Seventeen free screenings and workshops run from 4 to 13 September at Peckhamplex, Nunhead Cemetery and 13 other venues. Only one event needs booking.

The Peckham and Nunhead Free Film Festival opens on Friday 4 September with a 40th anniversary screening of Blue Velvet at Peckhamplex. It runs to Sunday 13 September.

There are 17 events across 15 venues, and every one of them is free. Only one, a filmmaking workshop, has to be booked. The rest are turn up and sit down.

This is the festival’s 17th year. It is run by volunteers and is part of the Free Film Festivals network of neighbourhood festivals across London. The organisers published the full line-up last month and there is a programme sheet you can save to your phone.

The full programme

Every screening below is free, and none of them needs a ticket. Arrive early: the festival’s own advice on almost every listing is that seats go first come, first served.

  • Fri 4 Sept, 8pm Blue Velvet (18), Peckhamplex, 95A Rye Lane. Doors 8pm, film 8.30pm
  • Sat 5 Sept, 8.30pm The Blair Witch Project (15), Nunhead Cemetery, Linden Grove. Outdoors. Doors 7.30pm
  • Sun 6 Sept, 2.30pm A Bug’s Life (U), Buchan Road TRA Community Hall, 86 Buchan Road
  • Sun 6 Sept, 7.30pm The Mastermind (12), The Ivy House, 40 Stuart Road
  • Mon 7 Sept, 7.30pm Paddington 2 (PG), Christ Church Peckham, 676-680 Old Kent Road
  • Mon 7 Sept, 8.30pm Moonlight (15), Watson’s General Telegraph, 108 Forest Hill Road. Outdoors, over-18s only
  • Tue 8 Sept, 7.30pm The Scratchings (18) and a film quiz, The Man of Kent, 4 Nunhead Green
  • Tue 8 Sept, 8pm Burning An Illusion (15), Peckham Palms, Bournemouth Close
  • Wed 9 Sept, 8pm Human Traffic (15), The Carpet Shop, Arch 164, 115 Rye Lane
  • Wed 9 Sept, 8pm PNFFF Short Film Night (15), Peckhamplex
  • Thu 10 Sept, 8pm Meiko Kaji double bill (18), AMP Studios, 897a Old Kent Road. Doors 7pm
  • Fri 11 Sept, 8.30pm Labyrinth (PG), Brenchley Gardens Community Centre, 145a Brenchley Gardens. Outdoors
  • Sat 12 Sept, 10am One Minute Film Challenge, Mountview, 120 Peckham Hill Street. Booking required
  • Sat 12 Sept, 2pm Filmmaking workshop with Sean Grundy (18), Mountview
  • Sat 12 Sept, 7pm The Slumber Party Massacre (18), Feminist Library, Sojourner Truth Centre, 161 Sumner Road
  • Sat 12 Sept, 7.30pm Cadillac Records (15), Cossall TRA Community Hall, Mortlock Close
  • Sun 13 Sept, 7.30pm Sinners (15), LEX2 Livesey Exchange, 567 Old Kent Road

The one that fills up: Nunhead Cemetery

The Saturday screening is in the cemetery, next to the Anglican Chapel built in 1840. The film was chosen by a public vote, and the vote went to The Blair Witch Project.

The organisers have set out what to expect, and it is worth reading before you walk up Linden Grove:

  • capacity is 300 people, first come first served, with a queueing system
  • doors at 7.30pm for an 8.30pm start
  • limited seating only, so bring your own chair or blanket
  • no alcohol inside the cemetery, and bag checks will be in place
  • it is a 15 certificate and the festival says only people of that age or over will be admitted

One practical warning. The festival’s own page gives the cemetery’s postcode as SE15 3LP in the write-up and SE15 3LW in the venue panel underneath it. If you are following a map, aim for the Linden Grove gates rather than the postcode.

Two other screenings are outdoors: Moonlight in the garden at Watson’s General Telegraph on Forest Hill Road, and Labyrinth at Brenchley Gardens Community Centre. Both carry the same advice about warm and waterproof clothing.

The only event you have to book

The One Minute Film Challenge on Saturday 12 September is a four-hour workshop at Mountview in which participants shoot and edit a one-minute film on industry equipment. It runs from 10am, with registration at 9.45am.

To take part you email pnfff@freefilmfestivals.org with “ONE MINUTE FILM CHALLENGE” in the subject line. The festival says places are extremely limited and allocated first come, first served, one place per email address. You are then sent a code to give to volunteers on the day. It is for over-18s only.

What it means for you

Check the certificate before you take children. Nine of the 17 events are 15 or 18 certificates, and Moonlight at Watson’s General Telegraph is over-18s only because of the pub’s licence, whatever the film’s rating.

Three are genuinely for families: A Bug’s Life on Sunday afternoon at Buchan Road, Paddington 2 at Christ Church Peckham on the Monday, and Labyrinth outdoors at Brenchley Gardens on the Friday.

The venues are spread across SE15 and the Old Kent Road, so plan the journey rather than the postcode. Several are community halls on estates, not high street addresses. If you are driving to one, check parking rules in the area first, because most of Peckham and Nunhead sits inside a controlled parking zone.

Everything is free at the door, but the festival is not funded. It asks for donations through its own collection page and is looking for volunteers, who can email the same address as the workshop bookings.

More local listings are on our things to do in Dulwich page.