Oxonmoot 2024

Born of Hope is a film directed by Kate Maddison (who will be joining us for the Q&A and will be available for further discussions over lunch) and written by Paula DiSante (as Alex K. Aldridge) based on the appendices of J. R. R. Tolkien's LOTR. The film centres on the communities affected by Sauron's war, the Dunedain bloodline and the story of Arathorn II and Gilraen, the parents of Aragorn.

Tom Lamont, writing in the Observer, stated that Born of Hope was the most credible adaptation among the many fan films based on The Lord of the Rings.

This screening will aim to show episode 1 for those who missed the night screening.

Once again, we have the pleasure of of starting Oxonmoot on the same weekend as the release of the new Rings of Power TV series season. For those who wish to have a communal in-person experince, we will put the episodes on in the lecture theatres. Details of this event may change as we learn more about episode length, etc.

For many years the Tolkien Estate has refused to allow any musical treatment of the works of the author which employed his own words. They had however already agreed to make a concession in respect of the music of Paul Corfield Godfrey, whose cycle of “epic scenes from The Silmarillion” was finally completed in 2023 with the issue of a ten-CD series of recordings from Volante Opera and Prima Facie Records.

In this first of two talks the composer will be playing extracts from all five parts of the epic scenes and giving a brief introduction to the music. We will begin with the prologue to The War of Wrath, the final section of the score which was only written in 2019, and then proceed through the other works beginning with The Children of Húrin from 1982 - excerpts from which were performed at Oxonmoot the following year. Copies of the CDs and scores will be available for purchase, and we will also be looking forward to the recordings of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit which have been granted copyright permission by the Estate.

This screening will aim to show episode 2 for those who missed the night screening.

Once again, we have the pleasure of of starting Oxonmoot on the same weekend as the release of the new Rings of Power TV series season. For those who wish to have a communal in-person experience, we will put the episodes on in the lecture theatres. Details of this event may change as we learn more about episode length, etc.

Win, Lose or Draw is our spin on the British TV show... Win, Lose, or Draw.

Think of it as a Tolkien-themed Pictionary! Contestants will be chosen in advance