NOW SHOWING: LONDON SCREEN GUIDE w/c 15.12.17 • RADIANT CIRCUS

RADIANT CIRCUS hunts out the best independent movie nights, film events & gallery screenings in London for the week ahead*. Here’s our SCREEN GUIDE for the week 15 to 21 DEC 2017.

FRI 15 // SAT 16 // SUN 17 // MON 18 // TUE 19 // WED 20 // THU 21

This week, things are getting a little quieter as that big day approaches. There’s also the small matter of a continuing space saga to contend with, which takes up a significant number of silver screens…

To avoid the Skywalker clan, try pairing back-to-back evenings of music docs at Regent Street Cinema – ROCKERS (19 DEC) and BASICALLY, JOHNNY MOPED (20 DEC) – with SONG OF GRANITE (getting a weeklong run at ICA) and THE MAGIC FLUTE (ditto at BFI) for a thoroughly musical week.

There’s a good smattering of global cinema with two excellent director Q&As at ICA, offline screenings for the European Artekino Festival at Ciné Lumière and some excellent GRIND SHOWS. We particularly like the look of BINGO: THE KING OF THE MORNINGS at Rich Mix and MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART at, amongst others, Barbican.

Our FEATURED ATTRACTION of the week is a celebration of the life and work of a Dutch experimental filmmaker and selfie pioneer: IN MEMORIUM: FRANS ZWARTJES screens at Close-Up and is presented by purge.xxx (17 DEC). Other moving image artists projecting this week include Dave Andrew Skinner (15 DEC) and Marie Kølbæk Iversen (17 DEC).

Tell us what you’re seeing in the comments below.

#SCREENGUIDE: We highlight up to three SINGLE-O EXHIBITS (one-off screen events) each day and offer a roundup of others. There’s a summary of MUSEUM SHOWS (exhibitions // seasons & festivals) and GRIND SHOWS (regular runs & mainstream marvels) below the line. Follow date & section links to find what you want. Use your ‘back’ button to return here.

We’ve done our best to check that there are tickets for everything listed: please click quickly.

Before we go any further: The Cinema Museum is under threat. Show your support by signing the petition HERE or by making a donation HERE. Thank you.

NOW SHOWING: SINGLE-O EXHIBITS

ONE-OFF MOVIE NIGHTS, FILM EVENTS & GALLERY SCREENINGS (by date/venue)

NOW SHOWING: SO LONG ENTHUSIASM screens at ICA (15 DEC). — SO LONG ENTHUSIASM screens at ICA (15 DEC).

FRIDAY 15 DECEMBER 2017

Canada Water Culture Space: HOMOEROTIC SHORT FILM & PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE ANDREW SKINNER (18:00 & 19:30)

We love a content warning… This evening of gay themed and homoerotic video art “contains full frontal nudity”. You have been warned…

Ciné Lumière: SEE YOU UP THERE + Q&A director/actor Albert Dupontel (20:15)

In November 1918, before the Armistice, Edouard Pericourt, a gifted artist, saves the life of Albert Maillard, a humble bookkeeper. Albert Dupontel’s crime epic is adapted from Pierre Lemaitre’s Goncourt winning novel, Au revoir là-haut.

ICA: SO LONG ENTHUSIASM + Q&A with director Vladimir Durán (18:45)

“Axel lives in Buenos Aires, cared for by his three adult sisters… this gruffly affectionate family hides a strange secret; they keep their mother locked in a distant room of their apartment.” (The Up Coming). Part of LATIN AMERICA MONTHLY.

NOW SHOWING: THE LEOPARD screens at BFI (16 DEC). — THE LEOPARD screens at BFI (16 DEC).

SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER 2017

BFI: THE LEOPARD (14:30)

Luchino Visconti’s films are always stunning on the big screen, THE LEOPARD “is widely regarded as the director’s masterpiece, and rightly famous for its climactic ball sequence” (BFI). Also screens 28 DEC 18:40.

Regent Street Cinema: IN A LONELY PLACE + FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL (various times)

A double dose of Gloria Grahame. Repeats 17 DEC.

Tate Modern: BBZ x TATE EXCHANGE: ON DESIRE (14:00)

A selection of short films produced and directed by black queer women exploring ideas of desire and intimacy, curated by BBZ member Rabz Lansiquot.

NOW BOOKING: STAR MESSENGER screens at LUX (17 DEC). — STAR MESSENGER screens at LUX (17 DEC).

SUNDAY 17 DECEMBER 2017

BFI: SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT (20:00)

BFI’s CULT strand stuffs a seasonal shocker into Santa’s sack.

Close-Up: IN MEMORI AM : FRANS ZWARTJES (19:30)

A celebration of the life of Dutch experimental filmmaker Frans Zwartjes with a rare programme of seven of his films on 16mm. Presented by purge.xxx

LUX: STAR MESSENGER (15:00)

PS/Y and LUX present a new moving image work by Danish artist Marie Kølbæk Iversen, accompanied by Diana Policarpo on percussion and Gaia Fugazza’s Other Ways – a series of 90 porcelain sculptures to be displayed in the mouths of visitors.

NOW SHOWING: AFTER THE STORM screens at Whirled (18 DEC). — AFTER THE STORM screens at Whirled (18 DEC).

MONDAY 18 DECEMBER 2017

Whirled Cinema: AFTER THE STORM (20:00)

Internationally celebrated filmmaker, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest, about a young father trying to rekindle his relationship with his family, enjoys a short run under the arches. Other dates/times available.

NOW SHOWING: ROCKERS screens at Regent Street Cinema (19 DEC). — ROCKERS screens at Regent Street Cinema (19 DEC).

TUESDAY 19 DECEMBER 2017

Genesis Cinema: AKIRA + INTRO + SALON with Nick Walker (18:15)

Cult Classic Collective screens the legendary anime followed by a discussion in the bar.

ICA: THE IMPOSSIBLE PICTURE + Q&A with director Sandra Wollner (18:30)

UK premiere about the everyday life of a Viennese family in the 1950s, documented by 13-year-old Johanna on 8mm film.

Regent Street Cinema: ROCKERS (19:30)

Soul Jazz Records projects a classic reggae film – “the coolest, hippest, grooviest and most fun of all” – followed by a free reggae and funk DJ-set in the bar (it must be Christmas…).

NOW SHOWING: BASICALLY, JOHNNY MOPED screens at Regent Street Cinema (20 DEC). — BASICALLY, JOHNNY MOPED screens at Regent Street Cinema (20 DEC).

WEDNESDAY 20 DECEMBER 2017

Cinema Museum: MISS BLUEBEARD + INTRO (19:30)

A 1925 comedy starring Bebe Daniels as a modern female Bluebeard who marries two men at the same time. Projected from 16mm, introduced by Kevin Brownlow and presented by Kennington Bioscope.

Regent Street Cinema: BASICALLY, JOHNNY MOPED + Q&A with Johnny Moped & director Fred Burns (19:30)

Heavenly Films presents a funny and moving account of one of UK music’s great lost treasures, proto punk band Johnny Moped.

LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD screens at BFI (21 DEC).

THURSDAY 21 DECEMBER 2017

BFI: LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD (20:30)

Twenty-four hours in the lives of a tearaway young couple, whose paths fatally cross with those of a woman (Jeanne Moreau) and her lover (Maurice Ronet), who are plotting to kill her husband.

Regent Street Cinema: LAUREL & HARDY – SILENT MAGIC (19:30)

Live score from Donald MacKenzie on the cinema’s original 1936 Compton organ. Projecting: TWO TARS, YOU’RE DARN TOOTIN, PUTTING PANTS ON PHILIP and BIG BUSINESS. Also screens tomorrow (22 DEC 19:30).

NOW SHOWING: MUSEUM SHOWS

EXHIBITIONS (by venue/event)

THE NOMADIC CITY OF CAMELA screens at Whitechapel Gallery (until 28 JAN 2018).

Barbican:PURPLE (until 07 JAN 2018 – FREE, check for times)

British artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah’s “immersive six-channel video installation addressing climate change, human communities and the wilderness”.

Barbican: Vincent Moon & Priscilla Telmon: HÍBRIDOS (until 31 DEC – FREE, check for times)

A site-specific film installation featuring the spiritual rituals of Brazil.

LUX Moving Image:TIME & TIME AGAIN: Cinenova and Women & the Law Collective (until 16 DEC – FREE, check for times)

An exhibition by Cinenova, a volunteer run feminist film and video distributor, of videos produced by Women & The Law Collective in 1986.

Whitechapel Gallery: LUIS LAZARO MATOS + ZHENG MAHLER + NGUYEN PHUONG LINH (until 28 JAN – FREE, check for times)

A new selection of moving image works from the gallery’s Artists’ Film International partnership.

SEASONS & FESTIVALS (by venue/event)

Barbican: TIME, MEMORY, DREAM season concludes with THE LIFE & DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (17 DEC 14:00) which also seems to wrap up Barbican’s excellent year of CINEMA MATTERS.

BFI: GOOD AT BEING BAD, the Gloria Grahame season continues with MERTON OF THE MOVIES + INTRO by programmer Jo Botting (19 DEC 18:10), a parody of silent cinema. It’s Christmas, so you could also treat yourself to OKLAHOMA! (17 DEC 14:50 on NFT1 – other dates & screens available). WHO CAN YOU TRUST? wraps up with THE LONG MEMORY + INTRO by Jo Botting (18 DEC 18:20) whilst INDIA ON FILM offers up the final two parts of THE APU TRILOGY: THE UNVANQUISHED (20 DEC 18:05) and THE WORLD OF APU (23 DEC 17:40).

NOW BOOKING: CHEVALIER screens at Ciné Lumière (16 DEC). — CHEVALIER screens at Ciné Lumière (16 DEC).

Ciné Lumière: TRIBUTE TO JEANNE MOREAU concludes with LA MARIÉE ÉTAIT EN NOIR aka The Bride Wore Black (17 DEC 14:00). The otherwise online Artekino Festival (01 to 17 DEC) finds physical form with a trio of screenings: CHEVALIER (16 DEC 16:00); SOLEIL BATTANT + Q&A (16 DEC 18:20) with directors Clara & Laura Laperrousaz (tbc); and FROST (17 DEC 16:10).

Close-Up: Continuing popular reruns of ANDREI TARKOVSKY classics, there’s another chance this week to wrap your brain around NOSTALGHIA (15 DEC 19:30) and THE SACRIFICE (16 DEC 19:00).

NOW SHOWING: TIME OF THE WOLF screens at Curzon Soho (16 DEC). — TIME OF THE WOLF screens at Curzon Soho (16 DEC).

Curzon Soho: HAPPY HANEKE (10 to 23 DEC) projects the Austrian maestros’ films in 35m. We’d recommend dipping into his back catalogue for TIME OF THE WOLF (16 DEC 15:00) and BENNY’S VIDEO (21 DEC 18:30).

Deptford Cinema: Director Taster seasons continue with Andrzej Zulawski’s COSMOS (15 DEC 20:00).

Picturehouse Central: THE ENCHANTED SCREEN season continues across the chain. This week, we’ve got THE SINGING RINGING TREE (17 DEC 13:00). Other Picturehouses available.

NOW SHOWING: GRIND SHOWS

REGULAR RUNS & MAINSTREAM MARVELS (by title)

BINGO: THE KING OF THE MORNINGS screens at Rich Mix (from 15 DEC).

BINGO: THE KING OF THE MORNINGS screens at Rich Mix (15 DEC to 18 DEC)

Brazil’s 2018 Oscar and BAFTA submission about a soft porn and soap opera actor who gets his chance at the spotlight when he is cast as BINGO, a TV show host clown.

THE MAGIC FLUTE screens at BFI Southbank (16 DEC 18:00)

Ingmar Bergman’s version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute is both “a charming cinematic treat for winter” and a precursor to next year’s INGMAR BERGMAN season (JAN to MARCH 18).

MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART screens at Barbican (15 to 21 DEC)

The life of Tao, and those close to her, is explored in three different time periods: 1999, 2014, and 2025. “An intensely moving study of how China’s economic boom and the culture of materialism it has spawned has affected the bonds of family, tradition, and love” (Barbican).

SONG OF GRANITE screens at ICA (15 to 21 DEC)

A film about the life of the great traditional Irish singer, Joe Heaney, showing “how the harsh landscape combined with the myths, fables and songs of his Connemara childhood helped shape this complex and fascinating character”.

Join the hunt for adventurous moving pictures.

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*THE SMALL PRINT: As accurate as we could make it. Apologies for any mistakes. Updates & corrections will be made to the online version. We don’t filter by age/certification: all readers & subscribers should be 18+. We only include events you can book for at the time of posting. Please click quickly!Featured image: LIVING (1971).