London (un)covered – The Insider 7 – 13 March

Get your popcorn ready, for this will be a film-rich week in London. Photo: D'Arcy Norman/Flickr

The Insider is The First Pint’s expert on all things cool and London. Picking out the best of the week’s events and activities; one-off or regular, unique or mainstream. So we have a day by day selection of the best events to keep you occupied all week long. Enjoy.

Lots of films again this week (no apologies though there is just too much of interest to ignore), The Insider will look to break out of the dark in coming weeks with lots of exciting music on the horizon. For now, enjoy some ominous synth sounds at Cargo and a night of improvised sounds as a break from James Dean, utopian visions and silent classics.

Monday, 7 March

A serious start to the week, a discussion on freedom and the Russian media at Queen Mary’s University, RSVP via the website to book a place.

Tuesday, 8 March

One of the best gigs of last year was Freddy Ruppert in the guise of his dark synth pop project Former Ghosts, so it is good to welcome him back for a headline show at Cargo on Rivington street, well worth £8 of your money.

Wednesday, 9 March

Get down to New Cross at Goldsmiths at 5.30pm for a free screening of a documentary on folk music and culture in Northern Iran, Pappeli(Butterflly), followed by a Q&A session with director Amin Gholizadehmojaveri. The screening is held in Screen 1 at the the Media Research building. That should all wrap up in time to get to West Ham and the Arch1 club for another free film, Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause.

Thursday, 10 March

Like The Insider, you may need a night off, but you can still make the most of the day. The Strang Print Room at UCL is only open during the week (1-5pm), and there is currently an exhibition of 20th century expressionist prints on loan from the Barber Collection in Birmingham that The Insider must investigate before heading off to the Wellcome Collection for a lecture on perceptions of women in healthcare through the ages at 3pm.

Friday, 11 March

I am a little sceptical about a film called Paths Through Utopias, a documentary road movie through ‘post-capitalist Europe’. They may have called the demise of capitalism a little early, but there should be some interest in the stories of ten projects aiming to exist outside that system. I expect the film to be frustrating and anger inducing, but I am going with a sliver of hope that it’ll be an inspiring experience. Free screening at the Birkbeck Cinema in Gordon Square at 6.30pm.

Saturday, 12 March

The Barbican directorspective season for this month focuses on Claude Chabrol; his adaptation on Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, starring the always wonderful Isabelle Huppert, takes places at 4pm. In the evening,  one can go off to a new church for live music; St Mark’s on Mydellton Square in Clerkenwell hosts an evening of improvised music organised by Small but Perfectly Formed(8pm,£6/5). Extra bonus that it is just round the corner from one of the best little small pubs in London, The Harlequin on Arlington Way.

Sunday, 13 March

Back to the Barbican cinema today, for the latest instalment of their City Symphonies series featuring films about Nice and Paris, by talents as diverse as  Jean Vigo, Alberto Cavalcanti and René Clair. They are silent films with live musical accompaniment and the programme starts at 4pm.