- Classic horror films
- Talks
- Locally made short films
October 28th
Our speakers
If you've attended CULTure Babylon’s previous events, you’ll know that we put the CULT into culture, by showing great films and further exploring their themes with the insight of our brilliant speakers.
This year is no exception and we're proud to introduce some truly outstanding speakers once again.
Maxine Sanders
In many respects, Maxine Sanders, ‘Witch Queen’ in the late Sixties and Seventies, needs no introduction, such is the influence both she and her late husband, Alex Sanders, aka ‘King of the Witches’ brought to the occult landscape at the time, the ripple effects of which continue today.
It has been said that without their bravery and daring exposure of modern Witchcraft practises, many of today’s Initiates would not have discovered their chosen path nor enjoy the extent of wide-spread freedom of public expression that currently exists. Perhaps surprisingly, Maxine is a private person who shuns the limelight and strictly limits her public appearances.
On the occasions she accepts, she prefers to engage in Questions & Answers.
Time, history, and over five decades of experience offer a cornucopia of humorous, inspiring, and at times, controversial conversation. There are no ‘off-limit’ questions and nor does she wish to know the questions beforehand, preferring the spontaneity of the moment.
Today, when she is not travelling or talking with her audiences, Maxine practices the Art Magical and celebrates the Craft’s rituals either in the mountains, her stone cottage, Bron Afon or in The Coven of the Stag King in London."
Gary Parsons
Gary Parsons is a film maker who has made 12 short films, some of which deal with esoteric subject matter.
His last film Conjuration was premièred at The British Museum as part of the Folk Horror Revival day.
An MA film graduate from Goldsmiths college London, he also lectures on film, and his British Witchcraft Documentaries of the 1970s talk was premièred at Cambridge University and sold out to 450 people at Conway Hall Londo.
Recently, a three-night run of his new talk Aleister Crowley and the Cinema of Magick sold out at Helgis in London.
www.thelemafilms.com
https://vimeo.com/user39540574
Gavin Baddeley
Gavin Baddeley is an English writer specialising in the devilish and
decadent, Gothic and macabre.
In addition to penning books such as:
Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock and Roll
The Gospel of Filth: A Bible of Decadence and Darkness
Goth: Vamps and Dandies
Goth Chic
Vampire Lovers
Dissecting Marilyn Manson
God's Assassins: The Medieval Roots of Terrorism
Saucy Jack: The Elusive Ripper
Vlad the Impaler,
he has also written for a diverse range of periodicals and newspapers, including the Observer, Knave, Metal Hammer and Medieval History
magazine.
Gavin was personally ordained as a priest in the Church of Satan by
the ‘Black Pope’, Anton LaVey, and has subsequently made numerous
media appearances and advised sundry bodies as a leading expert on
the dark arts.
Darren Charles
Darren Charles graduated in 2017 with an MA in History from Newcastle University, writing his dissertation on Early Modern Witchcraft trials in Scotland and the North East of England.
Darren is also one of the founding fathers of The Folk Horror Revival Group, a multi-media project that has blossomed over the last five years, with the express aim of developing an interest in some of the darker and more interesting aspects of folklore.
The group has organised events up and down the country, and their charitable publishing arm, Wyrd Harvest Press has released a number of volumes dealing with the many varied aspects of Folk Horror and associated themes, with all profits donated to Wildlife Trust projects.
Darren himself has his own radio show Unearthing Forgotten Horrors, where he curates an often largely ignored or forgotten selection of offbeat and interesting music.
He is also a member of those sonic explorers of the Occult, The Mortlake Bookclub and The Equestrian Vortex.
Darren has previously spoken at Cambridge University, The British Museum, Edinburgh Summerhall, The Scottish Pagan Federation Conference in Glasgow and The Manchester Folk Horror Festival among others.