15 - 19 April 2026
Open City Documentary Festival takes place from 14-19 April, bringing the art of non-fiction to venues across London. Through a programme of film screenings, workshops, panels, talks and an exhibition, the festival showcases new non-fiction works from an international range of filmmakers and provides a space to discuss non-fiction storytelling.
More information on the Open City Documentary Festival website.
Open City Documentary Festival takes place from 14-19 April, bringing the art of non-fiction to venues across London. Through a programme of film screenings, workshops, panels, talks and an exhibition, the festival showcases new non-fiction works from an international range of filmmakers and provides a space to discuss non-fiction storytelling.
More information on the Open City Documentary Festival website.
Programme
Wednesday 15 April, 6.15pm
Ken & Flo Jacobs: Seeing Through Film 1
A programme of Jacobs’ early collaborations with Jack Smith. The retrospective Seeing Through Film celebrates the work and lives of Ken and Flo Jacobs, who both passed away in 2025. One of the American avant-garde’s most prolific figures, Ken Jacobs (1933-2025) and his wife and lifelong collaborator Flo Jacobs (1941-2025) were an integral part of the New York alternative film scene.
Wednesday 15 April, 8.30pm
Interstitial Cinema: the films of Artavazd Pelechian 2
Artavazd Pelechian is one of the greatest montage artists in modern cinema. His films uniquely combine documentary footage from official archives with images shot by the filmmaker himself and his collaborators. The programme Interstitial Cinema: the films of Artavazd Pelechian offers a rare opportunity to see this work in the United Kingdom.
Thursday 16 April, 6.30pm
Ken and Flo Jacobs: Seeing Through Film 2
New York, seen through the eyes of Ken Jacobs. The retrospective Seeing Through Film celebrates the work and lives of Ken and Flo Jacobs, who both passed away in 2025. One of the American avant-garde’s most prolific figures, Ken Jacobs (1933-2025) and his wife and lifelong collaborator Flo Jacobs (1941-2025) were an integral part of the New York alternative film scene.
Thursday 16 April, 8.30pm
Sensual Laboratories
Curated by Sophia Satchell-Baeza, this programme focuses on British and North American work from the 1960s and 1970s, bringing together early films by Barbara Hammer, John Smith, Jud Yalkut, Jerry Abrams, Scott Bartlett, and Mark Boyle and Joan Hills.
Friday 17 April, 6.15pm
To the Left of the Fir-Tree & The Seasons + Q&A
Exploring memory and land, these films bridge past and present. In To the Left of the Fir-Tree, an elderly man revisits his German garden through recollection. The Seasons incorporates archaeology and folklore into a polyphonic portrait of Portugal’s Alentejo region. Both works find history in the soil, from family orchards to collective farming projects.
Friday 17 April, 8.45pm
Last Movies + Q&A
Last Movies traces cinema history through an unusual and speculative lens: the final films watched by cultural and political figures before their deaths.
Saturday 18 April, 3pm
In Focus: Onyeka Igwe 2 – Accidental Aesthetic Tradition + Q&A
Curated by Onyeka Igwe, this programme reflects on the formative influence of late-night television and experimental film culture on her filmmaking language.
Saturday 18 April, 5.30pm
In Focus: Onyeka Igwe 3 + Q&A
Six works by Onyeka Igwe, exploring essay films, independence and the impact of colonialism.
Saturday 18 April, 8pm
Two Refusals & An Impossible Address + Q&A
Suneil Sanzgiri’s films explore the echoes of Portuguese colonialism and anti-colonial resistance. Two Refusals uses mythology and varied visual formats to map revolutionary solidarities between India and Africa. An Impossible Address follows the haunting trace of freedom fighter Sita Valles, blending CGI and archives to document decolonial struggle across Angola, Lisbon, and Goa.
Sunday 19 April, 2pm
The Ian White Lecture: Jordan Lord
In this performative lecture, Jordan Lord will show a version of their new short film Concealed and Denied, an archival film without archival footage that concerns how right-wing propaganda weaponises mainstream media as well as documentary film and its funding structures.
Sunday 19 April, 4.30pm
Thames Film + Q&A
William Raban’s Thames Film examines the changing face of the River Thames over three centuries. 40th anniversary screening.
Sunday 19 April, 7pm
CLOSING SLET 1988 & The Case Against Space + Q&A
The Case Against Space reconstructs the 1973 Skylab strike, using lo-fi CCTV aesthetics to explore labour disputes beyond Earth. In SLET 1988, dancer Sonja Vukićević performs in an empty Belgrade gym, her aging body serving as an archive of Yugoslavia’s splintered history and lost ideologies.
Wednesday 15 April, 6.15pm
Ken & Flo Jacobs: Seeing Through Film 1
A programme of Jacobs’ early collaborations with Jack Smith. The retrospective Seeing Through Film celebrates the work and lives of Ken and Flo Jacobs, who both passed away in 2025. One of the American avant-garde’s most prolific figures, Ken Jacobs (1933-2025) and his wife and lifelong collaborator Flo Jacobs (1941-2025) were an integral part of the New York alternative film scene.
Wednesday 15 April, 8.30pm
Interstitial Cinema: the films of Artavazd Pelechian 2
Artavazd Pelechian is one of the greatest montage artists in modern cinema. His films uniquely combine documentary footage from official archives with images shot by the filmmaker himself and his collaborators. The programme Interstitial Cinema: the films of Artavazd Pelechian offers a rare opportunity to see this work in the United Kingdom.
Thursday 16 April, 6.30pm
Ken and Flo Jacobs: Seeing Through Film 2
New York, seen through the eyes of Ken Jacobs. The retrospective Seeing Through Film celebrates the work and lives of Ken and Flo Jacobs, who both passed away in 2025. One of the American avant-garde’s most prolific figures, Ken Jacobs (1933-2025) and his wife and lifelong collaborator Flo Jacobs (1941-2025) were an integral part of the New York alternative film scene.
Thursday 16 April, 8.30pm
Sensual Laboratories
Curated by Sophia Satchell-Baeza, this programme focuses on British and North American work from the 1960s and 1970s, bringing together early films by Barbara Hammer, John Smith, Jud Yalkut, Jerry Abrams, Scott Bartlett, and Mark Boyle and Joan Hills.
Friday 17 April, 6.15pm
To the Left of the Fir-Tree & The Seasons + Q&A
Exploring memory and land, these films bridge past and present. In To the Left of the Fir-Tree, an elderly man revisits his German garden through recollection. The Seasons incorporates archaeology and folklore into a polyphonic portrait of Portugal’s Alentejo region. Both works find history in the soil, from family orchards to collective farming projects.
Friday 17 April, 8.45pm
Last Movies + Q&A
Last Movies traces cinema history through an unusual and speculative lens: the final films watched by cultural and political figures before their deaths.
Saturday 18 April, 3pm
In Focus: Onyeka Igwe 2 – Accidental Aesthetic Tradition + Q&A
Curated by Onyeka Igwe, this programme reflects on the formative influence of late-night television and experimental film culture on her filmmaking language.
Saturday 18 April, 5.30pm
In Focus: Onyeka Igwe 3 + Q&A
Six works by Onyeka Igwe, exploring essay films, independence and the impact of colonialism.
Saturday 18 April, 8pm
Two Refusals & An Impossible Address + Q&A
Suneil Sanzgiri’s films explore the echoes of Portuguese colonialism and anti-colonial resistance. Two Refusals uses mythology and varied visual formats to map revolutionary solidarities between India and Africa. An Impossible Address follows the haunting trace of freedom fighter Sita Valles, blending CGI and archives to document decolonial struggle across Angola, Lisbon, and Goa.
Sunday 19 April, 2pm
The Ian White Lecture: Jordan Lord
In this performative lecture, Jordan Lord will show a version of their new short film Concealed and Denied, an archival film without archival footage that concerns how right-wing propaganda weaponises mainstream media as well as documentary film and its funding structures.
Sunday 19 April, 4.30pm
Thames Film + Q&A
William Raban’s Thames Film examines the changing face of the River Thames over three centuries. 40th anniversary screening.
Sunday 19 April, 7pm
CLOSING SLET 1988 & The Case Against Space + Q&A
The Case Against Space reconstructs the 1973 Skylab strike, using lo-fi CCTV aesthetics to explore labour disputes beyond Earth. In SLET 1988, dancer Sonja Vukićević performs in an empty Belgrade gym, her aging body serving as an archive of Yugoslavia’s splintered history and lost ideologies.
no. 236848.