Ralph Fiennes is a sinister chef with a deviously designed menu dished out on a remote island to a group of complacent and pompous foodies.

Sharp, cruel, and cathartic, ‘The Menu’ is a sublime blast at the extreme wealth and the extreme stupidity of high-end restaurant excess. There is much fun to be had with the age-old setup of strangers brought to an isolated location for a pernicious reason. A select group of 12 people who have paid an exorbitant amount of money for a reservation at Hawthorne. Hawthorne is an award-winning restaurant located on its own private island whose head chef named Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) is largely considered the best in the world. Every dish has someone in its sights in this deliciously perverse and subversive black comedy.

USA 2022 Mark Mylod 106m

A politically-charged drama intertwining the lives of three strangers as they go up against a corporate behemoth.

A timely story of an environmental scandal. Patrick is a tenacious lawyer specialising in environmental law. France is a school teacher who becomes an activist after her husband develops cancer from exposure to a pesticide. Mathias is an ambitious lobbyist working for an international chemical corporation. The paths of these characters collide as the lives of thousands are affected by a tragic act that sparks a powerful movement, while the corporation fights to prevent the truth from being revealed.

Cast Gilles Lellouche, Emmanuelle Bercot, Pierre Niney

France/Belgium 2022 Frédéric Tellier 121m

The humble, unassuming Ma and timid Cao have been cast off by their families and forced into an arranged marriage. To survive, they must work together. This popular film garnered 2nd place in the Audience Awards of this year's Chichester International Film Festival.

The film explores the lives of Chinese farmers in Gansu province. It depicts their daily struggles and successes, relationships, local power dynamics and their hopes in intimate detail. It examines the lives of the poorest people in the largest country on the planet, exploring the political and psychological experiences that make up their human experiences, resulting in an up-close and tremendously moving film. Thought-provoking with beautifully-judged performances that radiate warmth and encourage empathy. It marks Li Ruijun as a significant cinematic talent. (Subtitles)

China 2021 Li Ruijun 133m

Half-brothers Raymond and Ray (played by Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor) are reunited by the death of their abusive father.

The sins of the father are readily manifested in the damaged goods that are McGregor’s Raymond and Hawke’s Ray (they were actually both named Raymond by their abusive dad, Harris, in order to mess with them), who reunite after significant time apart to attend their old man’s funeral. But when they arrive at the funeral home, they begin to realize the person they thought they knew was regarded as a remarkable man by others, especially the spirited Lucia (played to irresistible perfection by Spain’s Maribel Verdu), who was their dad’s final fling, and mother of the little brother they never knew they had. Puts the fun back into dysfunctional.

USA 2022 Rodrigo García 105m

ROH Live

Join Clara at a delightful Christmas Eve party that becomes a magical adventure once everyone else is tucked up in bed. Marvel at the brilliance of Tchaikovsky’s score, as Clara and her enchanted Nutcracker fight the Mouse King and visit the Sugar Plum Fairy in the glittering Kingdom of Sweets.

Thu 8 Dec 19:15 (LIVE)

Sat 10 Dec 12:30 (Encore)

Anthony Hopkins and Anne Hathaway star in James Gray’s deeply personal coming-of-age story about the strength of family and the generational pursuit of the American Dream.

Set in the autumn of 1980, the film stars Banks Repeta as Paul, about 10 years old, who has his head in the clouds. School doesn’t interest the boy, who wants to be an artist - a notion that displeases his weary working-class parents Esther and Irving. But Paul finds a more receptive audience with his new friend Johnny, who appears to be one of the only Black kids at his Flushing, Queens school, and encourages his rebellious side. It’s a truly poignant, troubling, and ultimately brilliant work of memory and self-implication.

USA 2022 James Gray 115m

Guled & Nasra

Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s poetic romance centres on a family facing impossible loss, and the lengths one man will go for his beloved.

Guled and Nasra are a loving couple, living in the outskirts of Djibouti city with their teenage son, Mahad. However, they are facing difficult times: Nasra urgently needs an expensive surgery to treat a chronic kidney disease. Guled is already working hard as a gravedigger to make ends meet – the irony being that Guled is eagerly waiting for the deaths of others in order to save his dying wife. How can they find the money to save Nasra and keep the family together? A moving, sometimes quietly biting study of a medically and financially troubled family in crisis. Highly praised at both the Cannes and Palm Springs film festivals earlier in the year. (Subtitles)

Somalia 2021 Khadar Ayderus Ahmed 82m

Florence Pugh is miraculously good as a nurse investigating an alleged miracle in a captivating period thriller about the dangers of religious fervour.

Lib is called out to remote Ireland in the 1860s to investigate and assist on the case of Anna, an 11-year-old girl who hasn’t eaten for four months yet remains bizarrely healthy. She’s one of two women, the other being a nun, asked to watch her in shifts, reporting back on any explanation for something so potentially miraculous. As the film develops from a spooky Brontë romance into a pointed indictment of society, it takes aim at some familiar targets, but the dramatic impact is powerful. Director Sebastián Lelio (‘A Fantastic Woman’) has always been a talented filmmaker with a unique creative flare, and ‘The Wonder’ is no exception.

Ireland/UK/USA 2022 Sebastián Lelio 103m

François Ozon’s remake of Fassbinder’s ‘The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant’ is a sublimely acted movie of gay male obsession and comeuppance. UK premiere at the London Film Festival in October.

Peter Von Kant, a successful, famous director, lives with his assistant Karl, whom he likes to mistreat and humiliate. Through the great actress Sidonie, he meets and falls in love with Amir, a handsome young man of modest means. He offers to share his apartment and help Amir Break into the world of cinema. Both homage and critique, ‘Peter von Kant’ astutely gets under the skin of the lesbian-themed original, and ekes out new resonances. Superb performances from a cast across the age spectrum – including a flamboyantly knowing diva turn from Isabelle Adjani. Cast includes Denis Ménochet and Khalil Ben Gharbia. (Subtitles)

France/Belgium François Ozon 85m

A bunch of British working-class amateur filmmakers with nothing left to lose, tackle one of Hollywood's greatest musicals in order to save their beloved Club.

Growing old amid flickering memories and teetering on the brink of survival, Bradford Movie Makers, Britain’s oldest amateur film-making club, pulls out all the stops to save their ancient clubhouse from its final reckoning in this quietly hilarious, profoundly moving portrait of shared artistic folly that speaks to the delusional dreamer in us all. A thoroughly moving and ultimately joyful affair. This is partly because it reminds us that, while we sit in the dark to watch a film, it’s more fun when we do it with other people. This is a wonderful story that is bound to be picked up by Hollywood and made into a touching and amusing film.

UK 2022 Kim Hopkins 95m

When Joy’s pregnancy leads to a life-threatening heart condition, she must navigate an all-male medical establishment unwilling to terminate her pregnancy, in order to save her life.

Chicago, 1968. As the city and the nation are poised on the brink of political upheaval, suburban housewife Joy (Elizabeth Banks) leads an ordinary life with her husband and daughter. Troubling news leads her to Virginia (Sigourney Weaver), an independent visionary fiercely committed to women’s health, and Gwen (Wunmi Mosaku), an activist who dreams of a day when all women will have access to abortion, regardless of their ability to pay. Joy is so inspired by their work, she decides to join forces with them, putting every aspect of her life on the line. Packs an emotional punch.

USA 2022 Phyllis Nagy 121m

MET Opera

Renée Fleming makes her highly anticipated return to the Met in the world-premiere production of Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Kevin Puts’s ‘The Hours’, adapted from Michael Cunningham’s acclaimed novel.

Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ and made a household name by the Oscar-winning 2002 film version starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman, the powerful story follows three women from different eras who each grapple with their inner demons and their roles in society.

Sun 23 Oct 14:30

Les Plus Belles Années d'Une Vie

Former race car driver Jean-Louis Duroc is convinced that his best years are all behind him. He now resides in an assisted living facility dreaming of the one woman who meant so much to him.

Claude Lelouch’s romantic classic ‘A Man and a Woman’ is one of the most successful and beloved French films of all time. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1966, followed by Academy Awards for screenplay and best foreign-language film, plus a plethora of other major prizes. Lelouch returned to Cannes four years ago for a reprise in ‘The Best Years of a Life’, which reunites the iconic stars Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimée, playing the same characters 53 years later. Screened as a touching tribute to Trintignant who died earlier this year aged 91. Cast also includes Souad Amidou. (Subtitles)

France 2019 Claude Lelouch 90m

We close  this Festival with Jérôme Salle’s gripping new espionage thriller depicting the remarkable story of a French civil servant who unwittingly finds himself in conflict with one of the modern era’s most powerful and dangerous forces: the FSB.

Based on incredible but true events, Gilles Lellouche stars as Mathieu, a dedicated diplomat who accepts a posting to Irkutsk as the head of Siberia’s Alliance Française. He hopes the change will be good for his family and struggling marriage. But before long, Mathieu’s staging of cultural events and support for artistic expression sees him fall foul of the local authorities. Salle delivers pulse-pounding, ticking-clock cinema at its most compelling and entertaining. Cast includes Joanna Kulig, Michael Gor and Mikhail Safronov. (Subtitles)

France 2022 Jérôme Salle 127m

The story of an extraordinary girl who, armed with a sharp mind and a vivid imagination, dares to take a stand to change her story with miraculous results.

Emma Thompson leads a dazzling ensemble in this rousing big screen adaptation of the smash-hit, Olivier-winning stage musical. Dahl’s story of a neglected, prodigiously brilliant little girl is given a joyous treatment in Matthew Warchus, Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin’s musical. Matilda Wormwood (impressive newcomer Alisha Weir) was never wanted by her parents (played here with comedic slimeball hatefulness by Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough). She’s abandoned, with only library books for company – books far more sophisticated than most adults can absorb. When the authorities notice Matilda has never attended school, her parents hastily sign her up for Crunchem Hall, run by the fearsome Miss Trunchbull (Thompson).

UK/USA 2022 Matthew Warchus 117m

Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson bring a darker vision of the wooden puppet who dreams of being a real living boy.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reinvents Carlo Collodi's classic tale of the wooden marionette who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto. This whimsical, stop-motion musical directed by Guillermo del Toro (‘Pan’s Labyrinth’) and Mark Gustafson follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world. This is hand-crafted stop-motion animation at its finest.

USA/Mexico/France 2022 Guillermo del Toro/Mark Gustafson 114m

Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell dazzle in Luca Guadagnino’s blood-soaked parable of poverty and rebellion.

Taylor Russell plays Maren, a shy, smart kid who has just started at a new school, living on the edge of poverty with her careworn dad (André Holland). One of her new friends invites her to a sleepover, where the mood of humid, girlish intimacy excites Maren in ways her new friends could not have anticipated: she bites someone’s finger off and eats it. Abandoned she meets Lee (Timothée Chalamet) and they embark on a blood-drenched Bonnie and Clyde odyssey. This is an exquisite gothic romance in the tradition of Dracula and Frankenstein... It’s a queasy watch but it’s also unexpectedly thought-provoking and even touching.

Italy/USA Luca Guadagnino 130m

Two-time Academy Award nominee Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who together broke one of the most important stories in a generation.

This was the story that helped propel the #Metoo movement, shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood and altered American culture forever. The film follows the two women down the rabbit hole as they uncover the truth and struggle to hold onto it at the same time, encountering obstacles – NDAs, anxious sources, literal doors slammed in their faces – at every turn. Rounding out the cast are Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Samantha Morton, Jennifer Ehle, Tom Pelphrey and Adam Shapiro.

USA 2022 Maria Schrader 135m

A rough, short-tempered patriarch of a working-class family sees his life and the relationships around him slowly unravel in Gary Oldman’s bleakly brilliant directorial debut.

Ray Winstone stars as the volatile, self-pitying Raymond, Kathy Burke, who won the best actress award at Cannes, is his put-upon wife, Valerie. Their lives are measured out in drunken nights and savage beatings, detailed with unflinching realism by Oldman, but with little hope of redemption. Men are trapped in a nauseating downward spiral and only women exhibit any humanity or love, as shown by their pathetic capacity for forgiveness. As awful yet compelling as a motorway pile-up, It will stun and numb in equal measure, proof unrequested that it can be grim down south. Approach with extreme caution.

UK/France 1997 Gary Oldman 128m

The Education Team of Chichester Cinema at New Park present another illustrated talk on the different aspects of the popular subject – Song and Dance on Film.

This new fourth presentation, by Cinema Education Member Michael Cox and Projectionist Paul Stanley covers, not just musicals, but how an individual song or dance from any film genre can engage, move, influence or entertain the audience. This edition has a special Italian flavour to it. Background information on the film songs and dance styles featured will once again abound.

Tickets £6.50 (Friends £5 / Students Free)

Sat 17 Dec 10:00 - in The Auditorium

Peter Greenaway’s first commercially released feature film is a weirdly wonderful whodunnit - a calling card of dazzling virtuosity.

1694, a young artist is commissioned by the wife of a wealthy landowner to make a series of drawings of the estate while her husband is away. The pair begin a series of trysts. When the husband’s body is discovered, mysterious clues in the drawings point to the identity of the killer. This witty, stylised and erotic country-house murder mystery established Greenaway as a director of international status. Extravagant costumes, a twisting plot, elegantly barbed dialogue and a mesmerising score by Michael Nyman make the film a treat for ear, eye and mind.

UK 1982 Peter Greenaway 108m

Now imprisoned Jafar Panahi tenderly shows the difficulty of leaving Iran. It portrays two parallel love stories. In both, the lovers are troubled by hidden, inevitable obstacles.

Every film Jafar Panahi makes is an act of resistance. Currently in jail, the Iranian director has spent the past 12 years in and out of house arrest. In No Bears, he goes to a village close to the porous border with Azerbaijan to tell a story involving a couple who are trying to get out to Paris with stolen passports, a film crew following them, a second young couple trying to escape a forced marriage and a village full of gossips and muckrakers. A complex work of novelistic density, this is among the boldest and most accomplished statements from one of the world’s exemplary filmmakers.

Iran 2022 Jafar Panahi 106m

Sign up for the next CineCircle

on Thursday 29 December from 4.30 pm to 5.30 pm (please note earlier time as Wagtail closes at 6 pm on this day)

at Wagtail Café, Church Square, Chichester (next to Carluccio’s)

to discuss three films of your choice seen at the cinema during 2022.

A test of Memory!

Choose a warming drink, a glass of wine or beer and one of their excellent snacks.

Don’t forget to book your place via the box office 01243 786650 or online – it’s free!

The January Cine Circle is on Thursday 26th, 2023 from 6 – 7pm, same place.

Heads up! Films to be discussed include Corsage, A Man Called Otto &

Love Song

Wagtail Cafe

Gordon House, 1C-1D,

Church Square,

Chichester PO19 7BD

To ring out the old year, the Berliner Philharmoniker and chief conductor Kirill Petrenko present a thrilling Russian-Italian programme with tenor Jonas Kaufmann's special guest.

The other works on the programme include famous Italian opera overtures,

Peter Tchaikovsky’s sumptuous Capriccio italien and the most popular numbers from Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet.

Sat 31 Dec 16:00 (Live)

Exhibition on Screen

Hopper’s work is the most recognisable art in America – popular, praised, and mysterious. Countless painters, photographers, filmmakers and musicians have been influenced by his art – but who was he, and how did a struggling illustrator create such a bounty of notable work?

This new film takes a deep look into Hopper’s art, his life, and his relationships.

We are delighted to welcome director Phil Grabsky for a Q&A after the film.

Sat 26 Nov 15:00

Wed 30 Nov 15:45

Start 2023 in style with André Rieu in Dublin. Exclusive to cinemas this celebratory concert is the best way to welcome in the new year!

André and his Johann Strauss Orchestra will delight you with romantic melodies, popular classics, party tunes and beloved waltzes. 'André in Dublin' is the maestro’s first recorded concert in the Irish capital for more than 20 years – it is a truly special event not to be missed.

Sun 8 Jan 15:15

MET Opera

Umberto Giordano’s exhilarating drama returns to the Met repertory for the first time in 25 years. Packed with memorable melodies, showstopping arias, and explosive confrontations.

'Fedora' requires a cast of thrilling voices to take flight, and the Met’s new production promises to deliver. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva, one of today’s most riveting artists, sings the title role of the 19th-century Russian princess who falls in love with her fiancé’s murderer, Count Loris, sung by star tenor Piotr Beczała.

Sun 15 Jan 14:45 (Delayed Live)

Royal Ballet (Encore)

Never before seen in cinemas, this new full length Christopher Wheeldon ballet is based upon Laura Esquivel’s captivating novel of the same name.

A modern Mexican classic of magic realism provides the basis for The Royal Ballet’s new full-length work, reuniting Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon with the creative team who transformed ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘The Winter’s Tale’ into dance, composer Joby Talbot and designer Bob Crowley.

Sun 22 Jan 14:30

A witch hunt is beginning in Arthur Miller’s captivating parable of power with Erin Doherty and Brendan Cowell.

Raised to be seen but not heard, a group of young women in Salem suddenly find their words have an almighty power. As a climate of fear, vendetta and accusation spreads through the community, no one is safe from trial. Lyndsey Turner directs this contemporary new staging, designed by Tony Award-winner Es Devlin.

Thu 26 Jan 19:45

The Roya Opera

Expect heart-melting serenades, ridiculous disguises and a fairytale ending waiting just out of reach. From the barber’s opening number ‘Largo al factotum’, with its cry of ‘Figaro!,’ to Rosina’s feisty aria ‘Una voce poco fa,’ Gioachino Rossini’s comic opera is a riotously entertaining affair.

Rafael Payare makes his Royal Opera House debut conducting an outstanding international cast.

Wed 15 Feb 19:00 (LIVE)

Sun 19 Feb 14:30 tbc (Encore)

NT Live

An extraordinary new production of Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedy, directed by Clint Dyer with a cast that includes Giles Terera, Rosy McEwan, and Paul Hilton. She’s a bright, headstrong daughter of a senator; elevated by her status but stifled by its expectations. He’s a refugee of slavery; having risen to the top of a white world, he finds love across racial lines has a cost.

Thu 23 Feb 19:45

Met Opera

Wagner’s soaring masterpiece makes its triumphant return to the Met stage after 17 years.

In a sequel to his revelatory production of Parsifal, director François Girard unveils an atmospheric staging that once again weds his striking visual style and keen dramatic insight to Wagner’s breathtaking music. Music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is on the podium to conduct a supreme cast led by tenor Piotr Beczała in the title role of the mysterious swan knight.

Sun 19 Mar 12:30 (Delayed Live)

Met Opera

Baritone Michael Volle stars as the caddish knight Falstaff, gleefully tormented by a trio of clever women who deliver his comeuppance, in Verdi’s glorious Shakespearean comedy.

Maestro Daniele Rustioni takes the podium to oversee a brilliant ensemble cast that features sopranos Hera Hyesang Park, Ailyn Pérez, and Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux, tenor Bogdan Volkov, and baritone Christopher Maltman. A deeply human comedy full of humour and genuine emotion, Verdi’s last opera is a splendid finale to an unparalleled career in the theatre.

Sun 2 Apr 14:45 (Delayed Live)

Met Opera

A dream cast assembles for Strauss’s grand Viennese comedy.

Soprano Lise Davidsen is the aging Marschallin, opposite mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as her lover Octavian and soprano Erin Morley as Sophie, the beautiful younger woman who steals his heart. Maestro Simone Young takes the Met podium to oversee Robert Carsen’s fin-de-siècle staging. The score of ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ is lush, rich, and romantic to an extraordinary degree.

Sun 16 Apr 12:30 (Delayed Live)

NT Live

David Tennant is riveting, witty and intensely human in this play by C.P. Taylor, and directed by Dominic Cooke.

Tennant ('Doctor Who') makes a much-anticipated return to the West End in a blistering reimagining of one of Britain’s most powerful, political plays.

As the world faces its Second World War, John Halder, a good, intelligent German professor, finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences.

Olivier Award-winner Dominic Cooke ('Follies') directs C.P. Taylor’s timely tale, with a cast that also features Elliot Levey ('Coriolanus') and Sharon Small ('The Bay').

Filmed live at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London.

160m inc Interval

Tickets £17.50

Friends/Students £15

Thu 20 Apr 19:30

Met Opera

Six-time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard brings his first opera to the Met after his ‘Fire Shut Up in My Bones’ triumphantly premiered with the company to universal acclaim in 2021–22.

Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green is the young boxer Emile Griffith, who rises from obscurity to become a world champion, and bass-baritone Eric Owens portrays Griffith’s older self, haunted by the ghosts of his past. Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium for Blanchard’s second Met premiere, also reuniting the director-and-choreographer team of James Robinson and Camille A. Brown.

Sun 7 May 14:30  (Delayed Live)

Maet Opera

Aided by his ingenious librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart approached his operatic retelling of the Don Juan myth from a point of view that is neither tragic nor entirely comic, but rather light-hearted, urbane, and ironic.

Tony Award–winning director Ivo van Hove makes a major Met debut with a new take on Mozart’s tragicomedy, re-setting the familiar tale of deceit and damnation in an abstract architectural landscape and shining a light into the dark corners of the story and its characters. Maestro Nathalie Stutzmann makes her Met debut conducting a star-studded cast led by baritone Peter Mattei, alongside bass-baritone Adam Plachetka. Sopranos Federica Lombardi, Ana María Martínez, and Ying Fang make a superlative trio as Giovanni’s conquests.

Sun 21 May 14:30 (Delayed Live)

The Magic Flute - Met Opera

The final presentation of this year’s outstanding Met season is one of opera’s most beloved works, receiving its first new Met staging in 19 years - a daring vision by renowned English director Simon McBurney that The Wall Street Journal declared “the best production I’ve ever witnessed of Mozart’s opera.”

Nathalie Stutzmann conducts the Met Orchestra, with the pit raised to make the musicians visible to the audience and allow interaction with the cast. In his Met-debut staging, McBurney lets loose a volley of theatrical flourishes, incorporating projections, sound effects, and acrobatics to match the spectacle and drama of Mozart’s fable.

Sun 4 Jun 14:30 (Delayed Live)