Events in London
» Whats On Events in London
Talks and discussions
Monday 13 January
* World Briefing 2025, discussion with Paul Moss, Isabel Hilton, Emma Burrows, Liz Sly, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
Wednesday 15 January
* The human cost of the climate crisis, Steve Trent, Chi Onwurah MP, May Bulman, Gaia Vince, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Eventbrite
Thursday 16 January
* Palestine: Repair and Return - Stories of Food and Seeds of Resistance, Lina Isma, George McAllister, Jamal Al Rozzi, Hossam Madhoun, Jonathan Chadwick, Ruth Lass, 6.30-8.30pm, P21, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD. Info: https://p21.gallery/node/384
Saturday 18 January
* National Demonstration for Palestine, assemble 12 noon at the BBC, Portland Place, then March, until 4.30pm. Info: Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Monday 20 January
* Amplifying women's voices in family planning in francophone West Africa, Nour Horanieh, Thais Gonzalez-Capella, Eloisa Montt-Maray, Marieme Fall, Manuela Reveiz, 3-4.15pm, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, WC1. Info: LSHTM
Exhibitions
* Silk Roads, outstanding fresh look at east-west trade, cultural and intellectual routes in the period AD55-AD1000, £22-£25, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1 until 23 February. Info: Exhibition
+ ‘Made in Syria, buried in Essex’: Silk Roads busts its blocks
* A Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang, step into a once bustling town on the Silk Road to meet the people who lived, travelled through, worked and worshipped there, British Library, 96 Euston Road, NW! until 23 February. Info: British Library
+ A voice from the Silk Roads: ‘I would rather be a pig’s wife than yours’
* Zanele Muholi, more than 280 photographs by the South African “visual activist” of her country’s Black lesbian, gay, trans, queer and intersex communities, including self-portraits, £18, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG, until 26 January. Info: Tate
+ Black LGBTQIA+ lives matter, shout Zanele Muholi’s photos
* Hew Locke: What Have We Here?, Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke turns his lens on the British Museum collection in a collaborative exhibition exploring histories of British imperial power, adults from £12, under-16s free, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1, until 9 February. Info: British Museum
+ ‘It’s as if Amazon had their own army today’
As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic, photographs from Africa and the diaspora in Canada, UK, US and The Caribbean, from £6 (access to three exhibitions), Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York's HQ, King's Road, SW3 4RY, until 20 January. Info: Black Atlantic
+ Every image contains some kind of magic
* Grace, Alvaro Barrington’s “reimagining of Black culture and aspirational attitude under foreign conditions … explores how my grandmother, my mother, and my sister in the British Caribbean community showed up gracefully,” free, Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG until 26 January. Info: Grace
* The Kola Nut Cannot Be Contained, display about the bitter-tasting fruit that has been important in West African culture and trade since at least the 11th century features stories about its entangled global histories, vibrant traditions, and new innovations, Wellcome Foundation, 183 Euston Road, NW1 until 2 February. Info: Wellcome Collection
* Abi Morocco Photos: Spirit of Lagos, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA, until 22 March. Info: Autograph
* Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times In An Instant), Mexican artist Teresa Margolles’ cuboid on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is a memorial to trans people worldwide.
* Inspiration Africa: Stories Beyond the Artifacts, exploration of V&A galleries through the lens of African heritage. Free, every second Saturday of the month, V&A museum, Cromwell Avenue, SW7. V&A tour
* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire. British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG.
* British Library, installation of 6,328 books celebrates the ongoing contributions made by immigrants to Britain. Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG.
* African Deeds, showcases a collection that includes diaries, cassette interviews, videos, photos and documents of three generations of family history, inspired by grandfather Thomas’ land title deeds brought from the Gold Coast in West Africa in 1901, Black Cultural Archives, 1 Windrush Square, SW2 1EF. Info: BCA
* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
* All Our Stories: Migration and the Making of Britain, the centrality of migration to British life, free, Thursdays-Saturdays, Migration Museum, Lewisham Shopping Centre, SE13 7HB, until December 2025. Info: Museum
* Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights, stories of under-represented workers and their rights within precarious and unsafe labour environments, free, Wellcome Centre, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE until 27 April. Info: Wellcome
+ Working yourself into the ground
* Turner Prize 2024, Pio Abad’s exploration of cultural loss and colonial histories, often reflecting on his upbringing in the Philippines; Claudette Johnson’s figurative portraits of Black women and men; Jasleen Kaur, a Glasgow Sikh, brings her sculptures of everyday objects to life using unique sound compositions; Delaine Le Bas draws on the cultural history of the Roma people, focusing on themes of death, loss, and renewal; £14/ concessions available, Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG until 16 February. Info: Tate Britain
* Mire Lee, born in South Korea and living and working between Amsterdam and Seoul, her visceral sculptures use kinetic, mechanised elements to invoke the tension between soft forms and rigid systems, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG until 18 March. Info: Tate Modern
* Esther Mahlangu: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, brightly coloured geometric paintings rooted in South African Ndebele culture, free, Serpentine North, until 28 September 2025. Info: Serpentine
* Beware Blue Skies, immersive film installation about battle drones, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, until 16 March. Info: IWM
* The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence, £22, V&A Museum, Cromwell Street, SW7 2RL, until 5 May. Info: V&A
* The 80s: Photographing Britain, includes work showing the Black arts movement and South Asian diaspora, Tate Britain, Millbank
SW1P 4RG until 5 May. Info: Tate
* I See the Same Sky, South African artist Justin Dingwall’s first UK solo exhibition, Doyal Whan, Third Floor, 91a Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY until 25 January. Info: Exhibition
* Collateral Damage, artworks by journalist artist Abdelfatah Bouakaz on his inner pain, helplessness and oppression; it’s also a visual presentation on the war on Gaza, P21, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD, until 17 January. Info; https://p21.gallery/node/391
Film
* Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, jazz and decolonisation are entwined in this historical rollercoaster of a documentary about the West’s murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, Curzon Bloomsbury 13, 16 January;
+ Congo, colonialism, Cold War conflict and all that jazz
* The Bibi Files, using previously unseen interrogation footage of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his family, his associates and benefactors, the film uncovers high-level familial corruption and the disastrous lengths a political leader will go to escape accountability, Curzon Bloomsbury until 15 January
* How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, a family competes for a multimillion-dollar inheritance: Thailand's Oscar submission set attendance records across Southeast Asia and claimed the audience award at New York’s Asian Film Festival; Garden Cinema until 13 January
* All We Imagine as Light, drama about three women navigating life in Mumbai, Curzons Hoxton, Soho; Ritzy Picturehouse; Lexi until 15 January
* Separated, one of the darkest chapters in recent US history: the policy of separating children from their parents at the US border, brought in by the Trump administration in 2017/8, Curzon Bloomsbury, until 16 January
* Echoes and Horizons: Contemporary Bolivian Cinema, 25 Jan, Echoes and Horizons: Puerto Escondido; 8, 9 Feb, Bomba animated shorts; 21 Feb, Chaco; Garden Cinema, until 21 February
Tuesday 14 January
* Her Story, single mother Wang Tiemei relocates with her young daughter and forms a bond with Xiao Ye, a hopeless romantic with a contrasting worldview. The two women discover comfort and strength in their friendship, helping each other heal from past wounds and navigate present challenges, 2.40pm, Garden Cinema
Thursday 16 January
* Mandabi + Africa on Seine, Ousmane Sembène’s 1968 film (the first feature-length film in an African language) and Paulin Soumanou Vieyra and Mamadou Sarr’s 1955 film (a generation of artists and students in search of their civilisation, culture and future) “trace journeys across physical and cultural borders, weaving narratives of Afro-diasporic mobility, migration, and connection”, 6pm, £5-£14, Cine Lumiere, 17 Queensberry Place, SW7 2DT. Info: Cine Lumiere
Friday 17 January
* The Wilby Conspiracy, Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine teamed up for this political thriller set in Apartheid South Africa, about a released freedom fighter who goes on the run with a hapless, avowedly neutral Englishman, 6.10pm, National Film Theatre
from Friday 17 January
* My Stolen Planet, using her own home movies, filmmaker Farahnaz Sharifi reveals the dual existences lived by women in Iran, Curzon Bloomsbury until 23 January
Saturday 18 January
* Everywhere We Are Islands, four short films explore the relationship of young people across the Caribbean diaspora with their identities and one another, 5.30pm, £12.50, Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1
Sunday 19 January
* La Haine, 1995 drama focussed on three friends caught up in social tensions and fraught race relations in the neglected suburbs of Paris + re-scored soundtrack performed live by three members of Asian Dub Foundation, 6pm, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre. Belvedere Road
from Sunday 19 January
* London Short Film Festival, Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA until 26 January. Info: The Programme
from Monday 20 January
* Only The River Flows, a detective in a rural Chinese town finds himself in a dark world where mystery hangs over every lead, Whirled Cinema, 259-260 Hardess Street, SE24 OHN. Info: Whirled Cinema
Performance
* Expendable, playwright Emteaz Hussain spotlights the often-overlooked voices of Pakistani women, delving into the shortcomings of law enforcement, politicians, and the media when hundreds of young girls were sexually exploited in northern towns by gangs of predatory men, £15 - £26, Royal Court, Sloane Square until 21 December. Info: Royal Court
* Nine Nights, when Yasser decides to take part in itikaf, sleeping and fasting in the mosque for the last 10 nights of Ramadan, he soon regrets his decision. But as he navigates smug worshippers, shared bathrooms, and recurring thoughts of chunky chips, Yasser’s isolation forces him to confront a side of himself he’s been trying to keep hidden, Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street, W6 9BN until 26 January. Info: Riverside
* Kyoto, the nations of the world are in deadlock and 11 hours have passed since the UN’s landmark climate conference should have ended. Time is running out and agreement feels a world away. The greatest obstacle: US oil lobbyist and master strategist, Don Pearlman…, from £25, Soho Place, 4 Soho Place, Charing Cross Road, W1D 3BG, until 3 May. Info: Soho Place
* The Lonely Londoners, 1950s London. Newly arrived from Trinidad, Henry ‘Sir Galahad’ Oliver is impatient to start his new life in London. Carrying just pyjamas and a toothbrush, he bursts through Moses Aloetta’s door only to find Moses and his friends already soured on city life. Will the London fog dampen Galahad’s dreams? Or will these Lonely Londoners make a home in a city that sees them as a threat?, Jermyn Street Theatre, 16B Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6ST until 22 January.
+ ‘What is it that we want that white people find it so hard to give?’
* A Good House, Amy Jephta’s satirical view of neighbourliness and the pressures that come with wanting to fit in, acting as a microcosm of community politics in South Africa, Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS until 8 February. Info: Royal Court
Friday 17 January
* The Horse of Jenin, an ode to the power of imagination and the value of playing freely, written and performed by Palestinian actor and comedian Alaa Shehada, 7.30pm, £10-£17, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, E15 1BN. Info: Theatre Royal
TV and radio
Saturday 11 January
* Slumdog Millionaire, yet another screening of the Oscar-winning drama about the winner of India's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, 1.15am, Film4
Monday 13 January
* Canadian Immigration: Boom Then Bust, 4pm, Radio 4
Tuesday 14 January
* Bombay Railway, 11pm, 2am, BBC 4
Wednesday 15 January
* Simon Schama’s Story Of Us, the Commonwealth and immigration feature strongly in the second of the historian’s new series about changes in Britain seen through the arts, 9pm, BBC2
* Ahir Shah’s Seven Blunders of the World, exploration of Mahatma Gandhi’s 1925 identification of Seven Social Sins, 11pm, Radio 4
Thursday 16 January
* Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, drama about the 1988 airline bombing over Scotland, 9pm, Sky Atlantic
Friday 17 January
* Sorry, I Didn’t Know, Black comedy quiz,11.40pm, ITV 1
Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.