This February, Dazed x MUBI Cinema Club returned for a packed 2024 spring season, beginning with a screening of High & Low - John Galliano, a documentary by the Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald. Next up is a neon-drenched documentary that captures coming of age amid the nightlife of Chengdu, China, by Benjamin Mullinkosson.
Titled The Last Year of Darkness, the film offers a portrait of life in the city – often regarded as a safe oasis for queer Chinese youth – as it undergoes cultural and economic changes that threaten the existence of its underground spaces. At the centre of this story is Funky Town, an underground club that represents a “haven for outsiders who live every weekend like it’s their last”, which is on the brink of closure due to the expansion of the city’s subway.
Mullinkosson’s unfiltered and authentic document of this condemned club scene follows young, queer clubbers, DJs, and performance artists through the drudgery and worries of their daytime lives, which are contrasted with the escapism of techno-soundtracked nights at Funky Town, until both worlds inevitably collide.
On March 9, all of this will be coming to the ICA, courtesy of Dazed x MUBI Cinema Club. And that’s not all. The screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A with Mullinkosson, plus Howl Worldwide have curated a line-up of DJs to keep you dancing til late. Doors open at 8.15pm
Interested? Tickets are now on sale here for £10 – including a drink voucher and goodie-bag of film merch – with 50 per cent off for Dazed Club members. Find out more here. Download the #DazedClub app to access exclusive early bird tickets, with general sale available from tomorrow.
Watch the trailer for The Last Year of Darkness, and see what else Dazed x MUBI Cinema Club’s spring season has in store, below.