Hold Me While I’m Naked, George Kuchar! — a programme of the artist’s “camp, cheap” shorts where the avant-garde meets melodrama — is projected on 16mm at the BFI Southbank on Friday.
Monday, at BFI Southbank, the Director’s Cut of Picnic at Hanging Rock opens Finding Your Way: The Films of Peter Weir, introduced by season curator Elena Lazic and screening from a 35mm BFI National Archive print. Down the corridor in NFT2, Trash! The Wildest Films You’ve Ever Seen and The Cinematic Life of Boxing get underway with Trash and Body and Soul respectively, both also screening on 35mm. The ICA opens its doors for a members’ screening of Mondo Lux, Werner Schroeter friend and collaborator Elfi Mikesch’s portrait of the filmmaker. The Barbican’s Experiments in Film strand presents Three Films by Maryam Tafakory, showcasing work that “moves between essay film, archival inquiry, and poetic montage”. James Mangold’s Cop Land is at The Nickel. Celebrating Jeanne Moreau continues at The Garden Cinema with Jacques Demy’s “precisely wrought, emotionally penetrating” Bay of Angels. Preston Sturges’ brisk Christmas in July is the Regent Street Cinema Monday Classic Matinee.
Tuesday, Arabic Cinema Club returns to The Rio for the London premiere of A Sad and Beautiful World, Lebanon’s official entry for the 98th Academy Awards, introduced by Mounia Akl and followed by a post-screening discussion with director Cyril Aris. Peter Weir’s Witness is at the BFI Southbank. Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker screens at Genesis Cinema, in a screening celebrating International Transgender Day of Visibility. The Garden Cinema’s Jia Zhangke season continues with Platform. William Kersten’s Disembodied, “a bizarre fusion of body horror and dark comedy” shows at The Nickel Cinema.
Wednesday, Cold War Visions, a timely season at the Barbican exploring nuclear anxiety in Eastern European cinema, opens with Ikarie XB-1, Jindřich Polák’s adaptation of Stanisław Lem. Jack Smith’s Normal Love continues the BFI’s Trash cinema season, introduced by QMUL’s Dominic Johnson and screening from a rare 16mm print. Dalston Superstore’s TRANSMISSIONS returns with Michael Lehmann’s Heathers on VHS. Diary of a Chambermaid, Buñuel’s “scathing look at the burgeoning French fascism of the era,” is at The Garden Cinema. Katt Shea’s Poison Ivy is at Genesis, presented by Bar Trash and Zodiac Film Club. Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader is the latest offering from La Monocle Film Club at The Cinema Museum. Pink Palace returns to The Rio with Please Baby Please, preceded by the Gay Girls Riding Club Never on Sunday spoof, Always on a Sunday.
Thursday, PEPCOT returns to Deptford’s Piehouse Workers Co-op with One Cut of the Dead, opening a season of DIY and low-budget cinema. Up at The Castle Cinema, Camp Classics presents the 2002 live-action Scooby Doo. Mike Kuchar’s Sins of the Fleshapoids is projected on 16mm at the BFI Southbank. Jia Zhangke’s Useless is at The Garden Cinema. The Smiling Star, Werner Schroeter’s “dense, documentary-collage on the Marcos dictatorship,” screens at the ICA, continuing Anguish & Ecstasy: The Cinema of Werner Schroeter.
Friday, an early highlight of the BFI’s Trash! The Wildest Films You’ve Ever Seen, Hold Me While I’m Naked, George Kuchar! presents a programme of the trash avant-garde artist’s shorts, all projected on 16mm. Mademoiselle, featuring a screenplay by Marguerite Duras and Jean Genet, screens at The Garden Cinema as part of Celebrating Jeanne Moreau. Claire Denis’ Beau travail plays at Close-Up. The Prince Charles Cinema has William Friedkin’s Cruising on 35mm. Goodbye and Amen — “one of the great 1970s Italian political thrillers” — is at the Ciné Lumière, continuing its season celebrating the work of Claudia Cardinale.
Saturday, Leon Gast’s When We Were Kings is at the BFI Southbank, as part of the season The Cinematic Life of Boxing. Pay special attention: at The Rio, Night Stage, a “stylish and provocative erotic thriller” from Marcio Reolon and Felipe Matzembacher, has a naturist, bring-your-own-towel screening at ***8pm*** and a clothed screening at ***8.30pm*** which is followed by a Q&A with the directors. Carlos Saura’s haunting portrait of childhood, Cría cuervos, begins a run at Close-Up. Jia Zhangke’s 24 City is accompanied by an introduction by University of Sussex’s Luke Robinson at The Garden Cinema. Monte Hellman’s Two Lane Blacktop is at The Nickel.
Sunday, the recently reappraised Dudes Rock (ugh) favourite Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World sails into NFT1, continuing Finding Your Way: The Films of Peter Weir. Godard’s Alphaville is at Close-Up. Jia Zhangke’s I Wish I Knew is at The Garden Cinema. Anguish & Ecstasy: The Cinema of Werner Schroeter continues at the ICA with Deux, starring Isabelle Huppert and projected on 35mm. Also on 35mm: The Matrix at the Prince Charles Cinema.
Until next time.