SCREEN GUIDE: What’s on in London this week [07 to 13 JAN 2022].

Our RADIANT CIRCUS guide to what’s on in London this week across DIY, indie & alternative cinema, including one-off screen events, film seasons, film festivals & new releases.

By RADIANT CIRCUS // Twitter @radiantcircus / Instagram @radiantcircus

It’s great to be back. Have you been out there yet? What did you see? My last cinema trip of 2021 on NYE was to see TITANE (again…), and my first trip of 2022 on NYD was to see SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME. Sometimes you just need your cinema-going to be loud and, well, full of contrast…

A little earlier this week I posted my first epic rep roundup of the year. You can read that post for a full account of the month/year’s new season, but I particularly like the look of the 1982 and BLACK & WHITE seasons at The Prince Charles, JONAS MEKAS 100! and TAKE TWO: JÖRN DONNER at Close-Up Film Centre, and PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON 35MM LATE NIGHTS at Everyman Screen On The Green. My Featured Attraction Of The Month goes to BOWIE: STARMAN & THE SILVER SCREEN at BFI Southbank for strictly personal reasons.  

In venue news, Riverside Studios has undertaken some internal refurbishing of their Studio 3, transforming it into “a cabaret-style cinema & bar” for the month. They’ll be using this space for a season of CONCERT FILMS I missed when putting my roundup together (sorry guys!). Seating is unallocated, and tables will be socially distanced. The venue is also discounting all their cinema tickets for January to £6.50. Elsewhere, the Brigadoon of new venue openings, The Garden Cinema, is now posting an official opening date of March 2022. Can’t wait.

Tuesday is a busy night for film clubs, with Sands Films showing Chaplin’s LIMELIGHT in-venue and online, Tufnell Park Film Club showing BLUE VELVET in tribute to Dean Stockwell, Deptford Film Club screening a programme of artists’ films, and Foreign Film Club showing DOGTOOTH (all 11 JAN). Many others seem to be getting ready for the year ahead. Wimbledon Film Club will start their 2022 with a members’ choice screening of Lee Isaac Chung’s MINARI at Curzon Wimbledon (18 JAN), and Talkies Community Cinema will celebrate their 200th event with a special screening of John Landis’ THE BLUES BROTHERS, complete with live musical intro from St Harmonica’s Blues Club at St John’s Hall (29 JAN). And just in case anyone thinks we’ve been ignoring them (far from it!) Richmond Film Society will resume their (currently) members only screenings with Nora Twomey’s THE BREADWINNER at The Exchange (18 JAN). Let’s hope the evolving COVID situation allows them to throw their doors wide open in due course.

COVID wasn’t the only cause of disruption to our screens last year… The opening night of Ryan Ninesling’s student season HUMAN RESOURCES – Margot Benacerraf’s ARAYA at Close-Up – was postponed in December 2021 due a power cut on Brick Lane. The screening now takes place on 13 JAN and is re-booking now. Also postponed from last year, the final part of The Care-fuffle Collective’s Repeated Apparitions programme,Six Shorts + Mengqi He, will now take place online (09 JAN0. A little further ahead in our schedules, World Wide Weird! will try for a second time to stage their next All-Dayer on 29 JAN, the programme living up to the film club’s name with North Korean kaiju flick PULGASARI (1985), Wei Tung’s MAGIC COP (1990), and Norman J Warren’s PREY (1977) plus a Mystery Film, VJ set and expert intros. Entry is £5 for a raffle ticket, all proceeds go to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Because of the peculiarities of festive release schedules, a lot of venues are only just starting to screen LICORICE PIZZA and THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH. You’ll already know if these titles are playing near you… New releases this week include Jamila Wignot’s documentary AILEY, Philip Barantini’s ‘single-take’ thriller, BOILING POINT, Asghar Farhadi’s A HERO, and Eric Steel’s LGBTQ+ drama, MINYAN. Check our GRIND SHOWS section for full details.

I’ve chosen the 4K restoration and re-release of THE 400 BLOWS as my Featured Attraction of The Week, because it’s both an incredible slice of cinema and an open doorway to the immense treasures on screen as part of Ciné Lumière and BFI’s celebration of the films – and inspirations – of François Truffaut. January’s offerings at BFI are split between films about Truffaut’s semi-semi-autobiographical character Antoine Doinel and “those displaying the influence of Truffaut’s beloved Renoir”. February’s programme will look at the influences of another of his heroes, Alfred Hitchcock. The BFI has also aligned their perennial BIG SCREEN CLASSICS strand to look at the important films in Truffaut’s life. There are plenty of talks and intros on both the Southbank and in South Ken to get you in the mood.

See you in the darkness,

Richard // RADIANT CIRCUS 

THE 400 BLOWS aka Les Quatre cents coups d. François Truffaut, 1959 at various venues inc: BFI / Ciné Lumière / ICA / JW3 / Picturehouse Cinemas.

“François Truffaut’s first feature and a cinematic recreation of his own childhood is one of the defining films of the French New Wave. Misunderstood and neglected, 13-year-old outcast Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) seeks to rebel against the oppressive social norms of school and home. Turning to petty crime, Antoine skips school to traverse the streets of Paris.”

FRIDAY 07 JAN

  • MEMORIA d. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2021 + Q&A with Tilda Swinton at ICA (07 JAN 18:15 – Currently looking SOLD OUT!).

SATURDAY 08 JAN

  • CRASH d. David Cronenberg, 1996 at Ciné Lumière (08 JAN 20:30).
  • GORBACHEV. HEAVEN d. Vitaly Mansky, 2020 at ICA (08 JAN 15:45).
  • VERTIGO d. Alfred Hitchcock, 1958 at The Prince Charles (08 JAN 17:20).

SUNDAY 09 JAN

  • COW d. Andrea Arnold, 2021 preview at ICA (09 JAN 16:00).
  • CRASH d. David Cronenberg, 1996 at Ciné Lumière (09 JAN 20:00).
  • GORBACHEV. HEAVEN d. Vitaly Mansky, 2020 at ICA (09 JAN 14:45).
  • PARASITE d. Bong Joon Ho, 2019 at The Prince Charles (09 JAN 18:05).
  • THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER d. Ernst Lubitz, 1940 at Regent Street Cinema (09 JAN 13:30).

ONLINE

MONDAY 10 JAN

  • AILEY d. Jamila Wignot, 2021 + Recorded Q&A at Picturehouse Bromley (10 JAN 19:45).

ONLINE

TUESDAY 11 JAN

  • AILEY d. Jamila Wignot, 2021 at Genesis Cinema (11 JAN 18:40).
  • BLUE VELVET d. David Lynch, 1986 presented by Tufnell Park Film Club in tribute to Dean Stockwell at The Lord Palmerston (11 JAN 20:00).
  • Deptford Film Club 2 presented by Empathy & Risk and Looking Forward at Empathy & Risk SE8 (11 JAN 18:00 – FREE!).
  • DOGTOOTH d. Yorgos Lanthimos, 2009 presented by Foreign Film Club at Morocco Bound Bookshop SE1 (11 JAN 19:00 – FREE!).
  • LIMELIGHT d. Charles Chaplin, 1952 presented in-venue & online by Sands Films Cinema Club at Sands Film Studios (11 JAN 20:00 – FREE!/Donation requested).

WEDNESDAY 12 JAN

  • BLISS x Fringe! d. Henrika Kull, 2021 at Genesis Cinema (12 JAN 18:30).
  • THE FALL d. Tarsem Singh, 2006 at The Prince Charles (12 JAN 20:50).
  • WEST SIDE STORY d. Steven Spielberg, 2021 at The David Lean Cinema (12 JAN 19:00).

THURSDAY 13 JAN

35MM PRESENTATIONS at The Prince Charles

1982 SEASON at The Prince Charles

ANNIVERSARY SCREENINGS at The Prince Charles

BEST OF 2021 at Bertha DocHouse

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): THE ALPINIST d. Peter Mortimer & Nick Rosen, 2021 (09 JAN 13:40 / 10 JAN 18:20 / 12 JAN 14:00).

BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: THE FILMS IN TRUFFAUT’S LIFE at BFI Southbank

BLACK & WHITE MOVIES at The Prince Charles

BOWIE: STARMAN & THE SILVER SCREEN at BFI Southbank 

BRENDAN FRASER at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): CALIFORNIA MAN d. Les Mayfield, 1992 (11 JAN 18:05).

CHER ON SCREEN at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): SILKWOOD d. Mike Nichols, 1983 (12 JAN 18:00).

DENIS VILLENEUVE: IN REVERSE at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): DUNE d. Denis Villeneuve, 2021 (08 JAN 20:30 / 09 JAN 20:00 / 11 JAN 15:00 & 20:15).

EXPERIMENTS IN FILM at Barbican 

THE FILMS OF QUENTIN TARANTINO at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): PULP FICTION 35mm d. Quentin Tarantino (07 JAN 20:30).

FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT: FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS at BFI Southbank

FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT REVISITED at Ciné Lumière

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): THE 400 BLOWS aka Les Quatre cents coups d. François Truffaut, 1959 (daily 07 to 13 JAN various); ANTOINE ET COLETTE + STOLEN KISSES d. François Truffaut, 1962 + 1968 (09 JAN 14:00 / 11 JAN 20:20).

FROM THE MIND OF PAUL SCHRADER at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): THE YAKUZA d. Sydney Pollack, 1974 (10 JAN 20:35).

HUMAN RESOURCES at Close-Up

  • Includes (check venue for listings): ARAYA d. Margot Benacerraf, 1959 (13 JAN 20:15 – rearranged from 03 DEC 2021).
  • Curated by Ryan Ninesling. Presented in partnership with the National Film & Television School.

JONAS MEKAS 100! at Close-Up

JULIA DUCOURNAU at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): TITANE d. Julia Ducournau, 2021 (until 13 JAN); RAW d. Julia Ducournau, 2016 (13 JAN 18:00).

NORA EPHRON at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): SILKWOOD d. Mike Nichols, 1983 (12 JAN 18:00).

PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON 35MM LATE NIGHTS at Everyman Screen On The Green

  • Includes (check venue for listings): BOOGIE NIGHTS 35mm d. Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997 (08 JAN 22:30).

STUDIO GHIBLI FOREVER at The Prince Charles

TAKE TWO: JÖRN DONNER at Close-Up

  • Includes (check venue for listings): BLACK ON WHITE 35mm d. Jörn Donner, 1968 (07 JAN 20:15).

TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH at BFI Southbank

THE WORLD OF WONG KAR WAI at The Prince Charles

COMING SOON!

THE 400 BLOWS aka Les Quatre cents coups d. François Truffaut, 1959.

AILEY d. Jamila Wignot, 2021.

BOILING POINT d. Philip Barantini, 2020.

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*THE SMALL PRINT: Opinions author’s own. // As accurate as we could make it. Apologies for any errors. Updates & corrections will be made to the online version only. // Event dates/times/formats are subject to change by the venue/organiser. Events may already be sold out at the time of posting, so please click quickly. // We try to list as many original format screenings as we can (8 to 70MM), but sometimes formats change due to age of the print, availability, logistics etc, so please check ahead with your venue if the format is your thing. // All images are used in the spirit of fair use for reporting & review – no ownership is implied or intended / unless otherwise credited to RADIANT CIRCUS as the original rights holder. We will remove any images immediately upon request – just get in touch. // We don’t filter our listings by age/certification: all readers & subscribers should therefore be 18+. // Finally, we always try to follow The Carny Code by “not screwing up anyone else’s game”, but everyone can make mistakes… If something does go wrong, we will always do our best to put it right. //.