This is a film still from SUMMERLAND which screens at Everyman Chelsea (05 AUG 2020).

THE BALLY #83: London’s indie screen news & daily highlights (31 JUL to 06 AUG)

Welcome to THE BALLY, the free weekly newsletter about London’s alternative cinema scene produced by RADIANT CIRCUS. Featuring the latest screen news, handpicked daily highlights & our featured attraction of the week. Full listings at radiantcircus.com*

Twitter @radiantcircus | Instagram @radiantcircus

> Check back for updates… [CORRECTION: we said in the original post that Curzon Wimbledon was reopening 31 JUL… we got that wrong!]

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NEWS FROM ACROSS LONDON’S ALTERNATIVE CINEMA SCENE.

BFI has announced how the government’s Culture Recovery Fund will help indie cinemas (read all about it at The Bigger Picture). There’s a cool £30million for venues that “provide a year round film programme”, split between safety kit (£3million) and business stability (£27million). Funding doesn’t apply to film festivals or “touring operators” and a whole bunch of other ways indie screens are lit up for our entertainment. Let’s keep a careful eye on what happens…

Watermans Arts Centre reopens for screenings at the end of this week (05 AUG) with THE TRUTH, and we’re delighted to welcome them back. We’re also excited to see Serpentine Galleries reopen with a chance to walk through Cao Fei’s installation BLUEPRINTS (from 04 AUG – FREE/Booking required). South London pub venue Bellingham Film Palace resumes screening this weekend with the same film that looks like it might reopen the Rio Cinema next weekend (we can’t see they’ve announced anything, but booking pages are live…), SUMMERLAND.

Picturehouse Cinemas return in a big way this week, with screenings across London (we’ve listed Picturehouse Central). Other chains continue their reopening ripples with Curzon Bloomsbury, Everyman Maida Vale, and Everyman Crystal Palace projecting again from 31 JUL. As more screens reopen, we’ll try to list as much as we can – highlighting one venue per chain, plus notable variations – so you can keep track of what’s on.

Looking a little further ahead, it’s great to see London’s film clubs getting back into the swing of things at Genesis Cinema. Following the welcome return of Cult Classic Collective last week (read our writeup), Nick Walker will be giving HELLRAISER an outing on 20 AUG. We’ve also spotted a screening of RINGU from London Video Club (15 AUG), surf movie programme Cine Mar (18 AUG), and an evening of shorts from DISPATCH FMI (10 SEP). Find full details of these events and more in COMING ATTRACTIONS in our weekly digest.

In drive-in news, Luna Cinema wraps at Allianz Park (31 JUL) and will then reopen in West London at Gunnersbury Park from 19 AUG. Sunset Cinema leaves West London with final screenings this weekend (31 JUL to 01 AUG). Drive & Dine Theatre with food by Tom Kerridge started sold out runs at Syon Park and Selhurst Park (28 JUL to 02 AUG), although we spotted a few remaining tickets for Friday’s screening of LE MANS ’66 in West London.

And finally, the big streaming news this week is the glorious climax of Carol Morley’s #fridayfilmclub which has been gathering international attention with its watchalong screening programme. The final – 20th! – film streams this Friday at 20:00 (see below).

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OUR HIGHLIGHT OF THIS WEEK’S ONE-OFF SCREEN EVENTS IN LONDON.

It’s a week with two notable charity screenings… On 03 AUG, Deptford Cinema and Legal Sector Workers United get together for an online screening of 1987 doc BLACK AND BLUE followed by a panel discussion exploring institutional racism in the UK criminal justice system. The event will raise funds for the United Families and Friends Campaign.

A little later in the week, The Drive In, Troubadour Meridian Water raises funds for the Film & TV Charity with a special tweet-along, peek behind the scenes screening of SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (06 AUG). Full details about both events in our listings below.

Our Featured Attraction of the week is SUMMERLAND which gets what we think is the first live Director Q&A of the reopening season at the brand new Everyman Chelsea (05 AUG). Which is a beautiful thing…

See you in the darkness,

RADIANT CIRCUS

7 DAY SCREEN HIGHLIGHTS FROM LONDON THIS WEEK.
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#fridayfilmclub – collective: unconscious (d. Lily Baldwin, Nuotoma Bodomo, Daniel Patrick Carbone, Josephine Decker & Lauren Wolkstein, 2016) FREE to stream online + Twitter chat (31 JUL 20:00):

    • Carol Morley presents: “An anthology feature in which five of independent film’s most daring directors literally adapt each other’s dreams for the screen. It’s “like nothing you’ve ever seen with your eyes open” (Rolling Stone).”
    • How to works: Watch together online then discuss on Twitter using #fridayfilmclub @_CarolMorley.

> FIND MORE GREAT THINGS TO SEE IN OUR WEEKLY DIGEST <

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PROXIMA d. Alice Winocour, 2019 at Genesis Cinema (01 AUG 14:50 & 20:40):

    • New release (31 JUL to 06 AUG): “Sarah is a French astronaut training at the European Space Agency in Cologne. She is the only woman in the arduous program. She lives alone with Stella, her seven year old daughter. Sarah feels guilty that she cannot spend more time with her child. Her love is overpowering, unsettling. When Sarah is chosen to join the crew of a year-long space mission called Proxima, it creates chaos in the mother-daughter relationship.”

> HELP REVIVE THE DARK WITH A SUBSCRIPTION AT PATREON <

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#Stream25 – SO LONG, MY SON d. Xiaoshuai Wang, 2019 on MUBI + FREE Mandarin Class on Zoom #Stream25 (02 AUG 10:30).

    • Screen25 Cinema presents: “Available on MUBI (from 25 JUL), SO LONG, MY SON is a festival favourite Chinese drama about two families spanning three decades. Watch the film beforehand, before joining us on Sunday morning for a free interactive Mandarin class direct from Beijing!”
    • How it works: Watch the film in your own time on MUBI (not required for the workshop). Register HERE for the workshop (places limited).

> FIND MORE GREAT THINGS TO SEE IN OUR WEEKLY DIGEST <

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BLACK AND BLUE (d. Hugh King & Lamar Williams, 1987) + Panel Discussion – Online event (03 AUG 18:30 – Pay What You Can):

    • Deptford Cinema and Legal Sector Workers United, in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, present: “A screening of BLACK AND BLUE (1987), followed by a panel discussion on tackling institutional racism and organising for radical change in the UK criminal justice system. All money raised will be donated to the United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC), a coalition of those affected by deaths in police, prison and psychiatric custody.”

> HELP REVIVE THE DARK WITH A SUBSCRIPTION AT PATREON <

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Cao Fei: BLUEPRINTS at Serpentine Galleries (from 04 AUG – FREE entry/Booking required):

    • “Cao Fei’s immersive, site specific installation BLUEPRINTS, re-opens at the Serpentine on 04 AUG. Cao Fei is a multi-media artist and filmmaker based in Beijing. Video, digital media, photography and objects all play a role in the artist’s engagement with an age of rapid technological development.”

> FIND MORE GREAT THINGS TO SEE IN OUR WEEKLY DIGEST <

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SUMMERLAND d. Jessica Swale, 2020 + Q&A with the director + critic Anna Smith at Everyman Chelsea (05 AUG 19:30):

    • “The story of fiercely independent folklore investigator, Alice (Gemma Arterton) who secludes herself in her clifftop study, debunking myths using science to disprove the existence of other-worldly forces and magic. Consumed by her work, but also profoundly lonely, she is haunted by a love affair from her past.”

> HELP REVIVE THE DARK WITH A SUBSCRIPTION AT PATREON <

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SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME d. Jon Watts, 2019 + VFX Tweet-Along Fundraiser at The Drive In, Troubadour Meridian Water (06 AUG 19:00):

    • “We join the Film & TV Charity for the Spider-Man: Behind the Web tweet-along and fundraiser. Find out behind the scenes and special effects tricks and secrets as some of the amazing VFX heroes who bring these superhero movies to our screens tweetalong (follow #YouCantTrickMe). The Film & TV Charity was founded in 1924 and supports all those who work behind the scenes in film and TV.”

> FIND MORE GREAT THINGS TO SEE IN OUR WEEKLY DIGEST <

STILL STREAMING FROM PREVIOUS EDITIONS (A to Z).

> FIND LONDON’S COMING ATTRACTIONS IN OUR WEEKLY DIGEST <

THE LATEST NEW EXHIBITS & ATTRACTIONS AT RADIANTCIRCUS.COM
This is a film still from Dario Argento's THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970).
SCREEN DIARY: Cult Classic Collective at Genesis Cinema (23 JUL 2020).

Marking the return of film club screenings to London’s alternative cinema scene, we went to see Cult Classic Collective screen Dario Argento’s THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE at Genesis Cinema (23 JUL 2020).

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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 are subject to change by the venue/organiser. We try to only list events you can book for at the time of posting: however, some events may still be sold out. Please click quickly! // We don’t filter by age/certification: all readers & subscribers should be 18+. // > Remember, always try to follow The Carny Code by “not screwing up anyone else’s game” //.