Press room

Barbican venues may be temporarily dark but an expanded programme of ScreenTalks and exclusive partner festivals’ content will shine bright on Cinema on Demand platform. Many films from the London Palestine Film Festival, Fringe Queer Film & Arts Festival and the EFG London Jazz Festival, which were originally scheduled to show in Cinema 1 and the Theatre, are now available to watch at home as well as a selection of live and recorded ScreenTalks. Cinema on Demand also offers a curated selection of independent new releases.

Our Family audience will be able to enjoy The London International Animation Festival‘s mind-bending programme of Amazing Animations with 13 of the best, most recent short animated films.

Gali Gold, Head of Barbican Cinema, says:

“I am delighted that our new digital platform, Cinema on Demand, has given us the flexibility to move programme quickly from in venue to digital, meaning that the months of hard and important work from Barbican curators and our festival partners can live on. We will of course miss the communal experience of watching and discussing films together, and we look forward to being back in our venues, but it’s very good to know that our doors are still open - if only virtually”.

Doc'n Roll Film Festival
inema on Demand, Mon 9 Nov – Sun 15 Nov

Ara Malikian: A Life Among Strings
Pay per view: Full: £6.00 | Young Barbican: £4.00 | Barbican Members £4.80

This film tells the story of Ara Malikian, multifaceted violinist of Lebanese origin and Armenian roots.

Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest
Cinema on Demand, 10-23 Nov

A selection of bold new queer cinema and exciting contemporary titles will stream on Barbican Cinema on Demand for an extended run with three pre-recorded ScreenTalks available to watch from 10-23 Nov.

Based on the work of E Patrick Johnson, Making Sweet Tea is a portrait of queer Black friendship in the American South and celebrates radical joy. Patric Chiha'sTeddy-Award winning If It Were Love explores the creation of Gisèle Vienne's rave dance piece 'Crowd'. And Leonnie Krippendorff's celebrated debut Cocoon sees young Nora discover herself one sun-drenched Berlin summer.

Making Sweet Tea (12A*) + virtual pre-recorded ScreenTalk with directors John L Jackson & Nora Gross and executive producer E Patrick Johnson
Dirs John L Jackson, Jr & Nora Gross, US 2019, 90 min
Available to stream: from Tue 10 Nov  – Mon 23 Nov
Pay per view: Full: £8.00 | Young Barbican: £4.00 | Barbican Members £6.40

If It Were Love (15*) + virtual pre-recorded ScreenTalk with director Patric Chiha
Dir Patric Chiha, France 2020, 82 min
Available to stream: from Tue 10 Nov  – Sun 22 Nov
Pay per view: Full: £8.00 | Young Barbican: £4.00 | Barbican Members £6.80

Cocoon (15*) + virtual pre-recorded ScreenTalk with director Leonie Krippendorff
Dir Leonnie Krippendorf, Germany 2020, 95 min
Available to stream: from Tue 10 Nov – Mon 16 Nov
Pay per view: Full: £8.00 | Young Barbican: £4.00 | Barbican Members £6.80

For further information: www.fringefilmfest.com

London Palestine Film Festival
Cinema on Demand, 13 Nov – 26 Nov

The annual London Palestine Film Festival returns with a programme of films and discussions to encourage crucial dialogue about Palestinian cinema and culture.
This year’s selection brings an array of feature dramas, documentaries and artist moving image that will now all stream on Barbican Cinema on Demand.

It is a strong year for UK premieres from Palestine’s most dynamic filmmakers including Najwa Najjar and Kamal Aljafari; titles include Between Heaven and Earth (Palestine/Iceland/Luxembourg 2020, Dir Najwa Najjar), a romantic drama about divorce, and An Unusual Summer (Germany/Palestine 2020, Dir Kamal Aljafari), an unprecedented use of the surveillance camera as documentary cinema.

These sit alongside intricate investigative works including Letter to a Friend (Palestine/US 2019), by artist Emily Jacir and Forensic Architecture’s Triple Chaser (US/UK 2019) made by the Academy Award winning Laura Poitras.

For the full programme please go to:
www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2020/series/palestine-film-festival-2020

All titles in the London Palestine Film Festival are available to stream from:
Fri 13 Nov – Thu 26 Nov
Pay per view: Full: £6.00 | Young Barbican: £4.00 | Barbican Members £4.80

EFG London Jazz Festival
Cinema on Demand, 13 Nov – 22 Nov

Billie (15*) + Live on-line ScreenTalk
Dir. James Erskine, UK 2019, 98min
Available to stream: from Fri 13 Nov – Sun 22 Nov
Pay per view: Full: £10.00 | Barbican Members £8.00
Plus live ScreenTalk with director James Erskine and co-producer Shianne Brown, hosted by broadcaster and DJ Zakia Sewell, on Sun 15 Nov

Originally programmed for one screening in the Barbican Theatre as part of EFG London Jazz Festival, James Erskine’s film Billie will now stream on Cinema on Demand from 13 Nov-22 Nov.

A newly-unearthed treasure trove of audio interviews about Billie Holiday form the basis of this new documentary profile of the great jazz singer.

James Erskine’s new documentary combines archive and performance footage and stills with never previously heard first-hand accounts from Billie Holiday’s friends, relatives and fellow musicians.

For further information: https://efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/

London International Animation Festival – Amazing Animations
Cinema on Demand: Fri 27 Nov – Sun 6 Dec
Pay per view: £2.50

This beautiful programme is full of visually dazzling joy from all around the world, including patchwork penguins, an escaped Lynx, birds and whales, witches and babies – and much more besides!

Event Cinema

Some Event Cinema content has also been rescheduled, and will now screen in December and January: Exhibition on Screen: Frida Kahlo, originally scheduled for Wed 18 Nov, will now screen on Sat 12 Dec. NT Live: War Horse which was due to screen on Tue 17 Nov will now screen on Sun 13 Dec. Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace, scheduled for Thu 5 Nov, has been moved to Thu 14 Jan.

New Releases

New Relases include Totally Under Control (USA 2020), Alex Gibney’s groundbreaking documentary that takes an in-depth look at how the US government
bungled the response to the COVID-19 outbreak during the early months of the pandemic; Maya Newell’s compassionate documentary In My Blood It Runs
(Australia 2020) made from the perspective of a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy in Alice Springs, who is struggling to balance his traditional Arrernte/Garrwa upbringing with a modern state education; and Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project (US 2020 Dir Matt Wolf), a fascinating documentary about Marion Stokes, who secretly recorded television twenty-four hours a day for thirty years.

The documentary Love Child (Denmark, 2019) follows couple Leila and Sahand, who flee Iran fearing persecution and settle in Turkey with their young son whilst awaiting their refugee status.

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.

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.