Experimental films from Thailand, Vietnam, China and Korea, that look at how we relate to the land around us, through mythical, decolonial and sensory lenses.
These films interrogate representation in cinema , and how film as a medium can reveal and withold information.
By making use of our full range of senses, this programme allows us to experience moving image and experimental film in a new way, such that it offers a new way to relate to the world around us, time and space.
From exploring the legacies of violence in "The red filter is withdrawn." and Letters from Panduranga; to myth and reincarnation in Becoming Alluvium to a philosophical satire on tourism in Tulapop Saenjaroen’s A Room With a Coconut View, these films look at the thorny, enigmatic and uncertain relationships between the human and non-human.
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Booking fees
£1.50 booking fee per online/phone transaction.
No fee when tickets are booked in person.
Booking fees are per transaction and not per ticket. If your booking contains several events the highest booking fee will apply. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events. Members do not pay booking fees.
Programme
Becoming Alluvium (2019) | Thao Nguyen Phan | 16 | Vietnam
Becoming Alluvium is structured around three chapters telling stories of destruction, reincarnation and renewal, centred around the ebb and flow of the Mekong River, which runs through Tibet, China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.Khmer folk tales, local lore and stories about reincarnation are told through vibrant watercolour animations and observations of daily life. Imbued with a sense of ecological responsibility toward the agricultural realities of the Mekong delta, they reveal a poetic but nonetheless prescient consideration of Vietnam's troubled history.
Letters from Panduranga (2015) | Nguyễn Trinh Thi | 35 | Vietnam
The essay film, made in the form of a letter exchange between a man and a woman, was inspired by the fact that the government of Vietnam plans to build the country’s first two nuclear power plants in Ninh Thuan (formerly known as Panduranga), right at the spiritual heart of the Cham indigenous people, threatening the survival of this ancient matriarchal Hindu culture. A docu-fiction which examines central ideas of power and ideology in our everyday.
"The red filter is withdrawn." / "레드필터가 철회됩니다." (2020) | Minjung Kim | 11 | Korea
If you look into the entrance of one of the huge caves on the South Korean island of Jeju, it looks like a camera lens. If you walk into the cave, it looks like a screen, a rectangle showing clouds and white light, just like a film. Director Kim Minjung delves into the violent history of Jeju’s uprisings and massacres from 1948. The camera follows the traces in the landscape, sometimes transformed by a strident, distance-creating red light, accompanied by a commentary by avant-garde filmmaker Hollis Frampton.
Look On The Bright Side (2023) | Yuyan Wang | 16 | China
In an age of wire and string, futuristic visions anchor in lithic time. In the dark, people are driven to shine in the most spectacular ways. Light, emitted from our digital extensions, has roots traversing millions, even billions of years. Starting with materials filmed in LED factories in southern China, the film weaves together recycled footage from social networks to portray a community living under the pervasive influence of ever-lasting light. Its abstract narrative reveals an extensive network of intertwined relationships, caught in an era obsessed with unceasing visibility, transparency, and efficiency.
A Room with a Coconut View (2018) | Tulapop Saenjaroen | 28 | Thailand
“A Room with a Coconut View” is tells a story of Kanya, a tour guide and hotel rep automated voice, who leads her foreign automated-voice guest Alex through a deceptively aestheticised beach town in the east of Thailand. Dissatisfied with the sanitised, touristic images, Alex decides to explore alone. Local corruption becomes intertwined with the history of Thai cinema, and Alex begins to question his own subjectivity as a tourist and how images have been used to mediate his understanding of the world.
Let our screens bring you closer
Cinema 3
Location
Barbican Cinema 2 & 3 are located on Beech Street, a short walk from the Barbican’s Silk Street entrance. From Silk Street, you’ll see a zebra crossing that will take you across the road to the venue.
Address
Beech Street
London
EC2Y 8DS
Public transport
The Barbican is widely accessible by bus, tube, train and by foot or bicycle. Plan your journey and find more route information in ‘Your Visit’ or book your car parking space in advance.
We’ve plenty of places for you to relax and replenish, from coffee and cake to wood-fired pizzas and full pre-theatre menus
Access
Cinemas 2 & 3 are located at Beech Street, a short walk from the Barbican Centre’s main Silk Street entrance. There are a couple of steep, dropped kerbs and an incline to negotiate between the two sites. Level access from Beech Street.
Mobility
Each auditorium has three permanent wheelchair spaces (two in the third row and one in the front row) and 153 fixed seats with capacity for a further three spaces in the front row. Access to each auditorium is up a ramp. There are also a number of seats with step-free access.
Assistance dogs
Assistance dogs may be taken into the cinema – please tell us when booking to ensure your seat has enough space. If you prefer, you may leave your dog with a member of the foyer staff during the performance.
Hearing facility
An infrared system for hard of hearing customers is provided in each auditorium; headsets or neck loops can be collected from foyer staff. The ticket desk counter is fitted with an induction loop.
For more access information, please visit our Accessibility section.
