Return to Oz + Intro by Walter Murch

The film is introduced by director Walter Murch

Legendary film editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The English Patient) made his film directing debut with this striking and gorgeously designed film version of L. Frank Baum’s beloved Oz books. Fairuza Balk plays Dorothy, whose fantastical tales of her trip to the magical land of Oz have led to her admission into a mental institution. Dorothy finds herself back in Oz with a new group of friends (Jack Pumpkinhead, the Gump and a robot named Tik-Tok) and tries to save the land from the menace of the Nome King (a combination of actor Nicol Williamson and Will Vinton’s Oscar-nominated claymation effects).

The film’s bold stylistic dissimilarity to the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz inspired confusion at the time of its original release, but this lovingly crafted work, with its imaginative costumes by Raymond Hughes (Young Sherlock Holmes) and inspired contributions by Oscar-winning composer David Shire, cinematographer David Watkin and production designer Norman Reynolds, has seen its reputation soar in the last three decades.

Return to Oz, dir. Walter Murch, UK 1985, 109 mins

The ICA Cinema is now completely ad-free. Please note the feature will start following a selection of trailers and information relevant to the ICA programme. This film is rated PG.