THE BALLY #193: What to see in London this week [17 to 23 MAR 2023]

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!

Firstly, apologies for the erratic nature of these posts recently. RADIANT CIRCUS has been running in its current form for 5 years and instead of hitting the celebrations hard, the wheels almost came off this bus… It’s a one man blogging affair (i.e. me!) and the pressure of balancing paid work with producing routine/comprehensive listings can be a tough one to maintain. 

Weirdly, it’s not the researching/compiling that causes me problems (I love finding out what’s on, and hope to get back to seeing more of it soon…), it’s simply the time it takes. On that note, there won’t be daily updates this week due to pressures of other work, but there will be THE BALLY and more promotion of featured attractions on Instagram. Thank you as usual to my subscribers at Patreon for their ongoing support. You really do keep me going.

Getting back to this week… New releases and revivals include limited engagements for the 30th anniversary 4K restoration of Martin Scorsese’s THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1993), Ti West’s PEARL (2023) – the prequel to X which screens at Picturehouse Cinemas on Friday – and the widest of the new releases, Raine Allen Miller’s RYE LANE (2023).

With BFI Flare (15 to 26 MAR) well underway on the Southbank, it’s a quieter week than usual with regard to rep seasons. FRANCOPHONE WEST AFRICAN CINEMA at The Garden Cinema and OBSESSIONS at Bertha DocHouse have some excellent offerings. Of course, you can always join me for my penultimate BAR TRASH: TRASH OR TREASURE? screening at Genesis Cinema, a rare outing for John Boorman’s hypnotically weird EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC in Studio 4 (22 MAR).

Film festivals opening this week include the always insanely busy Hong Kong Film Festival (18 to 31 MAR), St Patrick’s Film Festival (17 to 19 MAR) from Irish Film London which includes an epic screening of short films in Trafalgar Square, and Austrian film programme WatchAUT 2023 (23 to 26 MAR).

Indie cinema exhibitors are busy this week, with Brixton House embracing cinema programming more widely in their venue. Bounce Cinema kicks things off with two already heavily-sold screenings (SET IT OFF on 17 MAR and LOVE JONES on 18 MAR). Then, We Are Parable celebrate their 10th Anniversary with a weekend takeover a little later in the month (EXPERIENCE OVER EVERYTHING from 30 MAR to 02 APR).

There’s a strong variety of short film programmes across town this week, and so I’ve chosen Kenneth Anger: Magick Lantern Cycle at Close-Up (19 & 26 MAR) as my Featured Attraction of the Week.

See you in the darkness, and stay safe.

Richard // RADIANT CIRCUS

Kenneth Anger: Magick Lantern Cycle at Close-Up (19 MAR 17:00 / 26 MAR 17:00).

“Cinematic magician, legendary provocateur, author of the infamous Hollywood Babylon book, Kenneth Anger is a unique figure in post-war American culture. His iconic short films are characterised by a mystical-symbolic visual language and phantasmagorical-sensual opulence that underscores the medium’s transgressive potential. Anger’s work fundamentally shaped the aesthetics of 1960s and 1970s subcultures, the visual lexicon of pop and music videos and queer iconography. These nine films form the basis of Anger’s reputation as one of the most influential pioneers of avant-garde film and video art.” (Close-Up)

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Full daily listings in this week’s SCREEN GUIDE.

OBSESSIONS at Bertha DocHouse

• Includes (check venue for full listings): INFINITE FOOTBALL d. Corneliu Porumboiu, 2018 (17 MAR 18:20 / 20 MAR 18:20 / 22 MAR 20:30); PROJECT PIPE DREAMS d. Manus Fraser, 2021 + Q&A with the director (18 MAR 15:00); THE JOYCEAN SOCIETY d. Dora García, 2013 (18 MAR 18:00 / 21 MAR 18:20); RECORDER: THE MARION STOKES PROJECT d. Matt Wolf, 2019 (19 MAR 18:00 / 21 MAR 20:00 / 22 MAR 16:20); GEOGRAPHIES OF SOLITUDE d. Jacquelyn Mills, 2022 (19 MAR 15:30).

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

• BFI Flare (15 to 26 MAR).
• Hong Kong Film Festival (18 to 31 MAR).
• Human Rights Watch Film Festival (16 to 26 MAR).
• Kinoteka: Polish Film Festival (09 MAR to 27 APR).
• St Patrick’s Film Festival (17 to 19 MAR).
• WatchAUT 2023 (23 to 26 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. //.