The In Focus programme has long been a cornerstone of the ICA Cinema, providing an entry point to larger bodies of work or simply serving as a spotlight on a filmmaker or actor of note. However, these programmes have in the past remained largely ad-hoc and reactive, constructed largely as a means to capitalise on the release of a new film or to honour the passing of a great artist.

The establishment of In Focus as a core strand of the programme marks a commitment to a more considered and expansive approach to the possibilities that a focused exploration of an artists work can offer. 

Where our Long Takes series offers an opportunity to explore a single artists body of work, in-depth and at length, In Focus provides a more flexible and concise counterpoint. From a distinctive period in a filmmaker or actor’s career to the varied cinematographic interpretations of a great novelist's work, the In Focus series offers an opportunity to draw connections across mediums and to narrow in on the details.

Programme



1 – 30 July
Time to Play: Films by Jacques Rozier
One of the most original, self-assured, yet undersung voices of the French New Wave, Jacques Rozier crafted, across a career spanning five decades, a cinema attuned to the beauty and heartbreak of chance encounters, improvised days and spontaneous play.



1 August – 1 September
Cinema and State: Films by Nagisa Ōshima
Nagisa Ōshima's body of work is one of the most vital, challenging and admired in cinema history. This programme brings together nine of his films with a particular focus on the work he made through his own production company in the 1960s and early 70s, illuminating the anti-establishment spirit and formal radicalism running through his cinema.