Press room

Seasons, Festivals and Special Events:
 

• Cold War Visions: Nuclear Anxiety in Eastern Bloc Cinema – Wed 1 Apr - Wed 29 Apr
• Beatriz, Gonzalez, Why Are You Crying? – Thu 4 Apr – Fri 29 Apr
• London Soundtrack Film Festival – Thu 9 Apr – Sat 11 Apr
• Cinema Restored: They Call Her… Cleopatra Wong + ScreenTalk with Asian Film Archive – Thu 9 Apr
• The Old Ways – Sat 11 Apr – Wed 22 Apr
• Keith Jarrett – The Art of Improvisation – Sat 11 Apr
• Open City Doc Fest – Tue 14 Apr – Sat 18 Apr
• Silent Film & Live Music – My Grandmother– Sun 19 Apr
• Chronic Youth Film Festival – Sat 25 Apr – Sun 26 Apr 

Regular Programmes:

• Family Film Club:
• Flow – Sat 4 April
• FFC + London Soundtrack Festival: Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit + introduction from the composer Julian Nott – Sat 11 Apr
• Space Cadet + pre-film activity – Sat 25 Apr
• Senior Community Screenings:
• Free Encore Screening: Cold War Visions: The Sun and the Shadow + intro – Mon 13 Apr
• It Was Just an Accident – Mon 27 Apr
• Relaxed Screenings:
• The Secret Agent – Fri 10 April
• The Last Blossom – Mon 20 April 

Event Cinema:  

• NT Live: All My Sons – Thu 16 Apr
• Royal Ballet & Opera Live: The Magic Flute – Tue 21 Apr

Barbican Cinema begins April with Cold War Visions: Nuclear Anxiety in Eastern BlocCinema , a month-long season marking the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster. The programme explores nuclear anxiety and Cold War tensions east of the Iron Curtain through films from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and the former Soviet Union.
 
The Old Ways, a season of films that celebrates artisans, artists and worldwide craftsmanship continues throughout April, with opportunities for audiences to make and repair, stitch and knit. 

The Barbican is also pleased to welcome the London Soundtrack Film Festival, with three days of events including concerts, masterclasses, screenings and talks. The Open City Doc Fest also returns, showcasing new non-fiction works while providing a space to discuss documentary storytelling.

Further April highlights include the Barbican’s Chronic Youth Film Festival, now in its eleventh year and curated by Barbican young programmers (aged between 22-29) who have put together a programme of features, short films and documentaries.

Programmed to coincide with Beatriz González, the artist’s first UK retrospective in the Barbican Art Gallery (Wed 25 Feb – Sun 10 May) the documentary Beatriz González, Why Are You Crying? follows the Colombian artist over three years as she creates Auras Anónimas, a monumental installation of 9,000 funerary plaques. 

Cinema Restored presents They Call Her… Cleopatra Wong + ScreenTalk with Asian Film Archive, introducing British audiences to the crime-fighting, karate-kicking Cleopatra Wong in this rarely seen Southeast Asian exploitation film, featuring Singapore’s first female action hero. 

The ever-popular Silent Film & Live Music strand screens the 1929 film My Grandmother, from the Soviet Union, which was originally banned for nearly 50 years and remains one of the most delightfully irreverent and peculiar comedies of the silent era.

Keith Jarrett: The Art of Improvisation is an intimate portrait of the legendary pianist, exploring his ground-breaking career across jazz, classical, and beyond through rare interviews and performances.

Festivals, Seasons and Special Events

Cold War Visions: Nuclear Anxiety in Eastern Bloc Cinema
Barbican Cinemas
1 Apr – 29 Apr 
 

A season of films depicting nuclear anxiety east of the Iron Curtain, including works from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union.

The prospect of a nuclear attack during the Cold War captured the imaginations of filmmakers from both sides of the wall. Yet most of the films on the subject that have become part of the cinematic canon offer a Western perspective.

Presenting seven films and spanning seven decades, the season explores how Cold War tensions were depicted on the big screen. Starting in 1960, the programme passes through different cinematic genres, tones, and artistic approaches to finally land in the 2020s, where the reality of nuclear disaster has manifested in ways different than 20th century directors imagined.

Marking 40 years since the Chornobyl disaster, Cold War Visions includes classic titles such as Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979) and The Sacrifice (1986), the restorations of Jindřich Polák’s Ikarie XB-1 (1963) and the rarely screened Atomic War Bride (1960) and The Sun and the Shadow (1962).

For the press release and full programme: 
www.barbican.org.uk/our-story/press-room/barbican-presents-cold-war-visions-a-film-season-exploring-nuclear-anxiety-in 

Beatriz González, Why Are You Crying? + introduction
Colombia 2011, Dir Diego Garcia Moreno, 90min 
Sat 4 Apr, 2.30pm + Mon 27 Apr, 6.30pm 
Cinema 2 

This documentary follows Colombian artist Beatriz González over three years as she creates Auras Anónimas, a monumental installation of 9,000 funerary plaques in Bogotá’s abandoned Central Cemetery.

Known for her sharp, often humorous reworkings of popular imagery, González confronts a very different register here – grief, memory and collective loss – raising questions about how an artist responds when a nation sinks into prolonged violence.

The film traces the evolution of González’s practice alongside Colombia’s recent history, offering a powerful lens through which to view her work. It provides an essential context for the current Beatriz González exhibition in the Barbican Art Gallery, deepening the understanding of an artist whose images have chronicled, challenged and mourned her country for over five decades.
 

London Soundtrack Festival

Thu 9 Apr – Sat 11 Apr
Cinema 2 + 3 
 

Obsession + Introduction by Norma Herrmann (12)

US 1976, Dir Brian de Palma, 98min 
Thu 9 Apr, 3pm
Cinema 3 

Norma Herrmann shares memories of her late husband, legendary composer Bernard Herrmann, in a short introductory conversation with London Soundtrack Festival artistic director, Michael Beek.

Brian de Palma’s 1976 film is a love letter to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, featuring a screenplay by Paul Schrader and music by Bernard Herrmann. The composer was posthumously nominated for an Academy Award for Obsession, which he recorded near the Barbican at the church of St Giles’ Cripplegate.
 

Emma + Introduction by Rachel Portman (PG)
UK/US 1996, Dir Douglas McGrath Music: Rachel Portman, 120min

Fri 10 Apr, 3pm 
Cinema 3 
 

Gwyneth Paltrow, in one of her breakout roles, leads an all-star cast (including Ewan McGregor, Greta Scacchi, Jeremy Northam and Alan Cumming) in the enchanting 1996 adaption of Jane Austen’s perennial classic.

Portman made history at the 69th Academy Awards in 1997 when she took home an Oscar for Emma. She was the first woman composer to do so. 
 

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit + Introduction by Julian Nott (U)

London Soundtrack Festival + Family Film Club

UK/US 2005, Dir Steve Box + Nick Park, 85min
Sat 11 Apr, 11am
Cinema 2 

Wallace & Gromit composer Julian Nott introduces this special Barbican Family Film Club screening of the duo’s first (and Oscar-winning) feature-length film.

The music for Wallace & Gromit is familiar, its jaunty main theme first appearing in Nick Park’s 1989 Oscar-nominated short animation A Grand Day Out. Composer Julian Nott (Peppa Pig) has been by the duo’s side ever since, and turned in his biggest, most colourful score yet for The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Age suggestion: 5+

Cinema Restored: They Call Her… Cleopatra Wong + ScreenTalk with Asian Film Archive (18)

Singapore/Philippines 1978, Dir Bobby A Suarez, 93min
Thu 9 Apr, 6.30pm 
Cinema 2

Join crime-fighting, gun-toting, karate-kicking Cleopatra Wong in this rarely seen Southeast Asian exploitation film, featuring Singapore’s first female action hero. 

Cleopatra Wong is on a special mission to break a counterfeit money laundering ring operating throughout Southeast Asia in this 1978 film, blending elements from both Western spy and Asian martial arts genres. This restored version was completed in 2019 by the Asian Film Archive and is screened here in the UK for the first time. 

The Old Ways
Sun 22 Mar – Sat 16 May

Barbican Cinema 1 + 2

Pattern Testing (12A) + Knit-along  
Total programme running-time: 62 mins (approx.)  

Sat 11 Apr, 2.30pm

Cinema 2 

The programme celebrates the use of textile in film including felted wool in animation which has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years (including in work for adult audiences that is anything but cutesy), an embroidered music video; a cross-stitched fable; a woven tale of a woman who went into the forest (and perhaps never came back); and a colourful experimental work that ‘plays’ with threads. 

UK premiere: Historjá – Stitches for Sapmí (PG) + ScreenTalk with Britta Marakatt-Labba, director Thomas Jackson and Barbican Curator Lotte Johnson

Sweden 2022, Dir Thomas Jackson, 88 min  
Fri 17 Apr, 6.30pm
Cinema 1 
 

World renowned artist Britta Marakatt-Labba was born to a Sámi family of reindeer herders in Northern Sweden. Taking as its starting-point the huge 24-metre-long embroidery Historjá (2003–2007), the piece that first introduced her to international audiences, this film brings us into Britta’s world, and allows us to hear directly from the artist as she battles for her culture against the threats of climate change.

This event is made possible thanks to the Swedish Embassy. 
 

The Colour of Ink(U*) + Introduction with Soraya Syed, British Islamic calligrapher
Canada 2022, Dir Brian D Johnson, 105 min 
Wed 22 Apr, 8.30pm
Cinema 3 

Based in Toronto, Canada, Jason Logan makes ink with ingredients foraged from the wild: weeds, berries, bark, flowers, rocks, rust. The film follows Jason on selected field trips, sourcing materials from landscapes ranging from the wildfire-charred hills of Malibu to a white-marble quarry in Tuscany. 

Keith Jarrett: The Art of Improvisation (15)

UK 2004, Mike Dibb, 93min
Sat 11 Apr, 3.30pm 
Cinema 3 

An intimate portrait of the legendary pianist, exploring his ground-breaking career across jazz, classical, and beyond through rare interviews and performances.
 

Keith Jarrett is not only one of the most iconic jazz musicians, but also a transcendent artist whose influence spans jazz, classical, folk, and beyond. 

With full cooperation from Jarrett, the film features rare insights from the man himself, alongside interviews with his collaborators, family, and close associates, offering a deep dive into the contrasting worlds of jazz and classical music. 

Open City Documentary Festival
Tue 14 Apr – Sun 19 Apr
Cinema 1 + 2

Open City Documentary Festival brings the art of non-fiction to venues across London.

Through a programme of film screenings, workshops, panels, talks and an exhibition, the festival showcases new non-fiction works from an international range of filmmakers and provides a space to discuss non-fiction storytelling.

The full programme is available to view here. 

Silent Film & Live Music: My Grandmother (15*)

USSR 1929, Dir Kote Mikaberidze, 61min
Sun 19 Apr, 3pm 
Cinema 1 

In this madcap Soviet-era satire a lazy bureaucrat is fired from his job and must find a ‘grandmother’ – slang for ‘benefactor’ – to help him back into work. 

This one-of-a-kind oddity has all kinds of avant-garde experimentation on display: stop-motion and hand-drawn animation bits of puppetry, expressionist décor, distorting lenses, looming angles, freeze-frames. 

And while the Harold Lloyd-esque pen-pusher may be the film’s protagonist, it is his assertive, wild-haired, wildly consumerist wife who steals the show. Presented here in a digital restoration, with a live accompaniment from Stephen Horne and Meg Morley.  

Chronic Youth Film Festival 
Sat 25 Apr – Sun 26 Apr

The Barbican’s annual festival delivered in partnership with the Barbican’s Creative Collaboration team showcases films curated over several months by the Barbican Young Programmers. The programme for this year is yet to be revealed, but there will be an eclectic schedule of international films, alongside interactive workshops and community events. 

Regular Programme Strands

Family Film Club 
Every Sat, 11 am 

Flow 

Latvia/France/Belgium 2025, Dir Gints Zilbalodis, 85min 

Sat 4 April, 11am 
Cinema 2 

The perfect chance to see Gints Zilbalodis’ Oscar winning film on the big screen. This heart-warming story is about a group of disparate animals navigating for themselves in a post-apocalyptic world. 

Family Film Club + London Soundtrack Festival +: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit + Introduction by Julian Nott (U)

UK/US 2005, Dir Steve Box + Nick Park, 85min
Sat 11 Apr, 11am
Cinema 2 

Wallace & Gromit composer Julian Nott introduces this special Barbican Family Film Club screening of the duo’s first (and Oscar-winning) feature-length film. He will also talk about his role as a film music composer and discuss his career to date. 

Space Cadet (U*)

Canada 2025, Dir Kid Koala, 96min
Sat 25 Apr, 11am
Cinema 2 

One of the first UK screenings of this new animation sees a girl and a robot discovering their universe, based on the graphic novel by Kid Koala. Without dialogue, and similar in tone to the recent animation, Robot Dreams, this bitter-sweet tale of love, friendship and learning is a beautifully animated journey.

Senior Community Screenings
Welcoming 60+ cinema goers to watch the latest new releases every other Monday morning:

Free Encore Screening: Cold War Visions: The Sun and the Shadow (15) (Слънцето исянката, Slantzeto i syankata) + intro by season Curator Teodosia Dobriyanova
Bulgaria 1962, Dir. Rangel Valtchanov, 75min
Mon 13 Apr, 11am 
Cinema 2 

Polish actor Anna Prucnal plays a foreign translator travelling to the Bulgarian seaside with a tourist group. On her last day, she meets a young Bulgarian man on the beach and the two spend the day together. 

As they get to know each other, the fear of an imminent nuclear attack overwhelms the translator. The film’s breathtaking cinematography and creative imagination make it a unique, though underseen, gem in world cinema history. 

It Was Just an Accident
Iran, France, 2025, Dir Jafar Panahi, 104min 
Mon 27 Apr, 11am 
Cinema 2 

When an auto mechanic encounters the man who may have been his torturer in prison, he kidnaps him to exact vengeance. But since the sole clue to Eghbal’s identity is the squeak of his prosthetic leg, Vahid turns to other now-freed victims for confirmation. And the danger only escalates.

Relaxed Screenings 

The Secret Agent 
Brazil, France, Germany, Netherlands 2025, Dir Kleber Mendonça Filho, 158min
Fri 10 April, 12pm 
Cinema 3

Equally entertaining and stinging, this political drama is a loving portrait of Brazil and the life of its people under a dictatorship.

The Last Blossom 
Japan 2025, Dir Baku Kinoshita, 90min 
Mon 20 April, 6.20pm 
Cinema 2 

A tender, critically acclaimed animé from the creators of hit series Odd Taxi.

Event Cinema 

NT Live: All My Sons 
Thu 16 Apr, 6pm 
Cinema 2 

Bryan Cranston and Marianne Jean-Baptiste star in this triumphantly acclaimed new production of Arthur Miller’s classic play, from visionary director Ivo Van Hove. 

Royal Ballet & Opera Live: The Magic Flute
Tue 21 Apr, 6.45pm 
Cinema 2 

A star cast leads Mozart's fantastical opera in David McVicar's enchanting production.