This is a film still from I AM THE ONE WHO BRINGS FLOWERS TO HER GRAVE dir Hala Alabdalla & Ammar Al Beik 2006

THE BALLY #146: What to see in London this week [25 to 31 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! Your illicit snacks are accepted here, so let’s proceed straight to the news… 

This is the week that The Garden Cinema fully opens its doors to the general public with a busy screening programme including rep season CELEBRATING MARLON BRANDO. I’ll be sad not to call them ‘the Brigadoon of new venue openings’ any more, but I’m delighted to see the team finally able to make cinematic headway. As one door opens…. Rio Cinema closes temporarily for some building works this week but you can still support them by streaming new releases on their Rio Player including DRIVE MY CAR, WHEEL OF FORTUNE & FANTASY, TITANE and BOILING POINT. No news of a reopening date yet, but hopefully soon. Of course, if being indoors isn’t your thing, Rooftop Film Club has put their first release of tickets on sale for May at their traditional Peckham and Stratford East locations. As well as their usual jukebox lineup of new releases and rep titles, the programme includes a season of Tom Cruise movies and a collection they’re referring to as Marmite, the films that divide us.

Special events start on Friday with the arrival of a new film club/strand at The Cinema Museum, Rare Cinema Europe’s presentation of “frothy French concoction” LES PERLES DE LA COURONNE aka The Pearls Of The Crown. Newham Community Cinema and WOFFF partner up for SPENCER, and 888 Film Club continues their season of subtitled screenings and Deaf Raves with Steven Spielberg’s WEST SIDE STORY (all 25 MAR). Exploding Cinema takes over The Cinema Museum on Saturday (26 MAR) where you can also find French Sundae’s presentation of LA KERMESSE HÉROIQUE aka Carnival in Flanders on Sunday. Ciné-Real 16mm Film Club have a one-off engagement at The Castle with Max Ophüls’ LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN, Never On A Sunday returns to Close-Up with Amir Naderi’s THE RUNNER, and ActOne Cinema presents a special fundraiser screening of Antoine Fuqua’s TRAINING DAY in tribute to Jamal Edwards MBE (all 27 MAR).

On Monday, London Migration Film Festival presents a special screening of Haider Rashid’s EUROPA at Genesis Cinema, or you can tuck into some film and tapas with JAMÓN JAMÓN c/o Spanish Marks at the India Club Lounge-Bar (both 28 MAR). Tufnell Park Film Club will entertain you with Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW whilst Sands Films Cinema Club presents Margarethe von Trotta’s DIE GEDULD DER ROSA LUXEMBURG in-venue and online (both 29 MAR). On Wednesday, Goethe-Institut presents Visar Morina’s EXIL (which also streams for a week) and there’s a special screening of MADNESS: TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT at Olympic Studios featuring director Dave Robinson and Suggs in Q&A (both 30 MAR). Doc’n Roll will bring your screen week to a fascinating conclusion with ALL I CAN SAY at The Castle Cinema, a film comprised of Hi8 video diary footage that lead singer of the rock band Blind Melon, Shannon Hoon, kept shooting up until a few hours before his sudden death at the age of 28. Find out more with a recorded Q&A from the directors (31 MAR). 

As this week both follows the end of BFI Flare‘s takeover of BFI Southbank and leads to the dawn of a new month, some new film seasons have started to appear. The big new hitters getting started at BFI include ANIME, LIV ULLMANN: FACE TO FACE, and NIGHTMARES AND DAYDREAMS: A CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF SCREENWRITER NIGEL KNEALE. Their Big Screen Classics strand turns to address A QUESTION OF FAITH. I’d go and watch a blank screen if anime historian/legend Helen McCarthy introduced it, so maybe start with her several engagements on the Southbank… In a moment of personal awakening, I realise I can’t get excited by the mainstream movie awards seasons anymore, but you might know this is OSCAR® WEEK, for which Barbican has partnered with Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Other nominee showcase seasons are available…

I haven’t spotted any new festivals opening this week, but that allows plenty of scope to visit the online and in-venue offerings from Essay Film Festival (19 MAR to 23 APR) and Hong Kong Film Festival (19 to 27 MAR), which has been doing sterling business across town. The Banff Mountain Film Festival (14 to 25 MAR), BFI Flare (16 to 27 MAR), and Human Rights Watch Film Festival (17 to 25 MAR) all wrap this week.

If new releases are what you’re looking for, I’ve highlighted Gillian Mosely’s THE TINDERBOX and Joachim Trier’s THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD which gets the widest of this week’s indie releases. Bertha DocHouse’s presentation of James Jones’s CHERNOBYL: THE LOST TAPES will donate 50% of proceeds from ticket sales to support the people of Ukraine via the DEC – Ukrainian Humanitarian Appeal.

I’ve chosen RADICAL FILMS / RADICAL FORMS as my Featured Attraction of the Week. Curated by Saeed Taji Farouky and presented by Other Cinemas this entirely free weekend explores the art of revolutionary Arab documentary with a packed programme of screenings and expert panels including sessions on collective theatre techniques, representing trauma, film collectives and the past and future of militant cinema.

See you in the darkness, and stay safe.

Richard // RADIANT CIRCUS

RADICAL FILMS / RADICAL FORMS presented by Other Cinemas at The Yellow (25 to 27 MAR):

“Other Cinemas presents RADICAL FILMS / RADICAL FORMS exploring the art of revolutionary Arab documentaries. The weekender will chart the history and development of radical Arab documentaries from their birth in Palestinian refugee camps and war zones, to today’s filmmakers who are pushing the documentary form using creative storytelling techniques such as recreation, collaboration and workshops. We will be screening classics such as THE HOUR OF LIBERATION HAS ARRIVED by Heiny Srour as well as new works such as GHOST HUNTING by Raed Andoni, I AM THE ONE WHO BRINGS FLOWERS TO HER GRAVE by Hala Alabdalla and Ammar Al-Beik (main featured image), A FEELING GREATER THAN LOVE by Mary Jirmanus Saba as well as OUT ON THE STREET by Jasmina Metwaly and Philip Rizk.” (Other Cinemas)

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This is a film still from I AM THE ONE WHO BRINGS FLOWERS TO HER GRAVE dir Hala Alabdalla & Ammar Al Beik 2006

FRIDAY

I AM THE ONE WHO BRINGS FLOWERS TO HER GRAVE d. Hala Alabdalla & Ammar Al Beik, 2006 + Performance (25 MAR 18:00 – FREE!) / Part of RADICAL FILMS / RADICAL FORMS at The Yellow.

SATURDAY

Exploding Cinema at The Cinema Museum (26 MAR 19:30).

This is a film still from THE RUNNER dir Amir Naderi 1984.

SUNDAY

Never On A Sunday: THE RUNNER d. Amir Naderi, 1984 UK premiere of the restored version + Intro by Ehsan Khoshbakht at Close-Up (27 MAR 20:15).

This is a film still from THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN dir Val Guest 1957.

MONDAY

THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN d. Val Guest, 1957 (28 MAR 20:50) / Part of NIGHTMARES AND DAYDREAMS: A CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF SCREENWRITER NIGEL KNEALE at BFI Southbank.

This is a film still from Early Days of Anime Shorts Programme 1917-1946 at BFI Southbank (29 MAR 2022).

TUESDAY

Early Days of Anime Shorts Programme 1917-1946 + Intro by Helen McCarthy & Live piano accompaniment by Stephen Horne (29 MAR 18:00) / Part of ANIME at BFI Southbank.

This is a film still from ONE CUT OF THE DEAD dir Shin’ichirô Ueda 2017.

WEDNESDAY

ONE CUT OF THE DEAD d. Shin’ichirô Ueda, 2017 presented & Introduced by The Evolution of Horror podcast (30 MAR 21:00) / Part of ONE AND DONE at Genesis Cinema.

This is a film still from ALL I CAN SAY dir Danny Clinch, Taryn Gould & Colleen Hennessy 2022.

THURSDAY

ALL I CAN SAY d. Danny Clinch, Taryn Gould & Colleen Hennessy, 2022 + Recorded Q&A with the directors presented by Doc’n Roll at The Castle Cinema (31 MAR 21:00).

Full daily listings in this week’s SCREEN GUIDE.

RADICAL FILMS / RADICAL FORMS at The Yellow

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

Ukraine Fundraiser: CHERNOBYL: THE LOST TAPES d. James Jones, 2022:

THE TINDERBOX d. Gillian Mosely, 2020:

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD aka Verdens verste menneske d. Joachim Trier, 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. //.