Events in London

Events in London

Talks and discussions

from Tuesday 29 April

* On The Eyes of Gaza, journalist Plestia Alaqad shares her memoir The Eyes of Gaza: A Diary of Resilience, 6.30pm, livestream, until 14 May. Info: FANE

* Food fight: from plunder and profit to people and planet, Stuart Gillespie, 4-5.30pm, online. Info: Institute of Development Studies

Wednesday 30 April

* Citizenship Ban and the Creation of ‘Systemic Statelessness’, discussion, 6-7.30pm, online. Info: Migrant Voice

Thursday 1 May

* Everybody poo(p)s: Water, sanitation, and hygiene in global health research, Robert Dreibelbis, 5.15-6.15pm, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, WC1E 7HT. Info: LSHTM
* Constructing Modern Slavery, book discussion with author Judy Fudge, Parosha Chandran, Alessandra Mezzadri, Olga Martin-Ortega and Marija Jovanovic, 5-7pm, King’s College, Somerset House. Info: King’s

Saturday 3 May

* Remembering ‘Comfort Women’: Politics of memory and international perspectives, Yonsen Ahn, Joxcelyn Xu, Park Jung-Ae, Kim Eun-Kyung, Hong Nammyong, Yoon Walker, Hyun Myung-Ho, Harriet Gray, 12-6pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1. Info: SOAS

Sunday 4 May

* An Evening With Philippe Sands, on his latest novel 38 Londres Street, which gathers the links between former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and a fugitive SS officer, 7.30pm, from £18, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX. Info: Sands talk

Tuesday 6 May

* Foreign Media Access to Gaza, Leila Molana-Allen, Arwa Damon, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2. Info: Frontline

* Ahmed Alnaouq: We Are Not Numbers, marks the launch of an essay collection charting the lives and dreams of young people in Gaza, including the deaths of 21 of Alnaouq’s family in a bomb blast, 7:45pm, from £13, Purcell Room, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX. Info: Alnaouq talk

* Paula Akpan: When We Ruled, the pioneering historian and writer presents the narratives of 12 African queens and warriors, with Tobi Kyeremateng, 7pm, £15 - £47, Kiln, 269 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR. Info: Kiln

Exhibitions

* 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

* Jose Maria Valasco: A View of Mexico, first UK show of work by the Mexican artist, from £12, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square WC2N 5DN until 17 August. Info: Gallery

* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1. Info: British Museum

* British Library, installation of 6,328 books marks the contributions of migrants to UK, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1. Info: Installation/ 7887 8888

* Between Two Worlds: Vanley Burke and Francis Williams, two Jamaican scholars’ portraits, shedding light on a 1745 painting, identity and colonial legacies, free, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7. Info: Exhibition

* Inspiration Africa: Stories Beyond the Artifacts, exploration of V&A galleries through the lens of African heritage, free, second Saturday of every month, V&A, Cromwell Road, SW7. Info: V&A

* 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 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

* Esther Mahlangu: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, brightly coloured geometric paintings rooted in South African Ndebele culture, free, Serpentine North, until 28 September. Info: Serpentine

* The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence, £22, V&A Museum, Cromwell Street, SW7 2RL, until 5 May. Info: V&A

* Women of the World Unite: the United Nations decade for women and transnational feminisms 1975 to now, Celebrate International Women’s Day weekend with a discussion of the representation of Black women in All About Love. London School of Economics Library, Houghton Street, WC2 until 22 August. Info: LSE

* Mickalene Thomas: All About Love, vibrant, large portraits of Black women at rest reclaim representation in art history, celebrating love and radical repose, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX, from £19, until 5 May. Info: Hayward

* Donald Rodney: Visceral Canker, survey exhibition of the late Jamaican-heritage British multi-media artist, Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX until 4 May. Info: Whitechapel

* Making Egypt, exploring ancient Egypt's creativity and how it continues to influence art, design and popular culture today, £10, Young V&A, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA. Info: V&A

* Deutsche Borse Foundation Photography Prize, shortlist includes work by Lindokhule Sobekwa on poverty and long effects of apartheid in South Africa, and Tarah Krajnak, Peru, £10/£7, Photographers Gallery, Ramillies Street, W1, until 15 June. Info: Gallery

* Planetary Portals: I am in your dreams, but you are not in mine, weaves together the environmental landscapes of 19th-century mining of gold and diamonds in South Africa with the scripting process of AI, £10/£7, Photographers Gallery, Ramillies Street, W1, until 15 June. Info: Gallery

* Arpita Singh: Remembering, her first solo exhibition outside India, she draws from Bengali folk art and Indian stories, interwoven with experiences of social upheaval and global conflict, free, Serpentine North, until 27 July

* Sony Photography Awards Exhibition 2025, photos from around the world, Somerset House, The Strand WC2R 1LA until 6 May. Info: Sony Awards

* Eileen Perrier: A Thousand Small Stories and Dianne Minnicucci: Belonging and Beyond, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA, until 13 September. Info: Rivington Place

Film

* I’m Still Here, as Brazil faces a military dictatorship,  a mother reinvents herself after her family suffers a violent act by the government, Picturehouses  Finsbury Park (30 April) and Ritzy (30 April)

* Hong Kong New Wave: 1979-1989, includes  29 April,  My Heart is that Eternal Rose Garden cinema

* Warfare, following a platoon of US Navy SEALs as they occupy the home of an Iraqi family in this boots-on-the-ground narrative that thrusts viewers into the immediacy of combat, drawn from the memories of the men who lived it, Cineworlds Greenwich, Leicester Square, Wandsworth, West India Quay, Wood Green; Picturehouses Central, Clapham, Crouch End, Ealing, East Dulwich, Finsbury Park, Greenwich, Hackney, Ritzy, West Norwood; Odeons Camden, Greenwich, South Woodford, Streatham, Tottenham Court Road, Wimbledon; Vues Eltham, Finchley Road, Fulham Broadway, Islington, North Finchley, Shepherds Bush, West End, Westfield London, Westfield Stratford City, Wood Green

* La Haine, 1995 French social thriller about youth unrest in Paris suburbs, Ritzy Picturehouse

* Queer East Festival, over 100 titles, including features, shorts, documentaries and moving image work, exploring the evolving queer landscape across East and Southeast Asia and its diaspora communities, until 18 May. Info: Festival

* The Accidental Spy, days after 9/11, Blerim Skoro was recruited from prison by the CIA and FBI to roam the Middle East as a US spy inside al-Qaeda. The story of how one man risked everything to protect his family, and was betrayed by the country he strived to defend, Curzon Bloomsbury, until 1 May + 7 May

* LC Barreto: 60 Years of Brazilian Film Production, Garden cinema, until 4 May. Info: Garden

Tuesday 29 April

* Relentless Memory, a woman retraces the Mapuches’ deportation route, giving voice to a displaced people and the genocide inflicted on them during the military invasions that founded Argentina and Chile, 6.20pm, Curzon Bloomsbury

Tuesday 29-Wednesday 30 April

* Sister Midnight, genre-bending Indian comedy about a frustrated and misanthropic newly-wed who discovers feral impulses, Ritzy Picturehouse,

Wednesday 30 April

* Myanmar's Forgotten Struggle, documentary offering a rare personal perspective on the country’s broader humanitarian and political issues + Q&A with exiled activist Sai, Ali Fowle and Charlie Scrimgeour, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place. W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline

* All the Mountains Give, documentary about two Kurdish friends surviving by smuggling goods across the mountains, Finsbury Park Picturehouse

from Thursday 1 May

* UK Asian Film Festival, “the authentic voice of South Asian communities … reflects a genuine sense of place”, until 11 May. Info: https://www.tonguesonfire.com/

from Friday 2 May

* Marching in the Dark, a young widow grapples with devastating loss after her husband’s suicide – one of thousands each year in India’s agriculture sectors, Curzon Bloomsbury, until 7 May

Sunday 4 May

* Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, long, intricate, fascinating documentary about the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumba and the context of Cold War shenanigans in which it occurred + discussion with Charmaine Simpson, 1.45pm, Lexi

+ Congo, war, colonialism, conflict and all that jazz

from Tuesday 6 May

* Open City Documentary Festival, 101 films from 21 countries.  Programme includes Joycelyne Saab’s Egypts, 1976 – 1989 and Sanrizuka – Notes on a Struggle, and new works by Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Mourad Ben Amor, Eitan Efrat & Sirah Foighel Brutmann, Christelle Oyiri, Morgan Quaintance, Ewelina Rosinska, Chiemi Shimada, Eiko Soga, Armand Yervant Tufenkian, Kouté vwa, Rhea Storr and Fanfan Zhou. Barbican, Curzon Bloomsbury, Close-Up Film Centre, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Tate Modern and Rich Mix until 11 May. Info: Festival

Performance

* Speed, in Mohamed-Zain Dada’s drama, a nurse, a delivery driver, and an entrepreneur walk into a speed awareness course. Is it a coincidence that they’re all British Asians?, £10-£35, Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ until 17 May. Info: Bush

+ Comedy drama of warp-speed Desi drivers

* Shanghai Dolls, an unusual friendship in China between China’s first female director and the architect of the Cultural Revolution, Kiln, 269 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR until 10 May. Info: Park

* Kyoto, the world’s nations are in deadlock and 11 hours have passed since the UN’s landmark climate conference should have ended. Agreement feels a world away. The greatest obstacle: a US oil lobbyist and strategist, from £25, Soho Place, 4 Soho Place, Charing Cross Road, W1D 3BG, until 3 May. Info: Soho Place

+ Kyoto turns climate change into an entertaining thriller

* Scenes From A Repatriation, Joel Tan’s shape-shifting play unfolds a 1,000-year-old statue from China to Britain and back again, stirring up centuries of ghosts and raising the question of who can claim cultural artefacts – and why, £15-£30, Royal Court, Sloane Square, until 24 May. Info: Royal Court

* The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, scandalous, engrossing tale of sexual politics and family strife in modern-day Nigeria adapted from Lola Shoneyin’s novel, £12-£39, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8 3DKL until 31 May. Info: Arcola

* Lessons on Revolution, play about a 1968 student demo against apartheid-era Rhodesia and its unexpected impact in London 56 years later, Jermyn Street Theatre, 186 Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6ST, until 3 May. Info: Jermyn Street Theatre

from Tuesday 6 May
* Saria Callas, multimedia play about aspiring to be a singer while growing up in a place where women are forbidden from singing, £12 - £18, Camden People's Theatre,  58-60 Hampstead Road, NW1 2PY, until 17 May. Info: Peoples Theatre

Tuesday 6-Wednesday 7 May
* Talking About the Fire, a show and conversation about a new treaty that’s trying to give the power to eliminate nuclear weapons to the states, and people, who don’t possess them, 7.30pm, £12-£14, The Albany, Douglas Way, SE8 4AG. Info: The Albany

Tuesday 13-Wednesday 14 May
* Jaha Koo: Haribo Kimchi, meeting in a South Korean snack bar, three characters lead a culinary and cultural journey in a performance that plays with all the senses, 8pm, from £22, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX. Info: Haribo Kimchi

TV and radio

Saturday 26 April
* Sorry, I Didn’t Know, Black comedy quiz, 10.50pm, ITV1 

Sunday 27 April
* Louis Theroux: The Settlers, settlers in occupied Palestine, 9pm, BBC2

Monday 28 April
* Indispensable Relations, three-parter on Israel-US relations, 11am, Radio 4 
* Conflict and Co-operation: A history of trade, 11.45am, midnight30, Radio4

Tuesday 29 April
* Conflict and Co-operation: A history of trade, 11.45am, midnight30, Radio4

Wednesday 30 April
* Louis Theroux: The Settlers, settlers in occupied Palestine, 11.30pm, BBC2
* Liberation and Fall, play about a Chinese-Cambodian soldier, 2.15pm, Radio 4
* Conflict and Co-operation: A history of trade, 11.45am, midnight30, Radio4 
+ From today: Turning Point: The Vietnam War, Netflix

Thursday 1 May
* Conflict and Co-operation: A history of trade, 11.45am, midnight30, Radio4

Friday 2 May
* 10 Years of Darkness: Isis & The Yazidis, life in Al-Hawl refugee camp, full of ISIS supporters and sympathisers,  8pm, Sky Documentaries
* Martin Clunes’ Islands of the Atlantic, travelogue about Sao Tome and Principe and the Bijagos Islands, 9pm, ITV1
* Conflict and Co-operation: A history of trade, 11.45am, midnight30, Radio4

Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.