Algorithm Party (2026) 15
Woolton Picture House, Liverpool, L25 5JH
Saturday 21st November 2026 7:30PM
Algorithm Party is the full-length feature adaptation of debut publication of spoken word artist 'Roy' (PJ Smith). The film is the directorial debut of Roy Boulter – drummer in Liverpool band The Farm, who has produced ten international theatrically-released feature films alongside partner Sol Papadopoulos for Hurricane Films. Hurricane Films have produced Algorithm Party in partnership with co-producers Twenty-One Media.
Algorithm Party is an authentic, forthright glimpse into working class life, told with a blunt honesty with humour and compassion.
Roy’s deft, articulate and startlingly observed musings veer from the comic to the calamitous in a breath, cutting to the quick of the broad swathe of people and personalities that comprise his native city, from struggling parents to small-time criminals, pent-up white-collar workers to drinkers long lost to the ale. Roy’s eye is as keen as it is generous, presenting, in the great tradition of English realism, the real lives of people up against it in all sorts of ways, muddling through, trying to make the best of it.
A second collection - ‘Boomerang Process’ - is released in April. Roy is not a poet. Roy is a storyteller.
The film is scored by two composers Steve Grimes (song writer and guitarist with The Farm) and Steve Powell (Ark Recording studios) who provide separate, contrasting - but intertwining – pieces, providing a dramatic counterpoint to Roy’s enthralling stories.
The film is shot mostly on location in the iconic St Georges Hall Concert Room in Liverpool - where Dickens and other notable writers performed, and where Hurricane Films shot footage for Terence Davies’ multi-award-winning feature documentary 'Of Time And The City'.
This screening at the Woolton Picture House will help to raise funds towards the refurbishment of Liverpool's oldest single screen cinema.
Director’s statement.
As a big admirer of PJ’s work, I’ve always felt that his visceral tales of extraordinary working class Liverpool life, were not just visual but cinematic. Despite the seemingly parochial, down-at-heel settings, there is an abstract beauty to it all, depicting a bleak rawness while retaining an inherent humour. While deciding on how best to capture Roy’s performance of 'Algorithm Party’, I was inspired by Spalding Grey’s 80's classic 'Swimming to Cambodia' which also featured compelling tales told straight to camera.
Roy Boulter
Algorithm Party is an authentic, forthright glimpse into working class life, told with a blunt honesty with humour and compassion.
Roy’s deft, articulate and startlingly observed musings veer from the comic to the calamitous in a breath, cutting to the quick of the broad swathe of people and personalities that comprise his native city, from struggling parents to small-time criminals, pent-up white-collar workers to drinkers long lost to the ale. Roy’s eye is as keen as it is generous, presenting, in the great tradition of English realism, the real lives of people up against it in all sorts of ways, muddling through, trying to make the best of it.
A second collection - ‘Boomerang Process’ - is released in April. Roy is not a poet. Roy is a storyteller.
The film is scored by two composers Steve Grimes (song writer and guitarist with The Farm) and Steve Powell (Ark Recording studios) who provide separate, contrasting - but intertwining – pieces, providing a dramatic counterpoint to Roy’s enthralling stories.
The film is shot mostly on location in the iconic St Georges Hall Concert Room in Liverpool - where Dickens and other notable writers performed, and where Hurricane Films shot footage for Terence Davies’ multi-award-winning feature documentary 'Of Time And The City'.
This screening at the Woolton Picture House will help to raise funds towards the refurbishment of Liverpool's oldest single screen cinema.
Director’s statement.
As a big admirer of PJ’s work, I’ve always felt that his visceral tales of extraordinary working class Liverpool life, were not just visual but cinematic. Despite the seemingly parochial, down-at-heel settings, there is an abstract beauty to it all, depicting a bleak rawness while retaining an inherent humour. While deciding on how best to capture Roy’s performance of 'Algorithm Party’, I was inspired by Spalding Grey’s 80's classic 'Swimming to Cambodia' which also featured compelling tales told straight to camera.
Roy Boulter
Event Details
Starts at 7:30PM
