Locked in her cell, a murderer reflects on the events that have led her to death row.

This Brit noir classic is a unique career achievement for Diana Dors as Mary Hilton, a woman awaiting execution for murder. The unhappily married Mary meets London nightclub piano player Jim (Michael Craig) when he comes into her store to buy perfume for his society girlfriend Lucy (Mercia Shaw). Things soon go awry when Mary confronts Lucy. The events leading up to Mary’s crime are intercut with her jail ordeal, attended by female “matrons” in the brightly lit cell, whose lights can never be dimmed because of suicide-watch surveillance. Interestingly, this screenplay was written one year before the last woman (Ruth Ellis) was executed in Britain, yet the film was released a year after the execution. The film was screened that year for members of parliament and probably influenced a bill to abolish the death penalty, eventually passed in 1965.

UK 1956 J. Lee Thompson 99m

Two grifters team up to pull off the ultimate con, in this second acting partnership between Robert Redford and Paul Newman after ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ four years earlier.

Following the murder of a mutual friend, aspiring con man Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) teams up with old pro Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman) to take revenge on the ruthless crime boss responsible, Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Hooker and Gondorff set about implementing an elaborate scheme, one so crafty that Lonnegan won't even know he's been swindled. As their big con unfolds, however, things don't go according to plan, requiring some last-minute improvisation by the undaunted duo. This film is proof that some charm, clever humour, true love of the filmmaking process and a few slick twists can add up to a magnificent film. It goes without saying that Newman and Redford radiate charisma.

USA 1973 George Roy Hill 129m

FANTASIES OF FEAR, AUTHORITY AND ESCAPE

A talk, illustrated by a range of captivating clips, looking back at the prison movie genre.

This talk, by Professor Emeritus of Cultural History Maggie Andrews, explores prison films, which have enthralled audiences and shaped attitudes towards the penal system since the silent era. Examination of a diverse range of films including ‘La Grande Illusion’ (1937), ‘Yield to the Night’ (1956), ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ (1994) and ‘Greenfingers’ (2000) will suggest prison films tap into people’s desire for self-determination and fear of authority, whilst being grounded in the cultures from which they emerge.

100m inc Q&A

Sat 15 Aug 13:00 – Lumiere

A lost boy in search of heaven, three odd nuns on a mission and a car powered by God (and stolen money). This is a fun film! A road trip like no other. A comedic near-tragedy that just keeps going South.

1974, New Zealand. A young Maori boy called Brian (Elijah Tamati) has had his heart broken after his mother passes away, but forms a personal connection with a quirky trio of nuns. These are played by Miriam Margolyes – who is always great value - and Australian acting royalty Judy Davis and Jacki Weaver. When Brian overhears some earth-shattering news regarding the future of the convent, the group embark on a wild, hilarious race to find the original deed to the land and save the building. Set throughout rural New Zealand, the visuals are diverse and often breathtaking, featuring coastlines, mountain peaks and gorgeous winding roads. ‘Holy Days’ is a feel-good joyride about faith, fierce family vibes and finding hope where you least expect it. Buckle up!

New Zealand/Canada 2026 Nat Boltt 101m

ZAMANI DAR ABADIYAT

A mysterious man's arrival shatters Maryam's fragile world in Iran, sending her on a journey to find her missing husband. Grief becomes awakening and survival becomes self-discovery.

Maryam’s (Leila Hatami, ‘A Separation) fragile world is upended when she discovers her husband has gone missing. As she sets out with her teenage daughter to retrace his final steps, she faces intense emotional strain, societal pressures and the unwelcome, predatory advances of her brother-in-law. Along the way, a calm and uncanny stranger introduces a spiritual shift that alters her path and forces her toward self-discovery. Set in Tehran, the film subtly examines the underlying mechanisms of oppression, particularly the misuse of masculinity, religion and tradition, through the lens of a single mother’s experience. Leila Hatami leads the film beautifully, widely recognised for her role in Oscar winning ‘A Separation’ by Asghar Farhadi, and remains a deeply respected figure within the global Persian community. The shoot coincided with Mahza Amini’s uprising in Iran and it has had to ride the storms of the troubles for a few years out of Iran. (Subtitles)

Iran 2026 Mehdi Norowzian 95m

Bill Nighy, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, George MacKay and Johnny Flynn star in this film about a writer who tries to reconnect with his sons.

Andrew (Nighy) - or A.N. Dyer, as he is known to the world - is a famous novelist whose first novel became an instant classic and created a cult following around its elusive author. One morning, Dyer wakes up convinced he must mend the broken relationships in his life and summons his sons to be with him. It has been nearly 20 years since an incident tore apart the family. When the sons, Richard (Flynn) and Jamie (MacKay) arrive, each burdened with their own struggles, Andrew reveals something so astonishing it couldn’t possibly be true. For two decades, Andrew hasn’t written a word - or left his home. This familiar story of the troubled successful artist who neglects his family takes a turn when Andrew reveals all. Based on the novel by David Gilbert.

UK 2025 Pablo Trapero 119m

In our second tribute to Marilyn Monroe, we present Howard Hawks’ screwball comedy musical which also stars Jane Russell and Charles Coburn and scores a full five stars from The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw.

Lorelei Lee (Monroe) is a beautiful showgirl engaged to be married to the wealthy Gus Esmond (Tommy Noonan), much to the disapproval of Gus' rich father, Esmond Sr. (Taylor Holmes), who thinks that Lorelei is just after his money. When Lorelei goes on a cruise accompanied only by her best friend, Dorothy Shaw (Russell), Esmond Sr. hires Ernie Malone (Elliott Reid), a private detective, to follow her and report any questionable behaviour that would disqualify her from the marriage. Monroe and Russell - one blonde gold-digger obsessed with diamonds and one romantic brunette with a sassy tongue - convey a sparkling magnetism, nowhere more apparent than when Monroe sings ‘Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend’ in one of the classic musical performances on film.

USA 1953 Howard Hawks 91m

THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY CUT

With Glastonbury Festival not taking place this summer, we have a rare and timely proposition for film and music lovers alike. This is the definitive cinematic record of one of the significant moments in British cultural history - the Glastonbury Festival of 1993. A 4K remaster in original CinemaScope format, with a new Dolby 5.1 surround mix and graded from scratch, this is not a restoration. It is a reinvention!

Shot using the same Panavision CinemaScope cameras and lenses as the great Hollywood epics, the film captures three days of music, magic and midsummer madness from the ground level up - the point of view not of the elite, but of the festival goer. There is no narration. No captions. No backstage access. Just the raw, unfiltered, gloriously human experience of being there. It was 1993. The BBC had not yet arrived. The fence was still permeable. There were no phone masts. Half the people there had bunked in and hardly anyone knew who was on the main stage. Popular culture in the UK was poised on the edge of a seismic shift. “A masterpiece” - Mike Leigh.

UK 1996 Robin Mahoney 88m

A super rare opportunity to see the blockbuster epic of the year as its director Christopher Nolan wants it to be seen – on 35mm film.

After winning the Trojan War, Odysseus (Matt Damon) sets sail for home but angers the gods, leading to a gruelling 10-year journey. Along the way, he and his men face terrifying ordeals, including facing mythical obstacles such as a Cyclops, the Sirens and the nymph Calypso. While Odysseus is lost at sea, his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland) are trapped in their own battle. Arrogant suitors assume Odysseus is dead, constantly pressuring Penelope to choose a new husband while bleeding the royal estate of Ithaca dry. Damon as imperious as the Greek king longing to return to his fearlessly devoted wife. “And what had never really been done is a cinematic telling of ‘The Odyssey’ with all of the capacity of a large-scale Hollywood studio production. It’s an odd gap in movie history.” – Christopher Nolan.

UK/USA 2026 Christopher Nolan 172m

O AGENTO SECRETO

Best Actor and Director awards at Cannes 2025. Brazil 1977: a technology expert flees from a mysterious past and returns to his hometown of Recife in search of peace. He soon realizes that the city is far from being the refuge he seeks.

Widower Marcelo (Wagner Moura from ‘Narcos’) is travelling across Brazil to his son. In his previous life as an academic, he discovered information that implicates a government minister of corruption, and this minister needs Marcelo gone, so hires a couple of hitmen to find him. Marcelo is welcomed into a covert community of refugees, all in hiding from the dictatorship for one reason or another. It’s a family of sorts, presided over by 77-year-old den mother Dona Sebastiana (a wonderful Tania Maria who steals every scene she is in). The film’s visual brilliance, dark comedy treats, sensual big-city intrigue, ghastly lowlife walk-ons and perfectly paced storytelling combine to create something very special. Watch out for the nods to classic films such as ‘Jaws’, ‘The Omen’ and even Jean-Paul Belmondo in ‘Le Magnifique’, from where the film’s title is sourced. (Subtitles)

Brazil 2025 Kleber Mendonça Filho 161m

In the mountains of Patagonia, a young woman and her father live a life of near solitude. When the father disappears, the daughter descends the mountains to search for him.

Olivia (Tina Sconochini) lives with her aged widower father (Dario del Carmen Haro Santana) in the rugged foothills of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, in a small, pyramidal hut. One day, her father suddenly and inexplicably disappears, so Olivia begins a search for him. While roaming around the stark building where her father works, Olivia finds Mari (Carolina Tejeda), who is to be her friend, or lover, or quasi-mother figure. This meditation on grief and loss from a new exciting female voice in Latin American cinema is like a dreamy poem on the screen, unlike anything currently on our screens. Let yourself be taken by this unique film. Filmed on moody 16mm Kodak Ektachrome film. (Subtitles)

Argentina 2025 Sofía Petersen 127m

What is considered one of Jean Renoir’s greatest films, this is a profoundly humanistic war drama centering on French officers navigating class relationships in a German POW camp during World War 1.

A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin), grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. Following several escape attempts, the men are transferred to a high-security fortress where they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim), who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu. This is a masterful anti-war statement, bringing humane insight and an undercurrent of ironic humor to an unusual relationship between captor and captive. As Orson Welles said: “If I had to save only one film in the world, it would be ‘La Grande Ilusion”.(Subtitles)

France 1937 Jean Renoir 113m

CZLOWIEK Z MARMURU

Reflecting director Wajda's emerging hostility to the Stalinist cultural establishment and its oppressive restrictions on artistic expression, he focuses on a propaganda hero from the 1950s who later fell out of favour and disappeared.

In repressive mid-1970s Poland, documentary filmmaker Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda) begins work on a film about Mateusz Birkut (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz), a bricklayer who had briefly been hailed as a hero of the proletariat in the 1950s, but then disappeared into obscurity. In piecing together details about the bricklayer's mysterious life, she discovers that his involvement in organised labour had been viewed negatively by party bosses, and that her own investigations could put her in danger. ‘Man of Marble’ (named after the state created marble statues of Birkut, used for propaganda) challenged the Communist authorities and their glorious portrayal of the past, and as a result Wajda’s humanistic film was delayed a release for four years. (Subtitles)

Poland 1977 Andrzej Wajda 160m

Join us for a live performance by The Slate Quartet of Beethoven 14th String Quartet opus 131 in C sharp major, accompanied by an intro about the piece, and followed by the 2012 film starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener and Mark Ivanir as a quartet struggling with the very same piece of music.

For 25 years, the Fugue, a string quartet, has wowed music-lovers with its skilled performances. However, as the musicians prepare to celebrate a milestone season together, cellist Peter (Walken) drops a bombshell on his comrades: he has Parkinson's disease and must soon retire. In the fallout from the shocking announcement, competing egos clash, long-simmering resentments bubble to the surface and marital infidelity rears its ugly head. An outstanding ensemble cast lends weight and depth to the film's melodramatic script, and the result is insightful and emotionally satisfying. Insightful and incandescent, this is a film for both music lovers and movie lovers.

USA 2012 Yaron Zilberman 105m

Formed in 2022, the Slate Quartet is a versatile String Quartet which performs a variety of repertoire, from classical to contemporary. They have performed at the Royal Festival Hall, the Petworth Festival and the Royal Academy of Music to name but a few venues.

Musicians: Isabella Todes (1st Violin), Jennifer Clare (2nd Violin), Carys Barnes (viola) and Joseph Barker (cello).

EL ABRAZO DE LA SERPIENTE

The encounter, apparent betrayal and finally life-affirming friendship between an Amazonian shaman (the last survivor of his people) and two foreign scientists.

Karamakate (Nilbio Torres and Antonio Bolivar) is a Shaman who lives by himself in an ultra-remote corner of the Amazon, since his tribe has been wiped out by white rubber barons. One day a canoe approaches the young Karamakate carrying a German anthropologist, Theo (Jan Bijvoet), who is deathly ill, and his loyal traveling companion, a one-time Amazonian slave named Manduca (Yauenku Migue). Shot in stunningly effective black-and-white, which gives it an old-time documentary look, the film captures the grandeur of the rainforest and the earthiness of Karamakate's world. Spirituality is central to that world, and he has all sorts of mind-bending herbs (and philosophies) at his disposal. This is gripping, challenging, engrossing, from beginning to end. A seriously good film!

Columbia/Mexico/Venezuela 2015 Ciro Guerra 119m

Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey - in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero - brings heartache and torment.

The passionate affair and professional partnership of Chico and Rita is endangered when a smooth-talking Yankee impresario tells Rita he can take her to showbiz glory in New York, but has no interest in Chico coming along as well. This beautifully designed 1940s-set animation for adults is a wonderfully passionate film. The great names of both Cuban and American jazz are invoked, and Chico and Rita's tragicomic love story meshes very pleasingly with this musical backdrop. Oscar nominated for Best Animated Feature in 2012, this is a romantic delight packed with cultural detail and flavour. (Subtitles)

UK/Cuba 2009 Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba 94m

In one of the most famous of all prison-set films, a laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison but refuses to conform.

When petty criminal Luke Jackson (Paul Newman) is sent to a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden (Strother Martin) or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline (George Kennedy – winner of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this role), who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box”, make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers. ‘Cool Hand Luke’ is eminently rewatchable, due in equal parts to its visual beauty on the screen, the stellar script and one of Paul Newman's most indelible performances - his piercing blue eyes and easy smile definitely help as well.

Sun 16 Aug 18:00 - Windmill

UN PROPHÈTE

A young man struggles to get by in prison until he is taken under the wing of a powerful mob boss, but his gradual rise through the organization's ranks brings him in conflict with his mentor.

This acclaimed crime drama follows Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim in his breakout performance), a delinquent young Muslim man, who is struggling to get by in a French prison. When he is taken under the wing of powerful Corsican mob boss Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup), he begins performing regular assignments for him, proving himself invaluable to the imposing criminal. As Malik rises in the mob ranks, he gains more power, but also more enemies, a situation that eventually brings conflict with his mentor. ‘Un Prophète’ was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, won the BAFTA in that same category, and was awarded a staggering nine César Awards (French Film Academy) out of 13 nominations at the 2010 ceremony. (Subtitles)

France 2009 Jacques Audiard 155m

In 1999, the unlikely duo of Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard and British flying instructor Brian Jones take on the world's leading aeronauts and billionaires in a race to become the first people to fly nonstop around the world in a balloon.

In the UK we were captivated by Sir Richard Branson’s attempt to seize this prize… but there was another story. In the winter of 1999, Piccard and Jones took off from Switzerland on their shot at the last great aviation challenge of the 20th century. As rival teams lifted off across the world, they left their families behind and soared towards Taiwan. Then things got a little more threatening. This exhilarating documentary looks at what it takes to write yourself into the history books; the courage, the cost, the impact on those in the air and those left on the ground. Two men, suspended in a pressurised capsule below a very large balloon, committing their lives to the vagaries of the world’s winds and weather at 30,000 feet. Strap yourself in.

UK/US/Austria 2025 John Dower 86m

Tickets £10

Sun 16 Aug 19:30 - CineVic

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new film is set in the near future, where a married couple decide to welcome a humanoid robot into their home as their son.

Otone (Haruka Ayase) and Kensuke Komoto (Daigo Yamamoto) have recently lost their son, Kakeru (Rimu Kuwaki), and in their grief, Otone receives an advertisement that creates humanoid robots of deceased loved ones. On the surface, Kakeru is a perfect physical replica of the son Otone and Kensuke lost, but the limitations of the technology underscore the gap between the son they’ve lost and the one they now have. Kore-eda (Cannes Palme d’Or winner with ‘Shoplifters’) has always been a humanist filmmaker, one who has no naïveté about our capacity for destruction, even as he celebrates the ways people, despite their own self-interests, can sacrifice and care for each other. Here, he offers a new way to rethink holding on to grief, resulting in a wistful poem of a movie. (Subtitles)

Japan 2026 Hirokazu Kore-eda 126m

THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE

A first-class Claude Chabrol mystery – the first of two in this Festival – where a man begins to believe his wife is cheating on him. 4K remaster.

Charles Desvallées (Michel Bouquet), a successful insurance broker, employs a private investigator on suspicion that his wife, Hélène (Stéphane Audran), is cheating on him. After acquiring evidence of his wife's infidelity, Charles confronts and murders Hélène's lover, Victor Pégala (Maurice Ronet). When the police question the married couple about their connection to the murdered man, both Hélène and Charles continue their perilous dance of deception. The three main characters give terrific performances, each conveying their strengths, weaknesses and charms. It’s a brilliant scrutiny of the middle-class that envisions both cynicism and sympathy for them as they discover each other’s secrets. (Subtitles)

France 1969 Claude Chabrol 93m

In our most recent Redford offering of this tribute, we present a story based on the real-life Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford). From his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public.

Wrapped up in the pursuit are detective John Hunt (Casey Affleck), who becomes captivated with Forrest's commitment to his craft, and a woman (Sissy Spacek), who loves him in spite of his chosen profession. Like Redford, Spacek is still radiant onscreen, and these two legends - who, unbelievably, have never appeared together in a film before - have wonderful chemistry. Almost 60 years after Robert Redford started his acting career in a TV Western called ‘Maverick’ in 1960, he performed his swansong here with his final film as an actor. With the skill, or luck, of having a beautifully matched cast, this film serves as a fitting farewell to a legend.

USA 2018 David Lowery 93m

THE PORTUGUESE HOUSE (ADV15)

UNA QUINTA PORTUGUESA

In this beautiful and poetic drama, the disappearance of a quiet teacher’s wife leads him to impersonate another man at a Portuguese country house, where he forms an unexpected friendship with the owner.

Fernando (Manolo Solo), a university geography professor in Barcelona with a fondness for paper maps over digital ones, decides to travel to the opposite coast of the Iberian Peninsula after his Serbian wife suddenly leaves him and returns to her country with no explanation. On the northern coast of Portugal, he meets Manuel (Xavi Mira), a gardener, also Spanish, stateless and itinerant, who captivates Fernando, and inadvertently opens his eyes to a beautiful new world. He ends up taking a job at the local ‘Portuguese house’ of the title, whose elegant, mysterious and elusive owner Amalia (Maria de Medeiros – you may remember her from ‘Pulp Fiction’), oversees a grand house of wondrous atmosphere and secrets. You will notice echoes of Éric Rohmer as well as those of traditional storytelling, and if you enjoyed 2023’s ‘The Taste of Things’, you will absolutely love this. (Subtitles)

Spain/Portugal 2025 Avelina Prat 114m

A talk looking back at the illustrious career of a giant of American cinema.

Robert Redford, who died last year, was an extraordinary presence on the big screen for decades, much loved for his acting skills, his choice of films and, let’s face it, his looks. But the greater part of his legacy could lie behind the camera, as director but also as facilitator of independent filmmakers with his Sundance Institute. In this talk, Sandy Guthrie, of the Cinema Education Team, will consider the mark Redford has left on the film industry. We will consider how ‘The Way We Were’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’ sit alongside ‘Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid’ and ‘The Sting’, while overtly political movies of the calibre of ‘Three Days of the Condor’ and ‘All the President’s Men’ might contrast with ‘Out of Africa’ or ‘The Old Man & the Gun’.

100m inc Q&A

Mon 17 Aug 13:45 - Lumiere

THE SWIMMING POOL

4K Remaster

An obscenely beautiful couple spend lazy holidays at their idyllic villa. However, when a friend and his attractive young daughter show up, the dreamy summer days are suddenly filled with unspoken tension and jealousy.

In this erotically charged 1960s French classic, Alain Delon and Romy Schneider play advertising executive Jean-Paul and journalist Marianne, gorgeous lovers who appear to be gloriously happy in a sumptuous villa in the south of France. When Jean-Paul’s friend and music executive Harry (Maurice Ronet) arrives in his glinting burgundy Maserati alongside his beautiful daughter Pénélope (Jane Birkin), Jean Paul’s attention is immediately refocused. What transpires over the next few days of al fresco mornings, frisky afternoons and alcohol-laced nights is a vibrating psychodrama about possessiveness and insecurity. Jacques Deray's languid thriller is a tour de force of sexual longing and controlled suspense, filmed with a kaleidoscope of impressive blues, none more so than Alain Delon’s tantalizing eyes. (Subtitles)

France 1969 Jacques Deray 122m

When three American doctors of three different faiths enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to expose the truth.

This is a vérité non-fiction film following three prominent physicians -Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian/Persian - friends who could not be more different but are bound by their shared oath to save lives. Dr. Thaer Ahmad is measured and strategic, Dr. Mark Perlmutter is blunt and wears his heart on his sleeve and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa is media-savvy and prolific. Filmed in unfolding, on-the-ground scenes, the story follows them from a Gazan hospital under siege, to the halls of Congress. Together they fight to keep a promise to their Palestinian colleagues and patients, to continue the struggle where it matters most: the United States. This is an unflinching view of a story we have heard about but might not fully understand. (Some subtitles)

Palestine/USA 2026 Poh Si Teng 91m

COMPOSTELLE

A woman carrying a past she's trying to come to terms with and a rebellious teenager struggling to contain anger issues set out on the famous El Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

Adam (Julien Le Berre) is an angry teenager who must walk 800 kilometres on the Camino de Santiago to avoid juvenile detention. He forms an unlikely bond with Fred (Alexandra Lamy), a tough and outspoken woman seeking her own healing. The trail quickly becomes a space for confrontation but then slowly turns into a catalyst for much needed healing. This is based on a true story that turned out to be a life-changing journey for both. Look out for the magnificent landscapes gorgeously portrayed on the big screen, that will no doubt have you reaching for your passport. The film speaks to some of today’s deepest aspirations: slowing down, reconnecting with nature and finding meaning beyond the noise of modern life, along with the notion that a second chance can help teenagers in conflict find their way again. (Subtitles)

France/Belgium 2026 Yann Samuell 113m

Lynne Ramsay announced herself as a director to take notice of in her first feature, which sees a naïve young lad navigate the squalid streets of 1973 Glasgow and the poor youth around him.

James Gillespie (William Eadie) is 12 years old. The world he knew is changing. Haunted by a secret, he has become a stranger in his own family and is drawn to the canal where he creates a world of his own. He finds an awkward tenderness with Margaret Anne (Leanne Mullen), a vulnerable 14-year-old expressing a need for love in all the wrong ways, and befriends Kenny (John Miller), who possesses an unusual innocence despite the harsh surroundings. What is so striking and eerie about ‘Ratcatcher’ is Ramsay’s brilliant way of rendering a trance-like, epiphanic child’s-eye-view of a hundred little things that present themselves to James’s senses.

UK 1999 Lynne Ramsay 94m

Based on her true story, we follow the life of the pioneering palaeontologist Mary Anning - an 1800s Jurassic Coast fossil hunter - navigating her career and research in a patriarchal society, at a time when women's research was unrecognised or plagiarised by male peers.

To this date, Mary is predominantly unknown - despite her spectacular finds including Ichthyosauri, a Plesiosaurus and Pterodactylus and the fact that Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species' was highly influenced by her spectacular discoveries and research. The film begins with Mary's childhood on the beautifully rugged Dorset coast, leading up to her spectacular discovery of the complete Ichthyosaur. We then move into Mary’s adult life and her magnificent discoveries of the Plesiosaur and the Pterodactyl. Shot on location in Lyme Regis and starring Jenny Agutter, Katharine Hamilton, Jonathan Moore, Paul Storrier and Sharon Sheehan.

UK 2024 Sharon Sheehan 137m

We hope to welcome director Sharon Sheehan for a Q&A following the film.

UK Premiere - France

L'AFFAIRE BOJARSKI

In this unbelievable true story, a young man relocates from Poland to France after WWII and becomes the legendary counterfeiter known as the "Cézanne of counterfeit money" for his meticulous artistic skill and prodigious output.

Unable to patent his inventions and feeling socially humiliated, engineer Jan Bojarski (Reda Kateb) descends into the dangerous underworld of counterfeiting, swiftly becoming the most skilled counterfeiter in the country. Working solo, he crafted flawless fake French Francs worth millions over 14 years, continually honing his craft as the French Mint updated their currency to combat their nemesis. What follows is a brilliant blend of genres: a precise documentary-style look at the artisanal, paper-and-press techniques of counterfeiting, a touching family drama exploring the toll of a perilous double life, and a tense cat-and-mouse manhunt led by Commissioner Mattei (Bastien Bouillon). We are delighted to be screening the UK Premiere of this film which may criminally never be released in the UK. (Subtitles)

France 2025 Jean-Paul Salomé 128m

Mon 17 Aug 20:00 - Auditorium

50 YEARS OF PUNK ROCK

50 years after the British Punk explosion, this documentary follows four bands that are still active today and features interviews with Punk Rock luminaries in search for the meaning of Punk and the relevance of its message today.

Five decades after the explosive birth of British Punk which shook the foundations of music and culture, ‘Vive Le Punk’ dives headfirst into the raw, undying spirit of the movement that changed music - and society - forever... or did it? Featuring four iconic bands still rocking the stage today - Sham 69, 999, Ruts DC, and The Boys - the film chronicles their enduring legacy while showcasing their ongoing journeys in the modern era. Through exclusive interviews, candid conversations and behind-the-scenes access, we follow these punk pioneers and speak to a powerhouse lineup of Punk luminaries - Charlie Harper (UK Subs), Joe Corré (Punk entrepreneur and son of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood), Dr. John Cooper Clarke (punk poet laureate), Gaye Advert (The Adverts) and author/DJ Chris Sullivan among others, who share their reflections on the movement's lasting impact. This film will appeal to every generation of rebels, misfits and outsiders. Punk may have started as anarchy in the streets, but it’s far from finished. Vive le Punk!

UK 2025 Danny Garcia 95m

A mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by the Crow tribe and proves to be a match for their warriors in single combat on the early frontier.

A Mexican-American War veteran, Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford), heads to the mountains to live in isolation. Woefully unequipped for the task at hand, Johnson is fortunate to come across Bear Claw (Will Geer), a seasoned mountain man willing to teach him the necessary survival tactics. As life continues in the mountains, Johnson finds himself a native bride (Delle Bolton) and an adopted son (Josh Albee). However, their peaceful existence is threatened when Johnson incurs the ire of the Crow Indians. Director Sydney Pollack (‘Out of Africa’, ‘The Firm’) keeps the dialogue spare and projects the magnificent Colorado Rocky Mountains landscape forward as the real star, right alongside the equally beautiful and rugged Redford of course.

USA 1972 Sydney Pollack 108m

A 17-year-old orphan is sent from England to live under the guardianship of her uncle on the beautiful island of Mauritius.

1925: When Lucy Gladwell (Ellie Bamber, ‘Moss & Freud’) arrives in enchanting Mauritius off the eastern coast of Africa, her uncle, English plantation owner George Huyton (Rupert Penry-Jones), has his plans for her go off trail very quickly. Huyton is charming but controlling, and his wish to marry Lucy off for financial gain is scuppered when she begins a forbidden love affair with a local Tamil plantation worker called Krishna (Mehdi Dehbi). To be together, Lucy and Krishna must risk everything and defy a world determined to tear them apart. This is the first feature film to authentically portray Mauritius to the world and celebrate the island’s multicultural history. As a result, a newly established Mauritian Film Office has been created, hopefully

UK 2025 Mitch Jenkins 108m

We hope to welcome director Mitch Jenkins and lead Ellie Bamber for a Q&A

SIFTING THROUGH THE ASHES

To mark the centenary of his birth and ten years after his death, this talk will look back at the astonishing career of the Polish auteur.

Over six full decades, Andrzej Wajda amassed one of the largest and most impressively wide-ranging bodies of work of any European filmmaker. He charted the fate of his native Poland at pivotal historical junctures, be they the Napoleonic Wars, Poland’s turbocharged industrial revolution, the Katyń massacre, the fate of Poland’s Jews, the Warsaw Uprising, and life under Communism, all dramatised via unforgettably muscular images that drew extensively upon his early training as a painter. This heavily illustrated talk by longstanding Sight & Sound contributor Michael Brooke ranges over Wajda’s entire film career.

100m inc Q&A

Tue 18 Aug 13:00 - Lumiere

AINDA ESTOU AQUI

Winner of best foreign film at the 2025 Oscars. A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family's life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence during the tightening grip of a military dictatorship in Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro, 1970. The Paiva family lives in a rented house near the beach which is always full of friends. They are comfortable rather than rich, but they enjoy a different kind of wealth: an intellectual freedom and curiosity that feels increasingly precious as the Brazilian military dictatorship flexes its muscle on the streets outside. One day, men with guns come to take the father, Rubens (Selton Mello), in for questioning. In his absence, his wife Eunice (Fernanda Torres) must find a way to protect her five children and reinvent herself. Walter Salles’ (‘The Motorcycle Diaries’) superb factually-based film – he was a real-life friend of the Paiva family as a teenager – is an engrossing, affecting tribute to a formidable woman and her family. (Subtitles)

Brazil/France 2024 Walter Salles 136m

Andrea Arnold's gritty, naturalistic re-imagining of the Emily Brontë classic stays true to the book's spirit while utilizing an unconventional approach to explore the romantic yearning at the heart of the story.

A poor boy of unknown origins is rescued from poverty and taken in by the Earnshaw family where he develops an intense relationship with his young foster sister, Cathy. As they grow to adulthood, Cathy (Kaya Scodelario) accepts a marriage proposal from the rich neighbour Edgar Linton (James Northcote); deeply angered and hurt, Heathcliff (James Howson) runs away and returns years later, obsessed with love and vengeance. The real impressive trait of Arnold's adaptation is that it skilfully ditches all the period-drama cliches to create a passionate, elemental drama, stripped ruthlessly down to its bare essentials: pain, anger and love.

UK 2011 Andrea Arnold 129m

The extraordinary life of Sergiu Celibidache. From his childhood in Romania, to his exile in pursuit of a career in music, his struggle for survival in wartime Germany and his rise, fall and rise again, in an unimaginable life journey.

This biopic honours a towering figure in music, Romanian conductor and composer Sergiu Celibidache (Ben Schnetzer). The story moves back and forth in time, beginning in Celibidache’s youth in Romania in the post-WWI years, where he grew up in a prosperous family. His father had ambitious plans for his son to one day be the prime minister of Romania, but young Sergiu was already drawn to composing music. Eventually he parted ways with his family, first playing piano in clubs and ballet classes in Bucharest, and eventually moving to Berlin to study composition. This was the 1930s, and the Nazi grip was tightening. Romanians were considered “gypsies” and an unwanted part of the German population. Despite this, at the end of the war he earned the position of principal conductor of the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic, where he excelled. John Malkovich brings further weight to the film as the older Celibidache. Directed by his son Serge, the movie frames this story with a sense of personal reckoning, reflecting on questions of identity, exile and inheritance. As it charts Celibidache’s refusal to conform, both in his art and in his life, the narrative carries the imprint of a son trying to understand the man behind the legend. (In English with some subtitles)

Romania 2025 Serge Ioan Celebida 145m

Special Film & Music Event

In 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy, and the ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force her to recant her claims of holy visions. Carl Theodore Dreyer’s classic film is accompanied by a score composed by Paul Robinson and performed by HarmonieBand.

Spiritual rapture and institutional hypocrisy come to stark, vivid life in one of the most transcendent masterpieces of the silent era. Chronicling the trial of Joan of Arc in the hours leading up to her execution, Dreyer depicts her torment with startling immediacy. Anchoring Dreyer's audacious formal experimentation is a legendary performance by Renée Falconetti, whose haunted face channels both the agony and the ecstasy of martyrdom. The film was written largely from the actual records of the trial and based on historical evidence that had come to light in 1924, four years before the film was made.

France 1928 Carl Theodore Dreyer 114m

The Band

We are so excited to finally bring to Chichester one of the greatest silent films ever made with a live score performed by the very talented quintet - HarmonieBand, who will bring the film to life. The band comprise of countertenor Owen Ravden; Julia Butterworth and Dai Pritchard on reeds; Kim Mackrell on cello; and Paul Robinson on accordion.

Tickets £18

Tue 18 Aug 17:30 - Auditorium

Of all the debates in our country, the ‘Right to Roam’ is, intrinsically, a very dangerous path… then along comes a beautifully made film that embraces fair and inclusive discussion. Could there be a way through?

In the words of the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, ‘Orban Wallace’s documentary avoids big clashes between landowners and campaigners in favour of wide-ranging exploration’. The question still remains: who has the right to roam the English countryside? In England, 92% of the land and 97% of all rivers are not legally accessible. At the same time, it is a landscape shaped by centuries of inheritance and tradition, with land held and cared for by families across multiple generations. This highly watchable film brings these opposing worlds together and explores issues like barriers to connection for people of different backgrounds and communities. With an introduction to the history of the land justice debate by renowned nature writer Robert Macfarlane, animated by May Kindred Boothby, ‘Our Land’ supplies a crafted and illuminating map. Watch this space.

UK 2026 Orban Wallace 90m

Tickets £10

Tue 18 Aug 19:30 - CineVic

In the most recently made film offered in the Festival’s Prisons strand, we present this brutal and hard-hitting drama which was deservedly nominated in the Outstanding British Film category at the 2026 BAFTA Awards.

Taylor (David Jonsson) is a timid drug addict in an overcrowded British prison, branded a "wasteman" by society, his family and in prison. He is excited at the prospect of parole in a fortnight; relishing the thought of seeing his teenage son. But as the day of freedom draws near, he is given a new cellmate, Dee (Tom Blyth), a violent, toxically charismatic alpha-dog who wants to take over the prison’s drug sales. Very quickly, Dee has Taylor ‘working’ for him, enraging the prison’s existing top dogs, Paul (Alex Hassell) and Gaz (Corin Silva). This prison picture features a terrific pair of lead performances by Jonsson and Blyth. It is exceptionally gritty and claustrophobic; its tight shots give us nowhere to escape to when the inevitable violence ensues.

UK 2026 Cal McMau 94m

ANNEM HAKKINDA

Commemorating the fifth anniversary of their mother Aysel's death, a family reunion sparks deep-seated arguments among the ex-husband, son and in-laws, unearthing buried family secrets.

Caner (Burak Dakak), who went to Germany to study at university, returns to Türkiye to attend the fifth anniversary commemoration of his mother's death, and is greeted at the airport by his father Muharrem (Kadir Çermik), whom he has not seen for a long time. Caner sees his father as responsible for his mother's death, so the long journey to the Turkish countryside will not be easy. Add to that the uneasy sociopolitical environment of the country in the background, imagine how complicated this journey gets when an apparition of Caner's mother gets involved between the father and son on a dark night. (Subtitles)

Türkiye 2026 Soner Sert 90m

We hope to welcome director Soner Sert to this screening.

A diametrically opposed couple come together only to find out that genuine friendship and physical attraction is not enough to overcome fundamental societal beliefs.

Opposites attract when, during their college days, Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand), a politically active Jew, meets Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford), a feckless WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant). Years later, in the wake of World War II, they meet again and, despite their obvious differences, marry. As the Hollywood blacklist looms, Katie's activism threatens her husband's reputation. The two leads have wonderful chemistry. Redford glows on screen, Streisand even sings the title song, for which it one the Oscar. You may think you are going into a big Hollywood romantic film but director Pollack looks corruption in the face and gives us something more unique, less sentimental than if handled by another.

USA 1973 Sydney Pollack 118m

GERMAINE ACOGNY: DIE ESSENZ DES TANZES

Germaine Acogny is not only the "Mother of African Contemporary Dance", but also one of Africa's most important artistic voices and the dancing icon of an entire continent.

One of Africa’s most influential artists, Germaine Acogny is a pioneer in blending traditional West African dance with European influences. She created the Acogny Technique, which has shaped contemporary dance worldwide. With over 50 years of performing and teaching, the 80-year-old dance icon received the Golden Lion for Dance at the 2021 Venice Dance Festival for her lifetime achievements.

(Subtitles)

Germany/France/Senegal 2025 Greta-Marie Becker 88m

DER HELD VOM BAHNHOF FRIEDRICHSTRAßE

From Wolfgang Becker, the director of ‘Good Bye, Lenin’. On the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, an unassuming video-store owner is revealed to be the mastermind behind the largest mass escape from East Germany.

Micha Hartung (Charly Hübner) is a struggling video rental shop owner on the verge of bankruptcy. When a journalist interviews him about his alleged, exaggerated role in the biggest mass escape from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), Micha goes along with the story for some quick cash. He accidentally becomes an overnight national hero, bringing him sudden fame, wealth and his dream woman (Christiane Paul), but also a mountain of mounting lies. Hübner masterfully anchors the film as the gruff, endearingly flawed and overwhelmed "hero". Directed by Becker, who passed away shortly after completing filming, this is a smart, fast-paced and melancholic satire. (Subtitles)

Germany 2025 Wolfgang Becker/Achim von Borries 112m

In this insightful and engaging drama, we get two separate stories of two everyday people in two very different locations, both dealing with their own 'ordinary battles'.

Archie Panjabi plays a hard-working nurse doing her best to run a busy ward while keeping her home life on track. The pressures of an under-staffed hospital mixed with anxious patients contribute to mistakes that can mean life or death. In the second vignette, Daniel Mays plays a man out on an annual ‘buddy trip’ with two best friends, this year being a country trek in the Lake District, as he attempts to rekindle the bonds of the trio’s younger days. This is a very well told drama where most viewers will find something they can relate to. Be it the pressures of a work life, or just the longing for the unbridled joy of a younger self, you will find yourself empathising with the characters.

UK 2026 Margo Roe & Brick 90m

LA CONDITION

At the beginning of the 20th century, in the Normandy countryside, a married woman and her maid try to escape the grip of bourgeois patriarchy.

Rural Normandy, 1908: Céleste (Galatéa Bellugi from ‘The Taste of Things’) is a young maid working in the bourgeois household of a notary named André de Boisvaillant (Swann Arlaud from ‘Anatomy of a Fall’) and his wife Victoire (Louise Chevillotte). Every night, André sneaks into Céleste's room until the inevitable happens and the girl can no longer hide her bulging belly. When Victoire realizes what has happened, she comes up with a plan to fake a pregnancy and keep Céleste's child. As the tension in the household increases, an unexpected bond is forged between these two women who have nothing in common. This is such an intelligent exploration of women’s resilience and the complex relationships within a rigid class system. The sets are gorgeous, recreating the bourgeois interiors of early 20th Century France and highlighting the vertical class division within households.

(Subtitles)

France 2025 Jérôme Bonnell 103m

Wed 19 Aug 15:45 - Auditorium

Jury Prize winner at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival. As dementia erodes a woman's ability to communicate her inner life, her husband and daughter struggle to act in her best interest, navigating love and the fragile boundaries between care, protection and autonomy.

Amanda (Juliette Binoche) is an academic who has temporarily moved from Newcastle to North London to be closer to her mother, Leslie (Anna Calder-Marshall) – who has advanced dementia – and her stepfather, Martin (Tom Courtenay). One morning when Amanda checks in on the couple, she finds them in bed together, and the situation quickly spirals with Amanda accusing Martin of a crime and calling the police. Has Amanda mishandled the situation? Has Martin taken advantage of his wife? These questions are dealt with both compassion and strategic detachment by the very talented director Lance Hammer. This moving film which presents an unsentimental yet highly empathetic meditation on the limits of love in the face of the brutal march of time, has been highly acclaimed by film critics from around the world, many comparing it to with Michael Haneke’s ‘Amour’.

UK 2026 Lance Hammer 121m

We celebrate Diane Keaton after her passing in October 2025 with a screening of her first New York-set collaboration with Woody Allen.

Isaac (Allen) is a comedy writer and would-be novelist dating Tracy, a 17-year-old student (Mariel Hemingway), but he falls for Mary (Keaton), the highly-strung journalist that his married buddy Yale (Michael Murphy) is seeing on the side. Nominated for two Academy Awards, and considered one of Allen’s most enduring accomplishments, ‘Manhattan’ is a wry, touching and finely rendered portrait of modern relationships set against the backdrop of urban alienation. New York has never been so sumptuously photographed, here in magnificent black and white cinemascope and accompanied by a magnificent Gershwin score. Also co-stars Meryl Streep.

USA 1979 Woody Allen 95m

Pawel Pawlikowski followed his Oscar-winning ‘Ida’ with this stunning epic romance between two people of different backgrounds set against the backdrop of Europe after World War II.

Poland: Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and Irena (Agata Kulesza) are recording folk songs – mournful tales of love, drink and hardship, raw and elemental. They come across Zula (Joanna Kulig) who soon joins their group. When Wiktor spies a chance to defect during a 1952 engagement in East Berlin, he begs Zula to come with him. But are her pragmatic priorities may not be in sync with his western-leaning dreams? Shot in luminous black and white, it is a wistful and dreamlike journey through a divided continent and a heart-breaking portrait of ill-fated love. For this film, Pawlikowski was awarded the Best Director prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. We are screening this film to complement our Andrzej Wajda season – Poland’s eminent film director, putting a spotlight on the work of a contemporary polish director with very strong British connections. As Mark Kermode says of this film - “Unexpectedly put me in mind of ‘Casablanca’ or ‘La La Land’ as reimagined by Andrzej Wajda. (Subtitles)

Poland/UK/France 2018 Pawel Pawlikowski 89m

CIDADE DE DEUS

This electrifying, visceral picture is part tender coming-of-age film and part favela gang epic, a movie with dials cranked up to eleven – cinematography; music and sound; action; colour; heart; and incredible technical prowess.

In the poverty-stricken favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket (Phellipe Haagensen) is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighbourhood. José "Zé" Pequeno (Douglas Silva) is an ambitious drug dealer who uses Rocket and his photos as a way to increase his fame as a turf war erupts with his rival, "Knockout Ned" (Leandro Firmino da Hora).  What makes ‘City of God’ so breathtaking is director Meirelles' passion for these people - he gives us the colour, the music and the humour, and brings out extraordinary performances from all, including many non-actors.

“I’ve seen this film many times, and will be counting the days until I see it once again. When pushed, this is the film I choose as my favourite of all time”. Walter Francisco – Festival Director. (Subtitles)

Brazil 2002 Kátia Lund/Fernando Meirelles 130m

In a film that straddles two of our Festival strands (Redford and Prisons), we follow the new prison warden who tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.

Henry Brubaker (Robert Redford) witnesses firsthand the corruption and abuse inflicted upon the prisoners by the staff of a small Arkansas prison by going in undercover as an inmate. After revealing his true identity, Brubaker brings much-needed reform to the prison with the help of supporters Dickie Coombes (Yaphet Kotto) and Lillian Gray (Jane Alexander). When the benefactors of the old corrupt system are threatened by the changes, Brubaker's battles really begin. Based on a real-life case from 1960’s Arkansas, this dramatic film with a heavy social conscience includes a great supporting cast of well-known faces, including Morgan Freeman in one of his very first feature films.

USA 1980 Stuart Rosenberg 131m

THE BUTCHER

Claude Chabrol’s 1970 jewel of a thriller about a butcher, a schoolteacher and a murder gets a 4K remastering. Chabrol enters ‘Hitchcock’ territory in this masterful film.

At a wedding in a quiet rural French village, school headmistress Helene (Stéphane Audran) meets local butcher Popaul (Jean Yanne), whose boyish charm draws her out of her shell. But shortly after their relationship begins, a string of murders surrounds the village, and, when Helene recognizes an item she had given Popaul near one of the crime scenes, she begins to suspect he may be the murderer. This is Chabrol at his best, spinning an eerie psychological thriller, whose likable characters and the nostalgic village they live in are painted with a master’s elegant brushstrokes. (Subtitles)

France 1970 Claude Chabrol 93m

Edinburgh, 1810: A scandal erupts when a young student accuses two of her teachers of having an illicit affair.

Marianne Woods (Clare Dunne) and Jane Pirie (Flora Nicholson) run a private girls’ school and are thrilled, if a little nervous, by the financial and social coup of having three granddaughters of the imperious Lady Cumming Gordon (Fiona Shaw) enrol. One of the girls, Jane Cumming (Mia Tharia), is of mixed race – her father was married to an Indian woman. Jane is bullied and mocked by the white girls, so finds it easier to spend time with the two teachers who are made a little uneasy, sensing that their leniency and kindliness could backfire. When the teachers start treating her with more professional distance, Jane concocts a story, based on some truth, that swirls the situation in ways that cannot be undone. Fiona Shaw plays Lady Cumming Gordon with impressive grandeur, but it is young Mia Tharia who is the highlight here in a tricky role to get right… and she certainly has. You may have seen William Wyler’s ‘The Children’s Hour’ (1961) with Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn which was based on this true story.

UK 2026 Sophie Heldman 114m

A young girl, spends the summer with her father and grandmother on a small island in the Gulf of Finland, as the family grapples with the recent loss of Sophia's mother.

At her family's home on a Finnish island, young Sophia (Emily Matthews) explores the natural world with her father (Anders Danielsen Lie) and grandmother (Glenn Close). Together, they forge an existence on the island - a day trip to a neighbouring island; they adopt a cat; plant a tree – all the while learning about each other’s needs. This is such a beautifully poetic film, conveying profound thoughts about time, memory, loss and nature through a meditative cinematic language of exquisite images and music. Adapted from Tove Jansson's beloved novel, this delicate account of growing up and growing old perfectly partners with the glorious Finnish landscape. Glenn Close is superbly cast and delivers an award-worthy performance, also drawing a lovely performance from newcomer Emily Matthews as the granddaughter.

USA/Finland/UK Charlie McDowell 2024 90m

Ten years on from its release, Andrea Arnold's first US film is deeply moving, challenging and reveals her wonderful eye for the flotsam and jetsam of American society.

Star (Sasha Lane), an adolescent girl from a troubled home, runs away with a traveling sales crew who drive across the American Midwest selling subscriptions door to door. Finding her feet in this gang of youngsters, one of whom is Jake (Shia LaBeouf), she soon gets into the group's hard-partying lifestyle. For what could be considered a 21st century version of Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road', Arnold filmed hundreds of hours driving across the US with her mostly non-professional cast before distilling this epic result. Kerouac's heroes were men; Arnold's is an 18-year-old girl! It's bold, captivating cinema, with a soundtrack that threatens to never leave your head.

USA 2016 Andrea Arnold 162m

UNA MUJER FANTÁSTICA

Best Foreign Film Oscar winner in 2018. Sebastian Lelio’s film is a mesmerizing piece of work, thanks to Daniela Vega’s powerful, award-worthy lead performance.

Orlando (Francisco Reyes) is a middle-aged, silver-haired textile factory manager who falls in love with a young singer called Marina (Vega). After celebrating Marina's birthday one evening, Orlando falls seriously ill, and in that moment, Marina’s seemingly stable world begins to crumble right before her eyes. She will have to battle the very same forces that she has spent a lifetime fighting just to become the woman she is now - a complex, strong, forthright and fantastic woman. Much will likely be made of the fact that Vega not only stars as a transgender woman, but is one herself, and delivers a star-making turn of quiet suffering and steely resolve, ably shouldering the dramatic load of a film that keeps her, at all times, front and centre. (Subtitles)

Chile 2017 Sebastián Lelio 104m

SPECIAL DOCUMENTARY & LIVE JAZZ GIG

This year’s Festival Jazz Night celebrates arguably the most influential and mercurial figure in modern jazz: trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis, in his centenary year. Across five decades of relentless reinvention, Davis helped shape the course of jazz itself. We will start the evening with 2011 Miles documentary ‘Birth of the Cool’, before moving from screen to stage with a stellar quartet of leading UK jazz musicians (Quentin Collins, Ross Stanley, Joel Barford and Andrew Cleyndert) performing music from across Davis’s extraordinary career.

Film:

MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL (15)

A visionary, innovator and originator who defied categorization and embodied the word cool: this is a foray into the life and career of musical and cultural icon Miles Davis.

Using words from Davis’s autobiography, this film offers an incisive insight into our understanding of the legendary musician. Newly released archival material, alongside interviews with pre-eminent historians and personal friends like Quincy Jones, illustrate a man of intensity and devotion to his craft. Despite the indignities of America during the time of segregation, nothing was going to stop Davis from realising his dream: to create a new form of musical expression. Davis’s influences are felt to this day and this special documentary will make you want to feel the way Miles sounds.

USA 2019 Stanley Nelson 115m

Followed by

LIVE JAZZ GIG:

Our jazz quartet will cover the different phases of Miles's repertoire including: ballads (e.g. ‘If I were a Bell’, ‘Stella by Starlight’), ‘Milestones’, ‘Kinda Blue’, Gil Evans arrangements of Roderigo's ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’ and ‘Porgy and Bess’, ‘Lift to the Scaffold’ (film), Jean-Pierre and the electronic ‘Bitches Brew’.

Trumpeter Quentin Collins is one of the UK’s premier jazz musicians, with an international career spanning jazz, pop, and film music. His collaborators include Prince, Gregory Porter, Alicia Keys, Mark Ronson, and Jeff Beck.

Pianist and organist Ross Stanley combines formidable classical training with exceptional jazz versatility. His credits include Tom Jones, Michael Bublé, Paloma Faith, Simply Red, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Drummer Joel Barford returns to the Festival following his appearance in the Ronnie Scott’s celebration a couple of years ago. Widely admired for his propulsive groove, sensitivity and dynamic range, his extensive credits include Jim Mullen, Dave Douglas, Rumer, Omar and the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra.

Curating the music for this celebration is bassist Andrew Cleyndert, long regarded as one of the UK’s leading jazz bassists. Over a 45-year career he has become renowned for his impeccable time, deep harmonic understanding, and commanding presence both as a sideman and bandleader.

Tickets £24

Thu 20 Aug 19:00

Film - 19:00

Interval with bar – 21:00

Live Jazz Gig – 21:30 (80m approx)

Ex Google exec, Mo Gawdat, is a compelling voice on a compelling mission - yes there are so many scary reasons to fear the power of AI, but what if you could wire it to be benevolent, altruistic, compassionate? Or is that just laughably naive?

Mo is a very interesting man with a very interesting story. In this highly cinematic film, Mo travels the world talking to AI experts and pioneers like Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, Yoshua Bengio, Sam Altman and Max Tegmark. He is exploring, probing at the coal face of the tech and the huge issues it brings thundering towards us. The potential threats are all there: mass surveillance, automated warfare and job displacement. But, and it is a very urgent ‘but’, what if we bring to bear humanity's capacity for positivity, ethics and empathy to safely guide neural networks and prevent a dystopian future? This is the challenge we all face. One laid out by a vivid communicator, eminently qualified to enlighten and guide. It is big thinking, approachable, engaging; could it be our future?

Tickets £10

Thu 20 Aug 19:30 – CineVic

The Short Film Showcase returns to the Chichester International Film Festival programme. Join us for a mixture of shorts, this year, focussing mainly on UK productions.

This year’s films:

Between the Piers

Clíodhna

Dropping

Echoes in Amber

The Final Cut

James Hyde

King Karno

King of Ash

Meet Frankie

See the Festival website for full film details.

Various Directors 110m

Tickets: Only £8

Thu 20 Aug 20:15 - Lumiere

In what would be Andrzej Wajda’s final film (and rarely seen in the UK), this is the story of charismatic painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski, who opposed social realism and maintained his own artistic freedom in spite of political obstacles.

Polish avant-garde artist Strzeminski (Boguslaw Linda in a magisterial performance) lost a leg and arm fighting in World War I, and yet his passion for the transformative powers of art makes him whole. His injuries are merely a nuisance to be endured. He is a revered figure in the Polish art community, with a classroom packed with adoring students, but his painterly abstractions are toxic to the Communist authorities, who castigate as capitalist decadence all art that is not uplifting social realism. ‘Afterimage’ is angry, vivid and passionate – a fitting coda to the career of a director whose own work often clashed with Communist ideology. (Subtitles)

Poland 2016 Andrzej Wajda 98m

ET DIEU... CRÉA LA FEMME

In sunny St. Tropez, a beautiful young woman - Brigitte Bardot – is in love with one brother but marries the other.

Bardot plays 18-year-old Juliette, an orphan living with an older disapproving provincial couple intent on returning her to the orphanage where they got her. Eric Carradine (Curd Jurgens) is a millionaire powerbroker pushing 60 who wants to build a large hotel in the Riveria town. A capitalist exploiter of all he sees, Carradine has Juliette in his sights. When Eric takes possession of a shipyard run by brothers Michel (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Antoine (Christian Marquand), who also have their eye on Juliette, things get even more complicated. By today's standards the film is relatively tame, but back in 1956, it was condemned by some cultural gatekeepers and critics as scandalous. (Subtitles)

France 1956 Roger Vadim 90m

The first official biography on rock and roll icon and pioneer Eddie Cochran, chronicling his extraordinary but tragically short life.

Cochran’s influence is immeasurable. At just 21, he left behind a body of work that would inspire generations of musicians and artists - his unforgettable hit songs include ‘C’mon Everybody’ and ‘Summertime Blues’. This intimate portrait weaves never-before-seen archival material with powerful testimonies from some of the greatest names in music and culture, including Keith Richards, Sting, Sir Rod Stewart, Kiefer Sutherland, Alice Cooper, Linda Perry, John Waters, Stephen Sanchez, Yungblud, Ronnie Wood, Billy Idol and the Cochran Family. From his heartfelt devotion to his mother to his timeless music that continues to electrify stages across the world, this film explores the duality of Eddie’s life: a young man brimming with joy and possibility, and an artist whose voice continues to echo long after his untimely death. Made in partnership with the Cochran Family Estate, this documentary includes dramatic recreations featuring Jack Harris as Eddie Cochran and Frances Barber as his mother Alice.

UK 2026 Kirsty Bell 95m

CRAFTING THE CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE OF BRITISH CINEMA

This talk, illustrated by a range of clips, will celebrate what is becoming a golden age for British women film directors.

Lynne Ramsay’s visually poetic filmmaking style is imbued with a dream-like surrealism, expressed through her films like ‘Ratcatcher’ (1999) and ‘Die My Love’ (2025). Andrea Arnold captures the psychological states of her characters in ‘Fish Tank’ (2009) and ‘American Honey’ (2016) through intimate cinematography that expresses character experiences through a focus on the body. Freelance researcher and writer on film Jade Evans will explore how Ramsay and Arnold, as well as the films of their contemporaries, including Carol Morley and Clio Barnard, have crafted distinctive filmmaking styles that capture the psychological states of their characters.

100m inc Q&A

Fri 21 Aug 13:30 - Lumiere

When jazz pianist Bill Evans’ brilliant young bassist dies tragically, Evans is devastated. This is the story of his journey to overcome grief and return to music.

June 1961, New York City: legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans (Anders Danielsen Lie) has found his musical voice and created the perfect trio, including bass player Scott LaFaro (Will Sach), said to be his soulmate through music. A residency at New York's Village Vanguard culminates in the live taping of two of the greatest jazz records of all time in one night. Ten days later, LaFaro dies in a car crash. Numb with grief, Evans stops playing. This is a film about music, and what happens when a musician can no longer create. Laurie Metcalf (‘Lady Bird’) and the affable Bill Pullman are terrific as the long-suffering parents. Winner of the Best Director prize at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, this bold film, shot in beautifully moody black and white is elegant and feels extremely honest.

USA 2026 Grant Gee 102M

RADEJI ZESÍLET V DIVOCINE

Winner of the 2025 Crystal Globe (Best Film) at the prestigious Karlovy Vary Film Festival in Prague, this is a fantastical, hybrid-documentary about a pair of Czech twins who live off grid in the Bohemian forest.

Twin brothers Franta and Ondra share everything in the Sumava Mountains. They live a secluded, poetic and sometimes absurd life in an abandoned mountain farm, sharing everything from tending animals to philosophizing and bickering. Though identical, their souls differ - Franta seeks freedom while Ondra needs routine. It seems that they’ve never grown up, and viewed through the lens of so-called civilisation, their world shows signs of absurdity. Soon, their unbreakable bond will face the ultimate test. This is an anarchic spin on creating one's own 'wellness culture', as well as a wonderfully funny portrait of fraternal love and a sideways look at our place in society/nature. Tragically, subject František Klišík passed away at 62 just hours after the film's victory at Karlovy Vary, making the documentary a poignant swan song. (Subtitles)

Czechia 2025 Miro Remo 84m

Based on harrowing true events, this film delves into stories of crime, revenge, love and friendship at the Carandiru Penitentiary, the largest prison in Latin America.

Prisons don't come much meaner than the São Paulo Carandiru Penitentiary, a decrepit cell block overcrowded with Brazil's most violent criminals. A tinderbox just waiting for a spark to ignite it, which is exactly what happened one fateful day in 1992 when riot police stormed the building. Through the eyes of Doctor Varella (Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos), we see a series of flashbacks of the individual backstories of the inmates, exploring how they turned to crime and how they coped with life in the overcrowded, volatile facility. All this leading to a fateful day in October 1992 when the military police strom the penitentiary. It is the ability to humanize its central characters - to make you care about the murderers, thieves and junkies who are Carandiru's citizens, and its doomed heroes - that gives the film its wrenching, tragic power. Filmed on location in the actual penitentiary. (Subtitles)

Brazil 2003 Hector Babenco 145m

Typically one of the hottest tickets of the Film Festival, the Surprise Film is a unique one-off screening where you will only know the film when the opening credits are projected on to the screen.

I can reveal that this year’s film is a preview very kindly released to the Chichester International Film Festival by a prominent distributor. Can this year’s selection be another Audience Award Winner as a few past Surprise Films have been (‘Pride’ and ‘Untouchable’)? Take a leap of faith and join us for this exciting cinema experience on the last Friday of the Festival.

Running time: Under two hours.

Fri 21 Aug 18:15 - Auditorium

A gritty, dark and sometimes violent adaptation of the 17th-century ballad ‘Robin Hood's Death’. At its heart, a redemption story of a man coming to terms with a life misspent.

Grappling with his past after a life of crime and murder, Robin Hood (Hugh Jackman) finds himself gravely injured after a battle he thought would be his last. The leader of the Merry Men (including Bill Skarsgård as Little John) helped build a legend of ‘taking from the rich and giving to the poor’. Now he tells anyone who believes it that it was fake news. In the hands of a mysterious woman, Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer), he is offered a chance at salvation. Sarnoski’s (‘A Quiet Place: Day One’) film contains meticulously crafted costumes, a beautiful and haunting score, continuously stunning cinematography, and Jackman turns out to be the perfect embodiment of this taciturn, troubled protagonist.

USA 2026 Michael Sarnoski 122m

Tilda Swinton is astounding as a mother who struggles to love her child because of the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up.

Eva (Swinton) is a travel writer who gives up her beloved freedom and Bohemian lifestyle to have a child with her husband, Franklin (John C. Reilly). Pregnancy does not seem to agree with Eva, but what's worse, when she does give birth to a baby boy named Kevin (Ezra Miller), she can't seem to bond with him. When Kevin grows from a fussy, demanding toddler into a sociopathic teen, Eva is forced to deal with the aftermath of her son's horrific act. Ramsay is a filmmaker with an uncommon gift for getting at the inner psychology of her characters through striking visuals. This thoughtful, unnerving film is extraordinary, working its strange power over viewers who will find themselves both repelled and compelled by its fatally flawed key players.

UK 2011 Lynne Ramsay 112m

LA VÉRITÉ

In memory of screen legend (and polarizing celebrity) Brigitte Bardot, we present the 1960 French drama where a liberated small-town girl stands on trial to determine whether she killed her lover in a crime of passion or in premeditation.

The beautiful and ravishing Dominique Marceau (Bardot) escapes her provincial life for freewheeling bohemian Paris only to find herself standing trial for the accidental murder of her lover (Sami Frey), a young but promising conductor. As the prosecution and the defence spar over what led her to such violence, Dominique’s life is laid bare. Clouzot’s film pushed the boundaries of its era, a scathing examination of the way in which patriarchal societies exert control over women through hypocritical moralizing. The director, already known for ‘Le Corbeau’, Diabolique’ and ‘The Wages of Fear’ at the time, captured Bardot at her most dynamic in a performance which rivals any of her work with New Wave colleagues.

France 1960 Henri-Georges Clouzot 127m

An orphan must do battle with the soulless and grey men who stealthily take over her city and steal time.

Momo (Alexa Goodall) is an enigmatic red-haired girl who lives in the ruins of an old Roman amphitheatre and becomes friends with everybody in the neighbourhood. But when a powerful international corporation led by the evil Richter (Claes Bang) starts stealing everybody's time, nobody has any time left for her, let alone their friends or families - and Momo, together with Master Hora (Martin Freeman), the custodian of time, are the only ones who can go up against the time thieves before all is lost forever. This is the big-screen adaptation of Michael Ende's best-selling fantasy novel, and quite of the times considering how social media warps our worldview and eats away our time.

Germany 2025 Christian Ditter 91m

This feature documentary examines a new global pandemic. It also uses a very clever yet chilling narrative device: we witness the unfolding story through the eyes of the threat itself, given voice by the legendary actor Brian Cox.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the silent threat poised to shatter the foundations of global health, food systems, the environment and economic stability as we know it. This is not just a medical issue - this is an existential crisis. The World Health Organization warns that AMR, the insidious rise of drug-resistant superbugs, now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the most terrifying dangers facing humanity, threatening to drag us back into a pre-antibiotic era where even minor infections could prove deadly. This film unflinchingly exposes the root causes, devastating impact and the urgent, radical measures needed to stop AMR’s relentless advance - before we stumble into a new global pandemic, one far worse than Covid-19.

UK 2025 Alex Tweddle 70m

We hope to welcome Brian Cox, director Alex Tweddle, writer Dame Sally Davies, Dr Yusuf Hamied and Lord Darzi for a panel discussion after the film.

Masterfully crafted by an experienced directorial hand (Andrzej Wajda was 82 when he created this film), this is an examination of the 1940 Soviet slaughter of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest.

At the beginning of World War II, Soviet soldiers conduct a mass execution of 22,000 Polish prisoners of war in Katyn forest in western Russia - mainly military officers and professional-class civilians. With Hitler's forces rapidly advancing into Eastern Europe, a surviving Polish officer, Lt. Jerzy (Andrzej Chyra), at great risk to his own life, chooses to stay behind with his wife, Anna (Maja Ostaszewska). As the Germans round up Lt. Jerzy and other officers, propaganda efforts cover up the truth about the Soviet soldiers' shocking brutality. This is a powerful, personal depiction of a wartime tragedy. The victims of the Katyn massacre included the director's father, Captain Jacub Wajda. (Subtitles)

Poland 2007 Andrzej Wajda 121m

JUSTE UNE ILLUSION

In this refreshing, feel-good family comedy, a young boy navigates life between his distant older brother and quarrelling parents while grappling with adolescence.

Paris 1985: Vincent (Simon Boublil), about to turn 13, grows up in the suburbs within a middle-class family, swinging between an older brother who lives only for music, and parents in constant conflict. The film traces this in-between space, where questions about identity, family, friendship, religion, and first loves start to redefine how he sees the world. French cinema veterans Camille Cottin and Louis Garrel – who you will surely recognise - portray the parents with an explosive chemistry and emotional weight. Nakache and Toledano directed the 2013 Chichester Film Festival Audience Award winner, ‘Les Intouchables’, and here, once again, they have created a heartwarming comedy blessed with vibrant energy and a strong cast. Listen out for the energetic soundtrack which propels the film. (Subtitles)

France 2026 Olivier Nakache/Éric Toledano 119m

RELATOS SALVAJES

Argentina's 2015 Best Foreign Film Oscar candidate turns six tales of revenge into one wild and crazy ride.

Multi-story feature films are not the happiest of genres (unevenness; multiple starts and ends; various directors with contrasting visions), but this collection about love, deception, the past and tragedy goes a long way to proving the cliché wrong, deftly defying the genre's usual deficits. The result feels as amazingly cohesive as it is relentlessly clever and entertaining. Each of the six stories here is thoroughly enthralling, and all are united by a mordant black humour as well as a singular film maker - the very clever Damián Szifrón. Connected thematically in dealing with revenge and retribution, each segment sets up expectations that its successor ingeniously fulfils or surpasses. This is an explosively funny film, made with great energy, a splendidly anarchic portrait of a world on the verge of a nervous breakdown. (Subtitles)

Argentina 2015 Damián Szifrón 122m

Concert

In his wildly popular Broadway show ‘American Utopia’, David Byrne delivers an exhilarating rush of iconic songs, infectious energy and pure theatrical joy.

Following the huge, big-screen success of ‘Stop Making Sense’, and with Byrne returning to the UK this summer including a headline appearance at Latitude Festival, Spike Lee transforms the celebrated production into an electrifying cinematic experience bursting with astounding performances, inventive choreography and political urgency. Flowing like an iridescent dream vision, the film fuses work by James Baldwin, Janelle Monáe and Kurt Schwitters with exhilarating renditions of Byrne’s solo work and Talking Heads classics. Joyous, urgent and utterly crowd-pleasing, Byrne and his co-performers light up the screen and burn down the house. ‘This must be the place’ to see David Byrne loud, large and in 4K. A one-night-only cinema event.

USA 2026 Spike Lee 105m

Andrzej Wajda’s international breakout film. In 1944, during the Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, a group of Polish resistance fighters struggle to escape German encirclement.

As the Warsaw Uprising of WWII comes to an end, a modest band of Resistance members remains. They must take refuge in the sewers under the orders of leader Lieutenant Zadra (Wisczyslaw Glinski), but it's only a matter of time before they will have to emerge. Despite their attempts to stay resolute through immense mental strain, it becomes increasingly apparent that they may be doomed. The film that brought international acclaim for the director, ‘Kanal’ is based on true events. It is an evocative portrait of the Polish resistance movement and a heartbreaking depiction of strength, duty and hope in the face of insurmountable odds. (Subtitles)

Poland 1957 Andrzej Wajda 98m

IDDU

A time during Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro's three decades as a fugitive from Italian justice, when he was at the peak of his nefarious powers.

Sicily, early 2000s. After serving several years in prison for Mafia-related crimes, Catello Palumbo (Tony Servillo), a long-serving politician, has lost everything. When the Italian Secret Service "persuades" him to help capture Matteo Messina Denaro, the last major Mafia boss still on the run, whom Catello has known since he was a boy, he sees an opportunity to stage a comeback. A shrewd man of a hundred masks, a tireless illusionist who turns truth into falsehood and falsehood into truth, Catello begins correspondence with the fugitive, as unique as it is improbable, exploiting the younger man's emotional emptiness. The stage is set for misunderstandings, dangerous liaisons and the exchange of a chain of minutely folded letters delivered back and forth by the family’s faithful ‘soldiers’. Servillo manages to bring some levity to his lead character, allowing this film to have a unique tone amongst the many mafia films released. (Subtitles)

Italy 2024 Fabio Grassadonia/Antonio Piazza 122m

We are pleased to include a film directed by Robert Redford in this tribute… and what a film it is! Winner of four Oscars in 1981, including the big two of Best Picture and Best Director.

Tormented by guilt following the accidental death of his older brother in a sailing accident, alienated teenager Conrad Jarrett (Timothy Hutton) attempts suicide. Returning home following an extended stay in a psychiatric hospital, Conrad tries to deal with his mental anguish and also reconnect with his mother, Beth (Mary Tyler Moore), who has grown cold and angry, and his emotionally wounded father, Calvin (Donald Sutherland), with the help of his psychiatrist, Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch). Redford’s transition from a major Hollywood leading man to a behind-the-camera visionary redefined his career. His nuanced, sensitive direction, along with the raw performances he draws from the film’s cast created a lasting cinematic touchstone regarding mental health, grief and the importance of open communication.

USA 1980 Robert Redford 124m

LE CICOGNE DI CHERNOBYL

Hundreds of thousands of children from areas contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster found hospitality in Italy thanks to the “Solidarity Reception Projects.”

Some of the protagonists look back on the traumatic experience, which changed their lives. Stories sometimes marked by pain but later transformed into hope by the love of families who opened their hearts and homes in a new and unknown country. What becomes apparent is the extraordinary ability to adapt of the children from the contaminated areas, who managed to overcome deep psychological traumas and immense difficulties to rebuild a new life and achieve great things. The title of the film is drawn from the local stork population which are culturally symbolic in Ukraine, who had not nested back in Chernobyl since the disaster, until recently when six were spotted settling near the exclusion zone. (Subtitles)

Italy 2025 Karim Galici 65m

A deeply moving and profoundly human film, this is Liudmyla Doroshenko’s story of courage, resilience and hope.

Living an ordinary life in Kyiv, everything changed for Liudmyla on 24th February 2022, when the war in Ukraine forced her to make an impossible choice: to protect her son Nazar by leaving behind the home, family, culture and life she loved. Told in Liudmyla’s own words, with honesty, emotion and quiet strength, the film follows her journey into the unknown - a journey first thought to be only for a few days, but which has now stretched into more than four years. Arriving in Chichester with the support of generous host families, Liudmyla begins the process of rebuilding her life while holding tightly to her Ukrainian identity. Powerful, intimate and unforgettable, her story stands for many thousands more, shining a light on the resilience, dignity and determination of the Ukrainian people.

UK 2026 Richard Plowman 31m

This special screening will include a choir of young Ukrainian singers and a short Q&A with Daria Mattingly following the film.

AMARGA NAVIDAD

An advertising director faces a turbulent Christmas weekend. 20 years later, a filmmaker turns her story into a screenplay, blurring the lines between reality, fiction and the people closest to him.

2004: Elsa (Bárbara Lennie) was once a filmmaker, but after two failures, has turned to advertising. She seeks to persuade one friend, Patricia (Victoria Luengo), to finally abandon her cheating husband, and reaches out to another friend, Natalia (Milena Smit), who is in agony over having lost a child. Elsa also has a loyal and much younger boyfriend, Bonifacio (Patrick Criado) - a firefighter who moonlights as a stripper. But these people are figments of Raul’s (Leonardo Sbaraglia) imagination, who is searching listlessly for the key to his next movie, only to settle on tearing a page from the real-life travails of his loyal assistant, Mónica (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón). One narrative nests within another; Raúl’s story, set in 2026, is “real” life, while Elsa’s, which takes place in 2004, is his creation. But he doesn’t seem to realize that other people’s life experiences aren’t ripe for the taking, and his insistence on doing so becomes a metaphor for the selfishness of artistic creation. Almodóvar leaps between the two stories with breathtaking fluidity, and brings them both to a virtuosic finish.

‘Bitter Christmas’ is full of Almodóvar’s obsessions: striking-looking women, with wilful, complicated characters to play; vivid colour combinations in both production and costume design; all facets of love, from maternal devotion to forbidden sexual desire; the mysterious source of human creativity; and impressive music set pieces, of which there are magnificent examples here. (Subtitles)

Spain 2026 Pedro Almodóvar 111m

In one of film critic Mark Kermode’s favourite films of 2025, a mother struggles to maintain her sanity after having a child. Lynne Ramsay’s latest work is further proof of its director’s immense skill.

In a remote forgotten rural area, Grace (Jennifer Lawrence, who is outstanding) is an aspiring writer who moves from New York to the countryside with her partner Jackson (Robert Pattinson). The couple's new life has the potential to be idyllic. They are fiercely in love, surrounded by woods and meadows, allowing Grace the peace and freedom to write a novel. But once a baby comes into their life, Grace becomes blearily adrift from reality, brilliantly conveyed by the director using a variety of cinematic techniques. The film’s dark tones are cleverly balanced with touches of dark humour.

USA/Canada/UK 2025 Lynne Ramsay 118m

Bill Nighy, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, George MacKay and Johnny Flynn star in this film about a writer who tries to reconnect with his sons.

Andrew (Nighy) - or A.N. Dyer, as he is known to the world - is a famous novelist whose first novel became an instant classic and created a cult following around its elusive author. One morning, Dyer wakes up convinced he must mend the broken relationships in his life and summons his sons to be with him. It has been nearly 20 years since an incident tore apart the family. When the sons, Richard (Flynn) and Jamie (MacKay) arrive, each burdened with their own struggles, Andrew reveals something so astonishing it couldn’t possibly be true. For two decades, Andrew hasn’t written a word - or left his home. This familiar story of the troubled successful artist who neglects his family takes a turn when Andrew reveals all. Based on the novel by David Gilbert.

UK 2025 Pablo Trapero 119m

An intense and quietly radical Paris-based drama about motherhood, desire and self-discovery.

Clémence (Vicky Krieps), a wife, mother and lawyer from a prominent family, walks out of her job and her marriage in search of her real identity. She pursues a new writing career and embarks on a series of no-strings same-sex relationships. But her husband Laurent (Antoine Reinartz) reacts to what he deems her new-found lesbianism as a declaration of war and his weapon is access to their son, Paul (Viggo Ferreira-Redier). This complex drama features another fierce and compelling performance from Krieps, who is luminous as a woman determined to realise her own liberation, no matter the cost.

France 2024 Anna Cazeenave Cambet 134m

An exploration of the intricate relationship between reintroduced beavers and the delicate conservation needs of migratory fish populations.

Our freshwater fish populations play a vital role in maintaining the health of our ecosystem, but they exist in a perilous state with over one third of species facing extinction. Narrated by Joanna Lumley, this visually stunning documentary captures hope amid environmental uncertainty. Through candid interviews with leading experts, the intricate relationship between beavers and migratory fish is unpacked – revealing the opportunities beavers create and the unique challenges they introduce in our freshwater ecosystems.

U.K. 2025 Nina Constable 28m

This film will be introduced by the Beaver Trust.

An examination of the complex issues of access, custodianship and conservation, and the age-old beliefs about property that have shaped our relationship with the land for over a thousand years.

Daring to tread where few have trespassed before, ‘Our Land’ asks the timely question of who has the right to roam in the English countryside? The UK is a wild and beautiful place, but the vast majority of it is off limits to the general public, with 92% of land and 97% of all rivers in England not legally accessible. At the same time, it is a landscape shaped by centuries of inheritance and tradition, with land held and cared for by families across multiple generations.

Taking us into the heart of the ‘Right to Roam’ movement, it embarks on a provocative trail of mass trespass, campaigning and education, while also exploring landowners’ concerns around environmental protection and the danger such widespread access could pose to a landscape already under threat.

UK 2026 Orban Wallace 122m

A lost boy in search of heaven, three odd nuns on a mission and a car powered by God (and stolen money). This is a fun film! A road trip like no other. A comedic near-tragedy that just keeps going South.

1974, New Zealand. A young Maori boy called Brian (Elijah Tamati) has had his heart broken after his mother passes away, but forms a personal connection with a quirky trio of nuns. These are played by Miriam Margolyes – who is always great value - and Australian acting royalty Judy Davis and Jacki Weaver. When Brian overhears some earth-shattering news regarding the future of the convent, the group embark on a wild, hilarious race to find the original deed to the land and save the building. Set throughout rural New Zealand, the visuals are diverse and often breathtaking, featuring coastlines, mountain peaks and gorgeous winding roads. ‘Holy Days’ is a feel-good joyride about faith, fierce family vibes and finding hope where you least expect it. Buckle up!

New Zealand/Canada 2026 Nat Boltt 101m

A spectacular production of Verdi's epic production from the amazing setting of Sydney Harbour.

In 'Aida', Verdi masterfully pits the intimate affairs of the heart against the grandeur of the universe: where kingdoms rise and fall and the sands of time grind onwards.

There could be no grander setting for such an opera than Sydney Harbour itself, awash with the light of the city and the Sydney Opera House silhouetted against the setting sun. Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour has become a huge part of the cultural landscape, combining all of the things Sydney does best: world-class opera, champagne and fine dining, sunsets and spectacle on the harbour's edge. It's a monumental undertaking, with a team of more than 700 people involved in the project before a single note is heard over the harbour.

'Aida' is the biggest opera they've ever performed on the opera stage. It is at once an historic epic and an utterly relatable human tragedy.

Performed in Italian with English Subtitles.

Director - Gale Edwards; Cast: Latonia Moore, Roberto Aronica.

145m including interval.

Sun 30 Aug 14:15

A young girl, spends the summer with her father and grandmother on a small island in the Gulf of Finland, as the family grapples with the recent loss of Sophia's mother.

At her family's home on a Finnish island, young Sophia (Emily Matthews) explores the natural world with her father (Anders Danielsen Lie) and grandmother (Glenn Close). Together, they forge an existence on the island - a day trip to a neighbouring island; they adopt a cat; plant a tree – all the while learning about each other’s needs. This is such a beautifully poetic film, conveying profound thoughts about time, memory, loss and nature through a meditative cinematic language of exquisite images and music. Adapted from Tove Jansson's beloved novel, this delicate account of growing up and growing old perfectly partners with the glorious Finnish landscape. Glenn Close is superbly cast and delivers an award-worthy performance, also drawing a lovely performance from newcomer Emily Matthews as the granddaughter.

USA/Finland/UK Charlie McDowell 2024 90m

Two friends, a Dutchman and a Hispanic man, reunite after a decade apart on a majestic hike on Scotland’s West Highland Way and Cape Wrath Trail.

Chris (Bart Harder) is a modern professional about to embark on married life and a family with his girlfriend, while Lluís (Carles Pulido) is still figuring everything out, having ditched his job as a wedding videographer. He looks for creative inspiration on the planned 28-day 600km trek with his old friend. This majestic, narrative fictional feature film is as beautifully meandering as the journey they take, and we learn about their lives in just as unexpected ways as the landscape reveals itself. This is the ultimate hiking film and on the big screen it reaches uplifting altitudes that no smaller screen could ever touch. (Some subtitles)

Netherlands 2025 Bart Schrijver 130m

A lyrical, ruminative exploration of life deep beneath the Earth’s surface, uncovering some of humanity’s best kept secrets.

Based on Robert Macfarlane’s book and narrated by Sandra Huller, this fascinating documentary cinematically, scientifically and poetically plunges deep into both the natural and man-made underground world. It seamlessly takes us through Las Vegas storm drains playing host to the impoverished who have been driven underground alongside the detritus from Sin City above, to the ancient, sacred caves of Yucatán in Mexico, in search of fossil traces of Maya ancestors, and a deep underground laboratory built to solve the mysteries of the Universe. This breathtaking film takes us on a voyage into worlds rarely glimpsed by human eyes and is a literal deep dive into the Earth presenting a groundbreaking vision for rethinking our lives on this fragile surface.

UK 2025 Robert Petit 79m

This poetic journey through language and landscape explores how reconnecting with nature’s vanishing vocabulary can help us reimagine our future with hope.

Based on Robert MacFarlane’s and Jackie Morris’ bestseller, this extraordinary documentary explores visually rapturous UK landscapes and the connection between language, nature and the challenges of today. It is described as “a hopeful call to re-establish our own intimate connection to nature and to immerse ourselves in its dizzying riches of motifs” Its narrators include children, Alzheimer patients and environmental activists. (Some subtitles)

UK 2025 Hannah Papacek Harper 92m

The children of a once famous artist hire a forger to complete some unfinished, long ago abandoned canvases so they'll have an inheritance when he dies.

Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) is a once-brilliant painter who has sullied his name over time with awful behaviour. Now, separated from the world he looks down on, from his crumbling, yet expansive, London townhouse, he is cursed with two vile, talentless children (Jessica Gunning – ‘Baby Reindeer’; and James Corden – ‘Gavin and Stacey’). They are only interested in their inheritance and see an opportunity with a set of nine unfinished paintings in the loft – The Christophers. The siblings hire an art restorer, Lori (the brilliant Michaela Coel), to finish the paintings without their father’s knowledge, convinced that this will guarantee their fortune. The two lead actors play off each other beautifully in this intimate comedy drama about art, commerce and the mess in-between. This is the third London-set Steven Soderbergh film in two years, following ‘Presence’ and ‘Black Bag’.

UK 2025 Steven Soderbergh 100m

La Bataille de Gaulle: L'Age de Fer

First of a two-part biopic. A powerful sweeping epic of Charles de Gaulle's journey during World War II, from his rise as a military leader to his emergence in French politics between 1940-1945.

The central dynamic is a relationship of mutual affection – not without its hiccups – between De Gaulle (Simon Abkarian) and Winston Churchill (Simon Russell Beale), making a case for Churchill having an affection and admiration for De Gaulle when most in his circle, including US President Franklin D Roosevelt (Campbell Scott), were much more cynical about this stubborn and less-than-endearing character. The cast is as sprawling as the story’s geography, which takes in France, UK, USA, Libya and several west African countries. It includes Benoît Magimel as Koenig, the grizzled general who valiantly held out against the Nazis at Bir Hakeim in 1942, and Mathieu Kassovitz as Darlan, the admiral in Marshal Pétain’s French government under Nazi occupation. (Subtitles)

France 2026 Antonin Baudry 140m

A mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports a neighbourhood to someplace unknown.

One day, the Platt family - Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor) - discover their street, and indeed their whole suburban neighbourhood, mysteriously transported to the prehistoric era. They must barricade their house, scavenge for resources and fight for survival against roaming dinosaurs. They soon discover that their very survival depends on sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings. This is a refreshingly tight and fast-paced summer thrill ride! Buckle up!

USA 2026 David Robert Mitchell 99m

A young chef travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life. This film opened the 2026 Chichester Film Festival.

In 1975, one summer proved a transportive experience for a then 19-year-old, “spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive, and thoughtless” Anthony Bourdain (Dominic Sessa – ‘The Holdovers’), as the late author and food connoisseur wrote in his book ‘Kitchen Confidential’. Arriving on the beachy tip of Cape Cod, Brazilian restaurateur Ciro (Antonio Banderas) hires Bourdain. Leo Woodall (‘Tuner’, ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About a Boy’) and Stavros Halkias are two of Bourdain’s co-workers. Bourdain’s estate is firmly behind Matt Johnson’s film, saying: “We chose to support ‘Tony’ because it is not a standard biopic and doesn’t attempt to summarize a life.” Tragically, Anthony Bourdain took his own life in 2018.

USA 2026 Matt Johnson 106m

Armies in the Shadows

With the production of ‘a small and quiet light’ at Chichester Festival Theatre, this talk looks back at how the secret fight against Nazism has been portrayed on film.

100m inc Q&A

Sat 5 Sep 10:30

L' Armee des Ombres

Following the very successful day course exploring ‘Occupation, Resistance and the Cinema’ we ran in May, here is an opportunity to see the full length version of some of one of the extraordinary films we referred to on the day.

In this war drama set during the French Resistance of WWII, a courageous fighter escapes Gestapo headquarters and returns to Marseille. There he and his gang capture a traitor, and then try to rescue a Resistance fighter in Lyons. As they do so, the hero is again captured and his partner killed. The screenplay is based on Joseph Kessel's novel and became filmmaker Jean Pierre Melville's magnum opus. From the first sight of German soldiers goose-stepping past the Arc de Triomphe to a postscript that spells out the fate of characters, ‘Army of Shadows’ is a movie of its time - and ours.

France/Italy 1969 Jean-Pierre Melville 145m

We are delighted to welcome local director Max Keegan (Fishbourne) for a Q&A following his documentary about an aging shepherd struggling to find a successor as bears prey on his flock.

Set high in the majestic French Pyrenees, we learn of a conflict provoked by the reintroduction of brown bears amid a traditional shepherding community. 63-year-old Yves struggles to find a successor to take over his work whilst a teenage boy becomes obsessed with tracking the bears, recently reintroduced after their disappearance in 2004. Through its breathtaking cinematography and immersive storytelling, ‘The Shepherd and the Bear’ is a modern folktale about tradition, community and humanity’s relationship with a vanishing natural world. Keegan learned to speak French fluently from scratch for the film and spent two years living in the Pyrenees with his subjects. ‘Lyrical, visually and aurally ravishing’ – Screen International. (Some subtitles)

UK/France 2024 Max Keegan 101m

Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day, shaped the destiny of Iraq after WWI in ways that still reverberate today.

Gertrude Lowthian Bell, sometimes called the “female” Lawrence of Arabia was a British adventurer, archaeologist and political powerhouse, who helped shape the modern Middle East after World War I. Voiced and executive produced by Tilda Swinton, the film chronicles Bell's journey into the uncharted Arabian desert and all-male halls of colonial power with never-seen-before archival footage of the region shot a century ago. The film takes us into a past that is eerily current. Adding to this are dramatization interviews with actors playing people that Bell knew in her time and could tell us about her.

UK/USA/France 2016 Sabine Krayenbühl & Zeva Oelbaum 95m

A poignant insight into the world of The Bad Seeds musician Warren Ellis, and the Indonesian animal sanctuary he co-founded with activist Femke den Haas.

Early shots in ‘Ellis Park’ incorporate lush rainforests and majestic terrain; the location of the titular animal sanctuary in Sumatra, Indonesia, that rehabilitates injured creatures and releases them back into the wild, or provides a dignified final chapter to their lives. Justin Kurzel’s first foray into documentary filmmaking is a surprisingly gentle and leisurely blended cinematic portrait of the musician Warren Ellis and the animal sanctuary that means so much to him. Here we witness the coming together of the healing power of looking after animals and the sanctuary that music can provide from a previous troubled life. The confluence of music and activism is encapsulated by a simple shot of Ellis, head bowed in concentration, feverishly playing his violin, amid, and inspired by, the untamed haven of the jungle.

Australia 2024 Justin Kurzel 104m

Warning – there are some distressing archive scenes of suffering owing to the sanctuary’s proximity to the region’s lucrative animal trafficking route.

17-year-old high school student Marty McFly is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

In this 1980s sci-fi classic, small-town California teen Marty McFly is thrown back into the 1950s when an experiment by his eccentric scientist friend Doc Brown goes awry. Traveling through time in a modified DeLorean car, Marty encounters young versions of his parents and must make sure that they fall in love, or he'll cease to exist. Even more dauntingly, Marty has to return to his own time and save the life of Doc Brown.  Inventive, funny and breathlessly constructed, ‘Back to the Future’ is a rousing time-travel adventure with an unforgettable spirit. If you don't like ‘Back To The Future’, it's difficult to believe that you like films at all.

USA 1985 Robert Zemeckis 116m

A farmer’s special bond with a wounded white stork intertwines with Macedonian folklore.

A story drawn from 17th century Macedonian folklore is deftly woven through this intimate portrait of a farmer, whose traditional way of life is threatened by economic pressures in modern Macedonia. Nikola’s life may be hard, his work may be back-breaking, but he is a gleeful, avuncular figure and he and his wife Jana scythe the fields together, their movements perfectly synchronised. When Nikola’s daughter and her husband relocate to Germany, Jana goes with them to provide childcare, leaving Nikola behind. He develops an almost spiritual relationship with a gangly damaged stork that he rescues which, in turn, reaffirms his bond with the land. This beautiful, gentle film explores themes of symbiosis with the natural world, disrupted balances and migration.

North Macedonia/USA/UK 2025 Tamara Kotevska 81m

Brent Cross Wildlife Hospital will introduce this film with a short talk on its important work and the role of its volunteers.

Experience the meteoric rise of Oasis through rare footage and untold stories as the band reunites for Oasis Live '25, chronicling their journey from Manchester streets to global rock stardom.

Featuring unprecedented access and never-before-seen footage, the film captures the first-hand experience and emotions of the band and their fans across the world. Including rehearsal, backstage and onstage access as well as the first joint interviews with Noel and Liam in over 20 years, this movie embodies the profound emotional impact the reunion created among all generations in the summer of 2025. This highly anticipated documentary, written by Steven Knight (‘Peaky Blinders’, ‘Locke’), premiered at the 2026 Venice Film Festival.  

UK/USA 2026 Will Lovelace & Dylan Southern 122m

In the tense 72 hours before D-Day, with the fate of the free world hanging in the balance, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg face an impossible choice: launch the largest and most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether.

With the impressive cast of Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon and Damian Lewis, this a behind-the-scenes story is set in the last few days leading up to the allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Clear weather was fundamental to a potentially decisive turning point in the war, and Eisenhower was asking for certainty. The ships and planes would be unable to reach the shore if the waves were too high and visibility was too limited. Andrew Scott is magnetic in this tense thriller, which is less of a war pic and more of a satisfying chamber piece about how people use and communicate information when the stakes are sky high.

UK/France/USA 2026 Anthony Maras 100m

In association with The Final Straw Foundation

A passionate sea swimmer takes on one of the U.K.’s biggest water companies in a David & Goliath battle to protect our waters from devastating sewage pollution.

Exmouth-based Jo Bateman became a reluctant activist when her daily swims were being interrupted by sewage spills which she had to monitor by using the Surfers Against Sewage app. Court action was her last resort. We have all read the papers and seen the TV drama and the dire consequences not just for marine life, but for public health, and for the communities who simply wish to reclaim our right to a clean and thriving natural world. Jo’s story is not just about her legal fight but also about a connection to nature, to a sense of place and the importance of being able to safely experience and respond to our natural world.

UK 2025 Pip Piper 77m

The Last Straw Foundation will introduce the film. Come and enjoy a free Mermaid gin & tonic with them afterwards in the bar.

For the 2-5s A magical first cinema experience especially created for children under five.

A collection of short films inspired by the natural world will be screened in our ‘cinematic playground’ in the Old Dojo, where sounds become drawings, travellers become birds, trees change shape and a dog's tail takes on a life of its own. Through playful transformations and unexpected connections, the programme invites us to look closely, listen carefully and discover the beauty and wonder of the world around us.

After the screening, everyone can explore colour, movement, light and shadow through open-ended sensory play inspired by the films. To finish, everyone watches the films again. Young children love repetition; it helps them notice new details, make connections between what they've seen and what they've explored through play, and build confidence in the cinema environment. This is a gentle and playful introduction to the magic of cinema for our youngest audiences.

Children must be accompanied by an adult/parent/carer/guardian all of whom are invited to participate.

Each session will accommodate up to 20 children + adults

£5.00 per child and per adult

Sat 12 Sept 10:00 -11:15

Sat 12 Sept 11:45 -13.00  

This wonderful, colourful first feature animation from Ugo Bienvenu and produced by Natalie Portman, follows two children affected by climate catastrophes.

The title character Arco is a little 10-year-old boy from far in the future, who longs to travel back in time like his big sister and parents. The older family members have to don a special rainbow-coloured cloak in order to visit the dinosaurs or to gather resources because in the future the Earth is a drowned planet and people live on man-made platforms that are stacked up to the sky. The film is styled in Japanese animé-style but children will love the super-saturated palette that swirls rainbows all over everything! And we are left with a tiny note of optimism at the end.

France 2025 Ugo Bienvenu 89m

Children of 6years+ are invited to attend the wonderful Arco Kaleidoscope-making workshop in the Old Dojo afterwards at 3pm. Workshop £5.00.

Suitable for ages 6+. Inspired by the animated film ARCO this 90-minute workshop invites children to explore the magic of light, colour and moving images.

Using a specially designed giant kaleidoscope, children can experiment with mirrors, patterns and prisms to discover how light transforms the world around them. They can then design and make their own rainbow kaleidoscope and colourful spinning top to take home.

As they play, children can explore the beauty of colour in motion and create an endless stream of ever-changing patterns inspired by the dazzling world of ‘Arco’.

We recommend watching ‘Arco’ before the workshop, but children are very welcome to take part even if they haven't seen the film.

£5.00 (accompanying adults free)

Workshop - Sat 12 Sep 15:00

‘Arco’ - Sat 12 Sep 12:30

An advertising director faces a turbulent Christmas weekend. 20 years later, a filmmaker turns her story into a screenplay, blurring the lines between reality, fiction and the people closest to him.

2004: Elsa (Bárbara Lennie) was once a filmmaker, but after two failures, has turned to advertising. She seeks to persuade one friend, Patricia (Victoria Luengo), to finally abandon her cheating husband, and reaches out to another friend, Natalia (Milena Smit), who is in agony over having lost a child. Elsa also has a loyal and much younger boyfriend, Bonifacio (Patrick Criado) - a firefighter who moonlights as a stripper. But these people are figments of Raul’s (Leonardo Sbaraglia) imagination, who is searching listlessly for the key to his next movie, only to settle on tearing a page from the real-life travails of his loyal assistant, Mónica (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón). Almodóvar leaps between the two stories with breathtaking fluidity and brings them both to a virtuosic finish. Almodóvar obsessions: striking-looking women, with wilful, complicated characters to play; vivid colour combinations in both production and costume design; all facets of love, from maternal devotion to forbidden sexual desire; the mysterious source of human creativity; and impressive music set pieces, of which there are magnificent examples here. (Subtitles)

Spain 2026 Pedro Almodóvar 111m

London 1910: a passionate astronomer does everything she can to avoid romantic love and marriage. Her bold challenge to Edwardian patriarchy is set against the suffragette movement and advances in science and technology.

Aspiring astronomer Katharine Hilbery (Haley Bennett) is passionate about two things and two things only: the stars and Cambridge University. While her controlling father (Timothy Spall) tries to push her away from learning and into marriage with family friend William (Jack Whitehall), the headstrong young woman stands up to expectations forced on her by getting involved in the suffragette movement, spearheaded by the sprightly, straight-talking Mary (Lily Allen). Based on Virginia Woolf’s 1919 novel ‘Night & Day’, this is a refreshing take on the romantic comedy, set against the backdrop of early 20th-century London and the crumbling Edwardian patriarchal attitudes. Jennifer Saunders and Sally Phillips also star in this feminist unromantic comedy.

UK 2026 Tina Gharavi 95m

Puccini's last great opera featuring the famous 'Nessun Dorma' aria.

After 2015's hugely successful 'Aida' on Sydney Harbour, Handa Opera returned in 2016 with their most exciting opera to date: 'Turandot'. When the heroic high notes of 'Nessun Dorma' ring out, your soul stirs. It's impossible to resist - the climax of an exotic adventure, captured perfectly in music.

Set against the magnificent backdrop of the Sydney Opera House, Puccini's 'Turandot' recounts the Chinese fable of the beautiful and powerful Princess Turandot, who challenges her many suitors to answer three riddles on pain of death. No one has ever succeeded, until a young brave Prince named Calaf declares his love for the princess and answers correctly.

Don't miss this incredible opera event with lavish sets, extraordinary costumes and a spectacular firework display from Sydney's beautiful harbour.

Sung in Italian with English subtitles.

135m inc. interval

Three radical environmentalists from Oregon plan to plant a bomb to blow up a dam they believe is harming the environment.

Winner of the 2013 Grand Prix at the Deauville Film Festival, this tense thriller from Kelly Reichardt does not focus so much on exploring why people do what they do, but instead examines how they deal with the consequences of their actions. With mesmerising performances from Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard, this paranoid tragedy of eco-terrorism is an unsettling thriller blending psychological intrigue with ratcheting tension.

USA 2013 Kelly Reichardt 112m

Exhibition on Screen

In an era of great change and great beauty emerged the character of James McNeill Whistler.

Considered by some to be one of the great innovators of 19th century art, he was a contemporary of the Impressionists, much admired by Van Gogh and Manet. His most famous painting, ‘Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1’, commonly known as ‘Whistler’s Mother’, is a revered portrait of motherhood. It is arguably one of the most famous paintings in history and this film will unveil the artist behind the art. Tate Britain is now holding the first major retrospective of Whistler in three decades. This blockbuster exhibition brought to life in this documentary, promises to reawaken the world to just how important Whistler is to art history, uniting world-famous masterpieces with rarely seen works.

UK 2026 David Bickerstaff 90m

The race-against-the-clock jeopardy of the 2023 efforts to rescue eight passengers trapped in a cable car high in the Himalayas.

Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s gripping, heart-in-the-mouth docudrama

has all the urgency of a Hollywood disaster movie from the 1970s, but also of comments on the neglect of poor rural communities in Pakistan. The establishing scenes of mountain peaks, lush vegetation and blue skies belie the lack of infrastructure and proper roads. Travel is routinely by rusty, cramped cable cars and it was on August 22nd, 2023, when a cable snapped, leaving a group of eight travellers aged between 13 and on their daily commute, hanging by a wire, suspended 900 feet above the ground for 10 hours. An alliance of rescuers must improvise under intense public scrutiny, racing against an invisible clock before disaster strikes live on television. (Some subtitles)

UK/Pakistan/USA 2026 Mohammed Ali Naqvi 98m

Juste une Illusion

In this refreshing, feel-good family comedy, a young boy navigates life between his distant older brother and quarrelling parents while grappling with adolescence.

Paris 1985: Vincent (Simon Boublil), about to turn 13, grows up in the suburbs within a middle-class family, swinging between an older brother who lives only for music, and parents in constant conflict. The film traces this in-between space, where questions about identity, family, friendship, religion and first loves start to redefine how he sees the world. French cinema veterans Camille Cottin and Louis Garrel – who you will surely recognise - portray the parents with an explosive chemistry and real emotional heft. Nakache and Toledano directed the 2013 Chichester Film Festival Audience Award winner, ‘Les Intouchables’, and here, once again, they have created a heartwarming comedy blessed with vibrant energy and a strong cast. Listen out for the energetic soundtrack which propels the film. (Subtitles)

France 2026 Olivier Nakache/Éric Toledano 119m

A director making a slasher sequel becomes obsessed with casting the original film's 'final girl,' leading both women into psychological and sexual chaos.

A queer filmmaker (Sundance discovery Hannah Einbinder) is hired to direct a new instalment of a long-running slasher franchise and fixates on the prospect of casting the 'final girl' from the original movie who has now become a Norma Desmond-type recluse (played with her usual subtle sexiness by Gillian Anderson). The film receives a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating and received a standing ovation at Cannes. As a whole new world of visual pleasure and cinematic possibility opens up why not come along for the ride?!  

USA 2026 Jane Schoenbrun 112m

Filming Farming, Peasantry and Community

To coincide with our annual season of films on environmental issues this talk will look back at how living off the land has been portrayed on film.

100m inc Q&A

Sat 19 Sep 10:30

A love letter to nature, created on Super8 home movie format by people connecting across the world by land, air and beneath the ocean

In this celebration of all we treasure and all we have to lose, we embark on a journey with a host of short clips of nature and wildlife captured by conservationists, biologists and activists across 25 different countries. A far cry from today’s high-def filming, each participant has used a Super8 camera, imbuing the film with a great warmth and nostalgia and not a little hope. This immersive exploration of the world covers everything from garden snails and Welsh puffins to the last remaining two white rhinos – and to cap it all, this poetic and personal meditation on the natural world comes with a rich and diverse music score. Something to savour! (Some subtitles)

UK 2025 Ed Sayers 82m

There will be a short introduction by Surfers Against Sewage before the main presentation.

NT Encore

Written and directed by celebrated playwright Conor McPherson and featuring Tony Award-winning orchestrations by Simon Hale, ‘Girl From the North Country’ reimagines 20 legendary songs of Bob Dylan as they’ve never been heard before.

Sat 19 Sep 20:00

An Anniversary Celebration

Marking two decades of the Metropolitan Opera’s live broadcasts.

Twenty Years of the Met in Cinemas is a celebration of the Met’s two decades of onstage glory as experienced in movie theaters, featuring highlights from the company’s collection of more than 185 extraordinary onscreen performances.

Sun 20 Sep 14:15

An Icelandic poet and author constructs a cinematic time capsule to document the melting of the glaciers in his homeland.

A film about home, memory and epochal change, this lyrical documentary about Iceland’s vanishing glaciers is less a polemic on the effects of climate change, and more of a deeply personal braiding together of a family history, mythology and climate science to tell a meandering but mesmeric tale of dying glaciers, climate meltdown and intergenerational communication.

Time and Water weaves together family archive film and newly shot footage, digital and 16mm, of Iceland’s spectacular but rapidly changing landscape.

Iceland/USA 2026 Sara Dosa 90m

There will be an introduction and 15m short film called ‘Bill’s Story’ presented by the Solent Seascape Project before the main feature.

In an ever-so-slightly fictionalized New York City, two strangers crash into each other in New York on the one night when single people are allowed to have sex.

Who would you choose if you only had one night? Recently dumped Owen (Callum Turner) and hopeful romantic Allie (Monica Barbaro) may be the only two singles in the city looking for more than a quick encounter. They both feel a spark when they meet, but a series of missteps and side quests will complicate their night. This is a fresh and funny romantic comedy about lonely hearts searching for love on the least romantic night of the year.

USA 2026 Will Gluck 102m

In this darkly satirical period comedy-drama, a gloriously unscrupulous social climber and his razor-sharp wife prepare to host a dinner party for a duke and duchess in 18th-century England.

Set in 18th century England during pox outbreak and Jacobite uprising, Sir Chauncey (Richard E. Grant) and Lady Savage (Claire Foy) blindly pursue better life. Their pursuit is filled with ironic decadence and bloodshed. Their

house is in disrepair, maintaining a lavish lifestyle through gambling and scandalous acts. Their, and the nation's, chaos is amplified by a high-stakes dinner party they host for a Duke and Duchess.

UK 2026 Peter Glanz 114m

A tender, autobiographical film about resilience, focusing on a Korean immigrant family striving for the American Dream in 1980s Arkansas.

Lee Isaac Chung’s fictionalised account of his rural US childhood explores the growing pains of a family farm. Jacob, has a big dream: he will farm the land and get rich growing real Korean vegetables for the many Korean immigrants in the US yearning for a taste of home, and particularly the Minari, a kind of water celery which also symbolises hope, resilience, and the ability to thrive in harsh, new environments. His wife resents her husband for uprooting the family from urban California to live in “hillbilly” country in an ugly extended trailer. The harsh realities of the back-breaking work, titanic struggles with the weather and constant financial woes are leavened by the occasionally very funny exchanges between the grandmother and their sweet but mischievous little boy David and the message that family unity and love are more enduring than material success. A delight from start to finish.

S. Korea 2021 Lee Isaac Chung 115m

Award-winner Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) plays the title role in this razor-sharp reimagining of Molière’s classic dark comedy.

Telling the truth isn’t always that simple. Alice, a brilliant novelist, despises the carefully constructed lies of modern society. But the more she challenges those around her, the fiercer the backlash becomes. Soon, she must confront the price of speaking her truth in a world that would rather silence her.

Filmed live on stage at the National Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham directs Martin Crimp’s (Cyrano de Bergerac) highly anticipated play.

Tue 22 Sep 19:45

Sun 11 Oct 14:45

A quiet postal worker whose forgotten youth as a published poet is unexpectedly resurrected by a group of nostalgic young New York creatives.

Ed Saxberger (the wonderfully craggy Willem Dafoe) is an amiable, unassuming former New York poet (who published an anthology of poetry which quickly slipped out of print) who now works at the post office. Then one day he is accosted outside his apartment by an eager and flattering NYU student, who explains that his book changed his life and over time introduces Ed into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius. Flattered by the attention, and particularly charmed by actress Gloria (Greta Lee), Ed starts to reappraise his life. This adaptation of a 19th-century novella by Arthur Schnitzler is a thoughtful, witty, wistful, yet unromantic look at a lost idea of downtown New York.

USA 2025 Kent Jones 96m

A brother and sister’s blissful life on a remote Scottish island is upended by the arrival of an awkward council worker.

Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O'Rourke) live a normal life hunting seabirds, chatting to mythic creatures and defending their island idyll from incomers. Their world is suddenly overturned with the arrival of Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson), a lonely and socially inept council worker. He's come to evacuate them to the mainland, but they have other ideas. The duo have been prepared for any “incomers” who might try to evict them, however, and essentially take their visitor hostage. If you imagine ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ relocated to Scotland and written by Richard Ayoade… you are halfway to understanding this film. This gently absurdist comedy was a surprise hit at the 2026 Sundance film Festival.

Ireland/UK 2026 Louis Paxton 102m

This latest Ridley Scott film, based on Peter Heller's novel, is set in a post-apocalyptic world, a virus wipes out humanity leaving survivors to face an uncertain future in this new thriller from Ridley Scott.

After a virus has wiped out most of humanity, survivors are now being terrorised by roaming scavengers called "Reapers”. Hig (Jacon Elordi), is a pilot who has survived his friends and family, his wife included. He now lives in the hangar of a small, abandoned airport with his dog, and his only neighbour, a gun-toting ex-Marine played with gusto by Josh Brolin. When a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life might exist if he flies a bit further and ventures into the unknown in search of hope and humanity. The cast includes the wonderful Allison Janney and actress du jour, Margaret Qualley.

USA/UK 2026 Ridley Scott 100m

All The World’s a Screen

With a new production of ’A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Chichester Festival Theatre, this talk will look back at the long history of filming the Bard.

Sat 26 Sep 10:30

In this classic 1935 screen adaptation of Shakespeare's fantastical play, two couples and a troupe of actors have an encounter with some mischievous fairies in the forest.

The royal wedding plans of Theseus, the duke of Athens (Ian Hunter) and Hippolyta (Verree Teasdale) overlap with the antics of forest fairies, led by Oberon (Victor Jury) and Titania (Anita Louise), and a ragtag troupe of actors that include James Cagney as Bottom. Meanwhile, young lovers, including Lysander (Dick Powell) and Hermia (Olivia de Havilland in her film debut), deceive each other in amusing ways, and magic adds a mischievous element to this enchanted romantic comedy. His beautiful looking film which won the Oscar for Best Cinematography complements our talk on ‘Shakespeare on Film’

USA 1935 William Dieterle & Max Reinhardt 133m

When an ambitious experiment between a textile activist and a celebrity clothier meets inevitable challenges, one woman is propelled into an initiation that makes British fashion history.

Justine Aldersley-Williams, a Wirral-based regenerative clothing activist, botanical textile dyer and founder of the Northern England Fibreshed, along with a community of volunteers in the industrial heartland of British textiles, sets out to do something unprecedented – to grow a pair of jeans from scratch, planting flax and indigo, spinning yarn and weaving cloth. This inspiring and uplifting film is about perseverance, interconnectedness and hope, and is a must-see for anyone who cares about making truly sustainable textiles.

UK 2025 Justine Aldersley Williams 50m

Justine Aldersley-Williams will take part in an on-screen Q&A after the film.

Verdi’s hugely popular 'La Traviata' returned to the Sydney Harbour water stage featuring a breath-taking soaring 9 metre high, 3.5 ton chandelier covered in 10,000 shimmering Swarovski crystals.

This glamorous production was captured on location on Sydney Harbour in 2021 in front of a sold out audience. 'La Traviata' features timeless romantic arias, lively choreography, beautiful costumes and spectacular fireworks.

Directed by Constantine Costi, the staging utilized a massive floating pontoon on the water with a raked stage. The set famously featured imaginative Paris landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge, glowing with neon and spectacular pyrotechnics that illuminated the night sky during the climax.

Stacey Alleaume’s debut in the demanding role of Violetta received widespread acclaim. Critics lauded her as "heartrendingly triumphant". She was joined by Rame Lahaj, whose warm tenor perfectly complemented her soprano..

145m (inc. 15 mins interval)

A Russian poet and his interpreter travel to Italy researching the life of an 18th-century Russian composer and instead meet a ruminative madman who tells the poet how the world may be saved.

In an ancient spa town, poet Andrei Gorchakov (Oleg Yankovskiy), accompanied by guide and translator Eugenia (Domiziana Giordano), meet the lunatic Domenico (Erland Josephson), who years earlier had imprisoned his own family in his house for seven years to save them from the evils of the world. Seeing some deep truth in Domenico's act, Andrei becomes drawn to him. In a series of dreams, the poet's nostalgia for his homeland and his longing for his wife, his ambivalent feelings for Eugenia and Italy, and his sense of kinship with Domenico become intertwined. Winner of the Grand Prix de Creation and FIPRESCI prize at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival. (Subtitles)

Italy/USSR 1983 Andrei Tarkovsky 125m

Three unlikely allies uncover the polar bear fur trade, following how conservation, politics, and commercial interests collide in ways the public was never meant to see.

What begins as an effort to protect one of the world’s most iconic species soon reveals a far more unsettling reality: those charged with safeguarding polar bears may themselves be entangled in their ongoing commercial exploitation and the international regulatory system designed to protect wildlife may be enabling its destruction. This clear-eyed, gripping documentary, meticulously researched and investigated over six years and across nine countries, raises urgent questions about how we protect vulnerable species in a world where the lines between protection and profit have become dangerously blurred.

Australia/ UK 2025 Abraham Joffe 98m

After breaking the mysterious "One Wish Willow" to win his crush's heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.

Music-shop employee Bear (Michael Johnston) is hopelessly in love with his friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette) but can’t quite pluck up the courage to tell her how he feels. When he casually makes a wish using a store-bought lucky charm, Nikki is suddenly besotted with him. But be careful what you wish for. This critically acclaimed sleeper hit which has only spiralled upwards through positive word of mouth is dauntingly disturbing while also skilfully amusing and thrilling.

USA 2025 Curry Barker 109m

An exploration of renowned author Salman Rushdie’s life, career and recovery following a harrowing attempt on his life in 2022.  

The film includes never-before-seen footage shot by Rushdie’s wife, the American poet, novelist and visual artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths, in the time following the attack offering a graphic, unflinching and deeply intimate account of his remarkable recovery and optimism for the future. Directed by Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney, ‘Knife’ is inspired by Rushdie’s bestselling memoir ‘Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder’. “Don’t look away from this staggeringly intimate doc” – IndieWire. “Compelling and immersive” - Screen Daily.

USA 2026 Alex Gibney 107m

In partnership with Barfoots

In the run-up to Halloween, Shaun the Sheep is back and ready for a brand-new action-packed adventure in the pumpkin patch that is sure to be fun for all the family.

In this long-awaited sequel to ‘Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon’ in 2019, the residents of Mossy Bottom Farm are looking forward to Halloween until the clumsy farmer trashes the flock’s beloved pumpkin patch. When Shaun turns mad scientist to try and fix the problem, things spiral out of control and if that wasn’t enough, a wild beast roaming the woods of Mossingham is heading their way!  This is the latest stop-motion feature from the celebrated Aardman Animations, winners of seventeen BAFTAs and four Academy Awards.

UK/France/USA 2026 Steve Cox & Matthew Walker 91m

Barfoots will introduce the film and will provide a special something to take away afterwards!

An irresistible new take on Jane Austen's iconic Sense and Sensibility: the charming, witty, and deeply relatable story of love and sisterhood

It is a truth universally acknowledged that filmmakers cannot resist making new adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels. This one boasts very impressive credentials, coming from Britain’s most successful production outfit, Working Title, and with the strong young cast of cast Daisy Edgar-Jones (playing Elinor), Esmé Creed-Miles (Marianne) George MacKay (Edward Ferrars) and Frank Dillane (Willoughby) and Herbert Nordrum as Colonel Brandon.

U.K. 2026 Georgie Oakley 131m

With deep-sea mining looming, marine biologists race to collect and document little-known ocean species in one of Earth's last largely unexplored ecosystems.

With ultra-HD footage, the quiet majesty of the ocean’s floor takes centre-stage here.  Marine biologists discover extraordinary, unnamed sea creatures at the deepest point in the Pacific Ocean, up to 6,000 meters deep at some points but the imminent mining of the ocean’s ‘midnight zone’ to extract the very elements needed for ‘green energy’ technology also threatens these remarkable organisms altering their habitat through the use of heavy machinery, unfamiliar light and noise. This remarkable and balanced documentary contests the pros and cons of disrupting one environment to preserve another.

UK 2025 Eleanor Mortimer 100m

Overflowing with gorgeous melody and hilarious hijinks, Mozart’s satirical comedy of fickle young love is one of the composer’s most sublime creations. Phelim McDermott’s “colorful, inventive” (The New York Times) staging, inspired by Coney Island in the 1950s, sets the uproarious story at a boardwalk amusement park, where the two pairs of lovers at the heart of the tale find themselves on one emotional—and literal—thrill ride after another.

Sun 4 Oct 13:30

For our October Film Club screening (all welcome by the way), we present Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece of modern horror, widely considered to be the most terrifying movie of all time.

Based on Stephen King's bestselling novel, this tale of family man and would-be writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) going mad as winter caretaker of the cursed Overlook Hotel in Colorado, is a seminal work of the genre. Hoping to cure his writer's block, Jack settles in along with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and his son Danny (Danny Lloyd), who is plagued by psychic premonitions. As Jack's writing goes nowhere and Danny's visions become more disturbing, Jack discovers the hotel's dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac hell-bent on terrorizing his family. As Martin Scorsese has pointed out, ‘this is like no other horror film ever made, essentially unclassifiable, endlessly provocative and profoundly disturbing'.

USA/UK 1980 Stanley Kubrick 146m

The advent of modern technology threatens to deracinate a traditional Catalan farming family from their rural home, long held traditions and livelihood.

Winner of the Gold Bear at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival, Alcarràs follows the trials and tribulations of a rural Catalan farming family. Quimet is a middle-aged farmer who lives with his family in a rambling rented house, surrounded by peach trees which he harvests back-breakingly by hand. The supermarkets are starting to offer insultingly low prices for his produce and he faces eviction as his landowners decide to replace the trees with solar panels. We are plunged into the centre of his anxiety as he faces an abrupt end to all he holds dear. While the subtext of the advent of the modern into the traditional comes in and out of view throughout the film, this is also a sun-dappled, poignant and perceptive family drama. (Subtitles)  

Catalunia 2022 Carla Simon 120m

Andrew Gueterbock, CEO of Tuppenny Barn will introduce the film and talk about the extraordinary work of this organic small holding and sustainable community hub. Their lovely organic jams and chutneys will be for sale in the bar before the film.

A powerful expose of the meat industry's ties to the political corridors of power and the extensive malpractice within the European Agrifood sector.

With a cinematic approach, this at times very tough-to-watch investigative documentary takes us on a revealing journey across Europe, confronting farmers, corporations and politicians, uncovering the connections between the meat industry, lobbying and political influence. The film explores the billions of euros funnelled into intensive factory farming rather than supporting sustainable practices and delves into the realities of that intensive farming (using hidden cameras) and the complex issues it raises; water pollution and biodiversity loss, the exploitation of migrants and the flagrant flouting of the rules around animal welfare within the powerful Agrifood sector. Warning: there are some distressing displays of animal cruelty shown in this film. (Subtitles)

Italy 2024 Giulia Innocenzi & Pablo D'Ambrosi 90m

The most powerful man in the world races to prove he can save humanity from a massive disaster that he personally created, in Iñárittu’s ‘comedy of catastrophic proportions.

The most hotly anticipated new feature from Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárittu (‘Amores Perros’, ‘Birdman’, ‘The Revenant’) comes in the form of a dark and ambitious climate comedy. It will be exciting to see an almost unrecognisable Tom Cruise flexing his acting chops again (after years of high-octane ‘Missions’, ‘Reachers’ and ‘Top Guns’) to play a volatile, eccentric, pot-bellied oil tycoon who unleashes a catastrophic environmental crisis and then embarks on a frantic against-the-clock mission to prove he is humanity's saviour. “It’s absurd, it’s dangerous, but certainly comedic, because the source of great comedy is tragedy” - Iñárittu. The stellar cast includes John Goodman, Jesse Plemons, Sandra Huller and Riz Ahmed.

USA/UK/Mexico 2026 Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárittu 120m

Sculptures in Time

As two of his late works are restored and rereleased, this talk will examine the career of a director who made just seven feature films, all of them masterpieces.

Sat 10 Oct 10:30

Two farmers with very different intentions for their respective neighbouring farms lock pitchforks in this very British and highly amusing documentary

The debate around intensive farming and wild spaces in Britain is effectively encapsulated by the friction on neighbouring Devon farms. Filmmaker James Dawson captures gentle feuding, English-style, between second generation intensive dairy and beef farmer Derek Banbury and his 400-acre farm and former sheep farmer turned rebellious Scottish conservationist Derek Gow who is rewilding his 300 acres, introducing wildlife such as beavers, storks and wild boar to restore natural habitats. Their differences are expressed more by eye-rolling and humorous takedowns than shouting and tractors at dawn in this engagingly eccentric, and very crowd-pleasing documentary.

UK 2026 James Dawson 88m

There will be a short introduction by The Woodhorn Group before the feature and a little take-away afterwards.

Winner of 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, HADESTOWN: THE MUSICAL is the genre-defying musical blending modern American folk music with New Orleans-inspired jazz to reimagine a sweeping ancient tale of two intertwining love stories, that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and King Hades and his wife Persephone.

Filmed live on stage in London’s West End and featuring the original Broadway stars, HADESTOWN: THE MUSICAL invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back.

Tue 13 Oct 20:00

Thui 29 Oct 19:45

A struggling primary school teacher begins to make some questionable decisions after one of her students is injured.

Based on Rasmus Lindgren’s novel De Oönskade (The Unwanted) beleaguered West Country primary school teacher Maria (Saiorse Ronan), reveals the desperate anger rippling under her facade of calm as she attempts to placate a violent and foul-mouthed pupil Danny, antagonising her and his classmates. She’s at once sympathetic and a little frightening, keeping the audience uncertain about just how far she will go.

Ronan delivers her usual power-house performance in this nerve-jangling drama.

UK 2025 Jonatan Etzler 100m

The second part of Antonin Baudry’s two-part series devoted to the figure of the General – as epic as ever – follows De Gaulle (Simon Abkarian) in his quest for freedom and for French sovereignty.

‘Liberté’ brings this defining chapter in the General’s life – and in France’s destiny – to a close. Moving beyond the events of the first instalment, this second film begins in 1939 and follows a series of parallel struggles, all aimed at establishing Free France – against the German enemy, of course, but also against the American allies. This decidedly ambitious French blockbuster, which is even better than ‘’Part 1 – Résistance’, is a monumental homage to France, de Gaulle and his obstinate fight for ‘La France libre’. Featuring Campbell Scott as President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Simon Russell Beale as Prime Minister Winston Churchill. (Subtitles)

France 2026 Antonin Baudry 157m

A struggling writer takes on a ghost-writing assignment which takes a dark turn when she discovers the author’s chilling autobiographical notes.

Adapted from Colleen Hoover's best-selling novel, this seductive, psychological and gripping thriller follows renowned author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway) and Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), who relocates to the remote Crawford estate to ghostwrite for Verity. After Lowen uncovers some disturbing and twisted confessions about Verity's husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) in her notes, she finds it hard to separate fiction from reality, manipulation from attraction, and opportunity from obsession.

USA 2026 Michael Showalter 114m

Eleanor Witcomb who does such an amazing job in our box office and with our volunteers, apparently does an even better job at choosing this season’s Staff Pick - Ang Lee’s modern cult classic featuring a deft mix of amazing martial arts battles, magnificently beautiful cinematography  and tasteful drama.

Set in 19th century China and centring on three marvellously delineated warriors (wonderfully played by Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi), director Ang Lee’s masterwork kicks into high-flying gear when a remarkable sword known as the Green Destiny gets stolen. Bolstered by its operatic sweep, this film never forgets to have fun even as it’s tackling such straight-faced issues as honour, devotion and compassion. Nominated for ten Academy Awards (including Best Picture), it won four, including Best Foreign Language Film. (Subtitles)

Taiwan/China/Hong Kong 2000 Ang Lee 120m

Majo no Takkyûbin

In this much-loved Hayao Miyazaki anime masterpiece, a young girl – and her cat - settles in a seaside town and starts a high-flying delivery service. Here begins her magical encounter with independence and responsibility, making lifelong friends and finding her place in the world.

13-year-old Kiki moves to a seaside town with her talking cat, Jiji, to spend a year alone, in accordance with her village's tradition for witches in training. After learning to control her broomstick, Kiki sets up a flying courier service and soon becomes a fixture in the community. But when the insecure young witch begins questioning herself and loses her magic abilities, she must overcome her self-doubt to get her powers back. This is a heartwarming, gorgeously rendered tale of a young witch discovering her place in the world. The film is consistently funny, optimistic and exciting – even for little ones - that is a mark of Miyazaki’s genius.

Japan 1989 Hayao Miyazaki 103m

Met Opera

Two of opera’s most extraordinary artists return to The Met for Verdi’s thrilling take on the immortal Shakespearean tale of the scheming couple determined to seize power at any cost.

Following past triumphs in many of Verdi’s signature baritone roles, Quinn Kelsey is the Scottish king haunted by the ghosts of his murderous ascent to the throne, opposite Lise Davidsen - the world’s reigning dramatic soprano - as the power-mad Lady Macbeth, whose ruinous ambition damns them both. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium for a penetrating production by Louisa Proske, a brilliant young director making waves around the world. Rounding out the all-star cast are tenor Freddie De Tommaso as the heroic Macduff and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as Macbeth’s friend-turned-victim Banquo.

210m inc 1 Interval

Andrei Tarkovsky's acclaimed epic about the life, times and afflictions of 15th century Russian iconographer St. Andrei Rublev.

Andrei Rublev (Anatoli Solonitsyn) lives in a world consumed by feudal violence and human degradation, and the turmoil he sees all about him makes him lose the will to speak. After many years of silent travelling around medieval Russia, he meets a young boy who has taken charge of the construction of a large silver bell and in him discovers the inspiration to speak again and possibly to even return to being an icon painter again. This is a cerebral epic that filters challenging ideas through a grand scope - forming a moving thesis on art, faith and the sweep of history. It is a brilliantly fashioned fresco of 15th century Russia. ‘Perfection lingers in each frame as Tarkovsky crafts one of the finest films ever made, an ecstatic story about art that has little interest in the artist himself, but in the power of art to transcend the age that produces it’. BBC.com. (Subtitles)

USSR 1966 Andrei Tarkovsky 205m + intermission

An intimate and heartfelt character study about the legendary All-Black, Jonah Lomu, tracing his Tongan upbringing, meteoric rise to fame and the complicated personal and health battles he faced at the pinnacle of world rugby.

Jonah Lomu's rugby highlights are well documented: youngest ever All Black at the age of nineteen, player of the tournament at the 1995 South Africa Rugby World Cup and record holder for most tries scored in World Cup history. This documentary goes beyond the sporting achievements to reveal the layers of Jonah Lomu's life off the field – a warrior who fought against extraordinary odds to wear the All-Blacks jersey. With unprecedented access to Jonah's family and archives, this documentary goes deeper than ever before, correcting sensationalist narratives, confronting uncomfortable truths and revealing the real man behind the myth. This is not just the story of a rugby legend, but of a human being whose strength, power and legacy continue to resonate long after the final whistle.

New Zealand/UK 2026 Gavin Fitzgerald & Vea Mafile'o

Broadway

The Tony Award-winning Broadway production of ‘Fallen Angels’, Noël Coward’s sparkling comedy of bad manners starring Rose Byrne and Kelli O'Hara, is coming to Chichester Cinema.

Sparkling, dizzying and deliciously potent, this champagne-fresh comedy of bad manners, shocked and delighted audiences at its 1925 premiere. Two upper-class wives (Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara), their husbands (Aasif Mandvi and Christopher Fitzgerald) away for the day, share a few toasts to their pre-marital dalliances - with the same man (Mark Consuelos), who just may be en route from France to visit. Old rivalries and past scandals bubble to the surface in this intoxicating romp from one of theatre’s comedy masters. As the New York Times commented, “Pure escapist fun!”.

110m (no interval)

Thu 22 Oct 19:45

De la Comédie-Française

At the Comédie-Française, the show must go on. But three hours before Nina's directorial debut, chaos erupts. France’s major summer comedy hit hits the UK screens.

The Comédie-Française is one of France’s most revered arts institutions, and the oldest still-performing theatre company in the world. There is one golden rule: the play is NEVER cancelled. Unfortunately for theatre producer Nina (Pauline Clément), everything is unravelling just three hours before the premiere of her first production – an ambitious retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Her lead actor is stuck on a train, tensions are exploding, passions flaring, equipment breaking down and egos are clashing. This is a hilarious comedy on the theatre which set the French box office alight in July. And at a breezy 75 minutes, this may be the perfect film to get you in the mood for our upcoming French Film Festival in November and December. (Subtitles)

France 2026 Martin Darondeau & Bertrand Usclat 75m

In plague-ravaged 14th century England a peasant triggers a rebellion against King Richard II and unintentionally becomes a legend of resistance.

This commanding new epic from master filmmaker Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, Jason Bourne) chronicles the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381. It centres on humble farmer Wat Tyler (played by Andrew Garfield) who rallies thousands of commoners to march on London to protest against the brutal poll-taxes which came after the Black Death and demand socio-economic reform from the 14-year-old King Richard II. The impressive cast includes Jamie Bell, Stephen Dillane, Jonny Miller and Tom Hollander. Greengrass’ trademark sense of immediacy and urgency is in full force here, creating battle scenes of raw, immersive, visceral, chaos.  Nobody does it better.

UK/Germany/USA 2026 Paul Greengrass 127m

Set in an English boarding school, Extra Geography follows two teenage girls as they grapple with all the challenges of girlhood: friendship, boys, studies, growing up and their summer project, "to fall in love".

Minna (Galaxie Clear) and Flic (Marni Duggan) begin year 10 in the early 2000s, in a sunny meadow of boundless, heady entanglement. They move in playful unison, share beds and mannerisms, hold common goals (Oxbridge) and disdain (for boys, and those who covet them). Inspired by ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, the worldly co-ed summer play for which they reluctantly audition, they decide to fall in love with the first person they see. That would be Miss Delavigne (Alice Englert), their frumpy and aloof geography teacher. Director Manners is particularly attuned to the energizing rhythm of platonic-ish intimacy. Uncompromisingly sharp-tongued and led by two sensational newcomers, ‘Extra Geography’ finds much humour and tenderness in feminine angst and youthful cluelessness.

UK 2026 Molly Manners 94m

Female British Film Stars and Archival Treasures

The Stories Behind the Screen

A talk exploring the often unrecognised contribution of female filmmakers, from actors to costume designers, to British cinema.

Sat 24 Oct 10:30

A lazy, irresponsible young clerk in provincial Northern England lives in his own fantasy world and makes emotionally immature decisions as he alienates friends and family.

Tom Courtenay plays Billy, a cheeky, naughty young man who is as daft as a brush and lives semi-permanently inside his own Walter Mitty-ish fantasy world. But Billy has a complicated love life, having recklessly proposed to two separate women: shy Barbara (Helen Fraser) and Rita (Gwendolyn Watts). But there is a third woman in his life: the gobsmackingly beautiful Liz (Julie Christie). His indiscretions cause him to lie in order to avoid the repercussions, turning his life into a mess, but giving him an opportunity to run away and leave it all behind. Schlesinger’s much-loved British comedy from 1963, based on the 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse, is a faultless blend of social realism and satirical fantasy. Screening to complement our talk ‘Female British Film Stars and Archival Treasures’ (above), this was the film that made Julie Christie a star and led to her casting in major 60s films including ‘Darling’, ‘Doctor Zhivago’ and ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’.

UK 1963 John Schlesinger 98m

Sat 24 Oct 13:00

Offret

Tarkovsky’s final film which won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury at Cannes is set at the dawn of World War III, where a man searches for a way to restore peace to the world and finds he must give something in return.

The setting is a Bergmanesque summer house in Sweden, in which Bergman's own repertory player Erland Josephson plays Alexander, a retired actor and author of great distinction, who is about to celebrate a sombre and faintly melancholy birthday in the company of his beautiful English-born wife Adelaide (Susan Fleetwood), along with children, servants, friends and locals. A radio announcement warns of an imminent nuclear apocalypse and that night Alexander begs God to spare the world and in return he will destroy his family and everything he holds dear. The next morning everything has returned to normal and it is apparently now up to Alexander to fulfil his side of the bargain with God. Andrei Tarkovsky died in the year of the release of this brilliant and audacious swansong. (Subtitles)

Sweden/France/UK 1979 Andrei Tarkovsky 149m

And The Wall Came Tumbling Down: 1989–2009

Our third collaboration with the Friends of Speyer looks back at the development of German cinema following reunification.

Sat 31 Oct 10:30

Special Event

Two British couples pit their vintage automobiles against each other in an exciting London to Brighton cross-country race.

In this upbeat British comedy, two friends enter an antique car rally. Alan McKim (John Gregson) drives his beloved 1904 automobile, named Genevieve, while Ambrose Claverhouse (Kenneth More) takes his vintage Spyker car. Alan’s wife Wendy (Dinah Sheridan) is more than a little fed up with Genevieve, and accompanies him resignedly on what she considers a rather childish adventure. Ambrose has brought his latest girlfriend on the run, a blasé model called Rosalind (Kay Kendall). The trek soon turns fiercely competitive, each driver devising clever ways to sabotage the other in hopes of winning the race. This is an exquisitely funny British comedy with fabulous musical and landscapes.

UK 1953 Henry Cornelius 86m

Sat 31 Oct 15:30

“The Chichester MG Owners Club suggested we might show this classic comedy the day before the famous annual run of veteran cars from Hyde Park to Brighton Promenade in commemoration of the 1896 raising of the speed limit from 4 to 14 mph. The Act also abolished the need for a man with a red flag walking in front! The story is of an unofficial race back to London by two friendly rivals with hilarious consequences. MGOC will display some of their classic cars in our car park on the day.”

Filmed live at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London, this cinema release features the original West End cast comprised of Olivier, Tony and Golden Globe Winner John Lithgow as Roald Dahl.

In 1983, shortly before the release of his latest book ‘The Witches’, Roald Dahl is at the centre of a storm. An article he published has been blasted with accusations of antisemitism, but he is refusing to back down and apologise. Over one tense afternoon, Dahl and those around him are caught in a battle of wills.

136m inc Interval.

Thu 19 Nov 20:00

Sun 22 Nov 14:30