Press room

• Silent Film & Live Music: Blackmail – Sun 8 Mar
• Kinoteka Polish Film Festival: The Good Boy + ScreenTalk with director Jan Komasa – Wed 11 Mar
• Open City Documentary Festival: Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son + Introduction – Thu 12 Mar
• Animation in Love: Chico and Rita + 20 Años – Thu 19 Mar
• The Old Ways – Sun 22 Mar + Sat 28 Mar
• Underland + ScreenTalk with Rob Petit, Robert Macfarlane, Lauren Greenwood, Hannah Peel and Ruben Woodin Dechamps – Tue 24 Mar

Regular Programmes:

• Family Film Club:
• Hola Frida! – Sat 7 Mar
• Lost and Found + Shoom's Odyssey – Sat 14 Mar
• Wicked: For Good – Sat 21 Mar
• Scarecrows’ Wedding + The Highway Rat – Sat 28 Mar
• Experiments in Film: Three Films by Maryam Tafakory – Mon 30 Mar
• Senior Community Screenings:
• Relaxed Screening: Oska Bright: Wild Women – Mon 2 Mar
• Souleymane's Story – Mon 16 Mar
• Chico & Rita + Short – Mon 30 Mar

Relaxed Screenings:

• No Other Choice – Sun 15 Mar
• Being Ola + ScreenTalk – Mon 30 March 
   

Event Cinema: 

• MET Opera Live: Tristan und Isolde – Sat 21 Mar
• Royal Ballet & Opera live: Giselle – Sun 22 Mar
• Royal Ballet & Opera live: Siegfried – Tue 31 Mar

In March the Barbican offers a unique cinema programme which kicks off with The Old Ways, a three-month season of films celebrating artisans and artists, worldwide craftsmanship and all-things handmade, plus opportunities to make and repair, stitch and knit. 

Opening with the London Premiere of A Century of Sound, which reveals the meticulously crafted interiors of Tokyo’s legendary ‘listening cafés’, the season continues through to May with a tapestry of rarely seen documentaries and shorts, including programmes for Families and Seniors.

The ScreenTalks programme also continues in March with a special preview of Underland. Based on Robert Macfarlane's bestseller, this is a cinematic journey that goes into worlds rarely seen by human eyes, into the bowels of the earth. Following the screening, the Barbican is delighted to welcome the director Rob Petit, author Robert Macfarlane, and producer Lauren Greenwood to the Barbican stage for a ScreenTalk.

The Kinoteka Polish Film Festival returns this month with a screening of The Good Boy and ScreenTalk with director Jan Komasa (via Zoom). This is Komasa’s compelling and wicked tale that follows a couple who plan to retrain a delinquent nineteen-year-old with a brutal daily regime. Starring Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough, and filmed in both Warsaw and Yorkshire, the film packs a sharp social commentary full of unexpected shifts and turns.

The Open City Documentary Festival also returns with a screening of Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son, director Ken Jacobs’ 1969 structural film classic which has been created from found footage and is an accomplished investigation of perception itself. 

Further highlights include a Silent Film & Live Music screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1929 British crime thriller Blackmail, which tells the story of a young British woman who is blackmailed after killing a man who tries to sexually assault her. The Barbican presents the restored version with a new score by Barbara De Biasi, composed primarily to help the audience identify with the female point of view and reverse the traditional male gaze.

The second instalment of the year-long Animation in Love series also screens in March, with a line-up that includes the animated romantic drama Chico and Rita, and the Cuban stop-motion animation 20 Años. Both these titles are presented in partnership with Screen Cuba.

Family Film Club in March screens a fun mix of classic and contemporary titles, including Hola Frida!, a beautiful animation about the legendary artist Frida Kahlo, Wicked: For Good, the epic conclusion to the witches of Oz, and the enchanting Scarecrows’ Wedding, plus others.

Festivals, Seasons and Special Events

Silent Film & Live Music: Blackmail (PG) + introduction 

UK 1929, Dir Alfred Hitchcock, 85min
Sun 8 Mar, 3pm
Cinema 1 

Alfred Hitchcock’s silent classic, culminating in a bravura chase scene on the roof of the British Museum.

On a night out, a young woman ditches her boring policeman boyfriend in favour of a racier type, an artist. But things go badly: back at his studio, the man attempts to rape her, and she stabs him to death. The next day, her problems multiply: her policeman boyfriend is assigned to the case, and a would-be blackmailer comes out of the woodwork. 
 

Barbican Cinema presents the restored version with a new score by Barbara De Biasi, composed expressly to help the audience identify with the female point of view. The score aims to challenge the way we perceive female characters, based on a tradition of filmmaking, which places the male gaze at the heart of its practice.
 

Kinoteka Polish Film Festival: The Good Boy + ScreenTalk with director Jan Komasa (via Zoom) (18*)
Poland/ UK 2025, Dir Jan Komasa, 110min
Wed 11 Mar, 6.10pm 
Cinema 3 

Director Jan Komasa delivers a fresh and thrilling fable on the excess of trash culture, starring Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough.

Nineteen-year-old hooligan Tommy (Anson Boon) wakes up with a chain around his neck in the basement of Chris (Stephen Graham) and Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough)'s isolated suburban home. The kidnapping is part of a forced rehabilitation to turn him into a 'good boy', a process he passionately protests. Trapped in the dysfunctional family unit, Tommy seeks escape at any cost.

Open City Documentary Festival: Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son + Introduction

USA 1969, Dir Ken Jacobs, 115min 
Thu 12 Mar, 6.30pm 
Cinema 2 

Ken Jacobs’ 1969 structural film classic created from found footage, including the 1905 original, is a masterful investigation of perception itself. As a prologue to the retrospective Seeing Through Film: Ken and Flo Jacobs, this film includes the 1905 original from Billy Bitzer. One of the 3,000 movies made between 1896 and 1912 it only exists today because it was deposited at the Library of Congress as a paper print. 

Here Tom, Tom, the Pipers Son  (1905) ‘is most reverently examined’ and becomes central to this masterpiece of found footage cinema, and represents a turning point in Jacobs’ film work, refocusing his attention to investigating perception itself.

Animation in Love: Chico and Rita + 20 Años (15)
Chico and Rita, Spain 2009, Dir Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba, 94min
20 Años, Cuba 2009, Dir. Bárbaro Joel OrtizThu
Thu 19 Mar, 6.10pm 
Cinema 2 

A pair of animated films filled with passion, music and romance, presented in partnership with Screen Cuba. An animated love story that plays out like a Latin ballad, the Oscar-nominated Chico & Rita follows a jazz pianist and a singer through the decades from Havana to New York to Paris and beyond, in a luscious and bittersweet tale of romance and heartbreak.

This screening will be preceded by a rare opportunity to see a gem of Cuban stop-motion animation: Bárbaro Joel Ortiz’ plaintive evocation of faded love, 20 Años (20 Years). Presented in partnership with Screen Cuba.

The Old Ways
Dir various
Sun 22 Mar + Sat 28 Mar
Cinema 2+3 

Further season highlights include a celebration of renowned Sami textile artist and activist Britta Marakatt-Labba, who will attend the UK premiere of the award-winning documentary film Historjá – Stitches for Sapmí narrated by the artist, and directed by Thomas Jackson.

In the London premiere of Shades of Indigo, introduced by Dr Linda Brassington, Chair of the Textile Society, the farmers, artisans and scientists tell of keeping the craft of indigo dyeing alive in contemporary Japan. 

Audiences are invited to bring along their yarn and needles to the bespoke-curated shorts programme Pattern Testing featuring textile-based animated films (this programme is repeated at a special edition of the weekly Senior Community Screenings). And finally, the screening of The Colour of Ink, a captivating portrait of artisanal ink-maker Jason Logan, will be introduced by Soraya Syed, British Islamic calligrapher who also appears in the film. 

The season includes two programmes of documentary shorts: In the Making invites audiences to look at the importance of craft to the lives of artisans from around the world, while Yarn Stories explores the many crafts connected to yarn. 

To view the full press release & programme:
www.barbican.org.uk/our-story/press-room/the-old-ways 

Underland + ScreenTalk with Rob Petit, Robert Macfarlane, Lauren Greenwood, Hannah Peel and Ruben Woodin Dechamps (12A*)
USA, UK 2026, Dir Rob Petit, 79min

Tue 24 Mar, 6.30pm 
Cinema 1 

Beginning in the shallow soils beneath an old ash tree, ‘astronauts of the underworld’ travel into ancient sacred caves, flooded storm drains, melting glaciers, underwater burial chambers and a deep underground laboratory built to solve the mysteries of the Universe. 

Narrated by Oscar-nominated Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of A Fall), and with a uniquely poetic approach, Underland is a deep dive into the Earth that ultimately presents an alternative vision for rethinking our lives on this fragile surface.

Barbican Cinema is delighted to have director Rob Petit, author Robert Macfarlane, producer Lauren Greenwood, composer Hannah Peel and director of photography Ruben Woodin Dechamps join for a ScreenTalk.

Regular Programme Strands

Family Film Club 
Every Sat, 11 am 

Hola Frida (U*)
Canada/ France 2025, Dirs Karine Vézina & André Kadi, 82min
Sat 7 Mar, 11am 
Cinema 2

The fun kicks off in March with Hola Frida, a beautiful animation about the legendary artist Frida Kahlo, and her childhood growing up in Mexico. Having screened at festivals around the world, this delightful film is a joyful introduction to the world of this renowned creative and feminist icon.
 

Lost and Found + Shoom's Odyssey

Lost and Found UK 2008, Dir Phillip Hunt, 24min  
Shoom's Odyssey, France 2019, Dir Julien Bisaro, 26min 
Sat 14 Mar, 11am 
Cinema 2  

Two beautiful animations that feature daring journeys and unforgettable friendships, plus a special guest introduction. Lost and Found is an eventful tale where a boy sets out to return a lost penguin to the North Pole. This captivating BAFTA-winning treat follows the pair as they work together to find their way home. 

This is followed by the wonderful Shoom’s Odyssey, a French featurette about overcoming the odds, kindness and finding your family. 

Wicked: For Good (PG)

US 2025, Dir Jon M. Chu, 137min 
Sat 21 Mar, 11am 
Cinema 2 

The second part of the Wicked film adaptation, picking up with Elphaba in hiding as the hunted ‘Wicked Witch of the West’ while Glinda cements her role as the celebrated, yet trapped, face of the Wizard's regime.

Scarecrows’ Wedding + The Highway Rat
Scarecrows’ Wedding, UK 2025, Dirs Samantha Cutler & Jeroen Jaspaert, 25min
The Highway Rat, UK 2017, Dir Jeroen Jaspaert, 25min

Sat 28 Mar, 11am 
Cinema 2 

The Barbican continues its wave of Julia Donaldson double bills with the latest adaptation from Magic Light Pictures. Scarecrows’ Wedding is an enchanting story about two devoted scarecrows, Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay, who are planning a wedding to remember, but hit some setbacks along the way
 

In The Highway Rat, we meet a greedy rodent who steals people’s tasty treats but finds out that such selfishness can only lead to a lonely life. Another great animation with a superlative voice cast, including David Tennant, Tom Hollander, Frances de la Tour and Rob Brydon.

Experiments In Film: Three Films by Maryam Tafakory

Mon 30 Mar, 6.30pm 
Cinema 2 

This screening brings together three films and a performance by artist and filmmaker Maryam Tafakory, whose work moves between essay film, archival inquiry, and poetic montage. 
 

Daria’s Night Flowers (Iran/United Kingdom/France 2025), Razeh-del (Iran/United Kingdom/Italy 2024) and Mast-del (Iran/United Kingdom 2023) draw on fragments of Iranian cinema, literature, and popular culture to explore desire, censorship, gender, and the politics of looking.

These works invite the viewer into a slowed, attentive mode of spectatorship, where images and words circulate as traces rather than statements, and where cinema becomes a site of intimate, speculative thought.

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

Oska Bright Film Festival: Wild Women

Dirs various, 70min 
Mon 2 Mar, 11am 
Cinema 2 
This programme of shorts will take viewers on a wild ride; incredible, joyful and unexpected. Oska Bright proudly uses the F-rating, which is designed to support and promote women and redress the imbalance in the film industry. 

Souleymane's Story (12A)

France 2024, Dir Boris Lojkine, 92min
Mon 16 Mar, 11am 
Cinema 2 

Abou Sangaré provides a standout performance in Boris Lojkine's emotional drama about an asylum-seeking food delivery rider in Paris. The film received major critical acclaim, including accolades at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize and Best Actor prizes. 

Chico & Rita + Short (15)
Chico and Rita, Spain 2009, Dir Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba, 94min
20 Años, Cuba 2009, Dir. Bárbaro Joel OrtizThu
Mon 30 Mar, 11am 
Cinema 2

A pair of animated films filled with passion, music and romance, presented in partnership with Screen Cuba.

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.

No Other Choice
South Korea 2025, Dir Park Chan-wook, 139min 
Sun 15 Mar, 12pm 
Cinema 3 

Park Chan-wook's darkly comic state-of-a-nation thriller about a family man who resorts to desperate measures to secure a new job.

Being Ola + ScreenTalk

Norway 2023, Dir Ragnhild Noest Bergem, 72min 
Mon 30 Mar, 6.20pm 
Cinema 3

A heartfelt documentary about Ola, a man with a mild learning disability who lives in the small Norwegian village of Vidaråsen. Presented in partnership with Oska Bright Film Festival

Event Cinema

MET Opera Live in HD: Tristan und Isolde

Sat 21 + Sun 22 Mar, 4.30pm & 11am 
Cinema 3 
Wagner's transcendent meditation on love and death is bought to life after years of anticipation.
 

Royal Ballet & Opera Live: Giselle 

Sun 22 Mar, 7.15pm 
Cinema 2  
Peter Wright’s atmospheric and bewitching production of the quintessential Romantic ballet.

Royal Ballet & Opera Live: Siegfried 

Tue 31 Mar, 5.15pm
Cinema 3 
Moments of transcendent beauty and heroic triumph sparkle in the third chapter of Wagner’s Ring cycle, brought to life under Barrie Kosky’s inspired eye and a score conducted by Antonio Pappano.