Events in London
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Talks and discussions
Monday 22 June
* Remaking global trade governance: trade, climate and global cooperation in a fragmenting world, Ese Owie, Jan Yves Remy, Carolyn Deere Birkbeck, Faizel Ismail, Jodie Keane, Kasonde Chituta, Janet Njambi, 2-5pm, in-person and online, Overseas Development Institute, 4 Millbank SW1P 3JA. Info: ODI
Tuesday 23 June
* The British Society of Criminology’s Green Criminology Research Network annual conference, Elliot Doornbos, Melanie Flynn, Angus Nurse, Jac Reed, Damien Short, Nigel South, 10am - 4pm, Senate House, Malet Street, WC1E 7HU. Info: Conference
* Ghost Season by Fatin Abbas, the author discusses his debut novel about five characters caught in the crosshairs of conflict on the Sudan border, 6.30pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1
* Reforming multilateral development banks in Africa: What perspectives from client countries?, Annalisa Prizzon, Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, Joseph Matola, Daniel Bradlow, 1-2pm, online. Info: Overseas Development Institute
Wednesday 24 June
* Trump, Iran and The Future of America, Ben Rhodes, 7-8:30pm, from £21.99, Union Chapel, 19b Compton Terrace, N1 2UN. Info: Union Chapel
* Palestine, health work & solidarity, webinar with Ghassan Abu-Sittah, 6-7pm. Info; Palestine Solidarity Campaign
* The Forgotten Generations: Windrush Veterans panel, Prince Albert Jacob, Donald Campbell, Kenneth Straun, Karen Kellar, Wanda Wyporska, 6 - 8pm, Black Cultural Archives, 1 Windrush Square, SW2 1EF. Info: BCA
* Generation Hope: London Climate Action Night, evening of creativity and nature positivity across multiple events! From battling urban heat to reducing waste, free, 6.30-9.30pm, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road SW7 5BD. Info: Museum
* Indie Night, readings and conversation of work by Amelia Abraham, Speech Debelle, M John Harrison and Jackie Thomae, 7.45pm, £15 + £4 booking, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX. Info: Southbank Centre
Thursday 25 June
* SIDS Day at ODI Global | London Climate Action Week. 10am-noon, Water Security in Small Island Developing States, 2-4pm, Financing and governing the food system-climate-health nexus in Small Island Developing States; both events in-person and online; 5.30-8pm, three short documentaries on Dominica, Barbados and Vanuatu's fight against climate change + discussion with Sarah Howard and Tim Hemmings; the three free events can be booked individually or together. Info: Overseas Development Institute,
* Towards new strategic partnerships for industry, decarbonisation and economic resilience: opportunities for India, UK and the EU, 10-11.30pm. Info: Overseas Development Institute
Thursday 25 June
* Building Resilience: Demonstrators for a Changing Climate, a day of discussion marking London Climate Action Week 2026, 10.30am-4.30pm, £20/£15, Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street W8 6AG. Info: Design Museum
Friday 26 June
* We The Women, “India’s Premier Women’s Festival”, curated by journalist and author Barkha Dutt, has, become a platform for stories of courage, leadership, resilience, and transformation across industries and borders.Speakers include Sharmila Tagore, Saif Ali Khan,Gita Gopinath, Shefali Shah, Sathnam Sangera and Asma Khan, 5pm, £102, Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street, W6 9BN. Info: Riverside:
* Just transitions for agrifood systems: decent livelihoods, women empowerment and climate resilience, Jim Skea, Aditya Bahadur, Eddy Frank Vasquez, Elizabeth Nsimadala, Hans-Peter Lankes,Harjeet Singh, Kaveh Zahedi, Maryam Rezaei, Jazmin Burgess, Matthew L Bishop, Rachel Waterhouse, Ruchi Tripath, Simon Addison, 1-am-12.30pm, Overseas Development Institute, 4 Millbank SW1P 3JA. Info: ODI
Saturday 27 June
* Counterpoints Lecture with Elif Shafak, the writer and activist explores whether creativity can help heal our divided world, 2pm, £14 + £4 booking fee, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road. Info; Shafak lecture
Sunday 28 June
* Stage, Screen & Social Change, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Harewood, Indira Varma, Juliet Stevenson & Toby Jones in support of Compass Collective, a charity supporting and empowering young refugees and asylum seekers through the arts, 6pm, Cinema 1, Barbican Arts Centre
* AltB: Returning to Each Other - Palestine and Lebanon, testimonies, comedy, music, literature, discussion, 4pm, from £10, Besh Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ. Info: Bush
Monday 29 June
* The Murderous Business of Oil and Gas, panel discussion, Manveen Rana, Alex Perry on their investigation into how energy holds the world to ransom, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2. Info: Info: Frontline
* Embracing the ecosystem: a discussion of the findings of the Advisory Panel on the Future of Humanitarian Action, 1-3pm, online. Info: Overseas Development Institute
Exhibitions
* Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of PanAfrica, 300 works including posters, journals, paintings, sculpture and film from Africa, Brazil and the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe, from the 1920s to the present. Artists include Kader Attia, Mariene Dumas, Inji Efflatoun; Sonia Gomes; David Hammons; Nicholas Hlobo; Claudette Johnson, Wilfredo Lam, Simone Leigh, Ernest Mancoba, Kawira Mwirichia, Abdias Nascimento, Grace Ndiritu; Magdalene Odundo, Chris Ofili; Colette Omogbai, The Otolith Group, Inhgrid Pollard, Samir Rafi, Cauleen Smith, Tavares Strachan, £19, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS until 6 September. Info: Project A Black Planet
+ About 50 related events have been scheduled, including talks, films, workshops and music. Details here
+ Project Black Planet fights its way through a thicket of jargon
* Moved to Care: Stories of Health and Migration, explores the contributions of migrants from across the globe to healthcare over the last 150 years, from the 19th century colonial legacy of missionary nurses to the Windrush Generation, free, 20 Cavendish Square, W1G OR until 2 November. Info: Royal College of Nursing
+ Migrant nurses: Looking after Britain’s healt
* Rising Voices, Contemporary Arts From Asia, Australia and the Pacific, work by more than 40 artists from 25 countries, £17, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road SW7 until 10 January. Info: .Vam.ac.uk
+ Striking voices in the Asia-Pacific region
* Mil Veces un Instant (A thousand times in an instant), Mexican artist Teresa Margolies’ cuboid on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is a memorial to trans people worldwide.
* Hurvin Anderson, 80 works by British-Jamaican artist, Tate Britain, Millbank SW1P 4RG. until 23 August. Info:Tate
* Collecting an 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/
* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
* The Land Carries, exploration of Sudanese history, culture and nationhood through contemporary art, free, 1-5pm, University College London Petrie Museum, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT until 19 September. Info: Petrie
* The Arab Hall: Past and Present, the Hall in the 100-year-old Leighton House is a blend of 13th-century Damascus tiles and Victorian architecture. A new exhibition features contemporary art and a dedicated film, offering a deeper look at how Islamic art has influenced British spaces, £14, Leighton House, 12 Holland Park Road, W14 8LZ until 4 October. Info: Leighton House
* Donald Locke:Resistant Forms, works by Guyanese-British ceramicist, sculptor and painter, free, Camden Art Centre, Arkwright Road NW3 until 30 August. Info: Art Centre
* Nhu Xuan Hua: Of Walking on Fire, reimagines archival photographs from her family’s time in Vietnam and Europe, building visual reconstructions that echo how memory in the diaspora can slip from view, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA until 19 September. Info: Autograph
* The Music is Black: A British Story, how Black British music has shaped British culture from 1900 to today through objects like Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar, fashion worn by Little Simz and photographs, £22.50 weekdays, £24.40, V&A East, Queen Elizabeth Park, E20 2AR. Info: V&A East Museum
* When words fall silent, cinema speaks, Zineb Sedira’s installation on Algeria’s key role in African cinema in the 1960s and ‘70s, Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG until 17 January. Info: Tate Commission
* When Third Cinema was a power in the land
* gadzi, installation by nora chipaumire that draws on the legends, stones, and soil of her native Zimbabwe, free, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG until 23 August. Info: Tate
* Anish Kapoor, sculptures and paintings by the Mumbai-born Indian-British artist, £22, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX until 18 October. Info: Hayward.
* Kulpreet Singh: Indelible Black Marks, poetic meditation on the urgent link between climate change and agricultural crises, free, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX until 2 August. Info: Hayward
from Thursday 25 June
* Frida: The Making of an Icon, how Frida Kahlo became one of the most influential artists of all time, from her political activism to global Fridamania, £25, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG until 3 January. Info: Tate
from Friday 26 June
* Earth Photo exhibition, 50 winners of international competition on issues affecting the climate and life on our planet, free, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. until 24 July. Info: RGS
Performance
* The P Word, charts the parallel in the lives of two gay Pakistani men under the UK government’s increasingly hostile position against migrants; Bush Theatre, until 27 June. Info: Bush. + post-show discussions: 25 June, Queerness, Justice, and Political Courage, Zarah Sultana MP, Richard Attendet
+ When the P word meets the G word
* Soldiers of Tomorrow, former Israeli Defence Force soldier Itai Erdal, accompanied by Syrian-born musician Emad Armoush, shares the story of his military service in a personal insight into the Arab-Israeli conflict, the occupation of Palestine, and the conditions that led to 7 October, the horror of Gaza, and war with Iran and Lebanon + post-show discussion after each performance. Erdal says, “Since its original run in 2023, it has been nearly impossible to find a theatre brave enough to present Soldiers of Tomorrow”, £18 - £29, Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, SW10 9ED until 4 July. Info: Finborough
+ From Israel to Canada: A soldier looks back with regret
* A Fine Idea, aid worker Jo has built a career helping those most in need but now wonders if the system she believes in might be part of the problem and whether we really want to change things - or whether we just like the idea of helping, £15-£29, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street E8 3DL until 4 July. Info: Arcola + post-show events: 23 June: Meet the team, the cast, director and writer Christine Bacon discuss the the ideas behind the play and bringing it to the stage + 29 June: Let’s talk about debt, Naomi Nyamweya of Malala Fund and Eva Watkinson of Debt Justice UK + 4 July, Q&A with Jason Hickel
+ When the aid worker clashed wit the Kenyan activist
+ A Fine Idea joins the dots on the future of aid
* The boy who harnessed the Wind, musical based on a book, and a Netflix film tells the true story of 13-year-old William Kamkwamba, who dreams of saving his Malawian village — but no-one believes he can, from £25 @SohoPlace, W10 3BG until 18 July. Info: @SohoPlace
* The Harder They Fall, based on the cult film that brought reggae to the world, tells the story of a singer who arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, determined to live out his dreams on his own terms and become a superstar, £10-£53, Stratford East, until 4 July. Info: Stratford East
+ “What’s this groove becoming? How The Harder They Come captured Jamaica and blazed on to stage
* Under the Shadow, eerie adaptation of an award-winning horror film. Set during the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, it explores the boundary between the rational and the irrational, and the question of whether to leave or stay, £27.50 - £55, Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street N1 1TA until 4 July. Info: Almeida
* Driftwood, drama of power passion and drama set in a downtown gentleman’s club in colonial Trinidad where support for independence is growing, £15-£40, Kiln Theatre, 269 Kilburn High Road NW6 7JR until 4 July. Info: Kiln
from Tuesday 23 June
* Safe Haven, set in 1991 between the Kurdish mountains and the Foreign Office in Whitehall,the playfollows two diplomats and a Kurdish refugee pushing the British government to act and prevent a genocide. The playwright is a former British diplomat in Iraqi-Kurdistan and the play is based on real events, £15-£39, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street E8 3DL until 27 June. Info: Arcola
+ How last-minute diplomacy halted a genocide
Saturday 27 June
* It sounds like courage, music, comedy and spoken word shaped by migration, with Nish Kumar, Inua Ellams, Nikita Gill, Salana Godden, Nai Barghouti, Seckou Keita, MoYahm Nadine Shah, Nectar Woode and the London Contemporary Orchestra, 7.30pm, £22 + £4 booking fee, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre SE1. Info: Southbank Centre
from Monday 29 June
* Talawa First 2026: New Writing Festival, 29 June, Mothership, The Black Nile; 3 July, Chew and Spit, In Vitro; Talawa, Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon CR9 1DG Info: Talawa
Film
* Cactus Pears (Sahar Bonda), Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s debut feature is a sensitive romantic drama exploring grief, tradition, longing and the realities of lower-class queer life in India, National Film Theatre until 25 June; Picturehouses Finsbury Park and Hackney, Cine Lumiere
* KIlling Anna, a Syrian woman goes undercover online to track down a war criminal, creating a fake profile and befriending the man she believes responsible for a massacre during the Syrian civil war, Curzon Bloomsbury until 25 June
* Loving Karma, In the remote foothills of the Himalayas, former monk Lobsang Phuntsok has built a community for children who have endured abandonment and neglect, Curzon Bloomsbury until 25 June
* Raindance Film Festival, programme includes Lost Land, follows a 4-year-old and his 9-year-old sister, who leave a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on a perilous journey to reach Malaysia; No Lastname, during the Covid-19 pandemic, an undocumented family living on society’s margins struggles with poverty, grief and emotional collapse. As death and desperation close in, relationships begin to fracture; Paro: The Untold Story of Bride Slavery, Marathi actress Trupti Bhoir plays a woman whose journey exposes the horrors of being sold as a bride, enduring abuse, and losing her son; Rooted Out: Chapter 1, set against the backdrop of the 2024 Southport riots when a dispute between neighbouring families spirals into a volatile confrontation, Child of Dust, 55-year-old Sang: an unwanted and discriminated child from the Vietnam war, must confront his own weaknesses and fatherly shortcomings when he miraculously finds his American father; In The Path of Giants, hungry elephants in southern Bangladesh trapped by the world’s largest refugee camp rampage over farmland, resulting in tension between refugees, local Bengalis and indigenous farmers; Let Us Be, portrait of Intersex individuals across India, Brazil, and the US. Until 26 June. Info: www.raindance.org/festival
Monday 22 June
* Cinema, Aspirin and Vultures (Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus), lyrical road movie wherein cinema and friendship cross Brazil’s arid countryside + introduction by season co-curator Adriana Rouanet, 6.20pm, National Film Theatre
* White House, vibrant new perspective on favela life, rooted in community, loss and lived experience + Q&A with director Luciano Vidigal, 8.40pm, National Film Theatre
* Shorts and Documentaries, a selection of work directed and supervised by Indian director Ritwik Ghatak, 6.30pm, National Film Theatre
from Tuesday 23 June
* The Mission, follows British-Iraqi NHS nerve surgeon Mohammed Tahir as he embarks on his third humanitarian mission to Gaza in October 2024: a personal, unfiltered account filmed over four months, filmed on phones smuggled into Gaza, Apple TV, YouTube Movies and Vimeo On demand
Thursday 25 June
* Launching Climate Blueprint: A Film Trilogy for Small Island futures, three short documentaries on Dominica, Barbados and Vanuatu's fight against climate change + discussion with Sarah Howard and Tim Hemmings, 5.30-8pm, Overseas Development Institute
* Iracema: Uma Transa Amazonica, a once-banned, newly restored road movie captures a transforming Amazon, 6.05pm, National Film Theatre
Friday 26 June
* The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão (A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão), a ravishing melodrama of sisterhood and resilience, set in 1950s Rio, 6pm, National Film Theatre
* Carlota Joaquina, Princess of Brazil, an irreverent hit that reignited Brazilian cinema in the 1990s, 9pm, National Film Theatre
* The Citizen, Ritwik Ghatak’s film explores ideas of lost home and hope in post-Partition Kolkata + intro by Ashvin Devasundaram, 6.05pm, National Film Theatre
from Friday 26 June
* Do You Love Me, playful, personal journey through Lebanon’s audiovisual memory, composed entirely of archival footage. Through the eyes of citizens, filmmakers and artists, the film reconstructs a fragmented history of a country without a national archive, Curzon Bloomsbury + 28 June, 1 July
from Friday 26 May
* Arab Film Nights, 26 May, Aksil; 28 May, Ave Maria; 2 June, Waiting for Happiness; 4 June, Ifriqiya Shorts + Q&As with Ibbi El Hani, actress/writer Nadia Nadif, Khalil Hefaf and Sofia Asir; 7pm, £6, Cockpit Theatre, Gateforth Street NW8 8EH. Info: Cockpit
Saturday 27 June
* The Partition Trilogy: The Cloud-Capped Star, a cinematic masterpiece that portrays sacrifice and Partition’s enduring trauma, 2.20pm, National Film Theatre
* The Partition Trilogy: E-Flat (Komol Gandhar), a semi-autobiographical work about Partition, with a special recorded introduction by director Ritwik Gahatak’s son, Ritaban, 5.30pm, National Film Theatre
* The Father and the Shaman (O Pai e o Pajé), an Indigenous director confronts the rift between pastor and shaman inside his own home + Q&A with Felipe Tomazelli and Yula Rocha, 3.15pm, National Film Theatre
* The Second Mother (Que Horas Ela Volta?), funny, piercing look at class and care inside a privileged São Paulo household, 8.40pm, National Film Theatre
Sunday 28 June
* Arab Film Club, three shorts + Q&A with filmmakers Arsalan Motavali, May Ziadé and Waseem Khair, 3pm, £12, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX. Info: Film Club
* Alien Nights (Noites Alienígenas), an urgent Amazon-set drama of youth, violence and Indigenous identity, 3.30pm, National Film Theatre
* A River Called Titas (Titash Ekti Nadir Naam), 1973 Bangladesh-Indian poetic depiction of memory, loss and a vanishing fishing community + intro by Tanjil Rashid, 2.50pm, National Film Theatre
* The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão (A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão), a ravishing melodrama of sisterhood and resilience, set in 1950s Rio, 6pm, National Film Theatre
* The Diamond Butterfly (Heerer Prajapati), an intriguingly charming journey of a lost butterfly-shaped diamond brooch, 6.15pm, National Film Theatre
* The Partition Trilogy: Subarnarekhar (The Golden Line ), a Partition epic of separation, fateful encounters and new beginnings, noon, National Film Theatre
* City of God, an explosive favela chronicle that transformed Brazilian cinema worldwide, 3pm, National Film Theatre
Monday 29 June
* Cyclone, a working-class playwright battles patriarchy and scandal to claim her future in early-20th-century São Paulo, 8.40pm, National Film Theatre
Tuesday 30 June
* Out Laws, Namibian activist Friedel Dausab fights to overturn the laws that criminalise his life, joining with fellow activists from Sri Lanka and Barbados at London Pride, in a powerful moment of community, solidarity and celebration, 6.20pm, Curzon Bloomsbury
* Celebrating 50 Years of Korean Film Preservation, Madame Freedom, set in 1956, a period of upheaval and transformation in postwar Korea, the film tells the story of a young married woman who glimpses a new and unknown way of life,6pm, Korean Cultural Centre, Grand Buildings, 1 - 3 Strand, WC2N 5BW. Info: KCC
* Wadjda, Saudi Arabian debut shows a rebellious girl, her eyes set on the bicycle of her dreams, realising that financial independency is the path to freedom + intro by Sarah Agha, 8.50pm, National Film Theatre
* Ghatak Was Here, a personal essay film about the life, death and resurrection of the great Bengali director Ritwik Ghatak, 6pm, National Film Theatre
* The Father and the Shaman (O Pai e o Pajé), an Indigenous director confronts the rift between pastor and shaman inside his own home, 6.10pm, National Film Theatre
* Reason, Debate and A Story (Jukti Takko Aar Gappo), Ritwik Ghatak’s autobiographical last film – and a critically intricate commentary on contemporary Bengal, 8.40pm, National Film Theatre
TV & radio
Sunday 21 June
* Free Nelson Mandela, part 2 of documentary, 9pm, Ch4
* If We Can Walk Together, a Palestinian and an Israeli talk peace, 7.15pm, Radio4
Tuesday 23 June
* Thinking Allowed, British Asians’ resistance to racism, 3.30pm, Radio4
Wednesday 24 June
* To Catch a King, documentary series about the search for a people-smuggler, 9.30am, Radio4
Thursday 25 June
* The Coffee Trail with Simon Reeve, the industry in Vietnam, 9pm, BBC4
Friday 26 June
* The Food Programme, how obesity went global, 11am Radio4
Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.