Danny Boyle picks the best of British at the Shuffle festival

Didn’t Danny Boyle do well putting together the Olympics opening ceremony, splicing together music and films we were sick to death of already to create one great big patriotic spectacle? Well over the next two weeks, the nation’s only Olympian film director will be putting together a more nuanced selection of British film and music at St Clement’s Social Club in Bow, east London, which looks well worth a visit.

For anyone who hasn’t seen them before, the pick of the screenings will be Bruce Robinson’s much-quoted comedy Withnail & I, the Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren ganster flick The Long Good Friday and Boyle’s lovely debut feature Shallow Grave, which will be followed by a Q&A with the UK’s cultural ambassador himself. Fans of the great man will be delighted to learn that Boyle has also chosen to screen his popular comedy about heroin addiction, Trainspotting, after which he’ll be holding court again. There will also be a big screening of the Olympic opening ceremony, which you may have heard Boyle has something to do with. That’s absolutely free, as it darn well ought to be.

If paying to see a film you’ve seen before doesn’t sound like something you’d do, Shuffle is also showing a wonderful documentary by artist Luke Fowler called All Divided Selves, about the Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing. Never mind the pretentious arty title – All Divided Selves was a nominee for the Turner Prize – the film contains some bodacious archive footage of Laing doing what he does best, which is appear both incredibly sane and absolutely nuts at the same time.

For more crazy antics, get a ticket for Friday 9^th August, when rebellious rock group The Fat White Family will be giving one of their acclaimed musical performances after The Long Good Friday. Crimminy, with those boys in town, it’s bound to be a very long Friday indeed, although – like the rest of Danny Boyle’s oeuvre – who knows how good it will be!

The Shuffle festival curated by Danny Boyle runs from 8 – 18 August at St Clement’s Social Club on Mile End Road, London E3 4LH