil.
Played together, each unspooling what it is to 'see' violence at a mutating distance, it is obvious how we have arrived here.
~
Before the films, there shall be an introduction discussing the politics of 'seeing' violence, its images, how it manifests in the online world, and the structures that uphold its contemporary presence.
This event is PAYF and all proceeds will be donated to mutual aid networks in Gaza. Free Palestine.
The Reptile House is located in LS12. Please DM either of us on Instagram for the address. Limited capacity, so book early to avoid disappointment. BYOB. The Reptile House is not currently an accessible space.
TIMINGS
DOORS: 19:00
ELEPHANT (1989): 19:30
ELEPHANT (2003): 20:30
FINISH: 22:00
Content warnings: violence, nudity, sexual reference, experience of eating disorders.
THIS IS AN 18+ EVENT.
~
Before, during, after: extreme violence forms an indelible mark upon our culture, permeating beyond its moment of infliction to become a pervasive reminder of total and collective failure. They search, vainly, fruitlessly, to bridge all ellipses of knowledge pointing to its origin, presence, and execution. They'd have you believe the answer for such evil is ephemeral, tied to the corrupting force of cultural and social arbitrators, or kept hidden in the bedrooms of disturbed teens.
They are not looking. They are not looking to see what manifests so plainly. Violence is at the core of our institutions, systems, and lives, standing obvious and proud.
Alan Clarke's Elephant (1989) is a nearly-wordless short film depicting eighteen killings in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It is a stark, clinically-rendered piece that eschews all arguments for conflict, tracking only an inevitable ascension to the fascistic implementation of force.
Filmed over a decade later, Gus Van Sant responds with Elephant (2003), made in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre. Borrowing formal elements from Clarke, Van Sant constructs a temporally dislocated narrative of a school shooting that strikes, presciently, at our voracious desire to know evil.
Played together, each unspooling what it is to 'see' violence at a mutating distance, it is obvious how we have arrived here.
~
Before the films, there shall be an introduction discussing the politics of 'seeing' violence, its images, how it manifests in the online world, and the structures that uphold its contemporary presence.
This event is PAYF and all proceeds will be donated to mutual aid networks in Gaza. Free Palestine.
The Reptile House is located in LS12. Please DM either of us on Instagram for the address. Limited capacity, so book early to avoid disappointment. BYOB. The Reptile House is not currently an accessible space.
TIMINGS
DOORS: 19:00
ELEPHANT (1989): 19:30
ELEPHANT (2003): 20:30
FINISH: 22:00
Content warnings: violence, nudity, sexual reference, experience of eating disorders.
THIS IS AN 18+ EVENT.
