RADIANT CIRCUS is your handcrafted guide to London’s DIY, indie & alternative movie nights, film events & gallery screenings. Our DAILY UPDATE helps you find great films in London today*.

Find films in London today by: SINGLE-O EXHIBITS (one-off attractions) // MUSEUM SHOWS (several exhibits under one roof – seasons & festivals) // GRIND SHOWS (a selection of regular runs).

FEATURED ATTRACTION

PHANTOM OF THE MOULIN ROUGE d. René Clair, 1925 with Live Piano Accompaniment at BFI Southbank (22 SEP 13:15):

“A young businessman, rejected by the woman he loves, is separated from his soul by a mad scientist. Will it return before the autopsy on his earthly body starts? Is his disembodied spirit responsible for the seemingly inexplicable happenings around Paris? René Clair has fun in his first, slightly messy, solo feature.”

NEW AT RADIANT CIRCUS

LUNCHTIME FILM SOCIETY is a brand new popup cinema screening daily programmes of bitesize films for busy City workers at the Bridewell Theatre in the City Of London (22 OCT to 01 NOV 2019). Bring your own lunch, relax & refocus as you feast on a world of inspiring short film drama, documentary & animation.

> Now booking: sbf.org.uk/whats-on

Online radiantcircus.com: Raindance Film Festival 2019 is underway (18 to 29 SEP) & we’re blogging about it on a dedicated channel // CLOSE-UP ON DEREK JARMAN focuses on his more experimental works (18 to 30 SEP) // Top Dog Film Festival comes to Conway Hall (01 to 02 OCT) // Richmond Film Society continues their 57th season // We interview student curator Viknesh Kobinathan about ON THE EDGE OF THE FOLD.

FILMS IN LONDON TODAY

SINGLE-O EXHIBITS

WHEN WE WERE WILD d. Carmen Bellas, 2016 + Q&A with the director at ICA (22 SEP 20:30).

“Spanish director Carmen Bellas’ debut feature is an imagined conversation between the film’s narrator and the neighbourhood of San Cristóbal on the outskirts of Madrid. This unique, evocative depiction of a place progressively abandons a classic documentary structure to become a first-person essay.”

More films in London today (A – Z):

BAIT d. Mark Jenkin, 2019 at The Prince Charles (22 SEP 21:10).

BORDER d. Ali Abbasi, 2018 at Whirled Cinema (22 SEP 18:00).

CITIZEN KANE 35mm d. Orson Welles, 1941 at The Prince Charles (22 SEP 18:30).

Death Grips: On Film presented by Deeper Into Movies at Moth Club (22 SEP 19:00).

DOWNTON ABBEY d. Michael Engler, 2019 Dog-Friendly Screening at Picturehouse Bromley (22 SEP 10:30 – “Customers are welcome to bring their well behaved dogs into the cinema”).

MID90S d. Jonah Hill, 2018 presented by Deeper Into Movies at Moth Club (22 SEP 15:00).

NETWORK d. Sidney Lumet, 1976 at The Prince Charles (22 SEP 21:00).

SAMOUNI ROAD d. Stefano Savona, 2018 at DocHouse (22 SEP 13:30).

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MUSEUM SHOWS 1 // SEASONS

CLOSE-UP ON DEREK JARMAN: THE ANGELIC CONVERSATION at Close-Up (18 to 30 SEP). — Films in London today: THE ANGELIC CONVERSATION, part of CLOSE-UP ON DEREK JARMAN at Close-Up (22 SEP).

70mm PRESENTATIONS at The Prince Charles (ongoing):

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY d. Stanley Kubrick, 1968 (22 SEP 12:00).

ANGELA BASSETT: QUEEN OF THE SCREEN at BFI Southbank (SEP):

PANTHER d. Mario Van Peebles, 1995 (22 SEP 17:30).

BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: TURMOIL! at BFI Southbank (SEP):

MILLER’S CROSSING d. Joel Coen, 1990 (22 SEP 20:15).

CARY GRANT: BRITAIN’S GREATEST EXPORT at BFI Southbank (AUG to SEP):

MR BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE 35mm d. HC Potter, 1948 (22 SEP 15:40).

CLOSE-UP ON DEREK JARMAN at Close-Up (18 to 30 SEP):

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SUN d. Derek Jarman, 1981 (22 SEP 18:30).

THE ANGELIC CONVERSATION d. Derek Jarman, 1985 (22 SEP 20:00).

CYBERPUNKS at House Of Vans (SEP):

BLADE RUNNER 2049 (22 SEP 14:00 & 16:00).

FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN TALENT 2019 at Regent Street Cinema (20 to 22 SEP):

ONE BREATH d. Christian Zübert, 2015 (22 SEP 18:00).

ALL ABOUT ME d. Caroline Link, 2018 (22 SEP 20:30).

THE FILMS OF DAVID FINCHER at The Prince Charles (15 AUG to 21 NOV):

FIGHT CLUB d. David Fincher, 1999 enjoys a grind show run (20 to 26 SEP).

IN FOCUS: SERGEI LOZNITSA at ICA (until 18 SEP):

VICTORY DAY d. Sergei Loznitsa, 2018 (22 SEP 14:20).

THE TRIAL d. Sergei Loznitsa, 2018 (22 SEP 18:40).

IN THE EYES OF THE LAW at Ciné Lumière (25 AUG to 02 OCT):

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER d. Jim Sheridan, 1993 (22 SEP 14:00).

IT’S… MONTY PYTHON AT 50 at BFI Southbank (SEP):

NOT THE MESSIAH: HE’S A VERY NAUGHTY BOY d. Aubrey Powell, 2010 (22 SEP 13:00).

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL d. Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones, 1975 + Q&A with actor Carol Cleveland (22 SEP 15:00).

MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN d. Terry Jones, 1979 + Intro by Andre Jacquemin & John Altman (22 SEP 18:00).

MONTY PYTHON’S THE MEANING OF LIFE d. Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam, 1983 (22 SEP 20:20).

MARIANO LLINÁS PRESENTS LA FLOR at ICA (until 02 OCT):

LA FLOR: PART II d. Mariano Llinás, 2018 (22 SEP 12:30).

TERENCE MALICK at Deptford Cinema (01 SEP to 22 SEP):

KNIGHT OF CUPS d. Terrence Malick, 2015 (22 SEP 17:00).

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MUSEUM SHOWS 2 // FESTIVALS

RADIANT CIRCUS #ScreenGuide - Films in London today: DEATH BY HANGING, part of Japanese Avant-Garde & Experimental Film Festival (20 to 22 SEP). — Films in London today: DEATH BY HANGING, part of Japanese Avant-Garde & Experimental Film Festival at Barbican (22 SEP).

Film festivals in London today include:

Catford Free Film Festival (13 to 22 SEP).
Japanese Avant-Garde & Experimental Film Festival (20 to 22 SEP).
Little Wing Film Festival (20 to 22 SEP).
Raindance Film Festival (18 to 29 SEP).
Scalarama (01 to 31 SEP).
Streatham Free Film Festival (14 to 28 SEP).
Underwire Festival (13 to 22).

GRIND SHOWS

Films in London today: THE FAREWELL at Barbican (20 to 26 SEP).

AD ASTRA d. James Gray, 2019 at The Lexi (22 JAN 14:20, 17:00 & 19:45):

“For those who need a bit more to go on, this is a quietly epic inversion of sci fi classics like 2001 and INTERSTELLAR, which perpetuated the myth of the square-jawed, heroic astronaut. True enough, Major Roy McBride (Pitt) is plenty heroic as he sails off into the limbo of outer space, tasked with finding the source of the radioactive energy surges paralysing Earth. There’s a suspicion back at command centre that the attacks might be connected to Roy’s father (Tommy Lee Jones), a legendary scientist who disappeared 10 years previously while on an experiment to harness energy in space.”

THE FAREWELL d. Lulu Wang, 2019 at Barbican (22 SEP 15:45, 18:05 & 20:20):

“Starring Awkwafina as Billi, a young woman living in New York who moved to America from China with her parents when she was a child. She is horrified to find out that her grandma, still living in China, has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and she and her parents but travel to China to say goodbye for the last time.”

SWARM SEASON d. Sarah J Christman, 2019 at DocHouse (22 SEP 18:00):

“On the remote volcanic island of Hawaii, 10-year-old Manu and her mother collect wild, endangered bees in order to breed disease-resistant colonies. Manu’s father is protesting on the sacred mountain Mauna Kea against the establishment of a gigantic telescope. On a neighbouring mountain, six NASA scientists practice living on Mars, and under the ground and the water, the Kilauea volcano quivers fatefully.”

More films in London this week (A – Z):

BAIT d. Mark Jenkin, 2019 at Rio Cinema (until 26 SEP). FOR SAMA d. Waad Al-Khateab & Edward Watts, 2019 at The Castle Cinema (until 03 OCT). HAIL SATAN? d. Penny Lane, 2019 at Watermans (20 to 26 SEP). HONEYLAND d. Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov, 2019 at ArtHouse Crouch End (20 to 26 SEP). HUSTLERS d. Lorene Scafaria, 2019 at Genesis Cinema (until 26 SEP). THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER d. Sara Colangelo, 2018 at Whirled Cinema (23 to 29 SEP). MOTHER d. Kristof Bilsen, 2019 (20 to 26 SEP). ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD 35mm d. Quentin Tarantino, 2019 at The Prince Charles (until 26 SEP). PAIN AND GLORY d. Pedro Almodóvar, 2019 at The Prince Charles (20 to 26 SEP). ROJO d. Benjamín Naishtat, 2018 at Ciné Lumière (until 26 SEP). SAFE SPACES d. Daniel Schechter, 2019 at JW3 (23 to 26 SEP). THE SHINY SHRIMPS d. Maxime Govare & Cédric Le Gallo, 2019 at Watermans (20 to 26 SEP). THE SOUVENIR d. Joanna Hogg, 2019 at The Prince Charles (20 to 26 SEP).

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*THE SMALL PRINT: As accurate as we could make it. Apologies for any errors. Apologies if we have missed your event. Updates & corrections will be made to the online version. Event dates/times are subject to change by the venue/organiser. We try to only list events you can book for at the time of posting: however, some events may still be sold out. Please click quickly! We don’t filter by age/certification: all readers & subscribers should be 18+.