[title]
Each week, we round up the most exciting film events happening in London over the coming week, from pop-ups and one-offs to regular film clubs, outdoor screenings and festivals. Here’s this week’s top five…
Kinoteka Polish Film Festival: ‘Barrier’ + director intro
This annual celebration of Polish film past and present returns with a feast of new releases and, excitingly, a tribute to directorial legend Jerzy Skolimowski. The director will be present in person to introduce ‘Barrier’, his third film and one of his best. This fusion of fantasy and documentary begins with images of strange, indefinable menaces that resolve themselves into ritualistic games with strong echoes of Polanski’s ‘Knife in the Water’. With its startling imagery and bizarre landscapes, it’s a genuinely surrealist film.
Barbican Centre, Silk St, EC2Y 8DS. Sat Apr 9, 4pm. £11.50, £10.50 concs.
A Night with Apichatpong Weerasethakul
You may not be able to pronounce his name, but don’t miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the unique world of one of the most idiosyncratic filmmakers working today. Over 15 hours, this singular event compiles shorts, features and assorted oddities from the Thai Cannes-winning writer-director’s back catalogue. Highlights include the haunting, hallucinatory ‘Tropical Malady’ and the sensuous, impressionistic ‘Syndromes and a Century’. Watch, and feel the fuzzing of the boundaries between memory, happiness and cinema.
Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG. Sat Apr 9, 10pm. £15.
Archive Video: ‘American Movie’
This new film club sets out its stall in style with a rare screening of one of the best ever films about film, and a key text in American documentary cinema. Mark Borchardt isn't the average Hollywood wannabe director. We meet him hard at work on ‘Coven’, the 35-minute supernatural thriller whose protracted production arc provides the narrative backbone of this delightful dispatch from the no-budget neck of the woods. A tale of toil, tribulation and kooky camaraderie.
Birkbeck Cinema, 43 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD. Fri Apr 8, 7.15pm. £8.
‘Seven Samurai’
Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece has six masterless samurai – plus Toshiro Mifune, the crazy farmer's boy not qualified to join the elect group, who nevertheless follows like a dog and fights like a lion – agreeing for no pay, just food and the joy of fulfilling their duty as fighters, to protect a helpless village against a ferocious gang of bandits. The epic action scenes involving cavalry and samurai are still without peer.
Rio, 107 Kingsland High St, E8 2PB. Sun Apr 10, 2pm. £11, £9 concs.
Anachron Film Club: Films from the Swinging 60s
Two psychedelic oddities to spin your head around in the grooviest possible way. ‘The Touchables’ is an oddball rock-star story penned by ‘Performance’ genius Donald Cammell, and has barely been seen since its release in 1968. ‘Wonderwall’, meanwhile, stars Jane Birkin and features eye-frazzling set design from notorious Beatles collaborators The Fool and a soundtrack by George Harrison.
Muse Gallery, 269 Portobello Rd, W11 1LR. Tue Apr 5, 7pm. Free.
For the full list, go to Time Out’s film events page.