Portobello Film Festival; The Muse Gallery & The Gate; 3rd - 20th September 2026; screenings daily from 6pm; FREE
For more than three decades Portobello Film Festival has been celebrating independent filmmaking and festival culture at the original epicentre of the British Underground.
Free to enter and free to attend, the festival is an annual reminder of a time when Ladbroke Grove was to London what San Francisco was to America.
At a multicultural crossroads and with a unique blend of cheap (or no) rent, open spaces and independent venues, the area provided the perfect conditions for a vibrant music and art scene with psychedelic rock developing alongside the Notting Hill Carnival.
One of this year’s highlights is a feature on Laura Del-Rivo, Britain’s first female beatnik author, whose debut novel provided the inspiration for Michael Winner’s West 11. Supplementing her income by trading on Portobello Road Market while continuing to write about the changing life of the neighbourhood, she was affectionately known as “The Tights Lady”.
A curated evening on 17th September is dedicated to Pink Floyd and to collective art-making. Original shorts from the late 60s are shown alongside a newly released documentary on The Exploding Galaxy, a group of artists, musicians, poets and dancers with a shared creative spirit.
The opening night at The Gate Picturehouse on 3rd September is the only ticketed event.
There is no need to book for more than 200 new films. Tomorrow’s cinema today – all free to attend!
