Press room

November 2021
barbican.org.uk/whats-on/cinema 

Curated by the Barbican: 

• EFG London Jazz Festival - Jazz and the City Film Programme
• Science on Screen: 12 Angry Men + Presentation
  by Lorna Dawson
• Family Film Club

Festivals: 

• Doc’n Roll Film Festival 
• Made In Prague Festival, Opening Gala: Ecstasy + live overture performed by Silk Street Soloists, conducted by Finan Jones
• Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest
• London Palestine Film Festival
• London International Animation Film Festival 2021

 Event Cinema:

• The Doors: Live at the Bowl '68 Special Edition
• Encore: Anything Goes

Barbican Cinema On Demand: 

• Colors of Tobi + Celts

The Barbican continues its commitment to show bold and eclectic cinema this November, welcoming back a wealth of partner festivals including Doc’n Roll Film Festival, The London Palestine Film Festival and Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest.

Music fans will also be able to enjoy the EFG London Jazz Festival, which this year focuses on the synergy of jazz and the city in film; and the perennially popular London International Animation Film Festival returns with the very best in animation from all over the world. 

The 25th edition of the Czech Centre’s Made In Prague Festival opens at Barbican Cinema with a special screening of the digital restoration in 4K of Gustav Machatý’s 1933 defiant masterpiece Ecstasy, preceded with live musical performance featuring a newly commissioned overture by Anna Vöröšová based on the original score by the film composer Giuseppe Becce, performed by the Silk Street Soloists, conducted by Finan Jones.

Other cinematic delights include November’s Family Film Club; a Science on Screen event 12 Angry Men and presentation by Lorna Dawson, who will examine the interface between science and the law; an Encore screening of the hit musical comedy Anything Goes, which was recently filmed live in the Barbican Theatre and features an all-star cast; and a screening of The Doors: Live at the Bowl '68 Special Edition, which captures this legendary performance, widely considered to be the band’s best concert ever filmed.

Barbican Cinema On Demand this month showcases the quality of films currently emerging from Eastern Europe, with Colors of Tobi, an uplifting Hungarian documentary about a queer teenager keen to move from their rural town to Budapest; and the festival favourite Celts, a sharp comedy from Serbia, set against the backdrop of the Bosnian war in the early 1990s.  

Curated by the Barbican:

Jazz and The City
EFG London Jazz Festival
Sat 13 Nov – Thu 18 Nov
Barbican Cinema 1

This programme brings together a selection of films which, in their own unique way, capture the relationship between jazz and the city.

From providing a sonic accompaniment to questions of inequality, racial discrimination and urban ennui of London’s black community in the Black Audio Film Collective’s Who Needs A Heart (UK 1991), to its role in community building in South Central LA in When It Rains (US 1995, Dir Charles Burnett), each film positions jazz music as emanating from the experiences of those occupying the city.

Further highlights also include: Paris Blues (US 1961 Dir Martin Ritt 98 min 35 mm presentation), a portrait of 1960s Paris which centres around two jazz musicians (played by Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman) living in self-imposed exile from the US; and Young Man with a Horn (US 1949, Dir Michael Curtis), starring Hollywood legends Kirk Douglas, Doris Day and Lauren Bacall, in a fictionalised account about the life of the jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke.

Science on Screen: 12 Angry Men U + Presentation by Lorna Dawson
US 1957, Dir Sidney Lumet, 92 min
Tue 16 Nov, 6.10 pm, Barbican Cinema 2

Henry Fonda stars in Sidney Lumet’s classic courtroom drama, a startling exploration into the power of human persuasion and perspective.

Drawing on her experience as an expert witness in murder trials, Professor Lorna Dawson, CBE, examines the interface between science and the law. In particular, she discusses the false perception that science can answer every question with 100 percent certainty, and the related importance of communicating evidence clearly.

Family Film Club
Every Saturday, 11 am, Barbican Cinema 2

The November Family Film Club programme features some of the best books to film adaptations, with the monthly show and tell introduction as well as regular free workshop at the end of the month. On screen highlight includes the 20th anniversary re-release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (USA/UK 2001, Dir Chris Columbus), as well as the annual showcase of short films for children, programmed by the London International Animation Festival.

Festivals:  
 
Doc’n Roll London 2021: The UK’s Music Documentary Festival
28 Oct – 10 Nov
Barbican Cinemas 1&2

The eighth edition of Doc’n Roll London, the UK’s Music Documentary Festival, returns to the Barbican with six compelling feature-length documentaries about music, musicians and the worlds they inhabit.

Featuring one London and five UK premieres, and multiple post-screening Q&As, the programme focuses on artists including St Vincent, Matthew Herbert, Dom Salvador and Abolition, Lydia Lunch and Damien Dempsey.

Along the way, the films spotlight scenes as diverse as punk and spoken word, Afro-Brazilian soul and Congolese rumba, Irish folk-rock and classical-electronic fusion.

These are stories of identity and possibility, rebellion and beauty, focusing on African independence and Black pride, mischievous meditations on performance and authenticity, moving accounts of trauma and catharsis, feminist defiance and politicised perception-shifting.

The Doc’n Roll lineup includes: Lydia Lunch - The War Is Never Over (USA 2019 Dir. Beth B.), a tribute to the New York no-wave icon and provocateur; The Nowhere Inn (USA 2020 Dir. Bill Benz), a funny, fractured, metafictional tale of making a documentary about St Vincent, starring Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia, Sleater-Kinney) and Annie Clark (St Vincent) herself; the São Paulo-to-Manhattan odyssey of Dom Salvador & Abolition (USA 2021 Dir. Lilka Hara, Artur Ratton) and the creative cross-fertilisation of The Rumba Kings (Peru 2021, Dir. Alan Brain); a night of collective healing in Dublin in Love Yourself Today (Ireland 2021 Dir. Ross Killeen) and composer Matthew Herbert’s ear-opening sonic revolution in A Symphony Of Noise (Germany 2021, Enrique Sánchez Lansch).

For further information: http://www.docnrollfestival.com/

Made In Prague Festival, Opening Gala: Ecstasy + live overture performed by Silk Street Soloists, conducted by Finan Jones
Czechoslovakia 1933, Dir Gustav Machatý, 90 min add programme RT inc overture
Sun 7 Nov 3pm, Cinema 1

The 25th edition of the Czech Centre’s Made In Prague Festival opens with a special screening of the digital restoration in 4K of Gustav Machatý’s 1933 defiant masterpiece which is the UK premiere of this cult classic film. 

Ecstasy follows the newlywed Eva as she has her first experience of infatuation: not with her elderly husband Emil, but with Adam, a young engineer. Against this simple plotline, Machatý, together with his cinematographer Jan Stallich, unfolds an extravagant visual feast of passion and human labour, rich in symbolism that is accompanied by music of one of the most sought-after film composers of the time, Giuseppe Becce.

Thanks to her involvement, Hedy Kiesler, an emerging actress cast in the role of Eva, would go on to become the Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr.   

Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest
10-15 Nov
Cinema 2
This trio of films celebrates queer voices and brings together a typically eclectic cinema offering, including comedy, drama, animation and documentary. 

This year’s line-up includes feature documentary Ailey (US 2021), about the pioneering choreographer, dancer and activist Alvin Ailey from director Jamila Wignot; Potato Dreams of America (US 2021 Dir Wes Hurley), a dark comedy set in the USSR about a mother and son escaping to America; and Lola and The Sea (Belgium/France 2021 Dir Laurent Micheli), a tender drama about a young trans girl skater, who has to deal with a sudden change to her life. 

For further information: www.fringefilmfest.com/fringe!-2021/

London Palestine Film Festival
19 Nov 2021 - 3 Dec 2021
Barbican Cinemas 1, 2 & 3

Barbican Cinema is delighted to welcome back the London Palestine Film Festival with a strong line up of new releases and uncovered old gems, along with exclusive presentations and discussions.

The festival opens with The Stranger (Syria/Qatar/Palestine/Germany 2021, Dir Ameer Fakher Eldin), this centres around Adnan, an unlicensed doctor, who is going through an existential crisis in a small village in the Golan Heights; and continues with Tale of the Three Jewels (UK/ Palestine 1995, Dir Michel Khleifi), in which a young boy in love sets off on a magical quest in this drama set on the war-ravaged Gaza Strip; both films are the first narrative features to be filmed in this particular location.

Further festival highlights include: As I Want (Egypt/ Norway/ France/ Palestine/ Germany 2021), through words left unsaid to her late mother Samaher Alqadi explores the chains of her childhood in this fierce and feminist film about revolutionary struggle; and the weird and wonderful Friendship Death (UK 1987, Dir Peter Wollen), starring Tilda Swinton, who plays alien on a peace mission who inadvertently lands in Amman during Black September (1970) where she is rescued by a journalist.

For further information: www.palestinefilm.org.uk/

London International Animation Film Festival 2021
Fri 26 Nov – Sun 5 Dec
Barbican Cinema 1 & 2

The UK’s largest animation festival is back with the best shorts and features, including the UK Premiere of Takahide Hori’s Junk Head, international showcases, children’s screenings and the ever-popular ‘The Best of the Fest’. The programme includes:

LIAF 2021 Opening night: Figures in Focus - Up Yours! (15*) + Screentalk
Fri 26 Nov, 6.20 pm,115 mins
Barbican Cinema 1

Figures in Focus – Up Yours! reflects on the power of animation to spread a message.

The Festival opens with a programme of contemporary animations about issues that continue to be questioned, including: gender equality, body image, gay rights, sexual harassment, and women’s sexual agency. After the screening there will be a panel discussion led by animation producer and programmer Abigail Addison, with filmmakers Comfort Arthur, Stacy Bias, Birgitta Hosea and Lily Ash Sakula.

LIAF 2021: British Showcase (15*) + Filmmaker Introduction
Fri 26 Nov, 8.40 pm
Barbican Cinema 1

A comprehensive screening of the very best recently released British animation, including several premieres. This is a mix of several LIAF regulars whose films have screened at the festival over the years – Samantha Moore, Stephen Irwin, Gabriel Bohmer - alongside some of the most promising film school graduates and first-time filmmakers.

LIAF 2021: Framed Film Club: Amazing Animations for 3-7 year-olds (U*)
Sat Nov 27, 11 am
Barbican Cinema 2

This carefully chosen programme for younger audiences contains 14 of the best, most recent short animated films, full of joy, from all around the world. There’ll be talking animals, seriously fun adventures and wondrous tales to spark imaginations.

These films are suitable for all age-groups but mostly 3-7 year-olds.

LIAF 2021: Marvellous Animations for 8-14 year-olds (PG*)
Sun 28 Nov, 2 pm
Barbican Cinema 2

These eleven films from ten different countries have been chosen especially for children aged 8 and upwards and include themes such as otherness, friendship and tolerance. They are films for the young but also the young at heart with several laugh-out-loud moments.

LIAF 2021: UK Premiere of Junk Head 15*)
Japan 2021 Dir: Takahide Hori 101 mins
Mon 29 Nov, 6.20 pm
Barbican Cinema 2

Junk Head is an expansive stop-motion sci-fi action thriller, meticulously styled and set in a dark and perilous universe. Over seven years in the making, Junk Head is the work of one dedicated man, Takahide Hori, who has singularly created the sets, puppets, sound, music and special effects and then animated everything to bring this masterpiece to the big screen.

LIAF is delighted to bring this title to the Barbican in London for its UK premiere.

For further information: www.liaf.org.uk

Event Cinema

The Doors: Live at the Bowl '68 Special Edition (#)
Tue 9 Nov, 6.15pm, Barbican Cinema 2

On 5 July 1968, The Doors lit up the storied stage of the Hollywood Bowl with a legendary performance that is widely considered to be the band’s finest captured on film. Performing on the back of their 3rd album release Waiting For The Sun and the US No.1 single Hello, I Love You, the quartet had been honing their live performances over the previous 2 years and were in absolute peak form.

This special event includes a brand-new musical performance and a conversation with John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Doors Manager, Jeff Jampol, filmed exclusively for the big screen.

Encore: Anything Goes – The Musical
Sun 28 Nov, 2pm, Barbican Cinema 3

A chance to catch up with Anything Goes, ‘the show of the year’ (★★★★★ The Telegraph) and a ‘fizzing tonic for our times’ (★★★★★ The Guardian) when it sails into cinemas nationwide. Filmed live at the Barbican in London, this new 5-star production of the classic musical comedy features an all-star cast led by renowned Broadway royalty Sutton Foster as Reno Sweeney, alongside Robert Lindsay (My Family), Felicity Kendal (The Good Life) and Gary Wilmot (Chicago). A heart-warming romance with spectacular dance routines and some of theatre’s most memorable songs.

Barbican Cinema On Demand

Colors of Tobi (15*) + pre-recorded ScreenTalk with Tobi Tuza and director Alexa Bakony
Hungary 2021, Dir Alexa Bakony, 81 min  
1 Nov – 20 Nov, Barbican Cinema On Demand
 
Alexa Bakony’s moving and uplifting documentary follows a queer teenager keen to move from their rural town to Budapest. 

Meet Tobi, a 16-year-old living in a small village in the Hungarian countryside, who can’t wait to leave school and head to Budapest. Tobi, who came out as male in their early adolescence, is now moving towards identifying as non-binary. Tobi’s mother, Éva, struggles to understand her child’s identity in a country where trans rights are increasingly diminished. 
 
Alexa Bakony’s documentary evolves into a moving and inspiring portrait of the relationship between a mother and her child. This screening will be followed by a ScreenTalk with Tobi Tuza and director Alexa Bakony
 
New East Cinema: Celts (18*) + pre-recorded ScreenTalk 
Serbia 2021 Dir Milica Tomovic 106 min 
1 Nov – 30 Nov, Barbican Cinema On Demand

One of the highlights at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Milica Tomović’s sharp Serbian comedy is set 1993, while the country is at war, Belgrade is under sanctions, inflation is at its height and criminals exploit the chaos. 

A tired mother hosts her daughter, Minja’s, birthday party (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themed) in a Belgrade suburb. Tomović creates a brilliant, funny and sometimes shocking comedy of a complex family that recalls the best work of Mike Leigh.  
 
New Releases  
 
For the latest information on new release screenings in the Barbican Cinemas and Cinema On Demand please visit the Barbican website.  
 
The Barbican believes in creating space for people and ideas to connect though its international arts programme, community events and learning activity. To keep its programme accessible to everyone, and to keep investing in the artists it works with, the Barbican needs to raise more than 60% of its income through ticket sales, commercial activities and fundraising every year.  
Donations can be made here: barbican.org.uk/donate