THE BALLY #127: What to see in London this week [29 OCT to 04 NOV 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

I’ve been leading these Screen Guides with recovery and reopening good news for the past several weeks, but it’s time to stay grounded with the following message from The Cinema Museum:

“The Cinema Museum nears the end game in its fight for survival. We have not given up and we mean to win this battle. We intend delivering our petition to ‘Save the Cinema Museum’ to the developers who own the wider site upon which the Museum sits, on November the 5th. Once delivered, a petition is essentially closed – so this is everyone’s last chance. We intend totally smashing our target of 60,000+ signatures and we are just a few hundred short. Please do what you can to help us over the line on this last shove – by signing and sharing on social media. Thanks very much everyone – this will mean so much to us.

Katharine, Martin, Ronald and the volunteers and trustees of The Cinema Museum.

Here’s the link. Please sign and share widely.

Across other news, it’s a great week for film festivals with the continuation of, amongst others, Doc’n Roll Film Festival (28 OCT to 14 NOV) and Raindance Film Festival (27 OCT to 06 NOV) followed by opening nights for French Film Festival (03 NOV to 15 DEC), London Korean Film Festival (04 to 19 NOV), and UK Jewish Film Festival (04 to 18 NOV). It’s also time for FrightFest Halloween (29 to 30 OCT), where you couldn’t plan to be scared witless by a nicer bunch of people. For bumps in the night, you can also dive into the ongoing Screamdance strand at Raindance, leading all the way to their screaming climax of a Closing Night Gala, Anita Rocha da Silveira’s Brazilian “horror-musical-comedy” MEDUSA at Genesis (06 NOV).

In seasons, Picturehouse embraces the scary season with a rush of screenings as part of their CULTURE SHOCK strand, including all three Japanese RINGUs at their Hackney branch. The BFI’s epic JAPAN 2021 makes a dash for the darkness with a J-HORROR weekender (…which is selling out fast). Continuing the Japanese theme, we’ve also spotted some outstanding, free but not scary documentaries at Japan House London as part of their ongoing exhibition, TOKYO 1964: DESIGNING TOMORROW. Everything listed and linked below.

Needless to say, the Halloween theme continues across London’s one-off screen events too, with Screen25 offering both OLD (29 OCT) and CENSOR (03 NOV) and Cine-Real 16mm Film Club selling out their screening of DON’T LOOK NOW at The Castle Cinema (31 OCT). You can also catch Prano Bailey-Bond’s acclaimed film in a special late night screaming of CENSOR at newbie venue, ActOne Cinema (30 OCT), and there’s a pair of stalking terrors at ActOne’s big-sister, the Rio DER FAN + PERFECT BLUE (30 OCT). Deeper Into Movies presents a Hotel Of Horror extravaganza (31 OCT), and there’s a return to the lockdown delights of Zodiac Film Club’s digital scream-along, Zodiac House Of Horrors (31 OCT). World Wide Weird! follows the big day with a special screening of QUEENS OF EVIL (01 NOV), Wimbledon Film Club project THE LIGHTHOUSE (02 NOV) and Twickenham Cinema Club returns to public events with THE BABADOOK (04 NOV). Non-Halloween indie pleasures include Exploding Cinema returning to take over The Cinema Museum (30 OCT), Double Wonderful continuing to plough their own furrow with DRIB (02 NOV) and T A P E Collective bringing their But Where Are You Really From? short film touring programme to Kino Bermondsey (03 NOV).

For our Featured Attraction of the Week, I’ve chosen Pitshanger Pictures’ incredibly special screening of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (31 OCT), to be presented in St Barnabas Church, Ealing with a live, improvised church organ score by musician and choir leader Henry Tozer. Their last encounter with Lon Chaney – for a similar screening of the 1925 version of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA – simply blew me away between lockdowns last year:

“Feeling the Phantom’s spirit reverberate through you as Tozer’s epic sound filled the cavernous church, made this one of the most memorable film events of a remarkably strange screen year.”

RADIANT CIRCUS – Screen Diary.

That too was an event that saw the volunteer-driven film club return to public screenings after lockdown and it seems a fitting tribute to the indie cinema scene’s shared spirit of perseverance that we celebrate their achievements one more time.

See you in the darkness,

Richard // RADIANT CIRCUS

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME d. Wallace Worsley, 1923 + Live organ score by Henry Tozer presented by Pitshanger Pictures at St Barnabas Church, Ealing W5 (31 OCT 19:30).

• “A fantastic opportunity to experience this great silent film in the expansive environment of St Barnabas accompanied by the magnificent church organ played by Henry Tozer. A once in a lifetime experience.”

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Full daily listings in this week’s SCREEN GUIDE.

TOKYO 1964: DESIGNING TOMORROW at Japan House London 

• Includes (check venue for full listings): TOKYO PARALYMPICS – FESTIVAL OF LOVE & GLORY aka Tokyo paralympics Ai to eiko no saiten d. Watanabe Kimio, 1965 + Intro by Paralympian Noel Thatcher at Japan House London (29 OCT 18:30 – FREE!); CONSTRUCTION RECORD OF THE 1964 OLYMPIC GYMNASIUM at Japan House London (31 OCT 15:00 – FREE!); TŌKAIDŌ SHINKANSEN at Japan House London (31 OCT 16:00 – FREE!); TOKYO OLYMPIAD aka Tokyo Orinpikku d. Ichikawa Kon, 1965 at Japan House London (03 NOV 18:30 – FREE!).

More rep seasons listed in this week’s SCREEN GUIDE.

• Brazil Indigenous Film Festival (22 OCT to 04 NOV).
• Doc’n Roll Film Festival (28 OCT to 14 NOV).
• French Film Festival (03 NOV to 15 DEC).
• FrightFest Halloween (29 to 30 OCT).
• Halloween Horror Festival (29 OCT).
• London East Asia Film Festival (21 to 31 OCT).
• London Korean Film Festival (04 to 19 NOV).
• Native Spirit Festival (12 OCT to 20 NOV).
• Panorama of Bulgarian Film (28 to 31 OCT).
• Raindance Film Festival (27 OCT to 06 NOV).
• UK Jewish Film Festival (04 to 18 NOV).

More new releases in this week’s SCREEN GUIDE.

• 
  Sine Screen presents Vulnerable Histories at Close-Up & The Garden Cinema (19 to 26 AUG 2023)
• 
  Lost Reels presents 16mm & 35mm screenings at The Cinema Museum & ICA (19 & 31 AUG 2023)
• 
  The Duke Mitchell Film Club presents DukeFest 2023: A Brave New World (13 to 16 AUG 2023)
• 
  Cinema Mentiré launches with OLHAR PERIFERICO season (AUG 2023)

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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. //.