Events in London
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Talks and discussions
Monday 2 February
* Why immigration policy is hard, Alan Manning, 6.30pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC1
* Shoah with Sue Vice, to celebrate the new edition of the BFI Classic, Barry Langford, Libby Saxton and Vice consider director Claude Lanzmann’s work as an influence on films that witness genocide and the Holocaust, 6.30pm, £15, British Film Institute
Tuesday 3 February
* The Elements of Power, Nicolas Niarchos, Michela Wrong, Henry Sanderson discuss the geopolitics of the global supply of critical minerals, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2. Info; Frontline
* Complicit: British complicity in the genocide in Gaza, Peter Oborne and Martin Shaw, 6 - 8pm, SOAS, 10 Thornhaugh Street WC1H 0XG
* Barriers to climate action: transitional costs, distributional issues and politics, Adair Turner, 7pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2
Wednesday 4 February
* Disrupting the Narrative on Palestine, Ilan Pappe discusses the power of language in the struggle for Palestinian freedom, 6 - 8pm, SOAS, 10 Thornhaugh Street WC1H 0XG
* Book Launch: Ronald Roberts, The Lad Who Outwitted the Nazis. From Weimar Germany to Windrush Britain, Eve Rosenhaft and Michèle Franklin on the extraordinary life of a man who was a Black German and a British Empire national, 6:30 - 8pm, The Wiener Holocaust Library, 29 Russell Square WC1B 5DP. Info: Holocaust Library
Thursday 5 February
* What next for Iran?, Leila Molana-Allen, Azadeh Pourzand, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2. Info: Frontline
* What comes after woke?, Eric Kaufmann, 2 - 3pm, free, streamed. Info: Bright Blue
* The new economic diplomacy, Alexander Bobrosek, 6.30pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2
* The Observer’s Global AI Index, Patricia Clarke, Serena Cesareo, Hannah Schuller on the latest rankings, 6 - 7pm, Royal Society of Arts, 8 John Adam Street, WC2N 6EZ. Info: RSA
* Sink or swim: how the world needs to adapt to a changing climate, Susannah Fisher on her new book, 12:30 - 2pm. Info: Institute of Development Studies
Friday 6 February
* In Conversation with artist Oliver Ewonwu: Art Memory Vision, the British-Nigerian artist on his life in art and the legacy of his father, Africa’s pioneering modernist, 6.30 - 9.30pm, £15, Victoria & Albert Museum, Crowell Road, SW7 2RL. Info: V&A
Monday 9 February
* The Struggle for Hong Kong: A Decolonisation Lens, Ching-Kwan Lee offers a new interpretation of popular protests in Hong Kong since 1997, when Britain handed back sovereignty to China, 1.20pm, King’s College,
* A Picture of Migration, Alan Manning, 6.30pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2
* Women’s Health Matters: Science, Systems and Global Change, Michelle A. Williams, 6.30pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2
Exhibitions
* Emergency Exits: The Fight for Independence in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus, how post Second World War “Emergencies” , as they were termed by the UK, shaped Britain, its former territories and the modern world, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road SE1 6HZ until 29 March. Info: IWM
* Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans, a celebration of art and history, £14/ £16, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 25 May. Info: Hawai’i
* A Greenland shadow over a wonderful Hawai’i exhibition
* Botanical Tales and Seeds of Empire & Flora Indica: Recovering the lost histories of Indian botanical art, The Singh Twins examine the global mythologies of plants and the histories of Empire + Flora Indica – work by historical Indian botanical artists, admission with Kew entry fee, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens until 12 April
+ The Singh Twins light up the links between empire and botany
+ The Singh Twins spotlight Kew’s role in the business of Empire
* 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
* Nigerian Modernism, Nigerian artists working before and after the decade of national independence from British colonial rule in 1960, Tate Modern, Bankside SE1 9TG until 10 May. Info: Tate
* A Story of South Asian Art: Mrinalini Mukherjee and Her Circle, artists who have shaped the trajectory of Indian Modernism, £17, Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly W1J until 24 February. Info: RA
* I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies, examination of political dissent and erasure through the idea of collage, Sabrina Tirvengadum, Sunil Gupta, Qualeasha Wood, Jess Atieno, Sheida Soleimani, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA until 21 March. Info: Exhibition
* The Land Carries, work by three international artists: Ahmed Akasha (UK), Dina Nur Satti (US) and Yasmin Elnour (Bahrain) responding to material in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology, 1 - 5pm, Petrie Museum, University College London, Malet Place, WC1E 6BT until 16 May. Info: Sudan exhibition
* 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
* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
* Charlie Phillips - Somewhere, Somehow, work by the Jamaican immigrant who became one of Britain’s greatest photographers, Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street W6 9BN until 9 March. Info: Riverside
* Tixinda, A Snail’s Purple, exhibition about a sea snail whose ink can be milked to produce a purple pigment known as Tyrian or Royal purple, by British-Mexican artist Melanie Smith and Patricio Villarreal Ávila, Peltz Gallery, 43 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD, until 11 March. Info: Pellz
Performance
+ “We are an arts charity – can we take action on Palestine?”. That’s the question that Artists for Palestine UK sets out to answer in a new briefing. The advice begins by declaring, “Yes! While there are restrictions around charities’ ability to undertake work deemed ‘political activity’, this does not mean that you can’t undertake work in solidarity with Palestine.” Full statement here.
* Safe Haven, based on true events by a former British diplomat in Iraqi Kurdistan, two diplomats and a refugee struggle to convince the British government to intervene to save Kurdish lives after Saddam Hussain is forced to end his invasion of Kuwait, £15 - £29, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL until 7 February. Info: Arcola
+ How last minute diplomacy averted a genocide
* Palestine: Peace de Resistance, comedian Sami Abu Wardeh tests whether resistance can be funny, from £19.50, Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, N4 3JP until 7 February. Info: Park
* The Ophiolite, when Takis dies in Britain, a bitter feud erupts over where he should be buried. For his Cypriot family, ancient tradition must be respected; for his English wife, a promise he made in life is binding, Theatro Technis, 26 Crowndale Road, NW1 1TT until 29 February. Info: Theatro Technis
Film
* The Voice of Hind Rajab, dramatisation of events in January 2024 when Red Crescent volunteers receive an urgent call: a six-year-old girl trapped in a car under fire in Gaza begs for rescue, Curzon Bloomsbury until 5 February
* Gandhi Talks, a silent - yes, silent - tragi-comedy and satire about the power of money, Vue Finchley Road and Westfield Stratford City
* Ai WeiWei’s Turandot, the artist and dissident debuts as an opera director with a radical reinterpretation of Puccini's classic that challenges the global crises of our times, Curzon Bloomsbury until 5 February
* No Other Choice, one man’s desperation to secure a new job finds him exploring unique ways to eliminate his competitors, in South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s madcap thriller, cinemas all over London
* Films by Jafar Panahi, The Mirror (1997); until 4 February, This is Not a Film, Panahi's brilliant riposte, filmed under house arrest in Iran, to the government’s 20-year directing ban on him?; 8 Feb, the Golden Bear-winning Taxi Tehran (2015), in which Panahi poses as a Tehran taxi driver who, rather than demanding cash payment from customers asks only to hear something about their lives, Curzon Bloomsbury
Monday 2 February
* Constructed, Told, Spoken: A Counter-History of Britain on TV, discussion introducing a season at the National Film Theatre, 6.10pm, £6.50, National Film Theatre, SE1 8XT. Info: A counter-history
Tuesday 3 February
* My Father’s Shadow, two brothers connect with their father in this drama set against the backdrop of the 1993 Nigerian presidential election, Rich Mix, Picturehouses Central, Clapham Crouch End, Ealing, East Dulwich, Finsbury Park, Gate, Greenwich, Hackney, Ritzy, West Norwood
+ A father’s shadow - and the shadow of a Nigerian coup
+ Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù: ’If the west doesn’t say a film is good, that doesn’t mean it’s no good’
* Assimilationist TV, Sarita Malik introduces examples of early multicultural television, initiated by the state to aid integration, 6.20pm, National Film Theatre, Belvedere Road.
Wednesday 4 February
* London Boys, documentary about a group of second-generation Bangladeshi men in east Londoin who find in motorcycles a sense of identity and a way to overcome racism + Q&A with co-directors, 6.30pm, Castle
from Wednesday 4 February
* Masterpieces of the Iranian New Wave, sexuality, identity and oppression explored with honesty unmatched in any era of Iranian cinema, Barbican. Programme includes 4, 14 Feb, The Ballad of Tara; 5, 21 Feb, The Postman; 7, 17 Feb, The Journey + A Wedding Suit; 8 Feb, The Carriage Driver; 11 Feb, The Deer; 24 Feb, The Night It Rained + documentary shorts by Ebrahim Golestan; 25 Feb, Dancer of the City; 26 Feb, Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure. Info: Barbican
* Kinoteka, the Polish Film Festival, BFI, ICA, Garden Cinema, Cine Lumiere, Southbank Cinema, until 29 March. Info: Kinoteka. Programme includes a retrospective honouring Krzysztof Kieslowski’s impact on world cinema.
Friday 6 February
* Mandabi, Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène’s revered 1968 film follows an unemployed man whose fortunes change when his nephew sends him a significant money order from Paris. But greed and corruption soon unravel his simple family life, 2pm, National Film Theatre
from Friday 6 February
* My Father’s Shadow, two brothers connect with their father in this drama set against the backdrop of the 1993 Nigerian presidential election, ICA, until 12 February
+ A father’s shadow - and the shadow of a Nigerian coup
+ Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù: ’If the west doesn’t say a film is good, that doesn’t mean it’s no good’
Saturday 7 February
* Homebound, two childhood friends chase the same dream in Neeraj Ghaywan’s moving drama + journalist Nabanita Sircar in conversation with Uttaran Dasgupta, 2.40pm, National Film Theatre
Monday 9 February
* Philippines: Speak of the Devil, documentary about Catholic exorcisms, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
TV and radio
Monday 2 February
* Clive Myrie’s African Adventure, a return to the continent 20 years after his first TV series there, 6.30pm, BBC2
* Art of Persia, documentary series, 8pm, BBC4
* Chevalier, 18th century biopic about a Guadeloupe-French slave who rises through Parisian society, provoking a backlash from conservatives and racists, 10.55pm, Film4
* Start the Week, Ai WeiWei on censorship, 9am, Radio4
* Sanctuary: An Act of Defiance, the story of a Sri Lankan political activist who sought sanctuary in a Manchester church, 1.45pm, Radio4
Tuesday 3 February
* Clive Myrie’s African Adventure, a return to the continent 20 years after making his first TV series there, 6.30pm, BBC2
* Sanctuary: An Act of Defiance, the story of a Sri Lankan political activist who sought sanctuary in a Manchester church, 1.45pm, Radio4
* Crossing Continents, opportunities for women in Indian sport, 9pm, Radio4
Wednesday 4 February
* Clive Myrie’s African Adventure, a return to the continent 20 years after making his first TV series there, 6.30pm, BBC2
* Reform: Ready to Rule?, a look at the party’s past and future, 9pm, BBC2
* Black Ops, comedy series about two Black detectives trying to smash a planned disruption of the Notting Hill Carnival, 9.30pm, BBC1
* Sorry, I Didn’t Know, Black comedy quiz, 11.40pm ITV1
* Sanctuary: An Act of Defiance, the story of a Sri Lankan political activist who sought sanctuary in a Manchester church, 1.45pm, Radio4
Thursday 5 February
* Clive Myrie’s African Adventure, a return to the continent 20 years after making his first TV series there, 6.30pm, BBC2
* Name Me Lawand, fascinating documentary about a young Iraqi Kurd whose parents bring him to UK for a better life and then have to fight deportation, 2.50am, Channel4
+ A deaf migrant’s journey from isolation into language
* Sanctuary: An Act of Defiance, the story of a Sri Lankan political activist who sought sanctuary in a Manchester church, 1.45pm, Radio4
* World of Mouth, the Vincy language of St Vincent, 3.30pm, Radio4
Friday 6 February
* Sanctuary: An Act of Defiance, the story of a Sri Lankan political activist who sought sanctuary in a Manchester church, 1.45pm, Radio4
Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.