Various

Queer East Festival returns to London this spring with its biggest programme ever. This year, it’s expanding beyond cinema and into art and performance, showcasing film, theatre and dance from East and Southeast Asian makers. A vast programme of features, documentaries and shorts from 10 countries will be screened at venues including the Rio Cinema, BFI Southbank and ICA.  Highlights include Crazy Love (Michio Okabe, 1968), an avant-garde cult classic documenting the radical spirit of Japan’s creative and artistic scene in Shinjuku in the 1960s, and We Are Here, (Zhao Jing, Shi Tou, 2015), a heartfelt documentary on lesbian advocacy. Opening and closing the festival are Takeshi Kitano’s historical epic Kubi, and UK premiere of South Korean transgender documentary, Edhi Alice (Ilrhan Kim, 2024), respectively. Live events include When the cloud catches colours at the Barbican, an exploration of two queer Singaporeans as they grow older, and a multi sensory exhibition at Queercircle in Greenwich.  

The Bermondsey Beer Mile is sooo last year. Now, the coolest craft quaffers are all doing the Blackhorse Beer Mile in Walthamstow. Much more chic. The lagertastic event is back for the third year in a row this May bank holiday, with all of the Stow’s best breweries taking part. We’re talking Penny Social, Signature Brew, Pretty Decent, Exale, Renegade Urban Winery, and Burnt Faith Distillery, all rolled into one boozy crawl. Plus, across the trail will be DJs, a live brass band and Neapolitan pizza. Grab your mates and get ready to enjoy Blackhorse Lane’s finest, just maybe don’t Lime home afterwards. 

Returning with another provocative, penetrating array of non-fiction films, The Open City Documentary Festival is setting up camp at London cinemas this autumn. Barbican, Bertha DocHouse, Close-Up Film Centre, Curzon Soho, Genesis Cinema, ICA and even Tate Modern are all hosting the best in documentary filmmaking from around the world. This year’s edition will show 101 films and four Expanded Realities projects, from 21 different countries, including five world premieres and 16 UK premieres. The festival kicks off with Siticulosa by Maeve Brennan, a dreamy film that explores the relationship between archaeology, geology and agriculture in the Puglian landscape. Also on the bill is Moving Statics, a retrospective of the works of Australian filmmaking couple Arthur and Corinne Cantrill, newly restored films by pioneering Lebanese director Jocelyne Saab, and a performance by Maxime Jean-Baptiste at Tate Modern.     

See the final play out on the silver screen and hear its cheesy bangers in surround sound as cinemas across the city partake in CinemaLive’s ultimate viewing party. London cinemas showing the event include Hackney Picturehouse and Everyman branches in Kings Cross Maida Vale and Broadgate. Singalongs encouraged, fancy dress preferred.

Always charming but never mired in nostalgia, ever summer the Shakespeare in the Squares company tours a play by the Bard around some of London’s lovliest outdoor squares. This year’s choice of show is forever problematic battle of the sexes comedy The Taming of the Shrew. The general modern approach to the story of oddball Petruchio’s attempts to tame the fiery Katherine is either to make it very sad or lighten it up to the point it doesn’t seem quite so dodgy: we could certainly take a guess which route Toby Gordon’s production will take, boasting as it does of ‘wild romance and toe-tapping pop classics’.  The complete touring itinerary for this summer is as follows: Jun 4 7pm – Leinster Square W2  Jun 5 7pm – St James’s Gardens W11  Jun 6 7pm – Crystal Palace Park SE19  Jun 7 2.30pm and 7pm – St Anne’s Church Garden, SW18  Jun 10 and 11 7pm – Cleveland Square, W2  Jun 12 7pm – Connaught Square, W2  Jun 13 7pm – Norland Square, W11 Jun 14 – St Peter’s Square, W6  Jun 15 3pm – Coronation Gardens, SW18 Jun 17 7pm – Arundel & Ladbroke Gardens, W11  Jun 18 7pm – Charterhouse Square, EC1 Jun 19 7pm – Albert Square, SW8 Jun 20 7pm – Tredegar Square, E3  Jun 21 5pm – Kensington Gardens Square, W2 Jun 22 5.30pm – Manchester Square Gardens, W1  Jun 25 7pm – Cornwall Gardens, SW7  Jun 26 7pm – Paultons Square SW3  Jun 27 7pm – Arundel & Elgin Gardens W11  Jun 28 2.30pm and 7pm – Queen’s Park NW6 Jun 30 7pm – Fitzroy Square W1  Jul 1 7pm – Montagu Square W1  Jul 4 7pm – Charlton...

Calling all jazz heads. A new community-led festival is launching in London this summer celebrating the free-form musical genre, taking over De Beauvoir, Islington and Hackney for two days this July. De Beauvoir Jazz Festival will spread over multiple venues, including The Scolt Head, St Peter’s Church and Hoxton hall, with performances from rising stars like Georgia Cecile, and established legends such as the internationally acclaimed clarinetist Adrian Cox. Tickets range from £17 to £88.60 for a day pass, plus there are a number of free performances on Sunday 12.   

Ever wanted to have a nosy around some of London’s coolest private buildings? Open House London gives guests free access to architectural wonders that are not normally open to the public – from schools and offices to places of worship. It’s an often rare chance to explore iconic or just interesting buildings that make up the capital’s storied history, while the programme usually includes tons of workshops, exhibitions and more, as well as the usual tours. This year, the full programme will be announced on July 16, with bookings opening on August 20. Get practising your clicking now – these tickets go faster than Glastonbury.