Press room

Barbican Cinema on Demand
Aug-Sep 2020

Barbican Cinema is pleased to present new content for the recently launched Cinema on Demand, which brings together new release films, exclusive one-off titles and curated seasons plus free additional content, all available to stream from home or on the move, during August and into early September.

Described by the Observer as a ‘new bijou streaming service…well worth checking out’ (Guy Lodge, 26 July), this month’s programme consists of new release titles including: Perfect 10 (UK 2020) including a short intro from the director Eva Riley; Papicha (France/ Algeria 2019) and Socrates (Brazil 2020), plus exclusive content featuring the LGBTQ+ themed José (Guatemala/ USA 2018), and a free ScreenTalk with director Li Cheng and actor Enrique Salanic interviewed by Barbican Cinema curator Alex Davidson (part of Forbidden Colours series) and The Proposal (US 2018), (part of Architecture on Film series).

Also on offer in August’s Family Film Club is an array of captivating shorts from the London International Animation Festival and a creative workshop led by the artist Ivonne Vargas.

Cinema on Demand is available to audiences across the UK with a rolling four-week programme of titles and events that reflect the Barbican’s bold and international cinema programme. Launched in July 2020, it is the first-ever streaming service to be offered by the Barbican, and builds on the popular digital content programme available through Read, Watch & Listen.

Titles will remain available for audiences to stream for 48 hours from the time of purchase, and will include closed captions and audio description where available, continuing the Barbican’s commitment to access.

Barbican Cinema on Demand is supported by the BFI FAN Resilience Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, and the Mayor of London's Culture at Risk business support fund.

NEW RELEASE TITLES:

Perfect 10 + intro from director Eva Riley
UK 2020, Dir Eva Riley, 88 min
Available to stream: from 7 Aug, 10.00am – 4 Sep 9.59am
Pay per view: Full: £10.00 | Young Barbican: £4.00 | Barbican Members £8.00

An aspiring teen gymnast's world is turned upside down with the arrival of the half-brother she never knew she had. We’re delighted to have a special introduction from director Eva Riley.

Papicha
France/ Algeria 2019, Dir Mounia Meddour, 108 min
Available to stream: from 7 Aug, 10.00am – 4 Sep 9.59am
Pay per view: Full: £10.00 | Young Barbican: £4.00 | Barbican Members £8.00

Set in Algiers in the 1990s during the Civil War, writer/ director Mounia Meddour’s debut feature explores a sombre period of growing conservatism and its oppressive effects on the lives of young women.

Socrates
Brazil 2018, Dir Alexandre Moratto, 71 min
Available to stream: from 21 Aug, 10.00am – 18 Sep 9.59am
Pay per view: Full: £10.00 | Young Barbican: £4.00 | Barbican Members £8.00
 
After his mother's sudden death, Socrates, a 15-year-old living on the margins of São Paulo's coast, must survive on his own while coming to terms with his grief.

EXCLUSIVE TITLES:

José
Guatemala/ USA 2018, Dir Li Cheng, 85 min
part of Forbidden Colours
Available to stream: from 7 Aug, 10.00am – 21 Aug 9.59am
Pay per view: Full: £6.00 | Young Barbican: £4.00 | Barbican Members £4.80

Li Cheng’s passionate gay romance, set in Guatemala City, explores the relationship between 19-year-old café waiter José and construction worker Luis.

Offering a rare representation of LGBTQ+ life in Guatemala, José is one of the most acclaimed gay films of recent years and the deserving winner of the Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

José ScreenTalk
Wed 12 Aug, 8.30pm
With director Li Cheng and actor Enrique Salanic interviewed by Barbican Cinema curator Alex Davidson.

The Proposal
US 2018 Dir Jill Magid 83 min
Architecture on Film
Available to stream:: dates & ScreenTalk to be confirmed
Part thriller, part romance, part artwork itself, this ‘post-mortem love triangle’ takes us on a quest to reanimate the privately-held archives of one of the 20th century’s major architects.
 

FAMILY FILM CLUB:

Shorts from the London International Animation Festival
Available to stream: from 7 Aug, 10.00am – 6 Sep 9.59am
Pay per view: £2.50

These seven short animated films have been especially selected from the archives of the London International Animation Festival (LIAF)), and are some of the most loved films Barbican Cinema has screened for children over the years.

The whole programme is Certificate: U* and the running time in total is approximately 55 mins. Suggested age 3+

The Penguin who couldn't Swim
UK 2018, Dir. Tom Rourke, 5 min
A penguin lives on a rocky island in the southern seas, where she feels isolated from the rest of her colony.


Pointy
UK 2019, Dir. Amy Bruning, 5min
A strange pointy boy wants to fit in and have fun. Will he be accepted into this world that is so different from him? Or is he just too pointy?

Hugo Bumfeldt
Hungary 2018, Dir. Eva Katinka Bognar, 12min
Hugo is an alien boy living on a tiny far-away planet. One day he gets his first pet as a present – it’s a real scuba diver taken from Earth.

Monsters Don't Exist
Italy 2018, Dirs Ilaria Angelini, Luca Barberis Organista, Nicola Bernardi, 3min
Two long time rivals engage in an epic battle for monster supremacy.

Tallyho Pancake
Germany 2009, Dirs. Kai Pannen, 7min
Mr Bumble’s pancake flies out of the window and escapes. Soon the pancake is followed by the whole forest.

The Fox who could play the violin
Russia 2017, Dirs. Natalya Nilova, 11min
The fox can play the violin really well – and the other woodland animals start to take notice.

Queen Bum
Switzerland 2015, Dirs. Maja Gehrig, 11min
A Dad and his little girl make up goodnight stories about strange Queen Po.

Family Film Club Workshop
Available from Sat 29 Aug, 10 am
This month is an animal themed workshop in which the artist Ivonne Vargas teaches young viewers how to create a mobile, a thaumatrope and marionette puppets.

All films are available to stream on Cinema on Demand and range from £2.50 - £10.00.