This one is for those of you who like to celebrate early… Regular presenter Matt Rogerson (@bavalamp) returns to explore Summerween, the practice of celebrating all things spooky but under the blazing sun. There’ll be a look at the political disillusionment of 1970s USA, and how that led to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Jaws and The Hills have Eyes. Environmental horror and climate panic will be...

The London Indian Film Festival is delighted to bring to audiences a selection of brilliant short films from exciting and emerging filmmakers from the UK. From award-winning dramas to insightful documentaries, we’re showcasing a rarely presented slice of life of Asian Britain today. Expect a dynamic discussion with these talented filmmakers on stage.

Asshole (Gandu) directed by cult Bengali filmmaker called ‘Q’ (Qaushiq Mukherjee) blazed a trail when it was first shown at festivals. Still too outrageous to be openly screened in India, the film, which includes nudity, bad language and sex, tells of a frustrated teenager named Gandu who is a penniless rapper who steals from his family to fuel his drug habit. On discovering he has won the Lottery...

A tribute screening and celebration of graphic novelist and director Marjane Satrapi. When Marjane Satrapi was nominated for Animated Feature Film, with co-director Vincent Paronnaud, she became the first woman in the history of the Oscars to have garnered such a nod. Winner of the Cannes Jury Prize, Persepolis is based on Satrapi’s biographical graphic novel of the same name, which follows a pr...

Singer-composer Neel Dutt’s directorial debut revisits the enduring wedding genre by following the Bengali nuptials of Sromona and Rohan, as they bring friends, relatives, and exes under one roof. This sharp ensemble drama peels back the spectacle of celebration to reveal a web of lies, fractures, and quiet disappointments. Witty and emotionally grounded, it offers a contemporary portrait of love,...

Join nasty boys Tom Lawrinson and Sam O’Leary for an exclusive screening of four brand new comedy shorts. Special guests, mad laughs, gorgeous singing voices. All of our screenings are 18+ unless otherwise stated, and the event start time is as advertised above. Content Warnings: Two very nasty boys

A straitlaced businessman meets a quirky, free-spirited woman at a downtown New York greasy spoon. Her offer of a ride back to his office results in a lunchtime motel rendezvou, just the beginning of a capricious interstate road trip that brings the two face-to-face with their hidden selves. Featuring a killer soundtrack and electric performances from Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, and Ray Liotta...

Interference strikes back once again with some mid-week monster mayhem - presenting a rare screening of the stone-cold cult classic PUMPKINHEAD!! Pumpkinhead marks the late Stan Winston's directorial debut, he was probably better known for his make-up and SFX work on legendary films such as Aliens, Terminator 2, Predator 1 &2 and Jurassic Park to name bit a few...this time however, he decided to ...

“ I imagined a summer peach with its perfect colors, and inside, there is a worm. ” - Agnès Varda Young carpenter François and his wife Thérèse lead an seemingly idyllic life with their two children in a small suburb outside of Paris. When François meets an attractive post office employee while working in the next town over, he casually begins an affair that he believes can only supplement his ex...

UrbanArtistry Presents... Painting Dhaka A film by Lukas Zeilinger An art project in the slums of Bangladesh — and a question: How corrupted is our view of a corrupt country? What begins as a cinematic accompaniment to a children's graffiti workshop in the poorest quarters of Dhaka, unfolds over the course of the film, into a fully-fledged documentary thriller about the real swamp of the nation:...

Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of a handful of films that punctuate the very life-blood of cinematic history. Intensely brutal with very little reprieve or consideration for the audience, it came...

A provocative and acclaimed synthesis of historical melodrama, murder mystery and gothic ghost tale. One of the most personal films by Guillermo del Toro, The Devil’s Backbone is also among his most frightening and emotionally layered. Set during the final week of the Spanish Civil War, it tells the tale of a twelve-year-old boy who, after his freedom-fighting father is killed, is sent to a haunt...

Sleep all day, party all night, never grow old. It's fun to be a vampire. When a single mother and her two sons move to the sleepy seaside California town of Santa Carla, they discover much more than they anticipated. Sam and his older brother Michael are all-American teens with all-American interests but things mysteriously begin to change and the boys become convinced that Santa Carla is home to...

Every Family Has It's Dark Secrets... Director Kim Jee-woon (A Bittersweet Life, I Saw The Devil) made his international reputation with this richly conceived, stylishly shot, and genuinely scary chiller, one of the key films of the Korean New Wave. Released from a mental institution, Su-mi returns to their country home with her father and her younger sister, Su-yeon, only to face her cold stepm...

From the visionary mind of Ari Aster comes a dread-soaked cinematic fairytale where a world of darkness unfolds in broad daylight. Several friends travel to Sweden to study as anthropologists a summer festival that is held every ninety years in the remote hometown of one of them. What begins as a dream vacation in a place where the sun never sets, gradually turns into a dark nightmare as the my...

THE ROAD OF EXCESS is a raw, moving, and often humorous feature documentary that explores the pitfalls of celebrity culture through the eyes of Welsh skate legend and ex-Dirty Sanchez star, Mathew Pritchard. After a decade of extreme stunts, substance abuse, and the chaotic whirlwind of MTV fame, Pritchard finds himself at a crossroads. Seeking redemption and a way to quiet his inner demons, he ...

The year is 2013. Its been 16 years since Snake Plissken's legendary rescue of the President from the prison island of Manhattan. In the years since a new President has taken power and declared the United States to be a land of moral absolutes: no smoking, no red meat, no alternative religious beliefs, no unapproved marriages - no freedom. A massive earthquake – The Big One – has hit Los Angeles, ...

Membrana is the Latin word for film, and we are incredibly excited to bring the Membrana Film Festival to you, and to dig deep into the roots of the magic that is filmmaking. Our opening session presents a selection of short films from around the world, curated to take you on a journey. And we are honoured to present several UK Premieres within this screening session. We open with the tender a...

Dream of Liberation (narrative feature) and When The Tiger Roars (short) The Membrana Film Festival invites you to enjoy a narrative short film and feature film. The short When The Tiger Roars has had a strong festival run, including selection at 4 Oscar-qualifying Film Festivals. Its Director, Lam Can-zhao, won the Special Prize of the Generation Kplus International Jury at Berlinale in 2024 f...

Jamie Babbit's audacious feature debut But I'm a Cheerleader has earned its place as a bona fide LGBTQ+ cult classic. Initially dismissed by critics upon its release in 1999, the film has since been rightfully celebrated for its pioneering lesbian representation, razor-sharp satire, and gleeful dismantling of gender stereotypes and conversion therapy. Set in the candy-coloured world of True Direc...