Following the ridiculously hot summer months, September couldn’t come quickly enough.
Hopefully the days of drowning in your own sweat in the office or on London’s un-air-conditioned public transport (we’re looking at you Central Line) are now behind us and we can really make the most of London’s best film events without getting sunstroke.
And what a month we have lined up… There’s a Nick Cave one-night-only event, a psychedelic film festival, loads of great new horror movies, a Rocky Horror Picture Show sing-a-long, a revamped reissue of the David Bowie classic The Man Who Fell to Earth and plenty of awesome quizzes to test your cineliteracy. So here’s our guide to all fun film things to do in London in September.
For a more up-to-date guide, check out the best Halloween events and horror movies showing in London this October.
Jump to a section:
Film Festivals and Seasons
Repertory Screenings and Reissues
Quizzes
New Films Released in September
Still on General Release
Film Festivals and Seasons:
Barnes Film Festival [2nd-4th September]
A new film festival taking place in Barnes, South-West London. The festival will showcase young filmmaking talent from schools, colleges and universities across the UK, together with award-winning films from around the world.
Highlights: a comedy workshop for 9-14 year olds (sure it’s too late for me, but maybe you can turn your child into the next Chaplin), Cowspiracy and Whale Rider.
Tickets: Barnes Film Festival
Nick Cave: One More Time With Feeling [8th September]
A unique one night only cinema event on Thursday 8th September directed by Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly). One More Time With Feeling will be the first ever opportunity anyone will have to hear Skeleton Tree, the 16th studio album from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. The film will screen in cinemas across the world on 8th September 2016, immediately prior to the release of Skeleton Tree the following day.
Times: One night only.
Tickets: Curzon Cinemas | Picturehouse: Clapham – Crouch End – Ritzy
Streatham Film Festival [17th-24th September]
Now in its second year, this festival is part of the non-profit Free Film Festivals group, a volunteer-powered movement of neighbourhood free film festivals that encourages community involvement through film.
Highlights: a frankly mind-boggling variety of films including Zootropolis, Saturday Night Fever, Victoria and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Tickets: Streatham Free Film Festival
Head Trips: Films for the Inner Eye [19 – 27 September 2016]
Take a trip to the very edge of psychedelic madness (or the Barbican Centre as it’s commonly known) with this season of dazzling and bizarre films, all of which are little-seen and most digitally restored.
Highlights: a new digital restoration of cult Japanese anime Belladonna of Sadness and Werner Herzog’s epic trance film Fata Morgana.
Tickets: Barbican Centre
RainDance Film Festival [21st September-2nd October]
The festival, now in its 24th year, will screen 90 full-length feature submissions and 85 short films and boasts a panel of judges including Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, Jodie Whittaker, and Jack Davenport.
Highlights: The VR Arcade will showcase the powerful docu-drama Notes On Blindness. There’ll also be the international premiere of Stephen Elliot’s After Aderall starring James Franco. Also Guillermo Arriaga – writer of Amores Perros, Babel and 21 Grams – will be conducting a Master Class for budding screenwriters and miseryguts.
Tickets: Raindance Film Festival
Repertory Screenings and Reissues:
Rocky Horror Picture Show SING-A-LONG [2nd September] Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Place (I see you shiver with antici…
Grease [3rd September], Rooftop Cinema Club, Stratford (Also Top Gun is there on 9th September too! No word on when Grease 2 will be shown anywhere ever again)
The Night of the Hunter [6th September] Nomad Cinema, Brompton Cemetery (Go and watch Robert Mitchum be menacing while you sit in a Kensington cemetery in the dark – luckily you can take your own booze)
The Man Who Fell To Earth [9th-22nd September], BFI Southbank, Southbank (To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Nicolas Roeg’s space-Bowie classic, the film will return to UK cinemas in a beautiful 4K restoration this September at BFI Southbank and cinemas nationwide)
Beauty & the Beast [11th September], Popup Screens, Holborn (Be our guest! Well actually you still have to pay)
Pulp Fiction [15th September] House of Vans, Waterloo (This one is free however)
The Lego Movie [17th September] House of Vans, Waterloo (If only I could think of an adjective to describe this???)
Nicolas Cage-Sploitation ALL NIGHTER [24th September], Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Place (Holy duckbills there’s 695 minutes of pure uncut Nicolas Cage. Films include Con Air, The Rock and Snake Eyes. Apparently they got the memo about The Trust)
Some Like It Hot [27th September], Rooftop Cinema Club: Bussey Building, Peckham, (Nobody’s perfect)
Eyes Wide Shut [30th September], BFI Southbank, Southbank. (Stanley Kubrick’s final film. He died just days after the film was completed. But then you already knew that didn’t you? You wonderful Kubrick nerd)
Film Quizzes:
FILMAGEDDON plus a screening of Rocky IV [7th September] Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Place. (Rocky IV and THEN a quiz, oh my god I’m in heaven)
Film Quiz [22nd September] Streatham Free Film Festival, Streatham
ArtHouse Crouch End Film Quiz [27th September] ArtHouse, Crouch End
New films due out in September:
Café Society [2nd September]
Woody Allen is back! And he’s directing a romantic comedy! In Café Society a young man played by Woody Allen Jesse Eisenberg moves to LA in the 1930s and falls in love with his uncle’s assistant.
The 9th Life Of Louis Drax [2nd September]
Alexandre Aja eases off on the gut-wrenching horror of his The Hills of Eyes remake and Switchblade Romance, and instead ramps up the child-based spookiness and the giving my mum another chance to look at Oliver Platt and go, “Oh it’s that guy!”
Sausage Party [2nd September]
Superbad, but somehow with even more dick jokes… and animated… It’s basically Toy Story with Seth Rogen’s sweary mates. So it’s going to be brilliant, obvs.
Anthropoid [9th September]
Anthropoid tells the story of a real assassination plot to kill the third highest ranked Nazi official. Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan star. We reviewed it last week. It’s fiiiiiine.
Don’t Breathe [9th September]
Don’t Breathe is pure high-concept horror madness from the director of the Evil Dead remake Fede Alvarez and its star Jane Levy. Basically three burglars rob a blind-man, but he turns out to be an unstoppable killing machine with Daredevil-like senses. Lots of tip-toeing and murder ensues.
Hell or High Water [9th September]
David Mackenzie’s superb Hell or High Water, starring Jeff Bridges and Chris Pine, arrives a couple of weeks before the Magnificent Seven remake, and by gosh it will have a lot to live up to compared to this dusty, grizzled triumph.
Ben-Hur [9th September]
The remake of the remake, which itself was a remake of a film based on a novel. It’s about a Jewish nobleman betrayed by his adoptive Roman brother who then seeks revenge, preferably served on a chariot with a horse. It’s got Jesus in it. It’s meant to be shit.
Blair Witch [15th September]
In a world where few things can remain a surprise, the revelation that one of Methods Unsound’s very favourite directors Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest) was making a sequel to The Blair Witch Project made us shit our pants with glee. And yes, terror. It’s time to revisit the Blair Witch.
Captain Fantastic [15th September]
Suvivalist Viggo Mortensen leads his six kids on a road-trip to his mother’s funeral in Matt Ross’s ‘more fun than it sounds’ Captain Fantastic.
Hunt For The Wilderpeople [16th September]
Finally Taika Waititi’s follow-up to What We Do in the Shadows gets a UK release. Hunt for the Wilderpeople looks genuinely wonderful and stars a brilliantly cast against-type Sam Neill, as well as Rhys Darby and the mum from Housebound.
The Magnificent Seven [23rd September]
The remake of a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s seminal Seven Samurai. This one is again set in the Old West and stars Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke and, uh, I’m not sure how many more…
Little Men [23rd September]
Ira Sachs (director of Love is Strange) brings us another poignant New York set tale in Little Men. A film that captures the highly sensitive, transitional period in two young boys’ lives as they fight over who has the best Transformer.
Still on General Release:
The Shallows
You haven’t seen The Shallows yet? Come on… it’s good! No really!
Julieta
Pedro Almodovar’s latest film Julieta is a beautiful and intricate tale of lifelong guilt told by two actors playing the same character across a quarter of a century. It’s a heartfelt return to form for the director.
Plus there’s the terrifying Light’s Out, the hilarious Bad Moms, the lovely Swallows and Amazons, the douchey War Dogs and the desperate David Brent: Life on the Road.
For more upcoming film events in the city, check out our guide to the 16 best films at BFI London Film Festival 2016.
