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Film festival celebrates in-person screenings

The Herne Hill Free Film Festival will celebrate a return to in-person screenings with a local mini-festival.

It runs from 10 to 20 May in venues including a pub, a craft brewery, a Baptist church and the Herne Hill velodrome. All events are free and no booking is required.

The diverse programme begins with the return of the festival’s popular Short Film Night, upstairs at The Prince Regent on Dulwich Road.

Thomas Vinterberg’s acclaimed comedy drama, Another Round follows on 12 May at the Canopy Beer Company. This year’s big outdoor screening will be at Herne Hill velodrome on Sunday 15 May with Tron, Steven Lisberger’s 1982 sci-fi epic.

On 17 May the festival moves to Herne Hill Baptist Church, for The Father starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman; followed by a live Q&A with co-producer David Parfitt.

Wrapping up the festival, the 2021 documentary I Am Belmaya will be screened at Effra Space on 20 May. An inspirational tale of rebellion, courage and hope in patriarchal Nepal, the screening includes a live Q&A with the film’s director Sue Carpenter after the screening.

The festival will support the Norwood and Brixton Foodbank with fundraising and food donations collected at the screenings.

The festival is a volunteer-led community event made possible by the support of Pedder Property.

Regeneration and awakening in Dulwich

After three years, Dulwich Festival is back to celebrate the arts and rebuild community connections.

Taking as its themes Regeneration and Awakening, the festival offers a diverse range of events, many of them free, which include art, music, literature, comedy, walks and talks.

For lovers of art there is the chance to visit some 400 local artists in their homes or studios. For lovers of music there is classical, jazz, choral and pop. There is also plenty of comedy on offer – from a bicyclepowered production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night to previews of shows going to this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe. Festival walks and talks cover aspects of local history and well-known authors talk about their latest books.

Families can enjoy plenty of free events including an orchard family day in Dulwich Village, the Dulwich Park Fair, Love West Dulwich Spring Fair, and The Goose Green Fair with the return of its much-loved donkeys. A For further information and details of all the events which take place from 13 to 22 May, visit dulwichfestival.co.uk.

This is Silly … and it’s getting sillier

Audience-wide custard pie battles

Brixton’s Club Silly – an offshoot of the Bureau of Silly Ideas – returned with rollicking success last month at a relaunch event showcasing Brixton arts and culture of the most ridiculous variety.

A mermaid toilet attendant delivered sage advice from inside a wheelbarrow, there was a silly look at the news and current events, an audience-wide custard pie battle, and a clown’s take on the rehabilitation of a service monkey.

The night delivered not only on what it promised: “Acts of the silliest sort”, but also on reigniting community spirit at a grass-roots level in Brixton.

“Club Silly is back, and we’re growing,” says The Bureau of Silly Ideas (BOSI) a leading UK outdoor arts company that has been bringing its particular brand of arts engagement to the public realm from Brixton for almost 20 years.

“Our mission has always been to make art accessible and bring unexpected acts of silliness to audiences all over the world.

“But we also cherish our home here in Brixton and know that there’s a community who wants art here too.

“That’s why we’ve brought Club Silly back, as a place for people to gather together in the spirit of silliness, to support new work made by fantastic local artists, and to get to connect and have fun together.”

Offering a diverse programme of events and workshops, Club Silly is free to join, and signing up is easy.

Visit bit.ly/Club-Silly-Sign-Up to become a member and get the first news of events, workshops, and more silliness; including an upcoming workshop with Laura Cao from Mojo Bodywork on basic self and partner massage.

BOSI knows better than most of the toll that seriousness can take on the mind and the body, which is why Club Silly is the first arts night – that they know of – that has their very own in-theatre masseuse.

During Club Silly: The Relaunch, audience members were able to sign up to receive a 10-minute massage while watching the show.

“But why leave it at that?” BOSI thought – the next workshop on offer as part of the new Club Silly programme is one to learn how to massage yourself and your friends.

Over 90 minutes you will learn hands-on techniques for melting the stress away; perfect for people who spend a long-time in front of the computer, or even those who just want to have something good to exchange for favours.

The workshop will take place at Silly Towers, BOSI’s Valentia Place home in Brixton, on Wednesday 18 May from 6 to 7:30pm. Tickets are £15 and places are limited. A Visit bit.ly/Club-Silly-Massage-Workshop to book your spot.

Late night kung fu classics at Whirled cinema

Nobody who experienced a kung fu night at Brixton’s Ace Cinema – now Electric Brixton – could ever forget it. Audience participation was total, loud and active.

Fortunately for Loughborough Junction’s Whirled Cinema, most of those old enough to have been at the Ace are probably now too old to jump up and demonstrate their moves mid-movie.

But all kung fu film lovers can rejoice that late-night kung fu is back in South London with screenings at Whirled beginning on Friday 13 May, kicking off at 8pm and continuing to 2am – proper Brixton kung fu night timing.

It’s a double-bill starting with an old-skool classic: Hand of Death (18) from 1976 … A young Shaolin monk must train to defeat a dangerous Manchu warlord (James Tien) who is intent on wiping out the Shaolin once and for all.

It features early performances from Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung (both also handled the film’s stunts, along with third “brother” Yuen Biao).

“Hand of Death is an exquisitely stylish example of old school kung fu filmmaking,” says Marlon Palmer, founder of Drunken Scorpion Promotions who are staging the screenings,

This showing will be a 2K HD restoration release.

Following Hand of Death will be the 1981 film Dreadnaught (15), directed by legendary action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping (The Matrix; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), expertly blending majestic action sequences with superb physical comedy, courtesy of stars Yuen Biao, Bryan Leung Kar-yan, and Yuen Shun-yee.

A violent criminal known only as “White Tiger” (Yuen Shun-yee; Iron Monkey) is hiding among members of a theatre troop, murdering anyone who discovers his identity, as well as anyone who happens to annoy him.

Mousy, a timid laundry man (Yuen Biao; Project A), crosses paths with White Tiger several times but always manages to escape.

But when the killer targets his friend (Bryan “Beardy” Leung; Warriors Two), Mousy must overcome his cowardly nature and acquire the skills necessary to defeat the White Tiger.

Notable for being the final film in which Kwan Tak-hing portrayed folk hero Wong Fei-hung, and with its famous laundry scene directly referenced in Batman Forever, Dreadnaught is a cult favourite amongst martial arts fans.

It will also be shown from a new 2K restoration. A Tickets: £20 from Eventbrite: kungfucinema south london

Hand of Death