Press room

December 2025 ScreenTalks & Special Events:

· A House of Dynamite + ScreenTalk with Kathryn Bigelow, Rebecca Ferguson, Noah Oppenheim, Greg Shapiro, Barry Ackroyd and Volker Bertelmann – Sat 6 Dec

· BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions – Sun 7 Dec

· Gamera the Brave + introduction by Yuriko Hamaguchi – Wed 10 Dec

· Rental Family + ScreenTalk with Brendan Fraser – Thu 11 Dec

Barbican Cinema continues its run of high-profile new release events in December with a ScreenTalk with the Academy Award winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Point Break), following a screening of her latest film A House of Dynamite. Also joining on-stage will be the actor Rebecca Ferguson, writer/producer Noah Oppenheim, producer Greg Shapiro, director of photography Barry Ackroyd and composer Volker Bertelmann. 

A House of Dynamite is a high stakes drama, starring Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, in which a lone missile is launched at the US, forcing those in power to respond and manage a nation on the brink.

Later in the month we’re also delighted to welcome the Academy Award winning actor Brendan Fraser to the Barbican stage for a ScreenTalk, following his latest film Rental Family, in which he plays Philip, an American actor adrift in his career in Tokyo, who finds solace working at a Japanese 'rental family' agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers.

As Philip inhabits these borrowed lives, authentic connections begin to form. Navigating the ethical ambiguities of his work, he uncovers meaning and community, and the subtle grace of human intimacy. 

Also in December Barbican Cinema presents an exclusive short run of BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions, Kahlil Joseph’s feature debut – a genre-spanning history of the Black diaspora. Adapted from the filmmaker’s highly acclaimed video art installation, this interweaves fictional and historical characters in an immersive story that spans 247 years across land and sea.

All Kaiju Attack: Earth SOS! concludes our Japanese monster movie season with the UK cinema premiere of (to date) the final Gamera film, Gamera the Brave, in which the gigantic turtle is reincarnated once again in a family-friendly reboot, introduced by curator Yuriko Hamaguchi.

For the latest Barbican Cinema ScreenTalk event information please visit: www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/series/screentalks

January 2026 Seasons and Special Events:

· Hidden Figures: Mladomir Puriša Đorđević – 14 Jan - 25 Jan

· Silent Film & Live Music: Sherlock Jr + Cops – two screenings – Sun 25 Jan

Regular Programmes:

· Family Film Club – every Sat am: 

• Wolfwalkers – Sat 17 Jan
• Room on the Broom + Zog and the Flying Doctors – Sat 24 Jan
• Labyrinth 40th Anniversary Screening – Sat 31 Jan

· Experiments in Film: La force diagonal – Sat 24 Jan

· Senior Community Screenings:

• Solo – Mon 5 Jan
• Sorry, Baby – Mon 19 Jan

· Relaxed Screenings:

• Perfect Blue – Mon 12 Jan 

Event Cinema:

· MET Opera Live: I Puritani – Sat 10 Jan

· Royal Ballet & Opera Live: La Traviata – Sun 18 Jan

· NT Live: Hamlet – Thu 22 Jan

Barbican Cinema’s Hidden Figures programme returns in January with a celebration of the rarely seen war films of Mladomir Puriša Đorđević, a pioneer of Yugoslav cinema, who made some of the most playful and satirical features of the 1960s and ’70s.

Curated by Dr Mina Radovic, this is the first time Đorđević’s four-part series of war films have been screened together outside of Serbia, and, seen in its entirety, is a compelling journey into the lives of everyday people living through a tumultuous time in history.

The ever popular Silent Film & Live Music strand also returns in the new year with a double bill of Buster Keaton comedies Sherlock Jr + Cops, which, with his trademark gags and legendary stunts, is guaranteed to help fend off the January blues! There will also be live piano accompaniment from John Sweeney. 

January’s Family Film Club programme includes the beautiful hand-drawn animation Wolfwalkers, a dragon-themed double bill Room on the Broom and Zog and the Flying Doctors; and a 40th anniversary screening of the cult classic family fantasy Labyrinth, starring David Bowie. Prior to this screening there will be a maze inspired workshop in the cafe, in collaboration with RIBA – the Royal Institute of British Architects – which draws upon the film’s wider themes. 

Experiments in Film screens the 2023 Belgian film La force diagonal, about a journey across Europe which gathers portraits of people and places marked by history and resilience; and includes a ScreenTalk with Annik Leroy, Maria Palacious Cruz and Julie Morel. 

Senior Community Screenings include the Canadian romantic drama Solo and Eva Victor’s striking debut feature Sorry, Baby. Relaxed Screenings include Satoshi Kon's cult horror animation Perfect Blue.

Alongside Barbican Cinema’s arts programme, we’re also pleased to present the best in new release titles throughout the year, showcasing acclaimed films direct from international festivals and the season's most anticipated titles.

Festivals, Seasons and Special Events

Hidden Figures: Mladomir Puriša Đorđević 14 Jan – 25 Jan 2026

Mladomir Đorđević’s unique style of filmmaking was known for its beautiful monochrome and colour photography, archive footage, socialist iconography and historical re-enactments. Some of his films were critical hits at major film festivals and went onto become key works of the Yugoslav Black Wave movement of the 1960s, known for its bold style and critical tone. 

Screenings: 

The Girl (Devojka)
Yugoslavia 1965, Dir Mladomir Puriša Đorđević, 90min 
Wed 14 Jan, 6.30pm 
+ Sun 25 Jan, 12.30pm 
Cinema 3 
 

The season opens with The Girl (Devojka) (1965), the first of Đorđević’s war films, which follows a young partisan couple, a town photographer, and a German officer whose lives intertwine in a fragile mix of love, conflict, and fleeting humanity.

The Dream (San) 
Yugoslavia 1966, Dir Mladomir Puriša Đorđević, 93min 
Thu 15 Jan, 6.30pm 
+ Sun 25 Jan, 2.15pm 
Cinema 3 

Set in 1941, when Europe was mostly occupied, a young couple dream of a future life together, despite the threat of German invasion, knowing that their dreams cannot be taken away from them; and the power of love reveals itself in the most unlikely of circumstances. Nominated for the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. 

The Morning (Jutro) 
Yugoslavia 1967, Dir Mladomir Puriša Đorđević, 84min 
Tue 20 Jan, 6.30pm 
+ Sun 25 Jan, 4pm 
Cinema 3 

The Morning (Jutro) (1967) is the third and best-known part of Đorđević’s war films and picks up from where the events of his previous film The Dream left off – the first days of liberation. An ex-soldier must deal with former enemy collaborators and traitors even though the war has ended. The film is a meditation on war in peacetime and explores the effects of conflict on the human soul. 

Noon (Podne) 
Yugoslavia, 1968, Dir Mladomir Puriša Đorđević, 82min 
Thu 22 Jan, 6.30pm 
+ Sun 25 Jan, 5.45pm 
Cinema 3 

The season concludes with Noon (Podne) (1968), Đorđević’s final war film in which a young Yugoslav girl falls in love and marries a Russian man in Belgrade. When tensions break out between Stalin and Tito – the leaders of their respective countries – they are forced to go their separate ways. Nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, Noon explores a society out of time and place, and the hopes for a future that sadly never came to pass. 

To view the full press release: www.barbican.org.uk/our-story/press-room/hidden-figures-mladomir-purisa-dordevic 

Silent Film & Live Music: Sherlock Jr + Cops (U)
US, 1924, Dir Buster Keaton, 45min 
US, 1922, Dirs Eddie Cline, Buster Keaton, 20min
Sun 25 Jan, 1pm + 3pm 
Cinema 1

Though clocking in at under an hour, Sherlock Jr (1924) is the match of any of Keaton’s feature-length films, with an ingenious central conceit that doubles as a reflection on cinema itself. In it, he plays a dreamy projectionist who one day falls asleep on the job, leaves his body, and walks into the screen and into the film he is projecting.

Rhyming the surreal with the Kafkaesque, we screen Sherlock Jr with the earlier Cops (1922) in which Keaton, mistaken for a bomb-throwing anarchist, is chased across LA by hordes of police officers – the very image of an unfairly pursued hero vs the implacable faceless forces of authority.

Regular Programme Strands 

Family Film Club 
Every Sat, 11 am 
Cinema 2 

Wolfwalkers (PG) 
Ireland/Luxembourg/France/US 2020, Dir Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart, 103min 
Sat 17 Jan, 11am 
Cinema 2 
Age suggestion 6+ 

A beautiful hand-drawn animation in which a younger hunter journeys to Ireland with her father to take on the last of a wolf pack, but then befriends a free-spirited girl from a mysterious tribe, rumoured to transform into wolves by night. 

Room on the Broom + Zog and the Flying Doctors (U) 
UK 2012, Dir Max Lang, 25min 
UK 2020, Dir Sean P. Mullen, 25min 
Sat 24 Jan, 11am 
Cinema 2 
Age suggestion 3+ 

A treat to welcome in the new year, a Julia Donaldson dragon-themed double bill! In Room on the Broom, a kindly witch and her cat zoom around the land taking on passengers, but will they escape the hungry dragon? And in Zog and the Flying Doctors, clumsy dragon-hero Zog must help Princess Pearl when her very traditional uncle insists she give up their medicinal mission. 

Labyrinth (U) 40th Anniversary Screening + Amazing Mazes with RIBA 
US/ UK 1986, Dir Jim Henson, 101min
Sat 31 Jan, 11am (pre-film activity in Cinema Cafe from 9.45am) 
Cinema 2 
Age suggestion 6+

Following a sell-out screening last year, FFC returns to the world of Labyrinth for its 40th anniversary year. This 1980s family favourite stars David Bowie in one of his most iconic roles, and boasts lush, larger than life costumes and intricate puppetry from Jim Henson.

Drawing on the film’s inspiration, prior to the screening there will be a special workshop encouraging young people to make and design their own mini-maze, using paper modelling techniques. 

Experiments in Film: La force diagonale (12) + ScreenTalk with Annik Leroy, Maria Palacious Cruz and Julie Morel 
Belgium 2023, Dir Annick Leroy and Julie More, 145min 
Sat 24 Jan, 2pm 
Cinema 3 

Four intimate portraits of trauma and transformation. From Sarajevo, a woman recalls driving a tram hit during the 1990s siege, to Görlitz, where a Belgian man remembers postwar discrimination, and Belgium, where a Kinshasa-born opera singer speaks of loss and belonging – the film collects voices that turn pain into creation.

Inspired by Hannah Arendt's writing, the film reflects our capacity to bring something new into a world shaped by trauma and transformation. Structured in two parts, La force diagonale presents four portraits in dialogue with Arendt’s thoughts, shifting into movement through Claire Vivianne Sobottke’s powerful performance, with readings by Claudia von Alemann and others. A meditation on art, memory, and renewal, the film evokes the ghosts of Europe’s past while affirming the enduring force of human creativity. 

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

Solo (15)
Canada 2023, Dir Sophie Dupuis, 102min
Mon 5 Jan, 11am 
Cinema 2 

In their third collaboration, director Sophie Dupuis and rising Canadian star Pellerin evoke conflicted feelings, and explore abuse and self-love when a drag artist navigates a toxic relationship and a distant mother. 

Sorry, Baby (15)
US/ Spain/ France 2025, Dir Eva Victor, 105min 
Mon 19 Jan, 11am 
Cinema 2

Eva Victor’s striking debut feature, starring Naomi Ackie, is an emotional comedic drama that dives into trauma, healing, and the unexpected power of friendship. 

Relaxed Screenings Relaxed screenings take place in an environment that is specially tailored for a neurodiverse audience, as well as those who find a more informal setting beneficial: 

Perfect Blue (18) 
Japan 2025, Dir Kon Satoshi, 81min 
Mon 12 Jan, 6.10pm 
Cinema 3 

Master Animator Satoshi Kon's cult horror sees a celebrity's reality unravel in a pop fever dream. Premiering in Japan in 1998 after festival acclaim, it blurs the borders of stage and screen, dream and delusion, reality and reflection. 

Event Cinema

MET Opera Live: I Puritani
Sat 10 Jan, 6pm 
Cinema 2 

Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee star in Bellini's final opera – a passionate love story set during the English Civil War.

Royal Ballet & Opera Live: La Traviata
Sun 18 Jan, 2pm 
Cinema 2

Richard Eyre’s beautiful production provides the perfect setting for Verdi's opera about a courtesan who sacrifices all for love.

NT Live: Hamlet
Thu 22 Jan, 7pm 
Cinema 1

This fearless, contemporary take on Shakespeare's famous tragedy stars Hiran Abeysekera (Life of Pi) as the brooding Prince of Denmark.