To celebrate Ken Russell's 100th birthday next year the British Film Institute (BFI) will present a major festival of his works.

"To mark the centenary of Ken Russell’s birth on 3 July 1927, in July and August 2027 BFI Southbank will present the most extensive retrospective ever mounted of one of Britain’s truly pioneering figures. Spanning more than five decades of restless creativity, the season will explore Russell’s extraordinary work, from his amateur films of the 1950s through the form-breaking BBC productions of the 1960s that transformed the possibilities of television arts broadcasting, before he embarked on one of the most distinctive careers in world cinema. The BFI celebration will bring together every one of Russell’s theatrically released feature films, alongside rare television works – many screening from original film prints preserved in the BFI National Archive’s collections – later digital productions and newly created materials by the BFI National Archive."

The BFI site is here
https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/ken-russells-devils-definitive-4k-restoration-launch-ahead-major-bfi-retrospective
More details when available.

The New York Film Festival (NYFF) will screen the restored The Devils on 26 September 2026.  There will also be a Q&A with Mark Kermode who discovered the lost footage and has long campaigned for the release of this full version of the film.

"Ken Russell’s infamous adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s novel, about the apparent possession of a group of nuns after one (Vanessa Redgrave) accuses a priest (Oliver Reed) of collaborating with the devil, is at long last available in its full, uncensored splendor.".

For the NYFF website click here
https://www.tiff.net/
For more on The Devils click here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-film-the-devils.html

The Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa, has renamed its gallery after John Kani.

John Kani worked with Athol Fugard extensively including co-authoring  Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island, co-written with Fugard and Winston Ntshona,

"On the evening of Saturday 29 August, a few hours before John Kani’s 83rd birthday, the Apartheid Museum honoured the man who is one of South Africa’s greatest cultural icons of our lifetime by renaming its art gallery after him... the gallery is adorned with various John Kani memorabilia including his travel documents that were issued by the apartheid government, declaring his nationality as 'undetermined'” (Mbali Mbatha, Time Out Johannesburg, 31 August 2026, click here https://www.timeout.com/johannesburg/news/john-kani-083126).

For the museum website click here
https://www.apartheidmuseum.org/
For more on Kani click here
https://iainfisher.com/fugard/fugard-people.html

Fantastic CD. I  received mine in the mail about three weeks ago, and it's the only music I've listened to since.  I can't get enough of it.  I hope a volume two comes out.

Steven Berkoff on Facebook, 10 August 2026, writes:

There is a show on in Edinburgh that really should not be missed. It is Kafka's short story called 'The Hunger Artist'. It is one of the most astonishing stories I have ever read. It has been adapted and performed by Jonathan Sidgwick - this is the first time this extraordinary tale has been seen in public. Now playing at The Rotunda Theatre 10th - 18th August and 22-23 August. This is a tale that will haunt you, there is nothing quite like it.

The details from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival website are:



"What is Art? What is an Artist? What would you do for what you love the most? Franz Kafka gives us The Hunger Artist: a man who turns fasting into an art form, who nourishes his soul the only way he knows, by starving himself. In his small cage, he seeks acclaim for his craft and acceptance by the spectators. This is his life's purpose, he will stop at nothing in his pursuit of perfection. A dramatic and inspiring solo retelling of the final penning from Kafka".

Performances are on dates between 7 and 23 August 2026.

The Festival site is here
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/the-hunger-artist-by-franz-kafka
You can read The Hunger Artist on the Franz Kafka Online site here
https://www.kafka-online.info/a-hunger-artist.html