Press room

Barbican Cinema’s March ScreenTalk and Live Event highlights include director Mania Akbari in conversation with Archive Researcher Maria Paradinas for the UK Premiere of How Dare You Have Such a Rubbish Wish. As part of Architecture on Film, directors Thomas Beyer and Adrian Dorschner will debate one of the twentieth century’s most contested and emblematic modern buildings, following the UK premiere of their 2022 documentary Robin Hood Gardens. Producer Uljana Kim and editor Dounia Sichov will be in conversation following the screening of Mariupolis 2 as part of New East Cinema series. And, as part of the public programme of events surrounding the exhibition Alice Neel: Hot Off The Griddle, Art Historian Catherine McCormack will introduce Alice Neel: Portraiture on Film.

Robin Hood Gardens + The Smithsons on Housing (U) + ScreenTalk
Germany 2022 dirs Thomas Beyer, Adrian Dorschner 90 min
UK 1970 dir B.S. Johnson 28 min
Architecture on Film
Thu 9 Mar 8pm, Cinema 1

A repeat screening of the sold-out Architecture on Film event the previous evening, this programme includes screenings of the 1970s The Smithsons on Housing followed by the 2022 documentary Robin Hood Gardens.

In an interview for the BBC, The Smithsons on Housing (1970), Robin Hood Gardens architects Alison and Peter Smithson discuss the genesis of their under-construction project, alongside hopes and fears for it, architecture and London.

50 years later, on the brink of its demolition, the documentary Robin Hood Gardens (2022) maps the legacy of the experimental Brutalist housing estate, building a nuanced conversation on the limits of architecture’s capacity for social good through a multitude of present-day interviews and perspectives.

After the UK premiere of their film, a ScreenTalk with Directors Thomas Beyer and Adrian Dorschner, chaired by Vicky Richardson (Head of Architecture and Heinz Curator, Royal Academy of Arts) continues the discussion.

Also in March:

UK Premiere: How Dare You Have Such a Rubbish Wish (15) + ScreenTalk with director Mania Akbari

2022 Iran, UK Dir Mania Akbari 72 min

Thu 9 Mar, 6:15pm, Cinema 2

Mania Akbari’s latest film considers representation of women in pre-revolutionary Iranian cinema, creating an astonishing portrait exploring female agency.

Drawing together clips from nearly 70 Iranian films from the silent era up to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, How Dare You Have Such a Rubbish Wish confronts the often-misogynist male perspective that has dominated Iranian cinema and showing how female experience has been subjugated.

This screening will be followed by a ScreenTalk with Director Mania Akbari, hosted by Archive Researcher Maria Paradinas.

Mariupolis 2 (18) + ScreenTalk

New East Cinema

Lithuania, France, Germany 2022, dir Mantas Kvedaravičius, co-dir Hanna Bilobrova 112 min

28 Mar, 6pm, Cinema 2

The last work by Mantas Kvedaravičius, who was killed by enemy forces during the siege of Mariupol in Ukraine last March, documents the everyday horror of war. His fiancé escaped with, and released, this unforgettable footage after working with co-director Hanna Bilobrova and editor Dounia Sichov.

Painting a series of portraits constructing a powerful account of the unspeakable horrors Mariupol was subjected to, this film is an urgent reminder of what may be cinema's greatest tool – its ability to serve as testimony and transform spectators into witnesses.

This screening will be followed by a ScreenTalk with producer Uljana Kim and editor Dounia Sichov.

Alice Neel: Portraiture on Film (15) + Introduction by Catherine McCormack

90 mins

Thu 30 Mar, 6pm, Cinema 2

Female artists have used moving image to create works which draw formal, political, personal, and aesthetic qualities from the medium of portraiture. This series of filmic portraits explores the relationship between the tradition of portraiture and the moving image, introduced by Art Historian Catherine McCormack.

Alice Neel: Portraiture on Film will reflect on elements that are common throughout the work of Alice Neel, such as loss, the body, gender, motherhood, ageing, class, the art world, and home.

This event is part of the public programme of events surrounding the exhibition Alice Neel: Hot Off The Griddle (Thu 16 Feb — Sun 21 May 2023, Barbican Gallery).