What to see in London this week: THE DARK CRYSTAL at The Cinema Museum (28 FEB).

FEATURED ATTRACTION: Our view of this week’s unmissable screen events

[28 FEB to 05 MAR]: Our Featured Attraction of the week is always the event we’d most like to be at. Here’s our view of all the unmissable indie film events in London this week. Find full event listings in our comprehensive SCREEN GUIDE.

What to see in London this week: PENDA'S FEN, part of Of Mud and Flame at The Whitechapel Gallery (29 FEB).
What to see in London this week: PENDA’S FEN, part of Of Mud & Flame at The Whitechapel Gallery (29 FEB).

By RADIANT CIRCUS

Twitter @radiantcircus | Instagram @radiantcircus

Our pick of this week’s screen highlights begins with a film that has a painfully immediate relevance for these media-saturated times. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MY MOTHER is about iconic fashion model Benedetta Barzini who “has become exhausted with the various roles that life has imposed upon her and decides to escape the world of images and disappear for good” (28 FEB). Filmed by her son, Beniamino Barrese, the film also enjoys a regular run at ICA (29 FEB to 05 MAR).

We’d then suggest diving into something rich, strange and seductive with a special screening with cast and crew of PENDA’S FEN as part of Of Mud & Flame at The Whitechapel Gallery (29 FEB). Sunday brings more excellent silent cinema at BFI, WHAT HAPPENED TO JONES?, with live piano accompaniment by the talented Cyrus Gabrysch (01 MAR). Genesis Cinema’s Revelations – a strand dedicated to showcasing the best of non-mainstream cinema – fills your Monday evening with SULPHUR & WHITE (02 MAR), and you might as well stay on the Mile End Rd for their next Fringe! Fling – “an ongoing affair with queer cinema” – AND THEN WE DANCED + Panel Discussion (03 MAR).

We are going to (temporarily…) brand Wednesday as ‘Genre Day’ given this week’s outbreak of genre-tainted delights. We’ve picked World Wide Weird!’s talk and screening The Veiled Fang: Lesbian Vampire Erotics Of 70’s Eurohorror but we also love the look of A SERIAL KILLER’S GUIDE TO LIFE + Q&A with what seems like almost the entire crew at Screen25 Cinema, and Cao Fei’s ‘retro sci-fi’ feature NOVA from Serpentine Cinema at Everyman Screen On The Green (all 04 MAR). After these heady delights, you might need to bring your week back down to earth with a preview of Jess Kelly’s new film for BBC News Arabic, SILICON VALLEY’S ONLINE SLAVE MARKET at The Frontline Club (05 MAR).

What to see in London this week: DEATH IS A CARESS 35mm, part of HER LENS, HIS STORY: FEMALE DIRECTORS & MASCULINITIES at Barbican (01 MAR).
What to see in London this week: DEATH IS A CARESS 35mm, part of HER LENS, HIS STORY: FEMALE DIRECTORS & MASCULINITIES at Barbican (01 MAR).

In this week’s repertory film seasons, Barbican’s HER LENS, HIS STORY continues to illuminate a brilliant lineup of films with 35mm screenings and expert talks/intros. If you’re a fan of TILDA SWINTON, you should probably try and grab yourself a ticket for one of the events in the new season about her work at BFI Southbank as everything is selling out FAST!

Festivals continue to be relatively slim on the ground, but the leader of this week’s pack looks to be Cinema Made In Italy which screens at London’s French language cinema, Ciné Lumière (04 to 10 MAR). Crystal Palace International Film Festival opens the next day (05 to 28 MAR). Don’t forget you can also now book for BFI Flare (18 to 29 MAR); read our handy screen guide if you’d like some downlist recommendations.

This week’s new releases getting vibrant support from preview screenings with added value special features (we always marvel at how profligate the film industry is with the word ‘exclusive’…) include PUSH and TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM (the latter getting enthusiastic support from one of Film London’s 2020 ‘Lodestars‘, We Are Parable). Find various event screenings in our daily listings.

One of the core drives behind what we do at RADIANT CIRCUS is to promote and preserve alternative screen culture in London. That means doing what we can to back passionate film fans projecting the movies they love. For this reason alone, we have chosen Fantasy / Animation’s special screening and podcast recording of a RADIANT CIRCUS childhood favourite, THE DARK CRYSTAL at The Cinema Museum, as our Featured Attraction of the week (28 FEB).

See you in darkness…

Richard – Barker-In-Chief, RADIANT CIRCUS

> FIND EVERYTHING in our weekly screen digest [28 FEB to 05 MAR].

Subscribe & support

“Home of alternative screen culture in London” (Film London)

RADIANT CIRCUS is supported entirely by readers’ monthly subscriptions. Subscribers get our unique listings emailed as well as other great rewards. With enough subscribers backing us, we will be able to: 1) keep listing far into the future, 2) expand our content to explore more indie screen events, & 3) recruit & reward a team of new contributors. Our target in 2020? One hundred new monthly subscribers supporting what they love so that many more can discover it. Subscribe at patreon.com/radiantcircus

“I love everything you’re doing with RADIANT CIRCUS, the output is brilliant. And just so great to see it grow. Kudos to you.” (A fan via email!).

#LDNindieFILM

*THE SMALL PRINT: As accurate as we could make it. Apologies for any errors. Updates & corrections will be made to the online version. 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+.