Yep, once the nukes start flying you won’t have to work or, in fact, do much of anything any more. To help get you in the mood the fabulous Tricycle theatre on Kilburn High Road is having a Nuclear Film Festival running from this Thursday 22/3 to Sunday 25/3. The festival is part of a larger event taking place at Tricycle (with stuff going on in their theatre and gallery space too) which has been planned with an eye towards the government’s upcoming decision on the future of the Trident missile programme.

As well as drawing attention back to a still highly contentious issue which has been somewhat forgotten in recent years, the festival is worth attention purely for the fact that it is screening some terrific movies over the four days. Opening with a free screening of Mick Jackson’s TV drama Threads, which depicts the effect a nuclear explosion has on Sheffield and caused the entire United Kingdom to shit its pants when first televised in 1985, the programme also includes Stanley Kramer’s 1959 vision of the world after nuclear war On the Beach and the 2000 Cuban Missile Crisis drama 13 Days.

 The highlight for many, however, will be the opportunity to see Stanley Kubrick’s ground breaking 1964 satire Dr Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb on the big screen. Staring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Haydon and Slim Pickens the film shocked audiences on its release by depicting the dangerous Cold War competition for nuclear supremacy as an absurd farce. Yet there is plenty more going on at Tricycle this weekend.

Also on the card: The War Game , an Oscar winning docudrama concerning the outbreak of nuclear war; Nuclear Tipping Point,  a stark look at the current nuclear threats facing the planet; and The Atomic Cafe, a shocking collection of American pro-nuke propaganda films from the Cold War era. The festival concludes with a screening of Day One, Jospeh Sargent’s acclaimed 1989 TV film telling the story of the Manhattan Project.

It should be a fascinating few days with plenty of discussion, debate, opinion and, most of all, some really great films.