London film events
The best film festivals, seasons, Q&As, special events, film clubs and classic screenings in London
Every week, we round up the best film events happening outside London’s multiplexes, from major international film festivals to classic seasons at the BFI, from double bills and all-nighters to one-off screenings and in person Q&As with stars, filmmakers or experts. London also has a thriving DIY film club scene in pubs, restaurants, galleries and pop-up venues, and in the summer months you’ll find a wealth of outdoor screenings in parks and gardens across the city.
Pick of the week
Werner Herzog Season
Over the next two months, the BFI will be screening every feature, documentary and short by one of world cinema’s most consistently surprising, inventive and upsetting directors, the German master Werner Herzog.
From his roots in the country’s early ’70s artistic renaissance with films such as ‘Even Dwarfs Started Small’ (1970) and ‘Fata Morgana’ (1971), through his reinvention of epic cinema with ‘Aguirre: Wrath of God’ (1972) and ‘Fitzcarraldo’ (1982) to his unexpected rebirth as the grand old enfant terrible of world cinema with diverse wonders like ‘Grizzly Man’ (2005), ‘Rescue Dawn’ (2007) and ‘Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans’ (2009), Herzog has remained true to his singular vision. He is one of cinema’s great living artists, and this sprawling retrospective is not to be missed.
- BFI Southbank
- Until Wed Jul 31
Festivals and seasons
London United Film Festival
This weekend-long festival returns, showing new independent docs and features, plus a couple of older favourites: ‘The Terminator’ and ‘Zombieland’.
- Roxy Bar & Screen
- Sat May 25 - Mon May 27 - £6 per film
Terence Stamp Season
The season comes up to date with Terry’s most recent success, ‘Song for Marion’ (2012).
- BFI Southbank
- Until Mon May 27
Lars Von Trier Season
More from the taste-baiting master, including the sprawling ‘Dogville’ (2003) and the shocking ‘Antichrist’ (2009).
- BFI Southbank
- Until Thu May 30
Sight & Sound Deep Focus: The Roots of Neorealism
The realist movement’s Italian birth is explored in the likes of ‘Rome: Open City’ (1945), ‘Bicycle Thieves’ (1948) and ‘Bitter Rice’ (1949).
- BFI Southbank
- Until Fri May 31
Tony Garnett: Seeing Red Season
A season of films devoted to the influential TV producer and Ken Loach collaborator. This week’s highlight is Loach’s dockers doc ‘The Big Flame’.
- BFI Southbank
- Wed May 1 to May 31 - from £8.50
A Grammar of Subversion
More from this anarchic avant-garde film season, including the Marx Brothers’s irreverent ‘Horse Feathers’ (1932) and a talk with critic-turned-filmmaker Chris Petit.
- Barbican Centre
- Until Thu Jun 20
Rita Hayworth Season
A tribute to one of the sparkiest screen sirens, kicking off with action classic ‘Only Angels Have Wings’ (1939) and boozy crime comedy ‘Angels Over Broadway’ (1940).
- BFI Southbank
- Until Sun Jun 30
Seasons in the Sun: The Heyday of Nikkatsu Studios
The 1950s saw Japan confronting rebellious youth with a series of gaudy, absurdly cool teen flicks like ‘Season of the Sun’ (1956).
- BFI Southbank
- Until Sun Jun 30
UK Green Film Festival
Docs on ecological themes such as global waste (‘Trashed’) and corporate greed (‘Big Boys Gone Bananas!’).
- Various venues
- Sat Jun 1 to Sat Jun 8
One-off screenings
Sing-Along-A-Grease
Dinner, drinks, a singalong screening of the musical classic and a disco. Tell me more!
- Grange City Hotel
- Sat May 25, 6.30pm - £45
Yellobric’s Shorts Weekend
A charity event screening short films made across the globe in a single weekend.
- Genesis Cinema
- Tue May 28, 7pm - £9 adv, £12 door
Hindle Wakes
This 1931 melodrama about a Lancashire mill town is an early celebration of women in work.
- Stratford Picturehouse
- Wed May 29, 6pm - £5
- Haringey Independent
- Thu May 30, 7pm - £4, £3 concs.
Miami Connection
This year’s mondo bad-taste flick of choice is a wild 1987 actioner about a big-hair rock band who also do kung fu.
- Prince Charles Cinema
- Fri May 31, 8.30pm - £12.50, £10 concs.
State Builders
A new doc looking at the first year of independence for the world’s newest country, South Sudan.
- Frontline Club
- Fri May 31, 7pm - £10
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
A multiple Oscar winner, Milos Forman’s 1975 drama is a timeless Hollywood classic.
Read the Time Out review of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'
- Rio
- Sat Jun 1, 11.30pm - £8.50
- Riverside Studios
- Sun Jun 2, 7.30pm - £9.50, £8.50 concs.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Pay tribute to much-missed critical giant Roger Ebert with this loopy 1970s hippie-sploitation classic, which he scripted.
Read the Time Out review of 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'
- Lexi Cinema
- Mon Jun 3, 9pm - £7
Double bills
‘Letter From an Unknown Woman’ + ‘Madame De...’
A pair of swooningly elegant and emotional romances from the master, Max Ophüls.
Read the Time Out reviews of 'Letter From an Unknown Woman' and 'Madame De...'
- Rio
- Sun May 26, 1.30pm - £10, £8 concs.
Doctor Who vs the Daleks
The Doctor takes on his metallic arch nemeses in a pair of classic big screen adventures.
- Riverside Studios
- Sun May 26, 2pm - £10.50, £8.50 concs.
‘Rosemary’s Baby’ + ‘Carnage’
Polanski through the ages, with a pair of nerve-shredding single location psychodramas.
Read the Time Out reviews of 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'Carnage'
- Phoenix Cinema
- Sun May 26, 1.30pm - £9.50, £7 concs.
Grave Robbing Double Bill
‘The Flesh and the Fiends’ (1959) and ‘Burke and Hare’ (1971). Two little-seen British horror flicks.
- Roxy Bar & Screen
- Sat Jun 1, 3pm - £6
Film clubs
Close Up: A Tribute to Les Blank
- Free
Director Les Blank’s films look at heroic outsiders, from Dizzy Gillespie and Lightnin’ Hopkins to Werner Herzog.
- Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club
- Sun May 26, 2pm
Z Films: ‘The Brain That Wouldn’t Die’
A loopy 1962 mad scientist horror flick and a fistful of hilarious public information shorts.
- Hackney Picturehouse
- Sun May 26, 6pm - £5, £4 concs.
The Alibi Film Club: ‘Legend’
- Free
Ridley Scott’s gooey, soft-focus 1985 Tolkien knock-off is best remembered for Tim Curry’s villain.
- The Alibi
- Mon May 27, 8pm
Tufnell Park Film Club: ‘Brigadoon’
Och aye, Gene Kelly: Hollywood comes to a stage-set Scotland for this daft but loveable 1954 musical.
- The Lord Palmerston
- Tue May 28, 8pm - £10 membership
The Duke Mitchell Film Club
- Free
The Duke boys celebrate Hollywood: Iranian Style with madcap caper ‘Samurai Cop’ (1989) and the usual exploitation antics.
- King’s Cross Social Club
- Wed May 29, 8pm
Crap Film Club: ‘Birdemic’
- Free
They don’t get much crapper than this 2010 Hitchcock knock-off.
- The Boogaloo
- Wed May 29, 8pm
A Nos Amours: ‘Frost’
A rare screening for this grindingly repetitive, utterly mesmerising Tarkovsky-esque 1998 slow-cinema epic.
- ICA
- Thu May 30, 7pm - £10, £8 concs.
- The Alibi
- Mon Jun 3, 8pm
Outdoor cinema
Experience Cinema
Dance along to ‘Purple Rain’ (1984), ‘Grease’ (1978) and ‘Dirty Dancing’ (1987) on a huge outdoor screen.
- Leonard Street Car Park
- Fri May 24 to Sun Jun 2, £15 per film
Rooftop Film Club
The Rooftop runs the gamut from daft wish fulfilment – ‘Top Gun’ (1986) – to the bleakest melodrama – ‘Requiem for a Dream’ (2000).
- Various venues
- Until Mon Sep 30
Latest Time Out film features
The best films now showing
Our Children
- Rated as: 5/5
A staggering and painfully convincing Belgium drama based on a real-life tragedy
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