Brixton based charity Poetic Unity and Dark Matter, a marketing agency connecting Black audiences with culture and the arts, will screen the film Brother at the Ritzy during Mental Health Awareness Week in May. The two organisations say the event underscores their commitment to addressing vital community issues through innovative cultural experiences. Brother tackles themes including...

Ritzy launch for youth campaign against harassment

Brixton’s Ritzy cinema will tomorrow (8 December) host the launch of It’s Not That Deep, a youth-centred campaign to raise awareness about sexual harassment and abuse of young women and girls. Organised by Young Creators UK (YCUK), a non-profit community interest and creative company that supports young people aged 16-25, the launch,...

Comedy short premiere for Ritzy

The New Black Film Collective will tomorrow (24 November) host a comedy event and screening at Brixton’s Ritzy cinema for the premiere of the comedy short Get In Now! The film is a spinoff of from the successful 2017 thriller-comedy-horror film Get Out. As well as the screening, the event will get comedy...

Ritzy to host ‘Silent Slapstick’ with music from Brixton Chamber Orchestra

https://youtu.be/_nDqlie0E_w?si=JTrh7M5vKaKn8cr4 Brixton Chamber Orchestra and the Ritzy cinema are getting together once again to add live music to classic film. They promise “a night of side-splitting laughter and captivating live music” on Thursday 2 November with Film Orchestrated: Silent Slapsticks. It follows the resounding success last year of BCO’s Halloween screening of Dreyer's Vampyr and...

Ritzy premieres documentary on Nigerian children adopted by white families

Brixton’s Ritzy cinema is to host a special screening of an immensely moving new documentary, White Nanny Black Child, as part of British Black History Month in October. Director Andy Mundy-Castle was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and grew up in Brixton’s Somerleyton Road. “I dreamed of becoming a filmmaker thanks to...

Brixton Chamber Orchestra set to chill at the Ritzy

Brixton Chamber Orchestra and The Ritzy Brixton are to present a one-off Halloween, screening of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr, with an original orchestral soundtrack, composed and performed live by a 15-piece orchestra. It will mark the 90th anniversary of Vampyr, a black and white silent film that paved the way for the entire horror genre. In the film, a traveller obsessed with the supernatural arrives at a rural inn – and finds the family that lives...

Ritzy hosts ‘hostile environment’ documentary

An award winning feature-length documentary, Hostile, will be showing at The Ritzy tomorrow (25 January). Debut director Sonita Gale explores the stories of migrants in the UK and their experiences of the dark underbelly of a broken immigration system. Archival footage mixes with personal narratives to explore what it means to be...

Dynamic duo host reggae at the Ritzy

Lockdown may have seen the end of The Sisters of Reggae, but two of them – Shirley Slattery and Debbie Golt – are sticking together with gigs including Upstairs at the Ritzy in Brixton. Simone Richardson finds out more Dynamic duo Miss Feelgood (Shirley Slattery) and Debbie Golt now DJ as the...

Ritzy show ‘icing on cake’ for Brixton film-maker

A Brixton film-maker’s latest documentary will be shown at the Ritzy this week. Simone Richardson previews The Jill of the Trade Charysse Tia Harper’s short documentary, The Jill of The Trade, presents women from around the world who work in jobs that are usually seen as men’s work. From a priest in Colombia, to a mining...

Ritzy launch for Brixton feature film

A Brixton Tale, a film that could define how the world sees Brixton for years to come, goes on general release on 17 September. Its launch screening will be on Thursday 16 September at the Ritzy on Windrush Square with directors Darragh Carey and Bertrand Desrochers, writer Rupert Baynham, and...

Music, politics and Brixton – an unbeatable combination at The Ritzy

Now showing at the Ritzy is Summer of Soul, a documentary set in Harlem, New York, but with great relevance for Brixton. Simone Richardson went to the outdoor launch … Ritzy events manager Laura Mills asked two Brixton DJs to help launch Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be...

Managing Brixton’s Ritzy cinema … a labour of love

Nana Acheampong fell in love with the Ritzy as a youngster – and now she’s a duty manager at the cinema. Simone Richardson finds out how it happened … “My Dad, Roland, asked me to come in and help out on his first day as a cleaner at The Ritzy,”...

Brixton Ritzy reopens next week

All Picturehouse cinemas, including Brixton’s Ritzy, are to reopen on Wednesday 19 May. New releases to be screened will include Oscar and BAFTA winners Judas And The Black Messiah, featuring Daniel Kaluuya's trophy-winning performance, and Sound Of Metal starring Riz Ahmed. Also screening will be Pedro Almodóvar's latest, The Human Voice, starring Tilda Swinton, followed by...

Brixton’s Ritzy among hundreds of cinemas to suspend operations

The Cineworld Group announced this morning (5 October) that all of its Picturehose cinemas in the UK – which includes Brixton’s Ritzy – will temporarily suspend operations from Thursday, 8 October. The US-based company said this was “in response to an increasingly challenging theatrical landscape and sustained key market closures...

Townscape Heritage Entertainment Series: The Ritzy Cinema

Following the interest in our recent article exploring the entertainment culture that has thrived in Brixton since the Victorian era, we decided to do a deep dive into some of Brixton’s most beloved music halls and theatres, still standing or otherwise! Brixton has a long history of theatres and music...

Afro House returns to Upstairs at the Ritzy

Afro-House hits Upstairs at the Ritzy this Friday 24 January 8pm – 2am. Billed as "Makhe: The Return" – the second instalment of the new party series – will showcase up and coming afro-house DJs from London. Free entry all night! Afrro House draws on African percussive influences fused with...

Upstairs at the Ritzy celebrates 10 years with a new look and party

Jazz musician Gordon Wedderburn aptly described the new look of Brixton’s Upstairs at the Ritzy bar as an “Afro-centric refurbishment” after it fully reopened its doors with a party. The bar above the Ritzy cinema was also celebrating its 10th birthday and played host to GW Jazz and the Yaaba...

Alex and the Wonderland celebrate song release at the Ritzy

Brixton supporters of the live music are in for a treat this week. Local music artist and band Alex and the Wonderland are celebrating the launch of a new song release Love’s Louder. The single is the artist’s first and is available from Friday 13 December by digital download and...

Union calls off Ritzy boycott but fight for equal pay continues

The long running dispute between Ritzy workers and Cineworld has been suspended says BECTU, the trade union representing cinema workers. The boycott campaign which attracted the support of famous names in cinema and theatre including Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Mark Rylance has also been called off. Bectu says...

Another Ritzy union rep wins case against sacking

A former Brixton Ritzy cinema worker, sacked for her trade union activities in support of the Living Wage, has won a victory with major legal implications for all union campaigners. Kelly Rogers, who now works for the Lambeth branch of the trade union Unison, won an employment tribunal case against...

Latest Articles

Results: ritzy

Follow us on Instagram @brixtonblog