National Theatre director Polly Findlay joins forces with two top-notch British actors in a beautiful drama about a longtime couple who take a life-changing trip to Amsterdam.

Married Irish couple Stella (Lesley Manville) and Gerry (Ciaran Hinds) are in their 60s and have lived an ordinary life near Glasgow since escaping the Troubles. Stella decides to book a trip to Amsterdam for the pair in what appears to be an attempt bring some excitement into their relationship. Once they arrive, she is keen to visit a particular part of the city which may have a link to their past. The drama is leavened with touches of humour – little jokes about Irishness, or about how comfortable people get in their marriages in later life – balancing the film beautifully. This stirring meditation on faith, commitment and the enduring power of love is based on the novel by Bernard MacLaverty.

UK 2026 Polly Findlay 90m

Rock icon Marianne Faithfull's six-decade journey through music, fame and reinvention unfolds in an intimate documentary, blending reality and imagination as she makes her final artistic statement.

This is an inventive semi-dramatised documentary which features George MacKay and Tilda Swinton. It is a film which is fully infused with Marianne Faithfull's distinctive spirit – free, candid and rebellious to the core. It all culminates with her last recorded musical performance - gently singing the aching, yearning ‘Misunderstanding’ (from her 2018 album ‘Negative Capability’) with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. With that one sequence, ‘Broken English’ delivers the kind of transcendent moment that will have you bawling in the aisles. The directors had previously made the Sundance prize-winning film about Nick Cave, ‘20,000 Days on Earth’.

UK 2025 Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard 99m

Le Assaggiatrici

Based on Margot Wölk’s extraordinary real-life account, this film sees a group of women risk their lives as Hitler’s ‘food tasters’.

Rosa Sauer (Elisa Schlott) flees her bombed-out Berlin apartment, moves in with her in-laws, all while her husband, a German soldier, is fighting in Ukraine. Not too far away in a forest surrounded by barbed wire is the "Wolf's Lair" - the Eastern Front military headquarters of Adolf Hitler. Rosa lands among a group of war-weary young women, long deprived of sufficient food, who are forcibly recruited by the SS. They are driven every day to Hitler's complex to serve as his food tasters, dining on abundant vegetarian delicacies three times a day. The only price: risking their lives with each bite as they are tasked with making sure that the food intended for Adolf Hitler has not been poisoned. The extraordinary account by then 95-year-old Margot Wölk created a sensation when it first appeared in a Berlin tabloid more than a decade ago. Her decision to break decades of silence about her wartime experiences captured the imagination of German reporters, then global media, finally inspiring a documentary, two novels and a play. You may remember the director from his wonderful 2000 film ‘Bread and Tulips’. (Subtitles)

Italy/Belgium/Switzerland 2025 Silvio Soldini 123m

February 1977. A disgruntled Indianapolis man entered the office of the president of a mortgage company and took him hostage with a shotgun wired with a "dead man's wire" from the trigger to his own neck.

This absolutely terrible plan and all the absurdities that ensued over 63 hours and under the full flare of national news coverage, are captured with terrific gusto in this tragicomic thriller. Bill Skarsgård plays the disgruntled assailant (Tony Kiritsis) demanding an apology and millions of dollars in compensation, whilst Al Pacino plays the father of the captive Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery). This is another perceptive state-of-the-nation movie from indie auteur Gus Van Sant to add to ‘Elephant’ (2003) and Milk (2008), sharing their preoccupation with guns as a manifestation of American ambition and dysfunction. Beyond the guilty laughs and authentically beige ’70s period detail, there is an offbeat anti-capitalist folk tale here that will strike a chord in the current moment.  

USA 2025 Gus Van Sant 105m

An extraordinary, dreamlike, visionary psychological drama from Chinese director Bi Gan which won the Special Jury prize at Cannes 2025.

In a society where humanity has surrendered its ability to dream in exchange for immortality, an outcast (Jackson Yee) finds illusion, nightmarish visions and beauty in an intoxicating world of his own making. We experience five dreams, for each of the senses, each chronologically representing a period of cinema. A work of staggering imagination from a visionary director, ‘Resurrection’ conjures vast and ever-shifting worlds on the brink of collapse in an era-spanning journey through our deepest and most human desires. This is a real work of artistry that will be even more appreciated by lovers of film history. (Subtitles)

China 2025 Bi Gan 140m

National Theatre

A five-star, triumphantly acclaimed new production of Arthur Miller’s classic play, from visionary director Ivo Van Hove (‘A View from the Bridge’).

One family, the heart of the American dream. When wartime delivers profits for Joe, it comes at a price when his partner is charged with criminal manufacturing deals, and his eldest son goes missing in action. Will peacetime bring peace of mind, or will he be confronted by the consequence of his actions? Bryan Cranston (‘Breaking Bad’) and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (‘Hard Truths’) feature in this disturbingly prescient play, along with Paapa Essiedu (‘I May Destroy You’), Tom Glynn-Carney (‘House of the Dragon’) and Hayley Squires (‘I, Daniel Blake’). Filmed live from the West End.

130m inc Interval

Thu 16 Apr 18:00

Sun 19 Apr 15:00 (tbc)

Paolo Sorrentino (‘The Great Beauty’) reunites with his muse and alter-ego Tony Servillo in this beautifully presented political human drama.

Mariano (Servillo) is the widowed Italian president nearing the end of his term. He is admired for his rectitude and stately bearing and for having thwarted an extremist candidate. But he also faces moral crises over euthanasia legislation and pardoning killers while also grappling with his late wife's infidelity. ‘La Grazia’ is a stylish and enigmatic film, and like ‘The Great Beauty’ it broods on the ‘Roman-ness’ of the capital; the way in which its history is inscribed on its buildings for those who understand it. The set piece moments are tremendous (as always for Sorrentino): Mariano bursting into song at a veterans’ dinner is one to look out for. 66-year-old Servillo is an actor to savour, able to suggest fathomless depths of sadness or lenient humour with a single smile. (Subtitles)

Italy 2025 Paolo Sorrentino 131m

Ástin Sem Eftir Er

Through intimate vignettes and strange occurrences, this film explores the complexities of family, love and the impact of shared memories.

Anna (Saga Garðarsdóttir), an artist, and Magnús (Sverrir Gudnason), a fisherman, live with their three children and charismatic sheepdog in the quiet grandeur of the Icelandic countryside. As the fractures in their marriage come to the surface, the couple try to hold onto the afterimages of a life together and make sense of a deep and lingering devotion. Filmmaker Hlynur Pálmason (‘Godland’) brings surprising humour and emotional weight to these gorgeous, intimate and brilliantly expansive scenes from a marriage,. This film is beautiful to look at, with lots of shots of Icelandic landscapes amidst the majestic backdrop of the changing seasons, coupled with a wonderful score. (Subtitles)

Iceland 2025 Hlynur Pálmason 109m

30th Anniversary Remaster

Baz Luhrmann’s vibrant adaptation of Shakespeare's famous play gets a 4K remaster for its 30th anniversary. It is set in the hip modern suburb of Verona Beach and retains the original dialogue.

The Capulets and the Montagues are two rival gangs. Juliet (Claire Danes) is attending a costume ball thrown by her parents. Her father Fulgencio Capulet (Paul Sorvino) has arranged her marriage to the boorish Paris (Paul Rudd) as part of a strategic investment plan. When Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) of the Montagues attends the masked ball, he and Juliet fall in love. The family feud erupts anew when a carload of Montagues take on the hot-blooded Tybalt Capulet (John Leguizamo) and his kinsmen at a gas station, which goes up in a spectacular conflagration. Luhrmann is at his most  inventive and innovative here, lavishing us with vibrant camera work and keeping a blistering tempo throughout.

Australia 1996 Baz Luhrmann 120m

An astronaut tries to save Earth while alone in outer space.

Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship, light years from home, with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction... but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.

USA 2026 Phil Lord & Christopher Miller 136m

With echoes of Nick Hornby’s ‘High Fidelity’, this road movie comedy finds two music-loving friends, who travel the length of Ireland to save their record store from closure.

Dermot (Brenock O’Connor) and Elvis (Owen Colgan) are a couple of guys from Northern Ireland who run a record shop in Omagh, County Tyrone, dealing in old-school vinyl, but they are terrorised by their mean landlord (Tara Lynne O’Neill from ‘Derry Girls’). They desperately need cash for rent arrears when Dermot discovers that a farmer in Cork is offering what appear to be hugely valuable records by the blues legend Robert Johnson for just £30 – not realising their real value. The boys hope to sell the precious discs for a mouthwatering ‘40 grand’, but does that mean they are selling their souls, the way Robert Johnson is supposed to have done at a remote crossroads?

Ireland 2025 Michael Head 92m

Arthur Miller’s America on Screen

With a new production of ‘All My Sons’ screening as part of National Theatre Live, this talk looks back at the many film adaptations of the great American playwright’s work, including a range of clips.

Sat 18 Apr 10:30am

Plus Q&A with Ian Knight

A dramatization of the Battle of Isandlwana, where the British Army met its match against the Zulu nation. We welcome Chichester resident Ian Knight - author of 'Zulu Rising' - for a Q&A following the screening.

This prequel to the 1964 classic ‘Zulu’, which featured Michael Caine in his first-ever starring role, was released fifteen years later, and starred Burt Lancaster, Peter O’Toole and John Mills to name a few. This historical epic is lush with details and destruction, striving to take advantage of the larger-than-life screens the film was made to be viewed upon. This is a brand new 4k remaster for 2026, so be prepared for a visually stunning experience.

USA 1979 Douglas Hickox 98m

This is the definitive feature-length documentary on visionary author George Orwell, with the exclusive cooperation of the Orwell Estate.

This is like two Orwell documentaries in one. The first is wholly constructed from his diaries and correspondences, delivered in a gravelly whisper by the actor Damian Lewis. The second, intercut throughout, is a polemical film inspired by Orwell’s last book, ‘1984’. Published 76 years ago, the novel is the core of Raoul Peck’s portrait of the writer. The director charges from the Spanish Civil War to the firebombing of Japan to the war in Iraq, the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, what Putin calls the “special operation” (the phrase is bleakly ridiculed) in Ukraine and the destruction in Gaza, all the while arguing that we have now reached a peak moment of Orwellian untruth. The rich selection of archival material is punctuated by new footage, clips from a fascinating cross-section of documentaries and dramas, including several screen iterations of ‘1984’ and Orwell’s novella ‘Animal Farm’.

France/USA 2025 Raoul Peck 119m

The biographical story of Michelangelo's troubles while painting the Sistine Chapel at the urging of Pope Julius II.

During the Italian Renaissance, Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison) contracts the influential artist Michelangelo (Charlton Heston) to sculpt 40 statues for his tomb. When the pope changes his mind and asks the sculptor to paint a mural in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo doubts his painting skills and abandons the project. Divine inspiration returns Michelangelo to the mural, but his artistic vision clashes with the pope's demanding personality and threatens the success of the historic painting. Viewers will find it fascinating to see how frescoes were painted using fresh plaster and paper guides, and to see how the marble slabs for large statues were mined in the Tuscan quarries. Others will revel in the pomp and ceremony of the age, or the contentious relationship of two very stubborn men.

USA 1965 Carol Reed 138m

In die Sonne Schauen

Over the course of a century, as four girls from different time periods experience their youth on a German farm, their lives become intertwined until time seems to dissolve.

The action takes place in the same location: a farm in Saxony-Anhalt in northeastern Germany. Each segment is rooted in the perspective of one or two central characters - usually sisters, or mothers and daughters - but the connections from one timeline to the next are seldom clarified up front. Gradually, the connections between the characters reveal themselves, as if caught in a stream-of-consciousness. Like Haneke’s ‘The White Ribbon’, Schilinski’s film is something like a ghost story. As visually innovative as it is thematically stunning, the century of women’s stories is intertwined with a spiritual lens. (Subtitles)

Germany 2025 Mascha Schilinski 149m

Diamonds

A director assembles all his favourite actresses to film a movie set in 1970s Rome that tells the story of a prestigious costume design atelier.

Alberta (Luisa Ranieri) and Gabriella (Jasmine Trinca) are owners of an atelier, staffed mostly by dedicated female seamstresses. The two very different sisters both love and resent one another, Alberta is highly strung while Gabriella is gentle and distracted. Enter Oscar-winning costume designer Bianca Vega (Vanessa Scalera) who is irrational and demanding… and choosing an atelier for her next film. Channelling a little Almodóvar, director Özpetek’s world is loaded with many a melodramatic twist and turn: loneliness, passions, anxieties and unbreakable bonds permeate the film. This is a love letter to cinema’s leading ladies as well as the tremendously talented women who have costumed actors and extras throughout film history. (Subtitles)

Italy 2024 Ferzan Özpetek 135m

A 15-year-old Yuruk boy from a remote Macedonian village escapes into music amidst parental expectations, societal conservatism and forbidden love for a promised girl.

Ahmet (Arif Jakup) laboriously herds sheep while caring for his little brother Naim (Agush Agushev), the picture of adorableness, who hasn’t spoken since their mother died. One evening while tending to the flock, Ahmet discovers a secret dance party, an event that rekindles a love for music that was passed down by his mother. It is there that he first catches a glimpse of Aya (Dora Akan Zlatnova), a young girl only in the village to enter into an arranged marriage. This delightful and beguilingly sharp film playfully critiques certain Muslim customs, but never in a demeaning way, and with an unforgettable ensemble, laugh-out-loud comedy moments and heartbreaking drama, this story of a teenage boy defying his traditional community feels like a revelation. (Subtitles)

North Macedonia 2025 Georgi M. Unkovski 99m

Royal Ballet & Opera

Mozart's masterpiece, an enchanting quest for love and wisdom, glitters in David McVicar’s enchanting production.

Princess Pamina has been captured. Her mother, the Queen of the Night, tasks the young Prince Tamino with her daughter’s rescue. But when Tamino and his friendly sidekick, Papageno, embark on their adventure, they soon learn that when it comes to the quest for love, nothing is as it really seems. Guided by a magic flute, they encounter monsters, villains, and a mysterious brotherhood of men – but help, it turns out, comes when you least expect it.

Mozart’s fantastical opera glitters in David McVicar’s enchanting production. The star cast includes Julia Bullock as Pamina, Amitai Pati as Tamino, Huw Montague Rendall as Papageno, Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night and Soloman Howard as Sarastro, led by French conductor Marie Jacquot in her Covent Garden debut. Sung in German with subtitles.

210 minutes inc 2 intervals

Tickets £19.50

Tue 21 Apr 18:45

Sun 26 Apr 14:00 (tbc)

L’Etranger

Sixty years after Luchino Visconti, François Ozon has adapted a monumental work of literature for the screen – ‘The Stranger’ by Albert Camus.

In 1930s Algeria, apathetic Frenchman Meursault (Benjamin Voisin) shows total indifference to life. His daily life is soon disrupted by his neighbour, Raymond Sintès, who draws Meursault into his shady dealings. Until one blisteringly hot day, a tragic event occurs on a beach. Ozon has said: “The themes in the book could hardly be more topical: an emotionally absent hero detached from the world, confronting our mortality, the individual’s quest for meaning in an increasingly alienating world.” Shot in moody, period-appropriate black and white, this was one of the highlights at the 2025 Venice Film Festival. Cast includes Rebecca Marder, Swann Arlaud, Pierre Lottin and Denis Lavant. ‘A crackling yet tasteful erotic charge’. Screen Daily. (Subtitles)

France 2025 François Ozon 120m

Jim Jarmusch explores the awkwardness and closeness of parents with their grownup children in three slyly comic panels of drama set in rural USA, Dublin and Paris.

The three stories all concern the relationships between adult children, their somewhat distant parent (or parents), and each other. Each of the three chapters takes place in the present, and each in a different country.

Siblings Emily (Mayim Bialik) and Jeff (Adam Driver), making the arduous trip out into the countryside to see their ageing (and sneaky) dad (Tom Waits). Meanwhile, in Dublin, Charlotte Rampling plays a characteristically self-possessed and self-assured woman who is welcoming her two grownup daughters (Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps) for their annual visit for tea. She is entirely content to make these visits a rarity. In Paris, non-identical twins Skye (Indya Moore) and Billy (Luka Sabbat) pay a final visit to their parents’ apartment. The parents have recently died, apparently piloting a light aircraft in the Azores. The film seems to ask: who are our parents? Did they have real existences before we were born that we will never understand? And are our own existences destined to be effaced and rendered irrelevant or taboo by our own children? This is a subtly haunting and wryly funny triptych that transforms the banal awkwardness of family life into a bittersweet meditation on the bonds that persist.

USA 2025 Jim Jarmusch 110m

In James McAvoy’s first – and very impressive – outing as a director, two lads from Dundee con the music industry by pretending to be an established Californian rap duo.

This dark music comedy centres on Gavin Bain (Seamus McLean Ross) and Billy Boyd (Samuel Bottomley), two young Scots with dreams of being rap stars. After an open call audition with a major record label goes terribly because the executives can't take their accents seriously, the boys reinvent themselves as American rappers to secure record deals and reveal they're actually Scottish at the height of fame to call out the music industry. Problem is, their overnight success is not as fabulous as they had hoped. Look out for McAvoy hamming it up as a record company executive with Malcolm Tucker-style dialogue.

UK 2025 James McAvoy 101m

Värn

During the Cold War peak, a Swedish farmhand transforms his house into a community shelter, his fixation contrasting with everyday rural life, captured in striking black and white imagery.

Karl-Göran Persson (Denis Lavant) is a farmhand in southernmost Sweden. He spends most of his time – from the 1940s to the 1970s - fortifying his house, using any scrap of material he could get his hands on. Grown-ups shake their heads and chuckle at his persistence but leave the likeable fellow alone. Unlike children, who see Karl-Göran as one of their own and in turn, we become witness to his own childlike traits. This is a deeply heartwarming and concise tribute to a real-life obsession with the Swiss ‘Re-doubt’; a speculative Cold War community fall-out shelter. The film has a heart of gold, and Lavant, a skilled disciple of pantomime and vintage movie comedy, is in his absolute element as the agitated, toiling farmhand. (Subtitles)

Sweden 2025 John Skoog 85m

An arthritic Nova Scotia woman works as a housekeeper while she hones her skills as an artist and eventually becomes a beloved figure in the community.

We first meet Maud Lewis (Sally Hawkins), a smart, vibrant woman living with arthritis and struggling to stay independent, in the late 1930s amid vast Nova Scotia landscapes, picturesquely lit by cinematographer Guy Godfree. To break free from her overbearing family, Maud responds to an ad for a live-in maid, placed by grouchy hermit Everett (Ethan Hawke), who lives in a tiny box of a house and runs a business selling fish. These odd outcasts aren’t exactly a match made in heaven on paper, yet they form a unique, loving companionship over time. Maud wears down Everett’s grumpiness, painting naive happy murals of the countryside on the walls of their shack. Her art – colourful flowers, cats and chickens – grabs the attention of sophisticated New Yorker Sandra (Kari Matchett), who commissions Maud to make work for her. The artist’s fame grows, reaching far beyond the confines of their small world. ‘Maudie’ will break your heart with its infectious positivity and an outstanding, big-hearted performance by Sally Hawkins as the self-taught artist.

UK 2016 Aisling Walsh 115m

1937 Stalinist USSR: A newly appointed prosecutor discovers an undestroyed letter from a prisoner that reveals corruption in the secret police, the NKVD. His search for the truth becomes very dangerous.

A desperate letter from an unjustly imprisoned man reaches a newly appointed local prosecutor (Aleksandr Kuznetsov). He vows to correct this injustice, jumping dutifully through every bureaucratic hoop until he can meet with the government bigwig who can help. Adapted from a 1969 novel by gulag survivor Georgy Demidov, this is a shout of futility that is also strangely, bitterly funny. If you didn’t laugh, you’d cry. Impeccably photographed, staged and acted, the film has a chilling resonance with modern times. (Subtitles)

France/Germany/Ukraine 2025 Sergey Loznitsa 118m

John & Yoko Live in NYC

This is a new multiscreen concert film of two massive live shows by John Lennon & Yoko Ono at Madison Square Garden, New York City on

30 August 1972, newly restored, re-edited and remixed.

John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant's Memory and Special Guests performed these now-legendary sold-out One to One concerts to a combined audience of 40,000 people, raising over $1.5M (equivalent to $11.5M in 2026) for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They were the only full-length concerts John Lennon (with Yoko Ono) performed after leaving The Beatles. Originally filmed by multi-camera director Steve Gebhardt in 1972, this 2026 version of the concert film is directed by Simon Hilton with music production by Sean Ono Lennon. Hits performed include John's 'New York City', 'Instant Karma!', 'Imagine' and 'Mother', plus Yoko's 'Don't Worry Kyoko' and 'Open Your Box', plus rousing renditions of 'Come Together' & 'Hound Dog' and an amazing encore 'Give Peace a Chance' with special guests Stevie Wonder, Melanie and many others.

USA 2026 Simon Hilton 81m

In this romantic dark comedy, a happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.

Zendaya stars as bookstore employee Emma Harwood and Robert Pattinson as British museum director Charlie Thompson. Their seemingly perfect engagement collapses just before their wedding after a "What's the worst thing you've ever done?" game reveals a dark secret from Emma's past. From that starting point, Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli crafts an intimate, razor-sharp exploration of love, doubt and the stories we tell ourselves about the people we’re closest to. This is a relationship film with real teeth, one that refuses to let either its characters, or its audience, off the hook.

USA 2026 Kristoffer Borgli 106m

The incredibly talented Riz Ahmed produces and stars in this critically acclaimed Shakespeare adaptation, a film not screened at Chichester Cinema when first released in February. Here is your chance to see it now.

The Bard's most enduring tragedy is reimagined in a bold, modern adaptation set within London's elite South Asian community. When Hamlet (Ahmed) returns for his father's funeral, he is stunned to discover his uncle Claudius (Art Malik) is marrying his newly widowed mother (Sheeba Chaddha). Visited by his father's ghost, Hamlet learns the truth and spirals into a quest for vengeance that exposes the rot at the heart of the family's empire. Playing the title character as a fragile man dangerously unravelling, Ahmed brings considerable passion to indelible lines - but the real force comes from the emotional authenticity he lends one of drama’s most formidable and familiar roles. Timothy Spall co-stars as Polonius.

UK 2025 Aneil Karia 114m

Central London is thrown into panic by the discovery of an unexploded WW2 bomb on a construction site. Amidst the chaos of a widespread evacuation, a gang of criminals begins an audacious heist.

In this taut, contemporary thriller, the suspenseful plot emerges on two tracks. In one, a military bomb squad, led by Major Will Trantor (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) in coordination with metro police’s Gugu Mbatha-Raw, attempts to defuse an unexploded WWII–era bomb uncovered on a London construction site. Meanwhile, a few blocks away, a team of professional thieves, led by Theo James and Sam Worthington, burrow beneath a bank. Their scheme is to conduct a heist under cover of the bomb crisis. Director Mackenzie has great form in this genre, giving us ‘Hell or High Water’ in 2016, and here, the tension ratchets up in an enjoyable, ticking-clock heist caper about karma, explosives, friendship and betrayal.

USA 2025 David Mackenzie 98m

La Venue de l'Avenir

This delightful French crowd-pleaser, one of the highlights of last Autumn’s French Film Festival UK, is now released nationally.

A young countrywoman searches for her mother in Belle Époque Paris while four of her 21st-century descendants piece together her story from the artifacts in her soon-to-be demolished house in Normandy. A thoughtful, comic meditation on changing social mores over approximately 125 years, the epoque-shifting film re-examines some much-loved myths and images of French history, particularly from the heyday of Impressionism. Cédric Klapisch delivers France past and present with irresistible appeal to old-school Francophiles. “The best French film I saw at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival”. Roger Gibson. (Subtitles)

France/Belgium 2025 Cédric Klapisch 124m

The passionate and tumultuous love story set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors, exploring the intense and destructive relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw.

UK 2026 Emerald Fennell

Deux Femmes en Or

In this sexy comedy, reminiscent of those from the 1970s (but more feminist), two struggling mothers grapple with unfulfilled expectations and societal pressures, sparking a re-evaluation of their lives and priorities.

When new mother Violette (Laurence Leboeuf) complains to her husband (Félix Moati) that her next-door neighbour Florence (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman) and her man (Mani Soleymanlou) keep having noisy sex on the other side of their bedroom wall, it sets in place a chain of events that sees both women seeking affairs. The sex scenes are intentionally silly in their conceit, but there is also a genuine sexiness to them. Chloé Robichaud's French Canadian comedy remake (based on Claude Fournier’s racy 1970 comedy of the same name), both fun and retrograde, would make Neil Simon proud.

Canada 2025 Chloé Robichaud 100m

Met Opera

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky put together the libretto for this evocative opera from the verse novel by Alexander Pushkin, whose position in Russian literature can be compared only to that of Shakespeare in English.

Sun 3 May 14:00

In this absolute British cult classic, two sloppy out-of-work actors spend a weekend holiday at an uncle's country cottage.

The anxious, luckless Marwood (Paul McGann) and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail (Richard E. Grant), spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub. When they take a holiday "by mistake" at the country house of Withnail's flamboyantly gay uncle, Monty (Richard Griffiths), they encounter the unpleasant side of the English countryside: tedium, terrifying locals and torrential rain. The two leads prove irresistibly hilarious as the two cynical slackers in this biting examination of artists living on the fringes of prosperity and good taste.

UK 1987 Bruce Robinson 107m

Sign up for the next CineCircle to discuss films seen at New Park.

Choose a warming drink, a glass of wine or beer at Brasserie Blanc.

TICKETS ARE FREE, but bookings are essential as we have limited numbers.

Brasserie Blanc, Chichester

After losing her beloved father, Helen finds herself saved by an unlikely friendship with a stubborn hawk named Mabel.

Helen (Claire Foy) is a gently eccentric young Cambridge academic whose father Alisdair (Brendan Gleeson) is one of the most notable press photographers of his day. He is also his daughter’s closest friend, confidante and mentor, so when he dies she is understandably bereft. To deal with the loss, Helen buys a goshawk from a dealer, names it Mabel, and obsessively dives into training it... a unique yet effective way to deal with her grief. This is an incredible true story, a warm and pensive adaptation of Helen Macdonald’s 2014 memoir where she rediscovers the beauty of being alive. Look out for the outdoor hunting scenes, shot with natural-history-documentary photographic precision as Mabel chases down her prey, skimming mere inches over the ground and flitting instinctively between trees.

UK 2025 Phillipa Lowthorpe 114m

An aspiring novelist falls in love with a Ukrainian cleaner whilst his best friend attempts to rekindle his romance with a social climbing sex bomb.

Would-be novelist Rodolfo (Matthew McKinney) is hanging out with his painter flatmate Marcello (Benson Wilson), when joined by their loud friends Shaunard (Mark Nathan) and Colline (Edward Jowle) on their way to the pub. Rodolfo, however, stays behind and meets Ukrainian neighbour Mimi (Lucy Hall). This version of ‘La Bohème’, set in modern east London, uses the camera adeptly to create a sense of intimacy and naturalism. Norton-Hale’s version is both more faithful to Puccini’s original 1890s work and yet seems less dated than ‘Rent’, the 1990s stage musical from the same source material, set among Lower East Side artists in New York.

UK 2026 Robin Norton-Hale 106m

Sometimes the wrong place is right where you need to be. When a woman crashes at an empty Italian villa, posing as the owner's fiancée, she discovers an unexpected romance that may transform her life.

This is a delicious romantic comedy about one little lie, one large Italian villa, and two people getting lost in the sauce of love. Anna (Halle Bailey) has abandoned her dreams of becoming a chef and is now drifting through her twenties with a series of bad choices. A chance encounter with Matteo - a handsome Italian who happens to have a villa sitting empty in Tuscany - inspires her to jet off for Italy, against the advice of her always-honest bestie, Claire (Aziza Scott). However, not all goes to plan once Matteo's mother (Italian film icon Isabella Ferrari) and cousin Michael (Regé-Jean Page from ‘Bridgerton’) also show up. A rom-com filled to the brim with Italian escapism.

USA 2026 Kat Coiro 104m

A Manchester-set thriller based around two men trying to solve a 1980s serial-killer cold case using hypnosis as their main tool.

A sceptical journalist haunted by trauma, Jason Frey (Aneurin Barnard) is to return to Syria, where six years earlier he witnessed jihadists brutally kill a colleague. Just before setting off, he (foolishly?) volunteers to be hypnotised on a TV show by Timothy Bevan (Jeremy Piven), where he is promptly transported into a scene of a stabbing apparently committed by his previous self. Understandably, his pregnant wife Claira (Pixie Lott) later presses him to return to the hypnotist to get this door definitively locked and bolted, but the re-connection of the pair just gets them more deeply interested in solving the case.

UK 2025 Simeon Halligan 96m

One man has seen more of the natural world than any other. This unique feature documentary is his witness statement in celebration of his 100th birthday on 8 May 2026.

Sir David Attenborough has visited every continent on the globe, exploring the wild places of our planet and documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder. Here, he reflects upon both the defining moments of his lifetime as a naturalist and the devastating changes he has seen.

Sat 9 May 13:15

Tue 12 May 13:15

Two young brothers explore Lagos with their estranged father during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, witnessing both the city's magnitude and their father's daily struggles as political unrest threatens their journey home.

Akinola Davis Jr.'s film is a poetic, tender portrait of father-son bonds. Framed by the political landscape of 1993 Lagos, the film follows a father (Sopé Dìrísù) and his two young sons as they journey into and around the vibrantly rendered Nigerian metropolis, quietly reckoning with their relationship while navigating a city on the precipice of democratic crisis. This film is a real hidden is a gem, a deeply felt memory piece and vibrant portrait of 1990s Nigeria, that reveals the profound depths of what families leave unspoken. The UK's Best Foreign Film entry to the 2026 Oscars and recipient of the Caméra d'Or Special Mention at Cannes. (Subtitles)

UK/Nigeria 2025 Akinola Davis 94m

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

New 4k remaster of this vibrant French modern classic that sees a young lady on a quest to spread joy, leading her on a journey to true love.

Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tatou) lives in Montmartre, where she works as a waitress in an old-style café. Her life is changed forever when she discovers a box of toys in her house, and decides to try to track down the boy, now a man, and return his childhood treasures. On her quest she helps those around her and changes their lives, including quirky characters played by Dominique Pinon and Matthieu Kassovitz. Shot in over 80 Parisian locations, acclaimed director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (‘Delicatessen’) invokes his incomparable visionary style to capture the exquisite charm and mystery of modern-day Paris through the eyes of a beautiful ingenue. This is a sheer delight and will entrance everyone who sees it. (Subtitles)

France 2001 Jean-Pierre Jeunet 122m

A film as powerful today as it was when it was made over fifty years ago.

Violent and articulate, it said simply that here was a group of astounding musicians – The Beatles, Hendrix, Cream, The Who, Donovan, Frank Zappa – who were also eloquent and had something important to say about the world in which we lived. As John Lennon wrote to me, “We have smashed down the door of the BBC, and rock ‘n’ roll on television will never be the same again”. Warning: Contains scenes of violence. Tony Palmer

UK 1968 Tony Palmer 60m

Sun 10 May 10:30

Tickets £8

Being ushered into the presence of the 5’ 2” Igor Stravinsky could be an extremely daunting experience for anyone.

Although eighty-four years old and somehow being kept alive by blood transfusions, when I met him, he had lost none of his prodigious energy and wicked sense of humour. Some years later, after Stravinsky had died, his American scribe Robert Craft and his second wife Vera asked me to make a documentary profile to mark the centenary of Stravinsky’s birth in St Petersburg in 1882. Amongst many others, we managed to reach Stravinsky’s three surviving children, and even the last two dancers alive who had performed in the notorious première of ‘The Rite of Spring’. Tony Palmer

UK 1982 Tony Palmer 165m

Sun 10 May 12:00

Tickets £8

Few composers have been more loved in their lifetime than William Walton.  

The strange thing is that, despite an almost inevitable dip in his popularity following his death in 1983, since the turn of the 21st century, here we are discovering once again the extraordinary power and richness of his music.  This film was first broadcast as a 'South Bank Show' in 1981. It had originally been offered to the BBC but rejected on the grounds that a long film about Walton "would be of little interest to the general public". This Italia prize-winning film includes the only full-length interview ever recorded with Walton. Tony Palmer

UK 1980 Tony Palmer 100m

Sun 10 May 15:15

Tickets £8

The only full-length film biography of one of the most important playwrights of the second half of the 20th century, whose play ‘Look Back in Anger’ transformed theatre.

Here Osborne talks about his struggles, his wives (five in all), his rejection by society, his eventual triumph. The film includes extracts of several of his important plays, with Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Nicol Williamson, Robert Stephens, Albert Finney and Natasha Richardson. As Osborne himself says: “These days, newspapers and television pour out opinions with a frenzy that marked the production of spitfires during the last war”. Tony Palmer

UK 2003 Tony Palmer 125m

Sun 10 May 17:30

Tickets £8

In 1990 I made a film to celebrate Yehudi Menuhin’s 75th birthday. At least, that was the ‘commission’ from Channel Four television. It subsequently won numerous prizes around the world.

It also provoked a maelstrom of protest from Menuhin aficionados as well as from many members of the Menuhin family, especially Lady Diana and Yehudi himself. However, Jerry Kruppnick wrote in the New York Star; “This is an extraordinary family portrait. It brings tears to our eyes. Just the glorious music alone is worth watching of this eye-and and-ear-boggling film”. Tony Palmer

UK 1990 Tony Palmer 105m

Sun 10 May 20:00

Tickets £8

Footage of a concert held in Ghana to celebrate the 14th anniversary of the independence of that country.

This is a filmed documentary of what could very loosely be termed the "African Woodstock". In 1971, several prominent African-Americans convinced the government of Ghana to hold a gala concert to commemorate that nation's 14th anniversary of independence. Some of the big American names participating in the resulting 14-hour event are Santana, Wilson Pickett and Roberta Flack, while African artists are represented by such acts as Kofi Ghanaba and the Kumasi Drummers.

Ghana/USA 1971 Denis Sanders 96m

‘Mother’s Pride’ is a comedy drama about a failing pub, a divided community and a grieving family whose lives are changed by brewing real ale and entering the Great British Beer Awards!

Despite once being the lifeblood of many communities, tens of thousands of pubs and breweries across Britain have closed down since the 1970s, with thousands more falling victim to Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions. Now, leading British filmmakers Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft who made ‘Fisherman’s Friends (one of the most successful British independent films of the past decade) have taken inspiration from the near loss of their own community pubs to produce a comedy feature film that they describe as “a love-letter to family, community, real ale and Britain’s forgotten rural traditions”. Its great British cast includes Mark Addy (‘The Full Monty’), Martin Clunes, Miles Jupp and Josie Lawrence.

UK 2025 Nick Moorcroft 90m

Twenty years after making their iconic turns as Miranda, Andy, Emily and Nigel - Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci return to the fashionable streets of New York City and the sleek offices of Runway Magazine.

As Miranda Priestly (Streep) nears retirement, she reunites with Andy Sachs (Hathaway) to face off against her former assistant turned rival: Emily Charlton (Blunt).

USA 2026 David Frankel 120m

After wildfires take his ranch, a cowboy named Dusty winds up in a FEMA camp. He finds community with others who lost homes, while reconnecting with his daughter and ex-wife.

This gently humanist story of the American West follows Dusty (Josh O'Connor), a reserved, divorced father whose ranch has burned down in a devastating wildfire. Now living in a trailer community on a government-run campsite, Dusty finds solace with his new neighbours who have also lost everything, quietly reassembles his life, and starts reconnecting with his ex-wife Ruby (Meghann Fahy) and young daughter Callie-Rose (Lily LaTorre). Filmed against the rapturous backdrop of southern Colorado, ‘Rebuilding’ is a ruminative, moving portrait of resilience and human connection in the wake of loss. O’Connor adds another triumph to his growing list of exceptional performances in this lyrical tale of combatting misfortune via community.

USA 2025 Max Walker-Silverman 96m

‘Every man should pull a boat over a mountain once in his life’

In a second collaboration with the Friends of Speyer Twinning Association, this talk looks back at the incredible career of one of the giants of cinema. John Harte and Mike Jennings of the cinema’s Education Team explore Herzog’s fascinating life and career, with many film extracts. 100m inc. Q&A

Sat 16 May 10:30am

Miroirs No. 3

After a car crash kills her boyfriend, piano student Laura is taken in by Betty, who witnessed the accident. Living with Betty's family brings comfort, but Laura starts questioning their intentions as time passes.

During a weekend trip to the countryside, Laura (Paula Beer), a young piano student from Berlin, miraculously survives a car crash. Awakening in a nearby house, Laura finds herself in the care of a local woman (Barbara Auer) and her initially reluctant husband (Matthias Brandt) and son (Philip Froissant). By turns haunted and hopeful, Laura and her adopted family reawaken to the world and come to find a strange harmony together. However, they cannot outrun the ghosts of the past, which begin to stir, as acclaimed director Christian Petzold spins a modern gothic fairytale about the lies we tell ourselves and the strange ways that grief, connection and humanity bind and sustain us. (Subtitles)

Germany 2025 Christian Petzold 86m

Ep 3 from All You Need is Love: I Can Hypnotise ‘Dis Nation

Thanks to the hit movie, ‘The Sting’, everyone reckons they know about

Ragtime. But do they?

This episode includes the oldest known piece of film (1898) showing what the Ragtime cakewalk was really like. Although reference is made to other early ragtime composers, this episode is essentially the story of Scott Joplin – an extraordinary tragedy of failure, frustration, pride, of the black man’s struggle to achieve for himself a proper place in American society. There is also rare early film of Irving Berlin (Alexander’s Ragtime Band) as well as film of Joplin’s birthplace and of the madhouse where he died. Tony Palmer

UK 1975/76 Tony Palmer 58m

Sun 17 May 10:00

Tickets £8

The life and tribulations of world renowned ballerina Margot Fonteyn as told by herself, friends and fellow dancers.

How did it come about that the most famous dancer England has ever produced was deceived and betrayed by those closest to her; of how a girl brought up in Shanghai, told her mother she would one day become the greatest dancer in the world; and of how, in spite of being almost unable to walk, she was still performing at 67? Among the ballets featured are: ‘Swan Lake’; ‘Giselle’; ‘The Sleeping Beauty’; ‘Marguerite and Armand’; ‘The Nutcracker’; ‘Les Sylphides’ and of course ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with Nureyev.  Tony Palmer

UK 2005 Tony Palmer 163m

Sun 17 May 11:15

Tickets £8

Made in 2013 for the 100th anniversary of Britten’s birth, this is Tony Palmer’s

5th film with and about this tortured composer.

After its first screening, critic Simon Heffer wrote: “I have rarely seen such a profoundly troubling film. Palmer is a master, and this is his masterpiece”. With interviews including Peter Pears, Janet Baker, Simon Rattle, Yehudi Menuhin, Irina Shostakovich and Britten himself, the film tells the story of a deeply troubled man whose own masterpiece, ‘War Requiem’, almost didn’t happen. “My subject is war”, Britten wrote as a preface, quoting Wilfred Owen. “All a poet can do is warn.” This film with its political message is perhaps that warning. Tony Palmer

UK 2013 Tony Palmer 135m

Sun 17 May 14:15

Tickets £8

A strange and rather tragic story lies behind Dvořák’ last major work, the ‘Cello Concerto’.

The search for that story began in the early 80s when I visited Prague looking for books about Czechoslovakia’s most famous composer. To my surprise, I could find nothing at all. So, when in 1988 I was asked to film a new recording of the ‘Cello Concerto’ in Prague, including soloist Julian Lloyd-Webber, I accepted. Initially, it could not be shown in Communist-ruled Czechoslovakia, but two years later the Russians were thrown out, and this film was among the first documentaries to be shown on newly-liberated Czech television. Tony Palmer

UK/Czechoslovakia 1988 Tony Palmer 92m

Sun 17 May 16:45

Tickets £8

The life story of Sergei Rachmaninoff told through the use of home movies, concert footage, and interviews.

Shot in Russia, Switzerland and America, this documentary was made with the full participation of the composer’s grandson, Alexandre Rachmaninoff. And Rachmaninoff’s letters and other reminiscences are spoken by Sir John Gielgud. Rachmaninoff says, “nowadays, I am rarely satisfied with myself, and almost never feel that what I do is successful. I am burdened with a harvest of sorrow”. The film features soloists Mikhail Pletnev, baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky and young stars Valentina Igoshina, Peter Jablonski and Nikolai Putilin. Tony Palmer

UK 1998 Tony Palmer 100m

Sun 17 May 18:45

Tickets £8

This documentary follows gravel-voiced Leonard Cohen on his 1972 European tour. Long lost 16mm prints were restored for this 2010 release, not seen since 1972.

After being invited to follow Cohen on what was then billed as one of his last ever tours, our crew of only four filmed the Canadian singer songwriter – or poet as he preferred to be called – on the road across Europe, ending up at a final gig in Jerusalem. What is valuable about the film today is not only that it contains 17 of Cohen’s greatest songs performed by him in his prime, but it has a real feel for the rough and tumble, and difficulties, of life on the road. Tony Palmer

UK 1972/2010 Tony Palmer 106m

Sun 17 May 20:45

Tickets £8

Jeder Für Sich und Gott Gegen Alle

A young man named Kaspar Hauser suddenly appears in Nuremberg in 1828, barely able to talk or walk, and bearing a strange note.

When young German man Kaspar Hauser (a remarkable performance from Bruno S.) is suddenly released from an existence of inexplicable confinement, he is forced into regular society. Barely capable of communicating, Hauser is exploited in a circus sideshow until he is taken under the wing of the kind-hearted Professor Daumer (Walter Ladengast), who slowly helps him acclimatize to conventional life. Based on the true story of a 16-year-old youth who appeared out of nowhere in a German square in 1828, this is one of Herzog’s most remarkable films and now with a 4K remaster. (Subtitles)

West Germany 1974 Werner Herzog 110m

Two brothers following a violent exchange with their father on the day of their mother's funeral, the younger of the two left their Highland home for America. After forty years they reunite in the land of their birth.

This is a story of family, forgiveness and the possibility of healing. Set in the Scottish Highlands, Sandy (Brian Cox) runs the family distillery in Glenrothan, and he writes to his brother Donal (Alan Cumming) to tell him that his health is worsening, and it would be nice to see him after a forty-year absence. Donal does visit but is gradually reminded of the reasons why he left as Sandy tries to reconnect with him, encountering resistance at every turn. This is Brian Cox’s first film as a director, where he has delivered a family comedy drama with magnificent Highland scenery, and will leave you savouring a single-malt whisky.

UK 2025 Brian Cox 97m

This is the eagerly awaited cinematic portrayal of the life and legacy of one of the most influential artists the world has ever known.

The film tells the story of Michael Jackson's life beyond the music, tracing his journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five, to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fuelled a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world. Highlighting both his life off-stage and some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career, the film gives audiences a front-row seat to Michael Jackson as never before. This is where his story begins. The impossible task of playing one of the most famous musical artists of the last 50 years falls to Jaafar Jackson, nephew of Michael, and son of Jermaine Jackson.

USA 2026 Antoine Fuqua 127m

Mark Jenkin – director of the brilliant ‘Bait’ (2019) – brings us his latest unique drama, focussing on a mysterious boat which returns to a village years after vanishing.

Three decades ago, the Rose of Nevada vanished at sea, along with its crew. Now, it has returned. In a remote fishing village, its reappearance is embraced as an auspicious sign, with the local citizens convinced the luck of their economically devastated community may turn, if only the ship sails again. Joining the crew is Nick (George MacKay), desperate to provide for his young family, and Liam (Callum Turner), a mysterious drifter eager to escape his past. After a successful voyage, they return to harbour, only to find that nothing is as they remember it. Shooting on a 16mm Bolex camera, Jenkin writes, directs, edits and scores a haunting and hallucinatory time-travel mystery that further solidifies him as one of the most distinct, singular artists working in film today.

UK 2025 Mark Jenkin 114m

Exhibition on Screen

Who was Frida Kahlo? Everyone knows her, but who was the woman behind the bright colours, the big brows, and the floral crowns? Take a journey through the life of a true icon, discover her art, and uncover the truth behind her often turbulent life.

Sat 30 Sep 16:00

Tue 3 Oct 15:45

In post-war Japan's economic boom, gangster family-born Kikuo Tachibana finds himself adopted by a kabuki actor. Despite life's challenges, he develops into a gifted performer.

Nagasaki, 1964: After the death of his father, the leader of a yakuza gang, 14-year-old Kikuo (Ryô Yoshizawa) is taken under the wing of a famous Kabuki actor. Alongside Shunsuke (Ryûsei Yokohama), the actor's only son, he decides to dedicate himself to this traditional form of theatre. For decades, the two young men grow and evolve together - from acting school to the grandest stages - amid scandals and glory, brotherhood and betrayals. One of them will become the greatest Japanese master of the art of Kabuki - the 400-year-old traditional Japanese performing art that combines highly stylized drama, traditional dance and elaborate, dramatic makeup. (Subtitles)

Japan 2025 Sang-il Lee 175m

SPECIAL EVENT

Introduced by director Tony Palmer

A huge panorama of Wagner’s life and work, from before the 1848 Revolution, through his exile in Switzerland, his rescue by the besotted King Ludwig II of Bavaria to the final triumph at Bayreuth.

Tickets £25

Film & Food (Brasserie Blanc) £50TBC

Sun 24 May 11:30-22:10

11:30 – Part One (Introduced by Tony Palmer) 163m

14:20 – Lunch Interval (100m)

16:00 – Part Two 160m

18.45 – Interval (45m)

19:30 – Part Three (introduced/Q&A with Tony Palmer) 155m

22:10 – Finish

Amélie et la Métaphysique des Tubes

The third birthday of Amélie, a Belgian child in Japan, becomes a turning point, marking the beginning of life-altering events that shape her understanding of the world.

The world is a perplexing, peaceful mystery to Amélie (Loïse Charpentier) until a miraculous encounter with chocolate ignites her wild sense of curiosity. As she develops a deep attachment to her family's housekeeper, Nishio-san (Victoria Grosbois), Amélie discovers the wonders of nature as well as the emotional truths hidden beneath the surface of her family's idyllic life as foreigners in post-war Japan. Adapted from the autobiographical novel by Amélie Nothomb and brought to life in the completely original animated style of directors Mailys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han, ‘Little Amélie or the Character of Rain’ to give it its full title, tells a tender, poignant and visually stunning story about the healing power of human connection.

France/Belgium 2025 Liane-Cho Han Jin Kuang & Maïlys Vallade 77m

In Pixar’s most recent animation, a 19-year-old animal lover uses technology that places her consciousness into a robotic beaver to uncover mysteries within the animal world beyond her imagination.

What if you could talk to animals and understand what they're saying? In ‘Hoppers’, scientists have discovered how to "hop" human consciousness into lifelike robotic animals, allowing people to communicate with animals as animals! The adventure introduces Mabel, an animal lover who seizes an opportunity to use the technology, uncovering mysteries within the animal world that are beyond anything she could have imagined.

USA 2026 Daniel Chong 104m

NT Live

Nicola Coughlan (‘Bridgerton’) joins Éanna Hardwicke (‘The Sixth Commandment’) and Siobhán McSweeney (‘Derry Girls’) in John Millington Synge’s riveting play of youth and self-discovery.

Thu 28 May 19:45

We welcome back Professor Hugo Frey of the University of Chichester for (in his words) ‘a uniquely groovy happening…’

Hugo will explore the zany time when avant garde comics became international movies. This uniquely groovy happening for Chichester will tour from Jane Fonda's infamous ‘Barbarella’ to Joseph Losey's ‘Modesty Blaise’.

100m inc. Q&A

Sat 30 May 10:30am

Met Opera

American composer Gabriela Lena Frank makes her Met debut with her first opera, a magical-realist portrait of Mexico’s painterly power couple Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, with libretto by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Nilo Cruz.

Sun 31 May 14:45

Inspired by the true story of the unlikely British aristocrat who smashed society’s notions of class, gender and decorum, squandering a multimillion fortune before his heartbreaking untimely death.

Meet Henry Paget (Callum Scott Howells), the 5th Marquess of Anglesey and a fabulously flamboyant aristocrat. Born in 1875, he inherited a fortune and promptly set about spending every last penny of it on jewels, theatre productions and scandalously lavish parties. While polite society clutched its pearls, Henry became a beloved figure to the people of Bangor. Outwardly, that is how people will remember him, but understanding the young man grieving his mother and desperately seeking the approval of the father he never met brings an extra dimension to this extraordinary life. A riotous, uncompromising celebration of otherness. Cast also includes Rupert Everett and Siobhán McSweeney.

UK 2026 Celyn Jones 108m

18th Century Venice: A talented violinist, confined in an orphanage, meets Vivaldi who becomes her teacher. Under his mentorship and through his music, she gains courage to break free from the life she was destined for and pursue her passion.

There is plenty of music in young Cecilia’s (Tecla Insolia) life, but little harmony as she has been a resident of the Orphanage della Pieta in Venice since birth. She is inspired to embrace her violin as a potential tool for liberation with the arrival of new musical director – a certain Don Antonio Vivaldi (Michele Riondino) - at the school. The film beautifully evokes 18th Century Venice - its churches, markets and gondolas; the music of Vivaldi is played throughout the film, and it is magnificent; and Director Damiano Michiletto is an award-winning opera director, clearly knowing how to skilfully present a musical performance to an audience. (Subtitles)

Italy/France 2025 Damiano Michieletto 110m

Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when an iconic pop star reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer on the eve of her comeback performance.

In what has been described as a “psychosexual pop thriller”, Anne Hathaway plays pop star Mother Mary and Michaela Coel (who also shines in ‘The Christophers’ this season) is her estranged fashion designer Sam Anselm. They reunite when the musician travels to her former friend’s English manor so as to create a new dress for her upcoming concert tour. The original music has been written and produced by Charli XCX, Jack Antonoff and FKA twigs with Hathaway providing her own vocals. Hathaway recently described her character as “a sort of Lady Gaga-Taylor Swift hybrid”.

UK 2026 David Lowery 112m

In the 41st century, an astronaut seeks to stop an evil scientist who threatens to unleash a powerful weapon upon the galaxy.

The year is 40,000. Peacefully floating around in zero-gravity Barbarella (Jane Fonda) is suddenly interrupted by a call from the President of Earth. A young scientist, Duran-Duran, is threatening the ancient universal peace and Barbarella is the chosen one to find him and save the world. During her mission, Barbarella never finds herself in a situation where it isn't possible to lose at least part of her already minimal dressing. This is the first of three colourful, sexy, trivial, endearing Dino De Laurentiis productions adapted from popular comic strips - the others being ‘Diabolik’ (1968) and Mike Hodges' delirious remake of ‘Flash Gordon’ (1980). Thoroughly cheesy, ‘Barbarella’ is nonetheless full of humour, entertaining visuals and Jane Fonda's sex appeal. This classic film (along with ‘Modesty Blaise’) is screening to accompany Hugo Frey’s illustrated talk on Comic Books in Film (see previous page).

France/Italy 1968 Roger Vadim 98m

To mark Chichester Pride 2026, a talk celebrating the career of a legend of Hollywood cinema.

This talk celebrates Chichester Pride by exploring iconic Hollywood legend and anti-fascist campaigner Marlene Dietrich.

Sat 6 Jun 10:30am

To complement our talk on Marlene Dietrich, we present this classic comedy Western in a new 4K remaster. Deputy Sheriff Destry tames the town of Bottleneck, including saloon singer Frenchy.

The small town of Bottleneck is under the control of Kent (Brian Donlevy), a power-hungry boss who gets control over the local cattle ranchers by winning a rigged card game. When the local sheriff questions the legitimacy of the game, Kent has him killed and names the town drunk, Dimsdale (Charles Winninger), as sheriff. What Kent doesn't know is that Dimsdale knows legendary lawman Tom Destry, who in turn sends his daring son Tom Destry Jr. (James Stewart) to Bottleneck to save the day. Dietrich is Frenchy, the hardened, ever-scrapping saloon entertainer with a reckless sense of comedy. She sings, she dances, partakes in a free-for-all brawl and elevates this Western into a real gem. Stewart cuts quite the striking figure as the lanky, against-the-odds gunman shares a wonderful chemistry with Dietrich.

USA 1939 George Marshall 95m

Hungary, 1956: A young boy, raised by his mother with the tale of an idealized dead father, is confronted with a brutish man who claims to be his real father.

Growing up in Budapest in the late 1950s, shortly after the quashing of the anti-Communist uprising of 1956, is young Andor (Bojtorján Barabás). His painful life journey to date is thrown into confusion when a man, Berend (Grégory Gadebois), appears from his mother's (Andrea Waskovics) past. Andor discovers the true story of her survival during World War II and has to come to terms with this man as a usurping father he only has hatred for. From the director of Best Foreign Film Oscar winner ‘Son of Saul’ (2015), this is a film that will keep you guessing, due mostly to young Barabas’s energised alertness and ability to register Andor’s pain without overstatement. (Subtitles)

Hungary 2025 László Nemes 132m

This latest comedy thriller from Ben Wheatley centres on a temporary small-town sheriff who uncovers dark mysteries after a local bank robbery.

For Sheriff Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk), his provisional posting to the quaint Midwestern American town of Normal, Minnesota, was meant to be a welcome respite from both his marital woes and recent moral injuries in the line of duty. But when a botched bank robbery interrupts the municipality's tranquil pace, a dark secret is inadvertently exposed, and Ulysses soon discovers that the town is anything but its namesake. Because it is Wheatley directing, the already funny script gets an extra dose of dark humour from its over-the-top kills. Think of this as a comedically thematic companion piece to the Coen Brothers’ ‘Fargo’ which then moves into Tarantino-esque excess. Support cast includes Lena Headey and Henry Winkler.

Canada 2025 Ben Wheatley 90m

Special Event

Short Films Programme

An entertaining and thought-provoking evening of some of the most outstanding British-Jewish short films commissioned by UK Jewish Film over the first quarter of the 21st century.

Films: Beshert (Lewis Rose, 20m); Sidney Turtlebaum (Tristram Shapeero, 20m);  Primordial Chicken Soup (Lewis Rose, 20m); The 10th Man (Lewis Rose, 20m); Orphaned Burial Grounds (Lewis Rose, 20m); Growing Up Mizrahi (Lewis Rose, 20m); Hannah Cohen’s Holy Communion (Lewis Rose, 20m); The Chop (Lewis Rose, 20m). We hope to welcome one of the filmmakers for a Q&A after the screening. See the webpage for this event for full film details.

Total running time including Q&A is 125m.

4K Remaster

A beautiful new remaster of this vivid 18th century portrait of the stolen romantic relationship between two young women who have a persuasive onscreen connection, which gives this affair a life of its own.

Brittany 1760. Painter Marianne (Merlant Noémie) is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel). Héloïse is a reluctant bride-to-be and Marianne must paint her without her knowing. She observes her by day and secretly paints her at night. Intimacy and attraction grow between the two as they share Héloïse’s first and last moments of freedom, all whilst Marianne paints the portrait that will end it all. You can capture, mount, and hang every moment of this film on a wall as high art. (Subtitles)

France 2019 Céline Sciamma 121m

Three sisters return to their home for the third wedding of their twice-widowed mother, where they revisit the past and confront the future, with help from a colourful group of unexpected wedding guests.

The three daughters are from vastly different walks of life: Katherine (Scarlett Johansson) is a Captain in the Royal Navy; Victoria (Sienna Miller) is a Hollywood star; and Georgina (Emily Beecham) is a hospice nurse. They reluctantly return to their childhood home in the British countryside to be bridesmaids for the third wedding of their glamorous mother Diana (Kristin Scott Thomas). The family navigates a weekend of see-sawing emotions, reflecting on grief, memory and fraternal bonds. Heartfelt and funny, this is a summer film that makes you want to step into its world and spend some time there.

UK 2023 Kristin Scott Thomas 95m

A talented piano tuner's meticulous skills for tuning pianos lead him to discover an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes, turning his life upside down.

Niki (Leo Woodall) is a gifted young piano tuner whose heightened sense of hearing draws the attention of criminals, who see his talents as useful for opening safes as well as for tuning Steinways. With his once-promising musical career over, Niki works across New York with his mentor Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), encountering a range of characters, including composition student Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), with whom he forges an unexpected connection. Niki's safecracking work however, threatens his budding romance with Ruthie and pulls him into increasingly dangerous territory. Anchored by a quiet yet compelling performance by Woodall (surely one of our most charismatic stars), the film gives a lovely late-career showcase to Hoffman. The mix of genre elements is a delight and the jazzy score, fast pace and strong performances make much of the film sing. This is Daniel Roher's first narrative feature after the Oscar-winning 2023 documentary ‘Navalny’.

USA 2025 Daniel Roher 109m

Supermodel Kate Moss embarks on a journey of self-discovery when acclaimed artist Lucian Freud offers to paint her portrait.

2002: At 28, Kate Moss (Ellie Bamber) is already the greatest fashion icon of our time. Endlessly watchable, never predictable, always natural and utterly unpretentious. Kate shaped a generation, yet she still yearns to be seen, truly seen. In a bold move, Kate enters Lucian Freud's (Derek Jacobi) studio and agrees to sit for a series of portrait sessions with Lucian, who is going to create the now iconic painting ‘Naked Portrait’. This film manages to stay away from traditional biopic clichés and structures by focusing exclusively on one specific topic: the friendship between the two main characters. Skilfully treating them as normal human beings with their complicated histories, relationships and character traits.

UK 2025 James Lucas 100m

In the first of two events for the Festival of Chichester, both of which are linked to productions at Chichester Festival Theatre, this talk explores the many screen adaptations of the work of novelist Ian McEwan.

Ian McEwan is Britain’s pre-eminent literary novelist, with 18 best-sellers and numerous literary prizes to his name.  Less well-known is McEwan’s film and screenwriting work. 100m inc. Q&A

Sat 13 Jun 10:30am

A thirteen-year-old fledgling writer irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit. Screening to complement our talk on Ian McEwan screen adaptations.

This sweeping English drama, based on the book by Ian McEwan, follows the lives of young lovers Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy). When the couple are torn apart by a lie constructed by Cecilia's jealous younger sister, Briony (Saoirse Ronan), all three of them must deal with the consequences. Robbie is the hardest hit, since Briony's deception results in his imprisonment, but hope for Cecilia and her beau increases when their paths cross during World War II. The film skilfully keeps the same sense of dreamy otherworldliness and unsettling nervous energy from the McEwan source novel. Support cast includes Brenda Blethyn, Benedict Cumberbatch and Juno Temple.

UK 2007 Joe Wright 123m

NT Live

The pen is mightier than the sword. Among the glittering salons of the super-rich, patriarchy equals power, reputation is everything – and for women, one misstep can mean ruin. Marquise de Merteuil (Lesley Manville - ‘Phantom Thread’), master in the art of survival, wields her influence with intelligence and control. Alongside the magnetic Vicomte de Valmont (Aidan Turner - ‘Poldark’), they turn seduction into strategy and weaponise desire.

Thu 25 Jun 19:45

Sun 28 Jun 14:30

Festival of Chichester 2026

British strikes and political protest on film  

In May 1926, a time of political, social and economic unrest, Britain experienced its only general strike. With one or two noticeable exceptions, the General Strike is rarely represented in film. To mark the centenary this talk will explore a range of portrayals of strikes and political protest in British films.

Sat 11 Jul 10:30