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

Join us for the second of our Q-RATED! #QueerHorrorNights at The Castle Cinema: CARRIE (2013) Sunday 10 April 14:00.

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 MonthMARA 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

RADIANT CIRCUS is delighted to announce the next screening supported by #ReviveTheDark, our audience-backed campaign for distinctive/DIY cinema! Sonic Cinema presents AUSTRIAN SYNAESTHETIC CINEMA at Cafe OTO (06 MAY 20:00).

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.”

Subscribe to get all our listings emailed & help #ReviveTheDark.

FRIDAY

THE LAST DRAGON d. Michael Schultz, 1985 at The Prince Charles (18 MAR 21:00).

SATURDAY

CALL HER SAVAGE 16mm d. John Francis Dillon, 1932 presented by Women & Cocaine at The Cinema Museum (19 MAR 19:30).

SUNDAY

REBECCA 35mm d. Alfred Hitchcock, 1940 presented by The Vito Project LGBTQ+ Film Club at The Cinema Museum (20 MAR 18:00) / Part of Re-Opening The Celluloid Closet.

MONDAY

ZEROS AND ONES d. Abel Ferrara, 2021 preview screening presented by Deeper Into Movies at Moth Club (21 MAR 19:30).

TUESDAY

BIRDMAN: OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) d. Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2014 (22 MAR 20:55) / Part of ONE & DONE at Genesis Cinema.

WEDNESDAY

MIDNIGHT MOLLY 35mm + THE PRIMROSE PATH d. Lloyd Ingraham, 1925 + Harry O. Hoyt, 1925 + Intro by Michelle Facey & Live piano accompaniment by Meg Morley & Costas Fotopolous presented by Kennington Bioscope at The Cinema Museum (23 MAR 19:30).

THURSDAY

THE SALT OF THE EARTH d. Wim Wenders & Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, 2014 presented by Highgate Film Society at Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution (24 MAR 20:00 – Followed by an Online discussion 25 MAR 17:00).

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.

MASTER d. Mariama Diallo, 2022:

PARIS, 13TH DISTRICT aka Les Olympiades d. Jacques Audiard, 2021:

More new releases in this week’s SCREEN GUIDE.

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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. //.