The Independent and ICA London announce free-thinking film festival to mark paper’s 40th anniversary
The Independent and ICA London announce free-thinking film festival to mark paper’s 40th anniversary
Jacob Stolworthy Fri, October 2, 2026 at 8:13 AM UTC
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‘Celebrating Free Thinkers’ will feature series of specially curated events and film screenings
The Independentand the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) are launching a new film festival as part of the paper’s 40th anniversary celebrations.
Celebrating Free Thinkers will mark the occasion with a series of specially curated events and screenings. Ahead of the public programme will be an exclusive event for Independent Members on 19 October, with author Helen Fielding in conversation with Editor-in-Chief Geordie Greig before a screening of Bridget Jones’s Diary. The character originated in The Independent in 1995, with one of the most iconic scenes of the big screen adaptation (in which Bridget awkwardly gives a speech at the launch of “Kafka’s Motorbike”) film at the ICA.
The ICA partnership will run from 20-25 October, and will also include a premiere of Greig’s documentary Cancelled: The Rise and Fall of Aung San Suu Kyi, which explores the dramatic rise and fall of Myanmar’s former leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Elsewhere, the festival will premiere Wombs of Debt, a brand new 25-minute documentary examining the experiences of female sugarcane cutters in southern India, where punishing working conditions and financial pressures put women’s reproductive health at risk.
Among other specially selected films marking the free thinkers season is Sally Potter’s Orlando, which will be accompanied by a Q&A with an Independent journalist and yet-to-be announced guests.
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The ICA will also screen Arrows of Desire: Peter Wollen, a screening of Peter Wollen’s Friendship’s Death (1987). The event marks the publication of a new anthology of Wollen’s writings and will include a conversation with the book’s editors, Kodwo Eshun, Oliver Fuke and Nicolas Helm-Grovas.
Japanese filmmaker Shōhei Imamura’s debut feature, Stolen Desire, will also be screened, kicking off the ICA’s Long Takes retrospective, which marks the first major UK retrospective of Imamura’s work in more than 25 years.
Greig said: “The Independent has always existed to champion free thought and fearless ideas. As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, this partnership with the ICA gives us an exciting opportunity to bring that spirit to life through film, conversation and culture, creating a space for audiences to engage with original voices and ideas.”
Meanwhile, Bengi Ünsal, Director of ICA London, said: “The ICA has a long history of being a home for free thinkers – a place where artists can take risks, experiment and challenge the ideas that shape our culture. We’re delighted to partner with The Independent for 'Celebrating Free Thinkers', a season that resonates deeply with our commitment to artistic freedom, independent voices and ideas that can shape what comes next.”
The full public programme comprises:
20 October: Cancelled: The Rise and Fall of Aung San Suu Kyi, with a special Q&A
20 October: Wombs of Debt premiere
21 October: Arrows of Desire: Peter Wollen, including Friendship’s Death, with a special Q&A
22 October: Stolen Desire, opening the Shōhei Imamura retrospective
22 October: TBA
23 October: Off-circuit premiere of The Night Is Fading Away, with a special Q&A
24 October: TBA
25 October: Orlando, with a special Q&A
Find tickets here. More films to be announced soon.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
