THE BALLY #96: What to see from London this week (29 JAN 2021+)
Welcome to THE BALLY where we update you on the latest news from across London’s alternative cinema scene.
Twitter @radiantcircus | Instagram @radiantcircus
SCREEN NEWS
Some news about what’s happening at radiantcircus.com.
A belated welcome to 2021! It’s already been quite a year…
Over Christmas I was able – as promised! – to completely rebuild radiantcircus.com. Having seen its underpinning technologies wither on the vine of progress, the site was long overdue some care and attention. It has now been rebuilt from scratch using the latest and best free tech WordPress has to offer. When cinema screenings start again, I am raring to go. One key improvement is that it’s now easier to search and scroll back through the archive of all old posts. So, if you want to re-read my old screen diaries or just reminisce about what you might have been seeing back in the w/c 26 January 2018*, feel free to fill your boots.
I have now resumed posting as regularly as I can about what’s streaming from London’s indie cinema scene. Whilst the New Year is always a quieter time for independent exhibition, the unstructured nature of news about online events means they can be tricky to track down… I will be reaching out to exhibitors to ask them to make direct submissions. This means I can then post and share in response to their news.
In these circumstances, regular weekly listings and monthly roundups will be almost impossible to configure, but I will try my hardest to resume a reliable flow of what’s on, where. Until things get going again, I want to thank all of my subscribers and readers for your support and loyalty throughout the past years of building RADIANT CIRCUS and into the (currently) uncertain future. Let me know if I can be of any more help finding you things to see in the darkness.
Stay safe & strong,
Richard
Barker-In-Chief // RADIANT CIRCUS.
Main featured image: LITTLE MISS PERIOD (2019) screening in the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme.
DO YOU EXHIBIT?
Our free services for indie screen promoters.

If you’re an exhibitor in Greater London, RADIANT CIRCUS offers some FREE services to help promote your screen event.
- Submit an event for inclusion in our scene LISTINGS (updated every Thursday in normal times)
- Submit a FREE profile for inclusion in our scene DIRECTORY (so audiences can find their way around)
- Check out our LISTINGS POLICY (to find out what we list, when & why).
STREAMING HIGHLIGHTS
What to see from London’s indie exhibitors.
- Electric Frog x Double Wonderful present TASTING MENU at Poster Hauss (17 MAR 2023)TASTING MENU: Double Wonderful are teaming up with literary publishers Electric Frog Ltd for a new experience in film exhibition.
- Malarkey Film Festival presents CREEPUSCULA at Phoenix Cinema (05 APR 2023)CREEPUSCULA, a selection of horrorful shorts to be unleashed at the historic Phoenix Cinema by Malarkey Film Festival (05 APR 19:30)!
- The Essay Film Festival at ICA & Birkbeck Cinema (25 to 31 MAR 2023)The Essay Film Festival returns in March with a wide-ranging selection of formally ambitious and politically engaged films of past and present.
- Crap Film Club presents ‘Turkish Star Wars’ to raise funds for the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal at The Old Queens Head (03 APR 2023 – extra screening 05 APR!)Crap Film Club presents Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam aka ‘Turkish Star Wars’ to raise funds for the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal (03 MAR 2023).
- The Vito Project Queer Film Club presents DRESSED TO THRILL season at The Cinema Museum (08 FEB to 04 JUN 2023)DRESSED TO THRILL celebrates characters that use dress as a means to subvert gender and societal rules (08 FEB to 04 JUN 2023).
- Tony Paley presents his “greatest films of all time” at Close-Up Film Centre (from 03 FEB 2023).Journalist & London film scene guru Tony Paley is collaborating with Close-Up to screen his contributions to Sight & Sound’s “greatest films of all time”.
- BAR TRASH presents TRASH OR TREASURE? season at Genesis Cinema & Rule Zero (JAN to MAR 2023)TRASH OR TREASURE? takes an unofficial look back at The Golden Turkey Awards (1980), resurrecting “The Worst Films of All Time” (JAN to MAR 2023).
- Ciné-Real 16mm Film Club presents a spectacular season of 16mm screenings at The Castle Cinema (now booking to 26 MAR 2023)Kings of celluloid Ümit & Liam who run Ciné-Real Film Club continue a spectacular season of 16mm screenings at The Castle Cinema (booking to 26 MAR 2023).
RADIANT CIRCUS is powered by monthly subscribers. 40% of fees now directly supports indie cinema events across London.
The indie screen culture we love has taken a battering. Coronavirus has closed venues, silenced exhibitors & isolated audiences.
To help reanimate movies beyond the mainstream, we’ve relaunched our subscription service as a crowdfunder called REVIVE THE DARK. With the backing of enough subscribers we will be able to:
- Sponsor DIY, indie & alternative cinema
- Celebrate outstanding acts of exhibition
- Expand our scene content & coverage