Within the film frame, and hence in the mind of the spectator, there is a tension between the imaginary and the real. The mesmerising camera leads us to experience and, simultaneously, to doubt, what we see before us. This programme of films explores illusionism within the moving image – illusions of unreal people, new identities, impossible spacesŠ Antithetical to many avant garde practices that resist the unreal, these are the films whose fantastical images are scorched into their medium, or torn from it, to indulge with the spectator in a transcendental reverie.Trick films from a hundred years ago by Georges Meliès, James Williamson and Pathe Freres complement startling new work by Shirin Neshat, Michael Snow, Guy Maddin, Martin Arnold, Peter Tscherkassky, Paul Bush, Matt Hulse, and others.Curated by Helen de Witt & William Rallison. Funded by the Arts Council of England National Touring Programme. A bfi Touring Programme. Notes taken from the programme leaflet, which has full details of all films screening. Available from box office.Prog 1 includes films by: Shirin Neshat, Martin Arnold, Michael Snow, Kerry Laitala, Leighton Pierce, Pascal Baes, Freres Pathé.