Storm in My Heart

Hollywood movie stars Susan Hayward and Lena Horne were born on the same day – June 30th 1917 – and in the same place: Brooklyn, New York. This makes them twins, of a sort, in film history. And their connections continued. Both starred in American musicals. Both went to live in the US state of Georgia.

As one was white and one was African-American, their movie careers were rather different. Hayward became a fully-fledged star, was given leading roles, and was Oscar-nominated five times. Though she lived decades longer than Hayward, Horne had only one leading role in cinema. The rest of her movies were shot in such a way that her scenes could be cut out for the southern states.

"Inspired – or appalled – by this, I would like to make a film that intercuts two of their most famous films: Horne’s Stormy Weather (1943) and Hayward’s With a Song in My Heart (1952). Both about music; both about war; both 20th Century Fox; they share the same DP, art director and many other crew members. Storm in My Heart is really about what entertainment cinema leaves out. The spaces. It is about Hollywood Redacted. It doesn’t seek to deny the pleasures of Hollywood. Instead it suggests that in order to present and embrace such pleasures, the film studios were blinkered and, in many cases, far worse." (Mark Cousins) 

Thu 1 Feb, 20:15, Pathé 2, €11/8 for the film ticket