Screening as part of London Short Film Festival, running from 23rd January to the 1st February 2026.
Across its streets, buses, basements, and bars, London holds countless acts of self-invention. From a viral myth about a ‘Jewish bus route’ to the radiant memory of a trans dancer reclaiming her story, each film engages with London as a site of friction and becoming.
Some films flow through the city like a cyclist mapping its contours; others linger in forgotten corners like the ghosts of community spaces lost to development. Together, they ask; who gets to belong, to move, to make meaning here?
Featuring new work from Teva Cheema [Highgate 214] and Rhea Storr [New Territories (Spectacle is King)]
All films in this programme include descriptive subtitles.
Contains flashing images, and themes of homophobia and transphobia.
Irish Film and Identity on the big screen
Visions of an Otherworld is a season allowing viewers to see spiritual and mythical stories using the Irish language, telling contemporary and compelling stories that offer another world of Irish Film and Identity.
Irish culture has recently taken on a resurgence through literature, TV shows and particularly film, with Claire Keegan’s ‘Small Things like These’, Sally Rooney’s ‘Normal People’ and Martin McDonagh’s ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’. These stories offer a view of Ireland’s filmic identity currently, but they are still being spoken in English and not Irish. In a 2023 interview during the BAFTA Awards, Irish actor Paul Mescal stated, "Broken Irish is better than clever English," as he and many other young people have become advocates for reclaiming their language through films. My season offers a unique blend of films, all in Irish language from the last decade, from young Directors, which offer unique but universal stories which hope to question what it means to be Irish in our current times.
In Ireland’s distant past, there were seanchaí (travelling storytellers) who ventured from village to village, sharing stories around a campfire, orally presenting Ireland’s strong storytelling heritage to bring communities together around a shared passion for their unique cultural identity. This passion for stories and language, when combined with the medium of film, blends together in current directors who are crafting stories that are trying to redefine what it means to be Irish. Colm Bairéad’s 2022 fiction film ‘The Quiet Girl’, Ciara Nic Chormaic’s 2022 documentary ‘Clouded Reveries’, Pat Collins’s 2017 biographic feature ‘Song of Granite’ and Tomm Moore’s 2014 animation ‘Song of the Sea’ all offer unique views of what it means to be Irish, as this new filmic identity comes of age.
Visions of an Otherworld is presented in partnership with the National Film and Television School. This programme has been curated by NFTS Film Studies, Programming and Curation student, Joseph Pidgeon.
Celebrate the modern master of melodrama and his iconic collaborators.
Ahead of next year's release of his newest film: Amarga Navidad, The Lexi will be celebrating Pedro Almodóvar, the modern master of melodrama with a focus on the women he has directed. The activity will spotlight the performances of Victoria Abril, Marisa Paredes, Cecilia Roth and Penélope Cruz across four of their iconic collaborations with Pedro.
Join us throughout December for:
TIE ME UP! TIE ME DOWN! (1989) (Sun 30 Nov, Mon 1 & Wed 3 Dec)
THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET (1995) (Sun 7, Mon 8 & Wed 10 Dec)
ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER (1999) (Sun 14, Mon 15 & Wed 17 Dec)
VOLVER (2006) (Sun 21 & Mon 22 Dec)
All Sunday screenings will feature an introduction and tickets are only £10. Escape the winter blues with four trips to sunny Spain!
