When the ICA Cinema opened on The Mall in 1968, it did not open to the public. Instead, under the guise ‘Club Deluxe’ it operated as a film club screening new works evolving outside the mainstream, for ICA Members only. This conception was a sign of the times, both in tune with the unabashed enthusiasm for a medium in the midst of revolution and in opposition to a rampant censorship that meant new revelatory works like Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend were deemed un-rateable and thus illegal to show to the general public.

Cinema in 2023 finds itself in a very different position than it did in 1968. Amidst a rampant corporatisation and generally insipid and risk-averse spirit, it is easy to become despondent about the future of cinema today, to wonder if we are in that ‘ignominious, irreversible decline’ that Susan Sontag wrote about more than two decades ago. In a time of artistic uniformity, of remarkably style-less house styles, the need for spaces dedicated to truly independent and original voices is as desperate in 2023 as it was in 1968. The obstacles may have changed but the necessity of overcoming them has not.

As the spaces dedicated to showcasing work outside the commercial sphere continue to shrink, the life cycle for a film beyond its festival run remains uncertain. In the same spirit with which Club Deluxe was founded, Off-circuit aims to provide a platform to new films that have yet to receive a proper spotlight in the UK, facilitating a continuous connection between these profoundly rich works and audiences on the lookout for something new and different.

Off-Circuit offers audiences a chance to encounter this generation's landmark films on screen for the very first time, carving out a much-needed theatrical space for this generation's seminal and medium-redefining artists.

Programme



Until 1 May
Caught by the Tides
Assembled from footage shot over a span of more than twenty years, Jia Zhangke crafts a boundless story of enduring but fragile love, anchored by the eternally captivating presence of Zhao Tao.



Friday 2 May, 8.15pm
More screenings from 3 May
UK PREMIERE
Bury Us in a Lone Desert + Q&A
A burglar and the owner of a house he attempts to rob journey across Vietnam to the homeowner’s wife’s grave where he wishes to join her. 



Friday 23 May, 7.30pm
More screenings from 24 May
UK PREMIERE
Bombam
Yeong-gyeong and Su-hwan meet at a wedding party. He carries her home after she passes out drunk. Kang Mi-ja's Spring Night is a stark and graceful depiction of a doomed kinship. 



Friday 6 June, 7pm
More screenings from 7 June
LONDON PREMIERE
When the Phone Rang + Q&A
Through an intimate reconstruction of an important phone call, Iva Radivojević’s evocative film investigates dislocation and the nature of remembering. Followed by an in-person Q&A with filmmaker Iva Radivojević.



Thursday 19 June, 7pm + Friday 20 June, 6.30pm
More screenings from 22 June
UK PREMIERE
The Triptych of Mondongo
Commissioned to create a documentary about Argentine art collective Mondongo, filmmaker Mariano Llinás crafts an experimental portrait of friendship, failure and self-destruction.



Thursday 10 July, 6.45pm
More screenings from 11 July
UK PREMIERE
The Tree of Authenticity + Q&A with Sammy Baloji
An essayistic exploration into the lasting ecological consequences of Belgium’s colonial rule in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Past Programme

#28
DIRECT ACTION
dirs. Guillaume Cailleau & Ben Russell

#27
Jimmy
dir. Yashaddai Owens

#26
bluish
dirs. Lilith Kraxner & Milena Czernovsky

#25
By the Stream
dir. Hong Sangsoo

#24
Favoriten
dir. Ruth Beckermann

#23
C'est pas moi
dir. Leos Carax

#22
True Chronicles of the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in the Last Century, when Dr Frantz Fanon Was Head of the Fifth Ward between 1953 and 1956
dir. Abdenour Zahzah

#21
Matt and Mara
dir. Kazik Radwanski

#20
I'm Not Everything I Want to Be
dir. Klára Tasovská

#19
Last Things + Memories of an Unborn Sun
dir. Deborah Stratman
dir. Marcel Mrejen

#18
Our Body
dir. Claire Simon

#16
Outside Noise
dir. Ted Fendt

#15
A Prince
dir. Pierre Creton

#14
Foremost by Night
dir. Victor Iriarte

#13
You Burn Me
dir. Matías Piñeiro

#12
Regardless of Us
dir. Yoo Heong-jun

#11
Mambar Pierrette
dir. Rosine Mbakam

#10
Grace
dir. Ilya Povolotsky

#9
The Human Surge 3
dir. Eduardo Williams

#8
Music
dir. Angela Schanelec

#7
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
dir. Phạm Thiên An

#6
Unrest
dir. Cyril Schäublin

#5
A Woman Escapes in 3D
dirs. Sofia Bohdanowicz, Burak Çevik, Blake Williams

#4
Mal Viver
dir. João Canijo

#4
Viver Mal
dir. João Canijo

#3
Pictures of Ghosts
dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho

#2
Human Flowers of Flesh
dir. Helena Wittmann

#1
Man in Black
dir. Wang Bing