The Romantics and the Provocateur

In the second of two events this season linked to productions at Chichester Festival Theatre, this talk explores the fascinating story behind ‘My Fair Lady’.

Sat 25 Jul 10:30

In this epic by Christopher Nolan, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca after the Trojan War, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens and Calypso along the way.

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. The all-star cast is rounded out by Robert Pattinson as Antinous, Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, Zendaya as Athena, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Jon Bernthal as Menelaus and Benny Safdie as Agamemnon. “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

Walter Francisco will be revealing the Film Festival programme on the 30 Jul, and everyone is invited. Together with Patrick Hargood from the Cinema's Education Team, they will guide you through the various strands, talks, special events and hidden gems.

Free snacks and drink will be offered.

Thu 30 Jul Aug 11:15

FREE - Tickets must be booked in advance (Get in quick!)

The toys are back in Disney and Pixar's ‘Toy Story 5’, and this time around it's Toy meets Tech. The gang's jobs get exponentially harder when they go head-to-head with this all-new threat to playtime.

Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack) and the rest of the gang's jobs are challenged when they're introduced to electronics, the new threat to their world.

USA 2026 McKenna Harris & Andrew Stanton 102m

Kenneth, fixated on ancestor Douglas Weatherford, descends into madness as a fantasy TV show invades his town, disregarding traditions.

The always brilliant Peter Mullan brings his formidable presence to this quirky dramedy: he is angry and weary, disillusioned but kind-hearted, someone who got his feelings hurt a long time ago… but wouldn’t dream of making a fuss about it. Kenneth is a cantankerous local historian and widower in the fictional Scottish town of Aberloch, obsessed with the memory of his obscure ancestor Sir Douglas Weatherford, an unscrupulous 18th-century landowner and amateur surgeon. Kenneth embarrassingly dresses up in wig and knee breeches as his ancestor to give excruciating lectures about his hero to uncomprehending tourists. But then a low-rent ‘Game of Thrones’-style TV show starts filming in the locality, leaving Kenneth ready to blow, and what makes it worse is that Sir Douglas’s ghost is lurking about the place, full of contempt for his ridiculous and pathetic descendant.

UK 2026 Sean Robert Dunn 103m

In this grown-up comedy, we meet a couple whose marriage is struggling. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbours for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places.

Unhappy music professor Joe (Seth Rogan) and his naturally anxious wife Angela's (Olivia Wilde) marriage is on thin ice. They decide to invite their upstairs neighbours Pina (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) down for a meal. Total opposites, this upstairs couple is unmarried and happy and not shy of allowing their screams of desire to seep down through the floorboards. This dinner party could be the change that Joe and Angela need, but have they reignited the spark, or lit the match that burns it all down? The four leads are exceptional in this smart and funny winner about sex, marriage and partner-swapping. Wilde has graduated from a successful acting career to become an outstanding new director, this her third film after the impressive ‘Booksmart’ and ‘Don’t Worry Darling’.

USA 2026 Olivia Wilde 107m

Teatro alla Scala

Prepare to be enthralled by the brilliance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’, a masterful exploration of love, fidelity and human folly, presented on the illustrious stage of Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

Sat 1 Aug 14:00

Mon 10 Aug 19:15

Complementing the Chichester Festival Theatre of ‘My Fair Lady’.

Winner of eight Oscars. In 1910s London, a snobbish professor agrees to a wager that he can make a crude flower girl presentable in high society.

In this beloved musical, pompous phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) is so sure of his abilities that he takes it upon himself to transform a Cockney working-class girl into someone who can pass for a cultured member of high society. His subject turns out to be the lovely Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn), who agrees to speech lessons to improve her job prospects. Higgins and Eliza clash, then form an unlikely bond - one that is threatened by an aristocratic suitor (Jeremy Brett). This is wonderfully stylish (Hepburn is gorgeous), wittily scripted (using much of George Bernard Shaw's ‘Pygmalion’ source material) and immaculately cast. It remains a timeless, captivating classic, deserving of a chance to be seen on a big screen.

USA 1964 George Cukor 170m

One of the ultimate cult classics of British cinema. Based on The Who’s 1973 double album, ‘Quadrophenia’ manages to be both quintessentially British and irrefutably universal.

An angst-ridden London youth, Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels) escapes the drudgery of his postal job and his working-class parents as a member of the Mods, a sharply dressed gang (who favoured bands like The Kinks and The Who) constantly at odds with their rivals, the Rockers (leather-clad youths who preferred the older ’50s brand of music). When the Mods and Rockers clash in Brighton, it leads to both trouble and an encounter with the lovely Steph (Leslie Ash). Returning to London, Jimmy, who aspires to be like Mod leader Ace Face (Sting), becomes even more disillusioned and longs to return to Brighton. Daniels is excellent in the central role, a Mod who, like most everyone else in his circle, is primarily interested in the old battle cry of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, and look out also for Ray Winstone and Timothy Spall in early roles.

UK 1979 Franc Roddam 120m

In this moving film that will soak its way to your soul, a family of six settles into their new home on Vancouver Island as internal dynamics are slowly revealed through the eyes of the youngest child.

In the late 1990s, eight-year-old Sasha (Eylul Guven) and her Hungarian immigrant family relocate to a new home on Vancouver Island. Their fresh start is interrupted by increasingly dangerous behaviour from Jeremy (Edik Beddoes), the family's oldest child. The conscientious parents (Iringó Réti and Ádám Tompa) try their best to cope and to help him, between psychiatry and a combination of tough and abiding love. This is a masterfully-assembled memory piece that goes a long way towards articulating life-altering grief, ‘Blue Heron’ is deeply affecting and announces writer-director Sophy Romvari as an artist to watch. By the time its credits roll, you may even feel more spiritually connected to yourself and those you’ve lost. (Some subtitles)

Canada 2025 Sophy Romvari 91m

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

Le Città di Pianura

Two blustery 50-somethings have an obsession: going for their last drink. One night, they run into a shy architecture student whose way of seeing the world and love will be transformed as the trio wander from bar to bar of Veneto.

Two middle-aged friends, Carlobianchi (Sergio Romano) and Doriano (Pierpaolo Capovilla), swear every boozy beverage will be the last one - until the next one that usually comes right after. To them, the party is never quite over. Thankfully, they never come across as intoxicated creeps, instead, they are tipsy and bickering friends: almost like their bromance is a marriage, Italian style. They often have a hard time remembering the lessons they have learned and revelations they landed on, they do exactly that by taking under their wing the young Giulio (Filippo Scotti), an architecture student who’s adrift and intrigued. Loosely reminiscent of the brilliant 2020 Danish dark comedy ‘Another Round’, or the happy-sad fables of Alice Rohrwacher, Francesco Sossai’s boozy dramedy is an enchanting comedy.

Italy 2025 Francesco Sossai 100m

Juste Ciel!

Five nuns set their sights on winning the cash prize in a major cycling race to raise money to renovate a dilapidated hospice. The only hitch is that none of them can ride a bicycle.

When the local nursing home finds itself in dire straits and in danger of falling to pieces, it’s down to Mother Veronique (Valérie Bonneton) and the five eccentric sisters of the convent of St. Benedict to find a way to help. Spotting a poster for a bike race with a €25,000 cash prize (and the incentive of a trip to the Vatican for the winner!), the sisters might just have their answer. The only drawbacks are that they are terrible cyclists, and their rival convent, led by Mother Veronique’s childhood nemesis Mother Josephine (Sidse Babett Knudsen), have their own plans for the prize money – and just a little more experience. But God works in mysterious ways! Laurent Tirard’s hilariously absurd comedy will have you rolling in the aisles, and the stunning landscapes of France’s Jura region provide a beautiful backdrop too! (Subtitles)

France 2022 Laurent Tirard 87m

We present a very rare open-air screening of one of the most iconic films in cinematic history, which saw George Lucas open our eyes to the possibilities of blockbuster filmmaking - things have never been the same since.

The Imperial Forces - under orders from cruel Darth Vader (David Prowse) - hold Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) hostage, in their efforts to quell the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), captain of the Millennium Falcon, work together with the companionable droid duo R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) to rescue the beautiful princess, help the Rebel Alliance, and restore freedom and justice to the Galaxy. This was a landmark film. It’s timeless appeal lies in its easily identified, universal archetypes - goodies to cheer for, baddies to boo, and even a princess to be rescued.

USA 1977 George Lucas 121m

Come dressed as your favourite Star Wars character and let’s create a new world at Priory Park.

Fri 7 Aug 19:45 – Priory Park

Gates open 18:30

TICKETS:

Special Advance Family Ticket: £28 (2 Adults & 2 Kids) (£34 on the day if available)  

Advance Tickets £12.50 (£14.50 on the day if available)  

Kids £3 (£4 on the day if available)

OPEN AIR SCREENINGS AT PRIORY PARK:

Screenings take place at Chichester's beautiful Priory Park.

Part of the prestigious Chichester International Film Festival.

Bring a Picnic Blanket or Chair, and a Picnic Basket filled with your favourite goodies.

Drinks & Snacks available

Underneath the Catalonian sun, a rich white American family lives in hedonistic isolation, seeking love and validation through one another, their designer wardrobes and pop music. When an outsider infiltrates the family, buried tensions surface and blood ties are severed.

Edward’s (Callum Turner) family is not a normal family. They were moved from New York to Spain by their mother (Pamela Anderson) six months prior. Their mother is dead, we learn, having been torn apart by wolves(!), leaving her blind husband (Tracy Letts) alone with their son Edward, his brothers Jack (Jamie Bell) and Robert (Lukas Gage) and their sister Anna (Riley Keough). All of them love Jack, in their own idiosyncratic ways, so when Jack brings home a new girlfriend, Martha (Elle Fanning), it does not go down well. This is a fabulous feast for the eyes and ears – and those who like their cinema deliriously weird. Fans of Yorgos Lanthimos will very much enjoy this.

Germany/Spain/UK 2026 Karim Aïnouz 97m

Every night a shepherd reads aloud a murder mystery, pretending his sheep can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep realize at once that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it.

In this witty, new breed of mystery, George (Hugh Jackman) is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night, assuming they can't possibly understand. But when a mysterious incident disrupts life on the farm, the sheep realize they must become the detectives. As they follow the clues and investigate human suspects, they prove that even sheep can be brilliant crime-solvers. Yes! This is indeed that fun film that we have all been waiting for. The A-List cast led by Jackman and Emma Thompson, are joined by the voices of Bryan Cranston, Bella Ramsey, Patrick Stewart, Regina Hall and Chris O’Dowd.

Ireland/UK 2026 Kyle Balda 109m

Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, joins forces with an unlikely companion on an interstellar journey of vengeance and justice when an unexpected adversary strikes too close to home.

Milly Alcock (‘House of the Dragon’) takes on the daunting task of playing Superman’s cousin, who meets Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who is on the hunt for the baddies who destroyed her world. The 2021 DC Comics series is adapted here for the big screen and also stars Jason Momoa (‘Aquaman’), who plays the intergalactic bounty hunter and anti-hero Lobo, and Matthias Schoenaerts (‘Far from the Madding Crowd’) who takes on the role of the villain, Klem of the Yellow Hills.

USA 2026 Craig Gillespie 110m

One of the most lovable characters ever put to film waddles into Priory Park, Chichester. Babe the pig is adorable, and this film has stood the test of time as one of the best family films of the 1990’s.

Gentle farmer Arthur Hoggett (James Cromwell) wins a piglet named Babe (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh) at a county fair. Narrowly escaping his fate as Christmas dinner, Babe bonds with motherly border collie Fly (Miriam Margolyes) and discovers that he too can herd sheep. But will the other farm animals, including Fly's jealous husband Rex (Hugo Weaving), accept a pig who doesn't conform to the farm's social hierarchy? Magda Szubanski is unforgettable as Esme Hoggett and the final scene will have the audience squealing with delight. ‘Babe’ is intelligent for adult viewers, agelessly diverting, and it is timelessly relevant to a story-book world where make-believe co-exists with the harshness of agricultural reality.

Australia 1995 Chris Noonan 91m

Sat 8 Aug 17:00 – Priory Park

Gates open 16:00

TICKETS:

Special Advance Family Ticket: £30 (2 Adults & 2 Kids) (£35 on the day if available)  

Advance Tickets £14 (£15 on the day if available)  

Kids £3 (£4 on the day if available)

Join us for this much-requested open air screening of a romantic comedy that took the world by storm in 1990; complete with a great soundtrack, wonderful comedic moments and two outstanding leads that bounce off each other perfectly.

While on a business trip in Los Angeles, Edward (Richard Gere), who makes a living buying and breaking up companies, picks up a prostitute, Vivian (Julia Roberts), on a lark; after Edward hires Vivian to stay with him for the weekend, the two get closer, only to discover there are significant hurdles to overcome as they try to bridge the gap between their very different worlds. In 1990 this neo-Cinderella flick was the ultimate guilty pleasure. It relaunched Gere as a lead of silvery-haired distinction and sealed Roberts as the biggest female star of the day. This becomes apparent about fifteen minutes in, when Vivian is soaking in a tub in a posh hotel, earphones on, harmonizing off-key to Prince’s ‘Kiss’ and oblivious of how she looks to Edward, who is watching her and losing his heart like the rest of us.

USA 1990 Garry Marshall 119m

Sat 8 Aug 20:00 – Priory Park

Gates open 18:30

TICKETS:

Advance Tickets £14 (£15 on the day if available)  

OPEN AIR SCREENINGS AT PRIORY PARK:

Screenings take place at Chichester's beautiful Priory Park.

Part of the prestigious Chichester International Film Festival.

Bring a Picnic Blanket or Chair, and a Picnic Basket filled with your favourite goodies.

Drinks & Snacks available

Join us at Priory Park for the thrill-ride that is ‘Jurassic Park’. One of Steven Spielberg's biggest blockbusters, this is a masterpiece of the genre.

Palaeontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), together with mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are among a select group chosen to tour an island theme park populated by dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA. While the park's mastermind, billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), assures everyone that the facility is safe, they find out otherwise when various ferocious predators break free and go on the hunt. Anyone old enough to remember 1993 will recall that first time seeing the amazing CGI dinosaurs on screen, unlike anything else that came before it. The film managed to terrify a generation of children one minute, and leave them eager to hunt for fossils in their backyard the next.

USA 1993 Steven Spielberg 127m

Sun 9 Aug 16:30 – Priory Park

Gates open 15:00

TICKETS:

Special Advance Family Ticket: £30 (2 Adults & 2 Kids) (£35 on the day if available)  

Advance Tickets £14 (£15 on the day if available)  

Kids £3 (£4 on the day if available)

OPEN AIR SCREENINGS AT PRIORY PARK:

Screenings take place at Chichester's beautiful Priory Park.

Part of the prestigious Chichester International Film Festival.

Bring a Picnic Blanket or Chair, and a Picnic Basket filled with your favourite goodies.

Drinks & Snacks available

As our traditional music-themed closer for our Open Air Screenings weekend, we present this family-friendly film which is a fitting tribute to one of the most beloved singer-songwriters in modern music history – Neil Diamond. ‘Sweet Caroline’ sing-along anyone?

Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Mike (Hugh Jackman) is a middle-aged mechanic and Claire (Kate Hudson) is a hairdresser. These troubled souls are drawn to each other as much as they are to their shared love of the venerable singer-songwriter, Neil Diamond. Together, they become the tribute act ‘Lightning and Thunder’, experiencing soaring success and devastating heartbreak in their musical journey together. The best Neil Diamond songs are catchy enough to unite huge crowds, they’re deeply sentimental, and they refuse to make even the slightest effort to be cool… just like this film. The film’s musical sequences are superb, with Hudson especially shining. ‘Song Sung Blue’ shows us that everyone has a voice worth using and the world is a better place when we all sing along.

USA 2025 Craig Brewer 133m

Sun 9 Aug 20:00 – Priory Park

Gates open 19:00

TICKETS:

Advance Tickets £14 (£15 on the day if available)  

OPEN AIR SCREENINGS AT PRIORY PARK:

Screenings take place at Chichester's beautiful Priory Park.

Part of the prestigious Chichester International Film Festival.

Bring a Picnic Blanket or Chair, and a Picnic Basket filled with your favourite goodies.

Drinks & Snacks available

This critically lauded cinematic interpretation of Gary Owen's much loved and widely performed monodrama, ‘Iphigenia in Splott’, is set against the beautiful wide-open landscapes of North Wales.

We follow Effi (Leisa Gwenllian), a young woman who learns firsthand the personal costs of our societal shortcomings. Grappling with her weekly loop of unemployment, clubbing and hangovers, Effi has a chance encounter in a Llandudno nightclub with injured soldier Lee (Tom Rhys Harries), briefly opening a door to something better. For a moment, Effi glimpses a life she never imagined. The reality that follows is far tougher. Gwenllian’s extraordinary performance traces an arc from invulnerability to loss of control, creating a wholly sympathetic and endlessly captivating woman who it is impossible not to root for. (Subtitles)

UK 2026 Marc Evans 90m

NT Live

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

Thu 25 Jun 19:45

Sun 28 Jun 14:30

BFI NETWORK in partnership with Chichester International Film Festival presents

We're excited to be joining forces with Chichester International Film Festival for their 34th edition, to contribute to their inaugural industry day. The day will feature free sessions for emerging screenwriters, providing opportunities to build connections, practical tools for honing your craft, and honest insights into the industry from career screenwriters. Whether you're just starting to explore your first feature idea, or you're ready to apply for funding, there's something here for you, and plenty of chances throughout the day to connect with fellow writers and filmmakers from the region.

11:00 – 16:30 followed by networking drinks

Vicars’ Hall, 12-13 South St, Chichester, PO19 1EH

A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain 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.

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 2000 book ‘Kitchen Confidential’. Arriving on the beachy tip of Cape Cod, he cut his teeth working there in several of the seaside community’s restaurants, including the famed Ciro & Sal’s, which took him under their wing. Antonio Banderas plays Ciro, the Brazilian restaurateur who hired Bourdain, and 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. It depicts one transformative summer in 1975 in Provincetown, Massachusetts”.

Anthony Bourdain made his mark in the culinary world as an executive chef in Manhattan during the 1980s. His breakthrough came with the release of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly’, a bestselling memoir that propelled him to stardom. Known for his raw honesty and no-nonsense perspective on food and culture, he became a beloved figure through his Travel Channel series ‘Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations’, which aired for eight seasons. He took his own life in 2018.

USA 2026 Matt Johnson 106m

To commemorate the centenary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth, we present this remastered classic (Monroe’s last film) where a divorcée falls for an over-the-hill cowboy who is struggling to maintain his romantically independent lifestyle.

While filing for a divorce, beautiful ex-stripper Roslyn Taber (Marilyn Monroe) ends up meeting aging cowboy-turned-gambler Gay Langland (Clark Gable) and former World War II aviator Guido Racanelli (Eli Wallach). The two men instantly become infatuated with Roslyn and, on a whim, the three decide to move into Guido's half-finished desert home together. When grizzled ex-rodeo rider Perce Howland (Montgomery Clift) arrives, the unlikely foursome strike up a business capturing wild horses. Monroe gives an extraordinary performance here – her best in a tragically cut-short career, and Gable has never done anything better on the screen. Coincidently, ‘The Misfits’ ended up being the final film for both of these Hollywood superstars. Recent reviews by The Daily Telegraph and The Independent have both awarded the film five stars.

USA 1961 John Huston 125m

A talk exploring the glories of 21st Century Latin American cinema, including a wealth of stunning clips.

As an introduction to this Film Festival’s Latin American film strand, Deborah Shaw, Professor of Film and Screen Studies at the University of Portsmouth and the author of several books on Latin American cinema, will present a talk celebrating cinema from the region. In the talk, illustrated with clips, she will highlight some of the most exciting films of recent years, including some of those featuring in this year’s Film Festival, in which Latin American filmmakers, including Walter Salles and Kleber Mendonça Filho exhibit their talent for applying creative cinematic techniques and compelling storytelling to illustrate social and political themes.

100m inc Q&A

Thu 13 Aug 12:00 - Lumiere

Since October 2023, Gaza has been sealed from the world - except for one group. International doctors breach the blockade, what they find is not just a humanitarian crisis, but a calculated dismantling of life itself.

While global media are barred from reporting, doctors are the only outsiders getting in. ‘Life Support’ is built around their first-hand accounts and visceral footage from inside overwhelmed hospitals, covering the entire two years of the conflict. Three medics lay bare the daily reality: bombed-out wards, dwindling supplies, starvation and an overwhelming influx of casualties. Their accounts reveal what is being denied entry: formula, pain medication, surgical instruments. Alongside the doctors' recordings, footage shot by local camera operators captures everyday life beyond the headlines. The result is an unflinching record of a society being dismantled, and an urgent call to attend to its human consequences. (Some subtitles)

UK 2026 Daniele Rugo 90m

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

DIARIOS DE MOTOCICLETA

Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, popularly known as Che, along with his friend Alberto Granado, decides to take a road trip across South America. His experiences on the journey transform him.

On a break before his last semester of medical school, Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Gael García Bernal) travels with his friend Alberto (Rodrigo de la Serna) from Brazil to Peru by motorcycle. The two men soon witness the great disparities in South America, encountering poor peasants and observing the exploitation of labour by wealthy industrialists. When they reach a leper colony in Peru, Ernesto's values have changed so much that he sides with the sufferers, forgetting his own comfort and building the foundation for what was to come in his extraordinary life. You will get so caught up in the beauty of the images and lost in the weathered faces found along the way, you may quite forget that you are traveling with Che Guevara. This is a soulful and reflective epic of a road movie blessed by great chemistry between the two leads. (Subtitles)

France/UK/Argentina 2004 Walter Salles 126m

As if conquering cancer wasn't hard enough, a 17-year-old's parents sign her up to spend summer at what she calls "chemo camp", where she manages to find unexpected friends in a group of misfits and has a summer she'll never forget.

Hanging out with mates, partying hard, losing your virginity… That’s how most teenage girls spend their last summer before turning 18. But not Ivy (Bella Ramsey). Her lovingly overbearing parents have other plans: four weeks at Children Run Free Camp, a camp for young adults affected by cancer. A quick Google search confirms her fears with a low-rate promo trailer - sunsets, crossfades, everything iMovie can vomit up. As if beating cancer wasn’t enough, now she has to go to summer camp. But ‘Chemo camp’ turns out to be more inspiring than expected. She meets like-minded misfits who just want to live life to the fullest - snorting prescription drugs, downing vodka, skinny dipping... and maybe even falling in love. This is a coming-of-age comedy-romance celebrating love, friendship and challenging adversity: feeling most alive whilst the world has other plans. This is a buoyant film that celebrates joy and love, with a ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ feel and a great soundtrack.

UK/Germany 2026 George Jaques 106m

In this multiple Oscar winning classic, two reporters uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.

Two green reporters and rivals working for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), research the botched 1972 burglary of the Democratic Party Headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex. With the help of a mysterious source, code-named Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook), the two reporters make a connection between the burglars and a White House staffer. Despite dire warnings about their safety, the duo follows the money all the way to the top. It’s rare that a film sets out to capture the spirit of a time and actually pulls it off. It takes a remarkable assortment of talent and good timing to do so, and that is what Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Robards (one of the Oscar winners) and the rest of those behind the camera manage here.

USA 1976 Alan J. Pakula 138m

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s emotional, ambitious and vivid debut film caught everyone’s attention years before his two consecutive Best Director Oscars for ‘Birdman’ (2015) and ‘The Revenant’ (2016).

An amateur dog fighter, a supermodel and a derelict assassin, all separately struggling to find love, find their lives transformed by a devastating car wreck in Mexico City. Inventively structured as a triptych of overlapping and intersecting narratives, ‘Amores Perros’ explores the lives of disparate characters who are catapulted into unforeseen dramatic situations instigated by the seemingly inconsequential destiny of a dog named Cofi. Not only was this one of the outstanding debut Latin American films for any director, but it was also actor Gael García Bernal’s first film, propelling him to star in ‘Y Tu Mama Tambien’ the following year, as well as working with Pedro Almodóvar in ‘Bad Education’ and starring as Che Guevara in ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’. (Subtitles)

Mexico 2000 Alejandro G. Iñárritu 154m

Lady Isabella, aspires to be in the spotlight, and local talent show provides her a break. However, high pressures and a loss of self lead to a surreal situation on her grand estate.

Lady Isabella Ravenhyde (Sian Clifford, ‘Fleabag’) is an aristocrat who longs for fame. ‘Stately Stars’, the local talent show held every year at her estate, seems like the golden opportunity for her to achieve it. So she hires a film crew led by struggling filmmaker Sam (Laurie Kynaston) to make a documentary for Netflix. She wants the camera to follow her ‘epic journey’ of artistic discovery, hopefully culminating in her winning the show, even though it is meant for disadvantaged children. This mockumentary was compared by its director to films such as ‘Being John Malkovich’ in the way that it uses a surreal hook to portray a human journey. Sian Clifford is a tour de force in this unique, hilarious and unpredictable film.

UK 2025 Samuel Abrahams 97m

POPIÓL I DIAMENT

Andrzej Wajda’s 1958 masterpiece. As World War II and the German occupation ends, the Polish resistance and the Soviet forces turn on each other in an attempt to take over leadership in Communist Poland.

It's VE Day, 8 May 1945 in a provincial Polish town, and Nazi Germany has just surrendered. The war is over, but not in Poland. As the German soldiers vacate, the remaining Russian forces and Polish resistance fighters must work out the hierarchies of power in "liberated" Communist Poland. A Polish assassin (Zbigniew Cybulski) is given orders to kill a Russian soldier (Waclaw Zastrzezynsky) whom he, days before, was fighting alongside, and this moral conflict makes him question the goals for which he has been fighting. Far from being a cause for celebration, the so-called end of the war marks a crisis of identity for their country. This is a stylish thriller flavoured with post-war political subtext, incendiary intellectual cinema that employs some striking imagery while relating its richly textured tale of a nation in turmoil. (Subtitles)

Poland 1958 Andrzej Wajda 103m

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.

The romantic journey of a Delhi street artist who trekked 6,000 miles by bicycle in 1977, venturing across continents to reunite with the woman he loved.

In 1975, PK Mahanandia met the woman of his dreams - Anne-Charlotte, also known as Lotta. She was traveling from Sweden, when she sat for P.K. to sketch her portrait. In 10 minutes for 10 rupees, their lives changed forever. The pair immediately fell for each other during Lotta’s relatively short stay, before having to return home. Determined and in love, P.K. left India via bicycle with the plan of cycling nearly 6,000 miles to Sweden to find her. It’s a plan that’s so crazy, it might just work. This is an inspiring, heart-warming, epic true-life adventure about self-belief, destiny and the courage to risk everything for love. This stirring documentary is the kind of film whose sweet subject transcends time and borders. The kind of film that sneaks up on viewers and remains in their hearts and minds for weeks later. (Some subtitles)

UK/India 2025 Orlando von Einsiedel 98m

BRUNELLO, IL VISIONARIO GARBATO

From the director of ‘Cinema Paradiso’, comes this documentary about a farmer's son who transforms into a fashion mogul, building a billion-dollar luxury empire while staying true to his humanistic values and commitment to ethical business practices and fine craftsmanship.

This is an inside look at the extraordinary life and career of the man behind a luxury fashion empire built on the principles of humanity and artistry. Having grown up in a rural agricultural community, Brunello began his eponymous company in 1978 and soon became dubbed “The King of Cashmere”. This documentary by Giuseppe Tornatore presents an intimate portrait of Brunello Cucinelli, a “philosopher-designer” revered for his distinctive integration of humanistic values, craftsmanship and ethical entrepreneurship. (Subtitles)

Italy 2025 Giuseppe Tornatore 120m

DER FROSCH UND DAS WASSER

A moving and very funny road movie that follows a young man from an assisted living facility, as he goes on a group outing but inadvertently ends up with a group of Japanese tourists.

Buschi’s (Aladdin Detlefsen) daily routine in an assisted living facility leaves no room for surprises. Seeking change, he seizes the chance to leave a group outing behind and joins a tour of Japanese tourists traveling through Germany. Having lived his entire life without speaking, on this unusual trip, he forms a wordless friendship with Hideo (Kanji Tsuda) - a man on a journey of his own - creating a bond that goes beyond words and starts an unexpected adventure. Everybody around Buschi seems to have worries and misunderstandings. But Buschi just magically just hovers through life knowing that he will find his way, touching everybody he encounters. This is a warm-hearted story about the most unlikely characters, two drifting souls, who unexpectedly and almost magically, create a bond and become friends. (Subtitles)

Germany 2025 Thomas Stuber 113m

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 father and daughter attempt to repair their relationship and reconcile a shared tragedy against the backdrop of the Regional Dance Finals.

Claire (Audrey Zahn) and her mom Deb (Rosemarie DeWitt) are mildly panicked, because an emergency has come up and Deb can’t accompany Claire to her last-ever dance competition. Estranged father Jason (Steve Zahn) is roped in to the rescue – much against his wishes – but encouraged to do so by his best friend Brian (Ethan Hawke). The whirlwind of the Young Miss Southeast Regional Dance Finals becomes the backdrop for a road trip that reveals a shared pain and a path toward healing. ‘She Dances’ is a story about rediscovering family and finding yourself - about accepting what is, letting it shape you, and recognizing who you are through the memories of those you love most. While most will point to Steve Zahn and Ethan Hawke as obvious highlights with their years of acting credits behind them, it is newcomer Audrey Zahn (yes – Steve’s daughter) who steals the show with an exceptional performance.

USA 2025 Rick Gomez 93m

A tragic event is the trigger for two wonderful sisters to take to the streets, confronting corruption and reclaiming safe public space for women and girls, all through the truth that only a performance from the heart can bring.

After 41 girls are killed in a State-run “Safe Home” and the government refuses to act, the sisters respond with a community Comparsa - organised street performance featuring towering puppets, fire-breathing stilt walkers and thundering drums. With brave vulnerability, they expose a system that permits and commits violence against women, and they open up about surviving violence in their own home. Their courage and determination are at the heart of this beautiful film.

‘Comparsa’ fully immerses you in the intense world of Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala. Cinematographer Edgar Tuy, a Kaqchikel Mayan filmmaker, captures all the energy and hope of their mission in bold colour. The result of a 17-year relationship between participants and the film team, this vibrant, award-winning story will ignite/re-ignite your belief in the power of youth, family and community. (Subtitles)

Tickets £10

Fri 14 Aug 19:30 - CineVic

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

Everything changes for 15-year-old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend. This Cannes Jury Prize-winner – only Andrea Arnold’s second feature - is gritty British realism at its very best.

Mia (Katie Jarvis) is a rebellious teenager on the verge of being kicked out of school. Her hard-partying mother, Joanne (Kierston Wareing), neglects Mia's welfare in favour of her own, and her younger sister (Rebecca Griffiths) hangs out with a much older crowd. Sparks fly between Mia and Connor (Michael Fassbender), Joanne's new boyfriend, and he encourages Mia to pursue her interest in dance. As the boundaries of the relationships become blurred, Mia and Joanne compete for Connor's affection. This is an unconventional coming-of-age story which won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the 2010 BAFTA Awards.

UK 2009 Andrea Arnold 123m

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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