THE BALLY #109: What to see in London this week [04 to 10 JUN 2021]

Welcome to THE BALLY where we help you find what to see in London this week across DIY, indie & alternative cinema events, online, outdoors & in venues.

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

The good news of venue reopening continues… 

Close-Up Film Centre will resume cinema screenings with, appropriately enough, a socially distanced screening of Abbas Kiarostami’s 1990 film CLOSE-UP (25 JUN 20:15 – already SOLD OUT!). That’s followed by their perennially popular Close-Up on Andrei Tarkovsky season (26 JUN to 01 AUG – booking now!). 

The Horse Hospital has finally been able to confirm tenure for a further 4 years, reaching a “more achievable” 33.3% rent increase rather than the originally proposed 333%. The underground venue has been supported by the Mayor Of London’s Culture At Risk Office and will need audiences to flood back in when the time is right. 

Finally, ICA will reopen for exhibitions and cinema screenings from 06 JUL…

Our Featured Attraction of the Week is We Are Parable’s special preview screening of the new 4K restoration of Ousmane Sembène’s 1968 film, MANDABI at Rio Cinema (08 JUN 18:30). The event includes live performance and is part of We Are Parable’s nationwide Who We Are season, a celebration of Black Cinema from around the world.

We also want to give an honourable shout out to two other events at the Rio this week: Club des Femmes and Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest’s Lesbian Camp: Yes It’s F**king Political (05 to 06 JUN)* and Doc’n Roll Festival’s presentation of THIS FILM SHOULD NOT EXIST (09 JUN). It’s exactly this kind of adventurous, alternative film programming that got us blogging in the first place. Get out there if you can…

See you in the darkness…

Richard // RADIANT CIRCUS

*Why not make a DIY weekender of women’s weightlifting docs, starting with LIFT LIKE A GIRL (at BFI Southbank as part of Sheffield Doc/Fest, 05 JUN), and PUMPING IRON II: THE WOMEN (at Rio Cinema, part of Club des Femmes’ Lesbian Camp weekender, 06 JUN)?

MANDABI d. Ousmane Sembène, 1968 + performance by musician Moussa Dembele & spoken word artist Aaron James presented by We Are Parable at Rio Cinema (08 JUN 18:30) / Part of Who We Are.

• “The first feature film made entirely in an African language, MANDABI tells the story of Ibrahim who receives a windfall from his nephew in Paris. As news of the money order becomes the talk of the community, Ibrahim has to face a number of challenges and obstacles to cash his cheque.”

RETURN TO THE CITY at Barbican

• Includes (check venue for full listings): FREE TIME d. Manfred Kirchheimer, 1960/2020 + Intro by Will Jennings at Barbican Cinema (08 JUN 18:15); LIMA SCREAMS d. Dana Bonilla & Ximena Valdivia, 2018 at Barbican Cinema (10 JUN 18:20).

• Kinoteka: The 19th Polish Film Festival (06 MAY to 04 JUN 2021)
• UK Asian Film Festival (26 MAY to 06 JUN). READ MORE

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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. //.