Various

The London International Mime Festival was a true city staple, bringing weird and wild physical theatre from across the globe to the capital each year. Rarely ‘mime’ in the stereotypical sense, the fest brought mind-expanding theatre to London for 47 years straight. The 2023 edition was its last, but MimeLondon is the same idea in all but name, and returns for its second edition in January 2025.  Although smaller than the multivenue LIMF, MimeLondon retains the most valuable bit, that is to say the programme of larger scale international work at the Barbican. This year’s four shows are Brothers Grimm adaptation La Manekine (Jan 14-18), Not A Word (Jan 21-25), a silent tribute to the Irish navvies who helped expand the West, dystopian ‘microcinema’ show Five Lines (Jan 28-Feb 1), and in the main theatre Moby Dick by French-Norwegian company Plexus Polaire, a puppet-driven version of Herman Melville’s great novel that comes complete with a ‘whale-sized whale’.

Short films are where many of the greats – Martin Scorsese, Lynne Ramsay, Paul Thomas Anderson et al – got started, and for over two decades, the London Short Film Festival has been a trusty showcase of new talents and small, but perfectly formed short films. Returning for its 22nd year, the 2025 edition features a whopping 204 new shorts across more than 60 programmes, as well as a bunch of talks, workshops and walking tours. Loads of great cinemas and arts spaces across the city are hosting screenings, including the BFI Southbank, the ICA, Rich Mix, the Rio and SET Peckham. Highlights of the programme include a programme celebrating of penny-pinching movie-making (‘Lo-Budget Mayhem’, Jan 20) and wildly unconventional shorts (‘WTF!’, Jan 25) at Dalston’s indie institution the Rio Cinema and the Animation Variety Show programme, featuring everything from claymation and 3D animation to stop-motion embroidery (Rich Mix, Jan 21). And in an exciting new addition to the festival, a series of free screenings will be taking place in a restored 22-seater Mobile Cinema Bus from the 1960s, which will be stopping in Walthamstow, Hounslow and Crystal Palace during the festival.