SCREEN GUIDE: What’s on in London this week [13 to 19 MAY 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

#QueerHorrorNights returns with David Freyne’s THE CURED (2017) at The Castle Cinema (15 MAY 14:00) / Booking now!

Welcome to another screen week! This one’s worthy of some serious celebration as London’s cluster of film clubs continues to grow… the scene is starting to feel like a choral reef that’s reviving from a recent bleaching (if you’ll pardon my gushing…).

Start your week(end) with Drunken Scorpion’s new south of the river show, bringing fighting games, hip hop beats and classic kung fu titles THE HAND OF DEATH + DREADNAUGHT to Whirled Cinema (with their late license the action can go into the early hours…). It’s also FRIDAY THE 13TH, and you can enjoy Sean S. Cunningham’s 1980 original indoors at The Prince Charles and Everyman Cinemas, and outdoors at Rooftop Film Club. Being a fan of overlooked sequels and forgotten formats, I’d make a personal priority to see part 3 from 35mm (although not in 3D) at The Prince Charles.

On Saturday, French Impressions returns to Watermans with Jon Davies giving his analysis of BENEDETTA, and there’s a special screening of WHITE RIOT at Catford Mews. Hannah Strong will be introducing one of my favourites, Gus Van Sant’s TO DIE FOR along with Sofia Coppola’s THE BLING RING, as a way of launching her new book, Sofia Coppola: Forever Young at BFI Southbank (14 MAY). On Sunday, Token Homo and Last Frame Club return with another of their Queer Horror Nights at The Castle – gay director David Freyne’s post zombie outbreak movie, THE CURED – but it’s also a day for another dose of John Davies as he introduces LE DERNIER COMBAT at The Cinema Museum, CinemaItaliaUK presents MARX CAN WAIT at Riverside Studios, and Queer Cinema Club screens THE SHINY SHRIMPS at London LGBTQ+ Community Centre. There’s something else rather special going on, but I’ll get to that in a bit…

Your working week begins with Deeper Into Movies showing FRANCIS BACON: A BRUSH WITH VIOLENCE at Farr’s Dalston and a special screening of Sergei Paradjanov’s restored SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS to raise funds for the Dovzhenko Film Centre in Kyiv at King’s College London. On Tuesday, Sands Films Cinema Club presents George Hoellering’s 1936 docu-fiction HORTOBÁGY in-venue and online, Tufnell Park Film Club gives you KILL BILL: VOL 1 , and Rebel Reel Cine Club continues a run of brilliant screenings with VALLEY OF THE DOLLS at Rio Cinema (all 17 MAY). Tuesday is also INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA, BIPHOBIA & TRANSPHOBIA, so I’ve gathered as many screenings as I could spot (see Tuesday’s listings for details).

Wednesday gets busy again, with Pitshanger Pictures presenting both SHALL WE DANCE and WILD ROSE at St Barnabas Church Ealing, New East Cinema screening Ukrainian film REFLECTION at Barbican, Rio Cinema hosting a director Q&A for AIDS DIVA: THE LEGEND OF CONNIE NORMAN, and Kennington Noir projecting MYSTERY STREET at The Cinema Museum (all 18 MAY). Wrap your week with Highgate Film Society and DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES at HLSI, another fundraiser for Ukraine at Pushkin House, Labour, Creativity & Freedom: Solidarity Film Screening, and Lobotomy Room’s free presentation of SONG OF SONGS at Fontaine’s (all 19 MAY).

Rep seasons continue at their steady pace – as you’d expect in the middle of the month – with a bumper crop from the ESSENTIAL CINEMA series at Close-Up, and repeat screenings for many of the key titles in our Featured Attraction of the Month, CRUEL FLESH: FILMS OF THE NEW FRENCH EXTREMITY at BFI Southbank. The Garden Cinema has added an intro from critic and Contributing Editor at Empire Magazine, Amon Warmann, to their Sunday screening of TO SIR, WITH LOVE as part of their CELEBRATING SIDNEY POITIER season (15 MAY).

In festivals, this week’s new openings include Beyond Words French Literature Festival (16 to 22 MAY), Queer East Film Festival (18 to 29 MAY), Sci-Fi London (19 to 22 MAY), and one I missed last week, SERET International Israeli Film Festival (12 to 19 MAY). There’s a bumper crop of new releases too, offering good choice across London’s indie screens. I’ve highlighted Leah Purcell’s THE DROVER’S WIFE: THE LEGEND OF MOLLY JOHNSON, the Daniels’ EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, Colm Bairéad’s THE QUIET GIRL, and Gaspar Noé’s VORTEX.

I’ve chosen SUPAKINO aka Ranjit S. Ruprai’s long-awaited return with a Bombay Mix double bill at Rio Cinema as my Featured Attraction of the Week (15 MAY). I can’t be there for his show as I’ll be wrestling with a zombie outbreak at The Castle Cinema, but I’m sure glad to see him back on the scene. If you haven’t experienced Ranjit’s encyclopaedic love of incredibly strange films, you really should take the deep dive.

See you in the darkness, and stay safe.

Richard // RADIANT CIRCUS

Bombay Mix: THE TRIP + OM DAR-B-DAR ds. Roger Corman, 1967 + Kamal Swaroop, 1988 + Intro presented by SUPAKINO at Rio Cinema (15 MAY 13:00 + 15:15).

“After more than two years, SUPAKINO aka Ranjit S. Ruprai returns with a ‘Psychedelic Marketing’ double bill of Roger Corman’s THE TRIP (1967) and Kamal Swaroop’s OM DAR-B-DAR (1988), two stories of metamorphosis and revelation in the modern world of brand names, advertising jingles, scientific progress and global popular culture. Ranjit will be exploring the connections between these cult films and will be joined by special guest Dr. Omar Ahmed, film scholar and curator, before the screenings.” (SUPAKINO)

BOMBAY MIX: Indian cinema meets the rest of the world in a mix of movies that share themes, stories and genres. Part of an on-going programme of double bills that invite audiences to explore cinema and make new connections.

FRIDAY 13 MAY

FRIDAY THE 13TH

SATURDAY 14 MAY

  • French Impressions: BENEDETTA d. Paul Verhoeven, 2021 + Intro by Jon Davies at Watermans (14 MAY 13:00).
  • THE GODFATHER: 50th Anniversary d. Francis Ford Coppola, 1972 at ActOne Cinema (14 MAY 13:30 / 15 MAY 13:30).
  • JULES ET JIM d. François Truffaut, 1962 at Regent Street Cinema (14 MAY 14:45 / 16 MAY 19:15 / 18 MAY 17:10).
  • SEVEN SAMURAI d. Kurosawa Akira, 1954 at Japan House London (14 MAY 14:00 – FREE!).
  • WHITE RIOT d. Rubika Shah, 2020 + Q&A with the director & After Party at Catford Mews (14 MAY 20:00) / Part of WE ARE LEWISHAM.
  • WHO KILLED THE KLF? d. Chris Atkins, 2022 + Q&A with the director at The Ritzy (14 MAY 20:00).
  • Woman with a Movie Camera: THE BLING RING d. Sofia Coppola, 2013 + Intro by Hannah Strong at BFI Southbank (14 MAY 18:00 – Joint ticket with TO DIE FOR from box office).
  • Woman with a Movie Camera: TO DIE FOR d. Gus Van Sant, 1995 + Intro by Hannah Strong at BFI Southbank (14 MAY 14:50 – Join ticket with BLING RING from box office).

SUNDAY 15 MAY

  • BELFAST d. Kenneth Branagh, 2021 at Whirled Cinema (15 MAY 17:00).
  • Bombay Mix: THE TRIP + OM DAR-B-DAR ds. Roger Corman, 1967 + Kamal Swaroop, 1988 + Intro presented by SUPAKINO at Rio Cinema (15 MAY 13:00 + 15:15).
  • CABARET d. Bob Fosse, 1972 + Recorded intro by Pamela Hutchinson at Riverside Studios (15 MAY 15:35).
  • FADIA’S TREE d. Sarah Beddington, 2021 + Q&A with the director & Fadia at The Whitechapel Gallery (15 MAY 16:00).
  • THE GODFATHER: 50th Anniversary d. Francis Ford Coppola, 1972 at ActOne Cinema (15 MAY 13:30).
  • THE GODFATHER PART II d. Francis Ford Coppola, 1974 + Intro by Adrian Wootton at Barbican (15 MAY 13:30).
  • GOLDFINGER d. Guy Hamilton, 1964 at Olympic Studios (15 MAY 14:00).
  • LE DERNIER COMBAT aka The Last Battle d. Luc Besson, 1983 + Intro by Jon Davies presented by French Sundaes at The Cinema Museum (15 MAY 14:30).
  • MARX CAN WAIT d. Marco Bellocchio, 2022 presented by CinemaItaliaUK at Riverside Studios (15 MAY 15:00 + Free negroni!).
  • MODERN TIMES d. Charles Chaplin, 1936 at BFI Southbank (15 MAY 15:30).
  • Queer Horror Nights: THE CURED d. David Freyne, 2017 + Intro + Bar Social presented by Token Homo x Last Frame Club in partnership with Irish Film London at The Castle Cinema (15 MAY 14:00).
  • THE SHINY SHRIMPS aka Les Crevettes Pailletées d. Maxime Govare & Cédric Le Gallo, 2019 presented by Queer Cinema Club at London LGBTQ+ Community Centre (15 MAY 17:00 – Donation requested).
  • WHO KILLED THE KLF? d. Chris Atkins, 2022 + Q&A with the director at Picturehouse Finsbury Park (15 MAY 17:00).

MONDAY 16 MAY

TUESDAY 17 MAY

INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA, BIPHOBIA & TRANSPHOBIA

  • FIREBIRD d. Peeter Rebane, 2021 at Regent Street Cinema (17 MAY 19:00).
  • FIREBIRD d. Peeter Rebane, 2021 at Genesis Cinema (17 MAY 20:55).
  • GREAT FREEDOM d. Sebastian Meise, 2021 at The David Lean (17 MAY 19:30).
  • Pink Palace: BEFORE STONEWALL d. Greta Schiller, 1984 + Intro/Shorts at Rio Cinema Basement Bar (17 MAY 19:30).

WEDNESDAY 18 MAY

  • AIDS DIVA: THE LEGEND OF CONNIE NORMAN d. Dante Alencastre, 2021 + Q&A with the director & Andria Mordaunt (ACT UP London) at Rio Cinema (18 MAY 18:45).
  • Experimenta: Lensing the Landscape: RIVER YAR d. William Raban & Chris Welsby, 1972 + Discussion with the artists at BFI Southbank (18 MAY 18:15).
  • THE FRENCH DISPATCH d. Wes Anderson, 2021 at Whirled Cinema (18 MAY 20:00 / 22 MAY 17:00).
  • JULES ET JIM d. François Truffaut, 1962 at Regent Street Cinema (18 MAY 17:10).
  • MYSTERY STREET d. John Sturges, 1947 presented by Kennington Noir at The Cinema Museum (18 MAY 19:30).
  • REFLECTION d. Valentyn Vasyanovych, 2021 presented by New East Cinema at Barbican (18 MAY 18:10).
  • SHALL WE DANCE d. Mark Sandrich, 1937 presented by Pitshanger Pictures at St Barnabas Church Ealing (18 MAY 15:00).
  • WEST SIDE STORY d. Steven Speilberg, 2021 at Rio Cinema (18 MAY 14:30).
  • WILD ROSE d. Tom Harper, 2018 presented by Pitshanger Pictures at St Barnabas Church Ealing (18 MAY 20:15).

THURSDAY 19 MAY

35MM PRESENTATIONS at The Prince Charles

70MM PRESENTATIONS at The Prince Charles

007 SEASON at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): A VIEW TO A KILL d. John Glen, 1985 (14 MAY 15:10 – 4K / 19 MAY 15:30 – 4K).

1982 SEASON at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for full listings)TRON d. Steven Lisberger, 1982 (13 MAY 15:45 / 15 MAY 12:15 / 17 MAY 15:45); FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3 35mm d. Steve Miner, 1982 (13 MAY 21:00); DINER d. Barry Levinson, 1982 (18 MAY 20:35 – £1 Members Film).

AKIRA KUROSAWA at The Prince Charles

ANIME at BFI Southbank

BEST OF CÉSAR at Ciné Lumière

BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: A QUESTION OF FAITH at BFI Southbank

BLACK & WHITE MOVIES at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): THE LADY EVE d. Preston Sturgess, 1941 (14 MAY 12:45).

CATALAN CINEMA NOW! INTERSECTIONS at ICA

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): LIBERTAD d. Clara Roquet, 2021 (14 MAY 18:15); COSTA BRAVA, LEBANON d. Mounia Akl, 2021 (15 MAY 18:15).

CELEBRATING MARLON BRANDO at The Garden Cinema

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): THE WILD ONE d. László Benedek, 1953 (14 MAY 18:40).

CELEBRATING SIDNEY POITIER at The Garden Cinema 

CRUEL FLESH: FILMS OF THE NEW FRENCH EXTREMITY at BFI Southbank

CULTITUDE at Catford Mews

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): HOUSE PARTY dir Reginald Hudlin, 1990 (13 MAY 21:00 / 18 MAY 21:00).

DANIEL DAY-LEWIS SELECTROSPECTIVE at The Prince Charles

ESSENTIAL CINEMA at Close-Up

FROM THE MIND OF PAUL SCHRADER at The Prince Charles 

GASPAR NOÉ at Genesis Cinema

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): LOVE d. Gaspar Noé, 2015 (16 MAY 20:50); ENTER THE VOID d. Gaspar Noé, 2009 (19 MAY 20:55).

THE GOLDEN AGE OF FRENCH CINEMA at The Garden Cinema

  • Includes (check venue for full listings)LA RÈGLE DU JEU d. Jean Renoir, 1939 (15 MAY 15:10).

MARTIN SCORSESE: DIRECTOR. WRITER. PRODUCER. ACTOR. at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for listings): GOODFELLAS 35mm d. Martin Scorsese, 1990 (15 MAY 20:30).

NICHOLAS CAGE 35MM at Everyman Screen On The Green

  • Includes (check venue for listings)FACE/OFF 35mm d. John Woo, 1997 (14 MAY 23:00 / 18 MAY 10:30).

RETURN OF THE OUTSIDER: THE FILMS OF MIKE HODGES at BFI Southbank

SCI-FI MOVIES at The Prince Charles

SCREWBALL COMEDY at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for full listings): THE LADY EVE d. Preston Sturgess, 1941 (14 MAY 12:45).

SEASCAPES: OUR OCEANS ON SCREEN at Ciné Lumière

STANLEY KUBRICK ON FILM at The Prince Charles

THE WORLD OF WONG KAR WAI at The Prince Charles

  • Includes (check venue for listings): DAYS OF BEING WILD d. Wong Kar Wai, 1990 (14 MAY 18:10 – 4K / 17 MAY 18:10 – 4K / 19 MAY 12:15).

ROOFTOP FILM CLUB at Bussey Building, Peckham

ROOFTOP FILM CLUB at Roof East, Stratford

THE DROVER’S WIFE: THE LEGEND OF MOLLY JOHNSON dir. Leah Purcell, 2021:

THE QUIET GIRL aka An Cailín Ciúin dir. Colm Bairéad, 2021:

VORTEX dir. Gaspar Noé, 2021:

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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. //.