NFF 2025: ‘Algorithm Party’ spoken word feature doc (18)
March 14 @ 6:00 pm
This is a screening in The Creative Place, the smallest arts centre in the world. It is based on Northampton Market Square and only has 10 seats. Therefore we may run additional screenings of this film on this day.
We are a very small space so if you have a large wheelchair or require space for mobility aids etc. please get in touch before booking so we can ensure we can make your visit a pleasurable one! And if we’re too full, we can run another screening to accommodate demand.
Algorithm Party
Documentary
Feature length film
Algorithm Party chronicles the spoken-word performances of Liverpool’s Roy.
Director Biography – Roy Boulter
Roy is an acclaimed feature film producer and TV scriptwriter. Alongside Sol Papadopoulos, he founded Liverpool based production company Hurricane Films in 2000. His credits as a producer include:
‘Of Time & The City’, directed by Terence Davies. Premiering at Cannes, prizes included New York Film Critics Circle’s Best Documentary, and the film featured in Time’s ten films of the year.
‘Sunset Song’ directed by Terence Davies. Shot in New Zealand, Scotland and Luxembourg, the film premiered at TIFF. Cast included Agyness Deyn and Peter Mullan.
‘A Quiet Passion’ directed by Terence Davies. Starring Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Ehle and Keith Carradine, the film premiered at Berlinale. An “absolute, drop dead masterwork”( New Yorker Magazine).
‘A Prayer Before Dawn’ shot in Thailand – directed by Jean Stephane Sauvaire, starring Joe Cole. Premiered at Cannes.
‘Sometimes Always Never’, written by Frank Cotterell Boyce, directed by Carl Hunter. Starring Bill Nighy, Sam Riley, Jenny Agutter and Alice Lowe. Premiered at the London FF.
‘The Last Bus’, shot in Scotland, directed by Gillies McKinnon, starring Tim Spall was released in Summer 2022.
The company were named by Creative England and The Telegraph as one of the top ten most influential creative companies and ‘Future leaders’ – and also named as one of three non-London production companies to make the Screen Daily’s Brit 50.
Algorithm Party is Roy Boulter’s directorial debut.
Director Statement
As an admirer of the spoken word performer ‘Roy’ (PJ Smith), 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, which put me in mind of the great Liverpool director Terence Davies’ early work – whom I worked with on three of his films, which I produced. Despite Terence and PJ being very different, they both depict the world with a bleak rawness while retaining an inherent humour.
Roy / PJ is a former substance abuser turned artist, campaigner, mentor and all-round force for good. He performs extensively and has been approached by leading television companies about adapting his work for TV dramas.
While deciding on how best to capture Roy’s performance of his debut publication “Algorithm Party’, I kept thinking about another performance piece, Spalding Grey’s classic ‘Swimming to Cambodia’. Using that as a template, I found a way to depict Roy’s unique take on working class life – his compelling stories featuring vivid, authentic characters. 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 we shot scenes for Terence Davies’ multi-award-winning feature documentary ‘Of Time And The City’.
Algorithm Party is an authentic, forthright glimpse into working class life, straight to camera with a blunt honesty – while retaining its humour and compassion.
Roy Boulter, director. April 2024.
