Press room

Festivals, Seasons and Special Events:

• Masterpieces of Iranian New Wave, 1962-77 – Tue 4 Feb – Tue 25 Feb
• Citra Sasmita: Into Eternal Land: Pather Panchali – Mon 10 Feb 
• My Twisted Valentine: Trouble Every Day – Fri 14 Feb 
• Experiments in Film: Park Lanes + ScreenTalk with director Kevin Jerome Everson and Morgan Quaintance – Sun 16 Feb
• Experiments in Film: The Lock In, Stanley Schtinter –Sat 22 Feb 
• Animation at War: In This Corner of the World – Thu 27 Feb

Family Film Club:

• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl + ScreenTalk with directors Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park – Sat 1 Feb
• Labyrinth – Sat 8 Feb
• Up – Sat 15 Feb
• My Neighbour Totoro – Sat 22 Feb

Senior Community Screenings: 

• Sing Sing – Mon 3 Feb
• No Other Land – Mon 17 Feb

Relaxed Screenings:

• Paddington in Peru – Mon 17 Feb
• Anora – Fri 28 Feb

Pay What You Can Screenings – Every Fri

Event Cinema:

• Macbeth: David Tennant and Cush Jumbo – Wed 5 + Tue 18 Feb 
• NT Live: The Importance of Being Earnest – Thu 20 Feb 

In February the Barbican is pleased to present Masterpieces of the Iranian New Wave, curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, this season showcases nine ground-breaking films from 1962-1977, when a surge of creativity laid the foundation for Iranian arthouse cinema. 

This month also sees the launch of Animation at War, a new year long series which explores how filmmakers use animation to capture the complexity of war and this opens with the Japanese coming-of-age drama In This Corner of the World. 

The first Experiments in Film programme in February presents Kevin Jerome Everson's epic, observational eight-hour documentary Park Lanes, which follows workers in an American factory over the course of an eight-hour shift, from clock-in to clock-out, presented in real time. 

This is followed by a ScreenTalk with the film’s director and the writer Morgan Quaintance.

The second Experiments in Film transforms Cinema 1 into a lively communal space inspired by the Queen Vic pub, with a special screening of Stanley Schtinter’s archive EastEnders project The Lock In, which aligns with the TV show’s 40th year anniversary. 

This evening includes a conversation with Schtinter about the project’s development and is complemented by a bespoke, specially produced beer from the East End Brewing Co, available exclusively to audience members.

The perennially popular My Twisted Valentine returns in February with Claire Denis’ 2001 erotic horror Trouble Every Day – and is the perfect antidote to the usual Valentine’s offering. This atmospheric tale of blood and lust and asks the question, how close is the kiss to the bite?

Coinciding with her Barbican Curve exhibition Into Eternal Land (30 Jan – 21 Apr), the artist Citra Sasmita has selected Satyajit Ray’s celebrated debut film Pather Panchali, which was first Indian film from to gain wider recognition in the west.

Family Film Club continues to screen the best in children’s cinema with the latest from Aardman Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, followed by a ScreenTalk with directors Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park, the 1986 cult classic Labyrinth (starring David Bowie), the Oscar winning animation Up; and the perfect half term finale My Neighbour Totoro, a joyful story about humans and nature from Studio Ghibli.

Festivals, Seasons and Special Events 

Masterpieces of the Iranian New Wave
Tue 4 Feb – Tue 25 Feb 2025

Cinema 1Cinema-ye Motafavet, or the Iranian New Wave, emerged as a grassroots movement in Iranian documentary and fiction filmmaking during the 1960s and 70s. Fuelled by a small group of young, mostly self-taught filmmakers, it achieved a remarkable coherence unparalleled in Middle Eastern cinema.

Set against the backdrop of the last Shah’s reign, Cinema-ye Motafavet reflects the era's complex and often contradictory emotions toward modernisation. Almost always subversive, the films are haunting portrayals of life in the purgatory between old and new. They not only capture the genesis of an Iranian cinematic revolution but also foreshadow the social and political upheavals that culminated in the 1979 revolution. Tragically, this same revolution would lead to the banning of many of these trailblazing films.

Programme: 

Experience & Waiting (12A) + ScreenTalk

1973 Iran, Dir Abbas Kiarostami, 53min
1974 Iran, Dir Amir Naderi, 46 mins

Tue 4 Feb, 6.10pm
Cinema 1 
Two autobiographical coming-of-age tales showcase the early experiences of two New Wave masters - Abbas Kiarostami and Amir Naderi.

Brick and Mirror + Introduction

1964 Iran, Dir Ebrahim Golestan, 130min
Sat 8 Feb, 3pm 
Cinema 1 
Iranian cinema’s first true modern masterpiece, Brick and Mirror explores fear and responsibility in the wake of the 1953 coup orchestrated by the CIA and MI6.

The Stranger and the Fog (15) + Introduction

1974 Iran, Dir Bahram Beyzaie, 146min
Sun 9 Feb, 2.30pm 
Cinema 1 

Virtually impossible to see for decades, Bahram Beyzaie's dazzling film is a symbolic tale that pays tribute to the cinema of Akira Kurosawa in the most unexpected ways.

Far From Home (15) + Introduction

1975 Iran/Germany, Dir Sohrab Shahid Saless, 91min

Wed 12 Feb, 6.30pm
Cinema 1

A meditation on social isolation and stillness, this offers a glimpse into a few days in the life of Husseyin, a Turkish 'guest worker' in West Berlin. 

Chess of the Wind + The Crown Jewels of Iran (15) + Introduction

1976 Iran, Dir Mohammad Reza Aslani, 100min
1965 Iran, Dir Ebrahim Golestan, 15min
Mon 24 Feb, 6.10pm 
Cinema 1 
Two suppressed masterpieces, now restored to their true glory, not only showcase the use of colour in Iranian cinema but despite their visual splendour delve into the roots of decadence.

The Sealed Soil + The House is Black (15*) + Introduction by Ehsan Khoshbakht
Tue 25 Feb, 6.20pm
Cinema 1

The Sealed Soil (Khak-e sar bé mohr)

1977 Iran, Dir Marva Nabili, 90 mins, in Persian with English subtitles
Chronicling the repetitive and repressed life of Roo-Bekheir, a young woman in a poor village in southwest Iran, The Sealed Soil portrays her quiet resistance to a forced marriage. 
 

The House is Black (Khaneh siah ast)

1962 Iran, Dir Forough Farrokhzad 20 mins, in Persian with English subtitles

Set in an enclosed community for people affected by leprosy in northwest Iran, this is a dialogue between the passions of the poet (Farrokhzad) and the voice of reason (Ebrahim Golestan, also the film’s producer). 

View the full season press release: 
www.barbican.org.uk/our-story/press-room/masterpieces-of-the-iranian-new-wave

Citra Sasmita: Into Eternal Land: Pather Panchali (U)

1957 India, Dir Satyajit Ray, 120min
Mon 10 Feb, 6.10pm
Cinema 3 

Set in rural Bengal, this deeply moving tale follows the young Apu and his family as they navigate the trials of poverty and loss. 

Adapted from Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s novel, Ray’s film is a lyrical exploration of innocence, survival, and the beauty of everyday life. With stunning cinematography, a haunting score by Ravi Shankar, and an unforgettable portrayal of family bonds, Pather Panchali remains one of the most influential films in world cinema.

My Twisted Valentine: Trouble Every Day (18)

France 2001, Dir Claire Denis, 101min
Fri 14 Feb, 8.45pm
Cinema 3 

Dr Shane Brown and his wife are honeymooning in Paris. However, secretly, Shane is in town to track down Coré. The two, Shane and Coré, share a terrible secret, an affliction that turns them into carnivorous predators when aroused.

Greeted with boos upon its premiere at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, director Claire Denis defended herself at a press conference saying she had made “a love story”, a film “about desire and about the unknown areas within the brain, where we go, but would rather not admit we go.”

Twenty years on, Trouble Every Day is understood not as an aberration but as reprising – in a bloodier vein – Denis’ regular themes and impressionistic, sensuous aesthetic. Vincent Gallo and Béatrice Dalle give performances of an extraordinary, feral, intensity – the latter partaking in one of the most electrifying screen ‘kisses’ ever.

Experiments in Film: Park Lanes (PG) + ScreenTalk with director Kevin Jerome Everson and Morgan Quaintance

USA 2015, Dir Kevin Jerome Everson, 480min
Sun 16 Feb, 10.45am
Cinema 3 
A profound and immersive look into the inner workings of a factory producing bowling lane equipment, followed by a ScreenTalk with director Kevin Jerome Everson and Morgan Quaintance.

Spanning a full eight hours, the film mirrors the structure of a working day, meticulously capturing the rhythms of production, the intricacies of craft, and the quiet endurance of labour.

Eschewing commentary and overt contextualization, Park Lanes invites viewers to experience the factory's environment as it unfolds in real-time. The camera lingers on the workers' movements, the hum of machinery, and the subtle choreography of collaboration, creating a meditative space to reflect on the artistry and skill inherent in everyday labour.

Rarely screened due to its ambitious duration, Park Lanes is a cinematic celebration of human ingenuity and perseverance, offering a deeply respectful and thought-provoking perspective on work, time, and the unnoticed beauty within industrial spaces.

Experiments in Film: The Lock-In (18*)

UK 2022, Dir Stanley Schtinter
Sat 22 Feb, 6.45pm 
Cinema 1 

The evening will begin with a specially edited version of The Lock-in, followed by a discussion with the film's director. Afterward, guests will be invited to enjoy a specially brewed lager inspired by the project in the foyer. As the film continues to play, audiences will have the opportunity to move between the foyer and Cinema 1. 

Aligning with the 40th anniversary of EastEnders, The Lock-In is a unique project by artist Stanley Schtinter that transforms decades of EastEnders into an immersive supercut. Compiled entirely from scenes set in the iconic Queen Vic pub, this seamless edit toured East End pubs during the summer of 2022, offers a nostalgic and communal experience.

Animation at War: In This Corner of the World + Recorded Introduction from director Sunao Katabuchi + Introduction from Michael Leader

+ Jake Cunningham 
Japan 2016, Dir Sunao Katabuchi, 129min
Thu 27 Feb, 6.10pm

Cinema 3

Spanning decades and featuring rare films from around the world, Animation at War takes a thoughtful gaze at works that use animation to circumvent our defences and confront us with the psychological horrors of combat. Through expressive and allegorical storytelling, animation serves as a powerful medium for examining the human experience in times of conflict, giving voice to stories that live-action films often struggle to convey.

Opening on Thu 27 Feb with Sunao Katabuchi’s coming-of-age drama In This Corner of the World (Japan 2016) and an introduction to the film. This tells the story of Suzu, a young 

Japanese woman struggling to live a normal life in the final days of the Second World War, as her aspirations of becoming an artist are curtailed by household duties and the reality of the shadow of war.

The film has an attention to detail both in its dramatization of the daily struggles during wartime, and in its recreation of the architecture of Hiroshima City and its surrounding landscape - textures made more bitterly tragic by the events of 1945. Upon its release in 2017, it was embraced by both critics and the public alike and won the Japan Academy Film Prize for Animation of the Year. 

View the full season press release: 
www.barbican.org.uk/our-story/press-room/animation-at-war 
 

Regular Programme Strands

Family Film Club 

Every Sat, 11am 
Cinema 2  

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (U) + ScreenTalk with directors Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park

UK 2024, Dirs Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham, 70min
Sat 1 Feb, 11am 
Cinema 2

Aardman's four-time Academy Award®-winning director Nick Park and Emmy Award-nominated Merlin Crossingham return with a new adventure. In this next instalment, Gromit’s concern that Wallace is becoming too dependent on his inventions proves justified, when Wallace invents a 'smart' gnome that seems to develop a mind of its own. 

Family Film Club is delighted that the directors Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park will be in attendance for a ScreenTalk after the film. 

Labyrinth (U)

US 1986, Dir. Jim Henson, 101min

Sat 8 Feb, 11am
Cinema 2

Where everything seems possible and nothing is what it seems! The cult classic from 1986 starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly is stunning on the big screen – this 1980s family favourite boasts lush, larger the life costumes, incredibly detailed production and sets as well as intricately built puppets from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. 

Up (U)

USA 2009, Dirs Pete Docter & Bob Peterson, 96min

Sat 15 Feb, 11am 
Cinema 2 
Family Film Club celebrates Valentine’s weekend with this delightful Pixar animation about found families, intergenerational friendship and love. Up is rare cinema, a family film that is emotional but funny, powerful but light and at the same time also beautiful to look at. 

My Neighbour Totoro (U)

Japan 1988, Dir Hayao Miyazaki, 86min 

Sat 22 Feb, 11am

Cinema 2 
This joyful and thoroughly charming story from Hayao Miyazaki and the team at Studio Ghibli, gently explores the connection between humans and nature, celebrating the harmony that can be reached between ancient environmental cycles and the humans who live alongside. 
 

Senior Community Screenings:
Welcoming 60+ cinema goers to watch the latest new releases every other Monday morning: 

Sing Sing (15)

USA 2023, Dir Greg Kwedar, 106min
Mon 3 Feb, 11am
Cinema 2 

Director and co-writer Greg Kwedar’s compelling drama is a fictionalised story based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts programme in Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison. The film centres on a group of inmates involved in the creation of their own original theatrical production, Breakin' the Mummy's Code.

No Other Land

Palestine/Norway 2024, Dirs Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel 

Szor, 96min 
Mon 17 Feb, 11am 
Cinema 2 

A Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank's Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance between Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval. 

Relaxed Screenings
Relaxed screenings take place in an environment that is specially tailored for a neurodiverse audience, as well as those who find a more informal setting beneficial:

Paddington in Peru (PG)

UK, 2024, Dir Dougal Wilson, 106min
Mon 17 Feb, 6.30pm 
Cinema 3 

Paddington Bear (voiced with gentle charm by Ben Whishaw) is back for this third instalment that sees him leave rainy England for a heart-warming family adventure in his homeland. 

Anora (18) (AD)

USA 2024, Dir Sean Baker, 139min
Fri 28 Feb, 12pm 
Cinema 3 

Anora, a high-priced Brooklyn stripper, becomes involved in a troubled romance with the son of a Russian oligarch, from Cannes favourite Sean Baker.

Pay What You Can Screenings
Every Friday one of the new release film screenings is priced Pay What You Can. 
This is for customers where ticket price may be a barrier, or for those who want to help others enjoy a visit to the cinema; audience members are invited to pay between £3-£15.

Event Cinema 

Macbeth: David Tennant and Cush Jumbo (#)

Wed 5 + Tue 18 Feb, 8.30pm 
Cinema 1 

David Tennant and Cush Jumbo star in this new adaptation of Shakespeare's tale of ambition, dedication, and unearthly riddles, directed by Max Webster. 

NT Live: The Importance of Being Earnest 

Thu 20 Feb, 7pm 
Cinema 2 

Three-time Olivier Award-winner Sharon D Clarke is joined by Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who; Sex Education) in this joyful reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedy.