THE BALLY #145: What to see in London this week [18 to 24 MAR 2022]

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

Welcome to another screen week! Let’s kick the popcorn out from underneath our feet and get on with it…

Your week of special events starts with some fabulous genre offerings, including a free screening of BACK TO THE FUTURE from Filmscope.org, The Gothique Film Society’s queer-inflected double-bill of monster movies, DRACULA’S DAUGHTER + LADY FRANKENSTEIN at The Cinema Museum, and an always welcome screening of THE LAST DRAGON featuring Taimak and Vanity at The Prince Charles (all 18 MAR)*.

Women & Cocaine own your Saturday with a special 16mm proto queer/pre-Code Clara Bow vehicle, CALL HER SAVAGE at The Cinema Museum (19 MAR). Then, Sunday gets hectic with a special presentation of CATHY COME HOME at ArtHouse Crouch End, LUX’s opening event for their exhibition of Adam Lewis Jacob’s IDRISH (ইদ্রিস), We Are Parable’s presentation of the works of John Akomfrah at Rio Cinema, Ciné-Real projecting Henri-Georges Clouzot’s THE WAGES OF FEAR from 16mm at The Castle, and The Vito Project returning to The Cinema Museum with a 35mm presentation of Hitchcock’s REBECCA which launches their Re-Opening The Celluloid Closet series (all 20 MAR!).

Deeper Into Movies gives you a great indie destination on Monday with preview screening of Abel Ferrara’s new provocation, ZEROS AND ONES at Moth Club (21 MAR). Tuesday brings you two of London’s finest film clubs, with Wimbledon Film Club taking you on a deep dive into Jean-Luc Godard’s BREATHLESS with film historian Peter Evans, and Tufnell Park Film Club paying tribute to one of the big screen’s most legendary pioneers, Douglas Trumbull’s SILENT RUNNING (both 22 MAR). Kennington Bioscope brings all of their amazing energy to a Wednesday double-bill of MIDNIGHT MOLLY 35mm + THE PRIMROSE PATH (23 MAR), and Highgate Film Society wraps your week with Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado’s THE SALT OF THE EARTH (24 MAR).

Film seasons pretty much continue as we we’ve become used to this month. Close-Up stages the penultimate event in our Featured Attraction of the Month, MARA MATTUSCHKA: DIFFERENT FACES OF AN ANTI-DIVA, and Genesis Cinema gets started with their tasty season of one-shot wonders, ONE AND DONE. I’d also book to see BRENDAN FRASER in the THE MUMMY: DOUBLE FEATURE 35mm at The Prince Charles if I had the time… not because I’ve lost my critical faculties, it’s just been a very long while since I’ve been on the Revenge of the Mummy Ride. We all have our weaknesses… Fairground dark rides are (amongst…) mine!

I’ve spotted several new festival openings this week, including the always incredible Essay Film Festival (19 MAR to 23 APR), the massively popular Hong Kong Film Festival (19 to 27 MAR) and some ‘best of the fest’ screenings from London Short Film Festival (19 & 20 MAR) and Oska Bright Film Festival (19 & 21 MAR). BFI Flare continues to blaze a bright LGBTQIA+ light with its takeover of BFI Southbank (16 to 27 MAR).

Amongst this week’s new releases, I’ve highlighted Mariama Diallo’s feature debut MASTER, the long-awaited arrival of Jacques Audiard’s PARIS, 13TH DISTRICT (…remember all those Valentine’s Day previews?), and Craig Roberts’ THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN. But there’s a lot going on, so do check out the GRIND SHOW section for all the relevant details.

Picking up on last week’s fundraisers for Ukraine, there are multiple screenings of a short film programme from ENCOUNTERS film festival this week, as well as co-ordinated industry efforts to get behind Elie Grappe’s new feature, OLGA. Scroll through our daily listings for full details. If you’re planning on screening a fundraiser for humanitarian relief in Ukraine, then please drop me a line so we can help promote it for you.

I’ve chosen Mariama Diallo’s MASTER at Peckhamplex and Barbican as my Featured Attraction of the Weekbecause Black women directing horror really should be higher up other people’s priority lists…

See you in the darkness, and stay safe.

Richard // RADIANT CIRCUS

PS – I had a great time working with The Celluloid Sorceress and Supakino on their MIDNIGHT EXCESS Vanity double-bill, BERRY GORDY’S THE LAST DRAGON / NEVER TOO YOUNG TO DIE back in 2019 at the Rio. You can read a great interview with Taimak by New York based writer and comic Jourdain Searles HERE! 

MASTER d. Mariama Diallo, 2022 at Barbican & Peckhamplex:

“Three women strive to find their place at an elite New England university. As the insidious spectre of racism haunts the campus in an increasingly supernatural fashion, each fights to survive in this space of privilege.”

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Full daily listings in this week’s SCREEN GUIDE.

ONE AND DONE at Genesis Cinema

• Includes (check venue for full listings): BIRDMAN d. Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2014 (22 MAR 20:55); BOILING POINT d. Phillip Barantini, 2021 (23 MAR 21:00); ROPE d. Alfred Hitchcock, 1948 (27 MAR 16:35); VICTORIA d. Sebastian Schipperm, 2015 (29 MAR 20:45); ONE CUT OF THE DEAD d. Shin’ichirô Ueda, 2017 presented & Introduced by The Evolution of Horror podcast (30 MAR 21:00).

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

• The Banff Mountain Film Festival (14 to 25 MAR).
• BFI Flare (16 to 27 MAR).
• Essay Film Festival (19 MAR to 23 APR).
• Hong Kong Film Festival (19 to 27 MAR).
• Human Rights Watch Film Festival (17 to 25 MAR).
• Kinoteka Polish Film Festival (09 MAR to 03 APR).
• London Short Film Festival: Award Winners (19 & 20 MAR).
• Mois de la Francophonie (MAR).
• Oska Bright Film Festival (19 & 21 MAR).

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. //.