Everyone’s favourite bear Paddington returns to Peru, as he and the Browns visit his beloved Aunt Lucy. A thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey through the Amazon and beyond.

UK 2024 Dougal Wilson 103m

On sale from 1 Nov:

After two decades as one of the most beloved and enduring musicals on the stage, ‘Wicked’ makes its long-awaited journey to the big screen as a spectacular, generation-defining two-part cinematic event this holiday season.

The untold story of the witches of Oz, stars powerhouse Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, who has yet to discover her true power, and Grammy-winning recording artist Ariana Grande as Glinda, a popular young woman, gilded by privilege and ambition, who has yet to discover her true heart. The two meet as students and forge an unlikely but profound friendship. Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths, ultimately seeing them fulfil their destinies as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.

USA 2024 John M. Chu

Oscar-winning director Chris Sanders (‘How to Train Your Dragon’) returns with a visually stunning adaptation of Peter Brown’s beloved novel. The film follows a robot’s adventure through the wilderness as it learns to survive, make friends, and find its place in a world untouched by technology.

Roz (Daisy Ridley) awakens alone on an island, where she must adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings and form unlikely bonds with the animals around her, including a curious goose named Brightbill (Jacob Tremblay). As Roz navigates the island’s challenges, she faces an unexpected enemy who threatens her new friends and her growing understanding of life itself. With breathtaking animation and a heartfelt narrative, Sanders crafts a story that celebrates resilience, friendship and self-discovery, making ‘The Wild Robot’ a family-friendly epic and a visual treat for all ages.

When a pacifist is called to a political act that could change the course of history, a man of honour responds. This is the true story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who preached love while plotting the assassination of an evil tyrant.

As the world teeters on the brink of annihilation, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Jonas Dassler) is swept into the epicentre of a deadly plot to assassinate Hitler. With his faith and fate at stake, Bonhoeffer must choose between upholding his moral convictions or risking it all to save millions of Jews from genocide. Will his shift from preaching peace to plotting murder alter the course of history or cost him everything?

Belgium/Ireland 2024 Todd Komarnicki 132m

The story of photographer Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II.

The film portrays a pivotal decade in the life of American war correspondent and photographer, Lee Miller (Kate Winslet). Miller's singular talent and unbridled tenacity resulted in some of the 20th century's most indelible images of war, including an iconic photo of Miller herself, posing defiantly in Hitler's private bathtub. Miller had a profound understanding and empathy for women and the voiceless victims of war. Her images display both the fragility and ferocity of the human experience. Alexander Skarsgård portrays her husband Roland Penrose, while Andy Samberg takes a dramatic turn as her partner in the field (and sometimes in the bedroom), David E. Scherman, a war correspondent for Life. Winslet shines in this biopic with a superbly powerful performance. She remains one of our most treasured actors and she brings a fierceness to this role.

USA 2023 Ellen Kuras 116m

The leaders of seven wealthy democracies get lost in the woods while drafting a statement on a global crisis, facing danger as they attempt to find their way out.

Ricocheting between comedy, apocalyptic thriller and swooning soap opera, ‘Rumours’ follows the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit. With unexpected, uproarious performances from a brilliant ensemble cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander and Charles Dance, these so-called leaders become spectacles of incompetence, contending with increasingly surreal obstacles in the misty woods as night falls and they realize they are suddenly alone. A genre-hopping satire of political ineptitude, this is a journey into the absurd heart of power and institutional failure in a slowly burning world. A wickedly funny, surreal, cerebral and ‘Buñuelian’ political satire.

USA 2024 E. Johnson, G. Johnson & G. Maddin 103m

Plus optional Indian Taster Menu!

The light, the lives and the textures of contemporary, working-class Mumbai are explored and celebrated by writer/director Payal Kapadia, who won the Grand Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival for her revelatory fiction feature debut.

Centring on two roommates who also work together in a city hospital - head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and recent hire Anu (Divya Prabha) - plus their coworker, cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), Kapadia's film alights on moments of connection and heartache, hope and disappointment. Prabha, her husband from an arranged marriage living in faraway Germany, is courted by a doctor at her hospital; Anu carries on a romance with a Muslim man, which she must keep a secret from her strict Hindu family; Parvaty finds herself dealing with a sudden eviction from her apartment. Kapadia captures the bustle of the metropolis and the open-air tranquillity of a seaside village with equal radiance, articulated by her superb actresses and by the camera with a lyrical naturalism that occasionally drifts into dreamlike incandescence. (Subtitles)

India 2024 Payal Kapadia 118m

★★★★★ Daily Mail

Barbican

Hailed as 'the ultimate Broadway musical from the golden age’, ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ is a simple love story - about two people who just can't stand each other!

Sun 17 Nov 12:30

Wed 20 Nov 17:15

The history of the Merchant Ivory partnership, featuring interviews with James Ivory and close collaborators detailing and celebrating their experiences of being a part of the company.

This is the first definitive feature documentary to lend new and compelling perspectives on the partnership, both professional and personal, of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant and their primary associates, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and composer Richard Robbins. Footage from more than fifty interviews, clips, and archival material gives voice to the family of actors and technicians who helped define Merchant Ivory’s Academy Award-winning work of consummate quality and intelligence. With six Oscar winners among the notable artists participating, these close and often long-term collaborators intimately detail the transformational cinematic creativity and personal and professional drama of the wandering company that left an indelible impact on film culture.

USA 2024 Stephen Soucy 112m

A screening both to commemorate Dame Maggie Smith who lived locally and sadly passed away in late September, and a companion piece to the new Merchant Ivory documentary.

In this British drama based on the novel by E.M. Forster, Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter), a young Englishwoman, is touring Italy with her older cousin (Maggie Smith). At a hotel in Florence, Lucy meets the charming and free-spirited George Emerson (Julian Sands). Although intrigued by George, once she's back in England Lucy ponders settling down with the wealthy, staid Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis). When George reappears in her life, Lucy must decide between him and Cecil. This is a thoroughly entertaining screen adaptation of Forster's comedy of manners, distinguished by superb ensemble acting, intelligent writing and stunning design.

UK 1985 James Ivory 117m

Soy Cuba

Four vignettes about the lives of the Cuban people set during the pre-revolutionary era. 60 years on, this is still invigorating and unmissable cinema!

A study in contrasts set in and around Havana that explores Cuba's 1959 revolution. A young woman's fascination with the excess of an American-owned casino leads to her downfall in the eyes of her street vendor boyfriend. A tenant farmer revolts the only way he knows how, attacking the land he works. University students gain first-hand knowledge of political upheaval. And, in the hills outside the city, the members of a poor peasant family are patriotically swept up into the burgeoning revolt. Visually absorbing and formally audacious, ‘Soy Cuba’ opens a long-buried time capsule that has lost none of its captivating power.

Cuba/USSR 1964 Mikhail Kalatozov 141m

Set against the gritty urban scenescape of Berlin and a pounding techno soundtrack, this is a frenetic, inventive existential thriller that explores the life-altering impact of seemingly inconsequential actions.

Beautiful, hip and young, poor Lola has but 20 minutes to locate a missing bag containing 100,000 Deutsche Marks or come up with the money some other way - if she can't, gangsters are going to kill her boyfriend. A pulse-raising race against time, the film employs a startling array of innovative techniques to present three separate scenarios, all departing from a single split-second decision Lola makes. Franka Patente, who also sings on the soundtrack, is mesmerizing as Lola. (Subtitles)

Germany 1998 Tom Twyker 78m

When a Cardinal is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, he finds himself at the centre of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of The Church.

Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake, secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church. This is a skilfully crafted film with stunning cinematography and a beautiful score that takes many surprising turns, culminating in a climactic reveal that will leave audiences astonished. The A-list cast also includes Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.

UK/USA 2024 Edward Berger 120m

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

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

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

Brasserie Blanc, Chichester

Comandante

Edoardo De Angelis presents a gripping wartime drama that has captivated audiences at international film festivals. Set during World War II, the story brings a unique perspective on heroism, honour, and survival at sea.

The film centres on Salvatore Todaro (Pierfrancesco Favino), the real-life Italian submarine commander known for his moral courage and fierce loyalty. While navigating perilous waters, Todaro makes the fateful decision to rescue survivors of a ship he was ordered to sink, defying military protocol and risking the lives of his own crew. Favino delivers a commanding performance as Todaro, a man driven by principles in a brutal time of conflict. De Angelis crafts a beautifully shot lavish period piece that captures both the intensity of underwater warfare and the inner resolve of a man who dares to follow his conscience. This is also a call for tolerance, fully attuned to Italy’s current political climate. (Subtitles)

Italy 2023 Edoardo De Angelis 120m

A riveting historical thriller that recreates one of the largest manhunts in FBI history, where an agent believed that the crimes he was investigating were not the work of financially motivated criminals, but rather a group of dangerous domestic terrorists.

For over a year, a series of bold daylight bank robberies and armoured car heists leaves law enforcement baffled and the public panicked throughout the Pacific Northwest. As the attacks become increasingly violent, FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law) becomes convinced that the robberies are the work of a gang that plans to use the loot to finance an armed uprising against the U.S. government. As the militia builds a war chest of over $4 million, Husk pursues the malevolent racist Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult) to a final bloody standoff that will go down in U.S. history. Intelligent, gripping and smouldering, this is a real-life thriller that Hollywood rarely puts on the big screen anymore. Described as ‘rigorously authentic and briskly compelling’ by Variety and ‘a nail-biter from start to finish’ by The Hollywood Reporter, this brooding, suspenseful thriller has Jude Law leading the cast with confident authority, and his combination with his icy-eyed adversary Hoult keeps us gripped until the end.

USA/UK/Canada 2024 Justin Kurzel 114m

Luca Guadagnino’s latest film is a highly anticipated adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel Queer. Known for his lush, atmospheric storytelling, Guadagnino brings a haunting, visually rich style to this intense, introspective narrative.

Following Lee (Jeremy Allen White), a troubled American expat in Mexico City during the 1950s, Queer explores the highs and lows of his obsessive pursuit of Allerton (Jacob Elordi), a younger man who remains enigmatic and distant. As Lee grapples with inner turmoil, his relationship with Allerton becomes a vehicle for his own self-discovery, bitterness, and, ultimately, self-destruction. Guadagnino’s direction combines lush visuals and moody cinematography to evoke Lee’s disorienting, passionate journey, turning Burroughs’ narrative into something deeply cinematic. Darkly evocative and emotionally charged, Queer captures both the grimness and beauty of Burroughs' original work while showcasing Guadagnino’s unique vision.

Italy/USA 2024 Luca Guadagnino 112m

14 British Independent Film Awards nominations! An unapologetic, wild ride from Belfast-based filmmakers, diving headfirst into the energy and chaos of Northern Ireland’s punk-rap scene.

Following the real-life band Kneecap, this gritty, fast-paced film is equal parts comedy, music and raw social commentary, offering an inside look at the band's rise and rebellion. The story follows Mo Chara (Móglaí Bap) and his bandmates as they navigate fame, friendship and the rough streets of Belfast. Known for their outspoken lyrics in both Irish and English, the band faces off with police, the press and sometimes each other - all while keeping their humour razor-sharp. The film captures the rebellious spirit of a band determined to make their voice heard. It’s loud, it’s political and it’s unlike anything you’ve seen before.

UK/Ireland 2024 Rich Peppiatt 105m

Inaugural winner of the Gibson Award announced at the closing gala of the 2024 Chichester International Film Festival. A young teacher hopes to be transferred to Istanbul after four years of mandatory service in a remote village, but an accusation may derail his work and private life.

Nestled away in wintry East Anatolia, public-school art teacher Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu) yearns to leave the sleepy village for cosmopolitan Istanbul. Further disenchanted when he and colleague Kenan (Musab Ekici) come under public scrutiny, Samet fears circumstances will keep his dreams of a new life permanently out of reach. A silver lining is a budding relationship with fellow teacher Nuray (Merve Dizdar) who develops connections with both Samet and Kenan. As with all of Ceylan’s films, this features compelling patient storytelling, it is often mesmerising and is filled with an undeniable atmosphere. (Subtitles) Will include a short comfort break.

Turkey 2023 Nuri Bilge Ceylan 197m

Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney’s remarkable portrait and definitive musical biography of Paul Simon, one of the greatest songwriters (and performers) in the history of rock’n’roll.

Sun 5 Jan 12:00

Our final film in the Art of Action series sees an F.B.I. Agent going undercover to catch a gang of surfers who may be bank robbers, in this wildly entertaining film by Kathryn Bigelow.

After a string of bizarre bank robberies in Southern California, with the crooks donning masks of various former presidents, a federal agent, Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves), infiltrates the suspected gang. But this is no ordinary group of robbers. They're surfers -- led by the charismatic Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) -- who are addicted to the rush of thievery. But when Utah falls in love with a female surfer, Tyler (Lori Petty), who is close to the gang, it complicates his sense of duty. ‘Point Break’ is a landmark for the action genre.

USA 1991 Kathryn Bigelow 122m

Die Theorie von Allem

Set in 1962 at a quantum mechanics conference in an isolated lodge nestled amid the towering landscapes of the Swiss Alps, this is the story of a gifted young physicist, his curmudgeonly mentor, and an enigmatic jazz pianist who knows things about our wunderkind scientist that he's never told another living soul.

German director Timm Kröger - himself also a cinematographer - films his tale with an eye for the majestic natural beauty that surrounds our characters, effectively evoking the paranoid postwar era. Driven by astonishing twists and improbable coincidences, the film unravels a captivatingly complex chronicle with brain-tickling suspense. A comedy, a fantasy, a war drama, a spy thriller and an exercise in old-fashioned style at the same time. (Subtitles)

Germany 2024 Timm Kröger 118m

An offbeat, deeply emotional romance that brings together the magnetic pairing of Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. Known for his knack for heartfelt stories with a twist, director John Crowley (‘Brooklyn’) crafts a love story that’s as funny as it is poignant, exploring the strange intersections of fate, memory and connection.

The film follows two seemingly mismatched characters, Eleanor (Pugh) and Louis (Garfield), whose lives unexpectedly intertwine and change each other in profound ways. Their relationship unfolds in fragmented glimpses of joy, heartbreak and fleeting moments that capture the ups and downs of modern love. This is a quirky, beautifully shot exploration of what it means to find - and perhaps lose - “the one”. This is indie romance at its most moving and inventive.

UK 2024 John Crowley 115m

Cillian Murphy plays a father who witnesses Ireland’s church’s abusive workhouses for unwed mothers in an absorbing Dickensian story based on recent history.

Christmas 1985. Devoted father and coal merchant Bill Furlong (Murphy) discovers disturbing secrets kept by the convent in his town, along with some shocking truths of his own. The film reveals truths about Ireland's Magdalene laundries - horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996, ostensibly to reform "fallen young women." Adapted from the Booker Prize nominated novel by Claire Keegan, Cillian Murphy's outstanding acting – as has become the norm – anchors this moving film.

Ireland/Belgium 2024 Tim Mielants 98m

A woman pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom, but soon her domesticity takes a surreal turn.

Amy Adams plays a mother who feels like she’s lost herself after leaving her job as an artist to be at home full time. Her husband (Scoot McNairy) isn’t much help, cluelessly stumbling through the small amount of parenting he manages to contribute. Heller skilfully portrays the repeated routines of motherhood – breakfast, lunch, dinner, bath time, bedtime – as both meaningful and exhausting. And in the midst of parenting chaos, the mother becomes convinced she’s turning into a dog. The film is very funny, a little gross and an unforgettable role for Adams who is obviously having a great time.

USA 2024 Marielle Heller 98m

Winner of Best Director in the Certain Regard section of Cannes 2024, Rungano Nyoni brings us a tale where a young Zambian woman confronts long-buried family secrets.

On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula (Susan Chardy) stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family. This is a daring picture that blends fantasy, stylised drama and elements of black comedy to explore the societal pressures that rewrite the truth. Nyoni is the Zambian-Welsh film-maker who in 2017 had a smash with her debut, the witty and distinctive misogyny fable ‘I Am Not a Witch’, and certainly a name to keep looking out for. (Some subtitles)

UK 2024 Rungano Nyoni 95m

A Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing.

This is the incredible true story of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu,

who after witnessing how others who participated in TV contests became overnight celebrities, decided to enter one himself. He ended up living for 15 months inside a small room, naked, starving and alone... and completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV to over 17 million viewers a week. This is a snapshot of a time when reality television was in its infancy, and no one paid much attention to the ethics of extremity for the sake of entertainment. We see how Hamatsu has tried to deal with the aftermath of the experiment, and cannot help but feel a lot of empathy for a person who was put through hell just to make millions of people laugh. (Some subtitles)

UK 2023 Clair Titley 93m

A teacher takes a job at an elite school and forms a strong bond with five students - a relationship that eventually takes a dangerous turn. 

At an international boarding school, an unassuming, yet rigorous, Miss Novak (Mia Wasikowska) joins the teaching staff to instruct a new class on "conscious eating." Her impressionable teenage students each have their own reasons for joining the class - to improve fitness, reduce their carbon footprint, or get extra credit. Although early lectures focus on mindful consumption, Miss Novak's discussions soon become increasingly disordered and extreme. As a few devoted pupils fall deep under her cult-like tutelage, they are given a new, even more sinister goal to aspire to - joining the ominous "Club Zero”. An often disturbing but always engaging film. (Some subtitles)

Austria/UK 2023 Jessica Hausner 110m

Pablo Larraín returns with a stirring and unconventional biopic that delves into the tumultuous life of Maria Callas, one of opera’s most iconic figures. Known for his introspective storytelling, Larraín offers an intimate look at the singer’s artistry, vulnerability and the immense pressures she faced.

Angelina Jolie stars as Maria Callas, capturing both her fierce passion on stage and her complex personal struggles off it. As Callas battles between her demanding career and longing for personal happiness, Larraín’s narrative unfolds with sensitivity, exploring her relationships, insecurities and the sacrifices she made for her art. The film juxtaposes grand, beautifully staged opera scenes with quieter moments that reveal Callas’s inner turmoil, creating a portrait that is as powerful as it is poignant. With Larraín’s nuanced direction and Jolie’s evocative performance, ‘Maria’ is both a tribute to a legendary voice and a study of artistic endurance.

USA/Chile 2024 Pablo Larraín 115m

A Hundred Years of Dracula at the Movies 

With Robert Eggers’ new take on ’Nosferatu’ reaching the big screen this month, this talk will look right back to its cinematic beginnings in the silent era.

What accounts for the enduring popularity of Dracula? Is he truly a reflection of our darkest selves, a Freudian mirror by which to peek inside the soul and recoil at what we see?  The last 100 years have seen some of cinema’s greatest directors tackle the peculiar horror of this most famous of vampire stories. With Eggers’ reboot screening this month, Nick Johnston-Jones and John Harte of the Cinema Education Team explore the genesis of this 1922 masterpiece of German Expressionism, reaching back into the origins of the vampire legend and the cinematic legacy of Bram Stoker’s creation. Bring your garlic, sharpen your stakes, and prepare for 90 minutes in the company of everyone’s favourite Count!

100m inc Q&A

Tickets £7.50

Sat 18 Jan 10:30 - In the Auditorium

Rocco e i Suoi Fratelli

Visconti's masterpiece, an epic melodrama of social migration and moral decay, is now beautifully restored and better than ever!

Rosaria Parondi (Katina Paxinou), an impoverished Italian mother, moves to Milan with her close-knit family of five sons to find opportunity in the big city. A heated rivalry begins when two of Rosaria's boys - Rocco (Alain Delon) and Simone (Renato Salvatori) - fall for Nadia (Annie Girardot), a beautiful sex worker with whom each has an affair. As soft-spoken Rocco and brutal Simone both pursue Nadia in their own way, tension between them threatens to tear the family apart. Visconti has made a film with a sheer passion that makes most current filmmaking look feeble. It is a richly textured and profoundly affecting drama, resoundingly alive with characters, and a leader in post-WWII Italian cinema.

Italy 1960 Luchino Visconti 179m + short interval

Royal Opera & Ballet

Four women: four curious love stories. Juan Diego Flórez leads a fantastic cast in Offenbach's dream-like opera. This fantastic new production from the ROB will make for an interesting comparison with the recent Met production shown in September.

Sun 19 Jan 14:00

This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank's Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.

For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation. He began filming the at the age of 15 in the name of evidence. That evidence put forth by the directors – Adra, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, Palestinian filmmaker and farmer Hamdan Ballal and Israeli cinematographer and editor Rachel Szor – is straightforward, un-sensationalized and completely infuriating. For its many images of despair, the film still offers a stirring vision for what could be – Israelis and Palestinians working together in the name of justice, collaborating toward a world where both are free. ‘No Other Land’ won best documentary at the 2024 Berlin film festival and is essential viewing. (Subtitles)

Palestine/Norway 2024 B. Adra, H. Ballal, Y. Abraham, R. Szor 92m

To commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day 2025, we bring back one of the best and most moving films of 2023, which sees Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn play a real 20th Century hero – Nicholas Winton.

Winton was a well-to-do stockbroker who, at the start of WWII, is so horrified by unfolding events that he heads off to Prague to do anything he can to help the terrified young refugees fleeing Hitler. Everyone thinks he is crazy – including his mother, played by Helena Bonham-Carter. But he somehow manages to organise visas and trains to get hundreds of them to safety in the UK; what has since become known as the Kindertransport. Winton was sometimes called the British Oskar Schindler, and the parallels go beyond their acts of extreme kindness: both men were completely consumed by the task they undertook and never able to focus on the people that they did save, only those that they failed to save.

UK 2023 James Hawes 110m

In the lead up to Holocaust Memorial Day (27 Jan), we present this story of mismatched cousins who reunite for a tour through Poland to honour their beloved grandmother.

David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg) is a married Manhattan tech worker with a young son, who decides to bid the family goodbye and take a week-long road trip to Poland with his screwup cousin Benji (an off-the-charts great Kieran Culkin), whose default mode happens to be, obnoxious. Their beloved, recently deceased grandmother yearned for them to see her native Poland and understand how she grew up in a nurturing Jewish culture and escaped a Nazi death camp. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. This is a film that manages to be ruefully perceptive and laugh-out-loud funny, often at the same time: and that’s not easy.

USA/Poland 2024 Jesse Eisenberg 90m

Lahn Mah

A scheming young man quits work to care for his dying grandmother, motivated by her fortune, and scheming to win her favor before she dies.

After Grandma Amah (Usha Seamkhum) is diagnosed with cancer, lazy college dropout M. (Putthipong "Billkin" Assaratanakul) commits himself to caring for her after he fails to make a name for himself as a video game streamer. Unfortunately for him, it turns out that winning Grandma's favour is no easy feat. We are shown the apathy of the younger generation and the sardonic wit of the older one through frequent hilarious exchanges. The dialogue is biting, crisp, smart and frequently heartbreaking. The film has been a blockbuster success throughout South East Asia, and should also be very well received on our shores.

Thailand 2024 Pat Boonnitipat 125m

Robert Eggers reimagines Murnau’s silent horror classic ‘Nosferatu’ in this atmospheric, haunting adaptation. Known for his meticulous historical detail and eerie storytelling, Eggers brings a fresh intensity to this legendary vampire tale.

Set in 19th-century Europe, the film follows young real estate agent Thomas Hutter (Bill Skarsgård) who travels to a remote, eerie castle to assist Count Orlok (Willem Dafoe) with a property purchase. Hutter soon discovers that Orlok is no ordinary client but an ancient vampire intent on spreading darkness. As Hutter fights to save his beloved Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) from Orlok’s deadly influence, the story unfolds with an eerie beauty and mounting tension. Eggers’ use of shadow, historical set design and unsettling imagery brings this Gothic horror to life in vivid, spine-chilling detail, paying homage to the original film while carving out its own haunting identity. Also stars Nicholas Hoult and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

USA/Germany 2024 Robert Eggers 122m

Exhibition on Screen

200 years after its opening and a century after acquiring its first Van Gogh works, the National Gallery is hosting the UK’s biggest ever Van Gogh exhibition. Van Gogh is not only one of the most beloved artists of all time, but perhaps the most misunderstood.

Sat 25 Jan 16:00

Mon 27 Jan 13:15 (PLUS Q&A)

Wed 29 Jan 13:15

Met Opera

American soprano Angel Blue headlines this grandest of grand operas features an epic Ancient Egyptian backdrop for what is in essence an intimate and tragic love story.

Sun 26 Jan 14:00

Thu 30 Jan 19:00

A drama-doc which tackles some challenges the world faces, through a time traveller who risks her life to change the course of history and save the future of humanity.

It's the year 2073, and the worst fears of modern life have been realized. Surveillance drones fill the burnt orange skies and militarized police roam the wrecked streets, while survivors hide away underground, struggling to remember a free and hopeful existence. In this ingenious mixture of visionary science fiction and speculative nonfiction (inspired by Chris Marker's iconic 1962 featurette ‘La Jetée’), Academy Award-winner Asif Kapadia (‘Amy’) transports us to a future foreshadowed by the terrifying realities of our present moment. Samantha Morton plays a survivor besieged by nightmare visions of the past - a past that happens to be our present, visualized through contemporary footage interconnecting today's global crises of authoritarianism, unchecked big tech, inequality and global climate change. ‘2073’ is an urgent, unshakable vision of a dystopic future that could very well be our own. This genre-bending film combines real archival footage and original interviews with a fictional dystopian narrative to issue a dire warning about impending global disaster.

UK 2024 Asif Kapadia 85m plus recorded Q&A (30m)

Director James Mangold (‘Walk the Line’, ‘Ford v Ferrari’) takes on the enigmatic life of Bob Dylan in a fresh, unconventional biopic. Starring Timothée Chalamet as the iconic folk singer, the film explores Dylan’s transformative journey through fame, identity and reinvention during the 1960s.

Following Dylan’s rise from a Greenwich Village poet to a global music icon, we see the chaos, ambition and uncertainty of a young artist challenging himself and his audience. Chalamet embodies Dylan’s charisma and intensity, while scenes with real-life performances and legendary figures - from Joan Baez to Johnny Cash - anchor the story in music history. Mangold’s direction blends period detail with a restless energy, making this an intimate, raw look at an artist in constant evolution.

USA 2024 James Mangold 141m

Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Colson Whitehead, ‘Nickel Boys’ chronicles the powerful friendship between two young African American men navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida.

Elwood Curtis's (Ethan Herisse) college dream shatters alongside a two-lane Florida highway. Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he's sentenced to the netherworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory sunk deep in the Jim Crow South. He encounters another ward, the seen-it-all Turner (Brandon Wilson). The two teens strike up an alliance: Turner dispensing fundamental tips for survival, Elwood, clinging to his optimistic worldview. Backdropped by the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence appear worlds away from Rev. Martin Luther King's burnished oratory. Despite Nickel's brutality, Elwood strives to hold onto his humanity, awakening a new vision for Turner. The cinematography and production design are exceptional. This is a survivor’s coming of age story: tough, disillusioned, brilliant!

USA 2024 RaMell Ross 140m

Michael Gracey (‘The Greatest Showman’) returns with a deeply personal and visually striking biopic chronicling the life of pop icon Robbie Williams.

Based on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall and remarkable resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams, one of the great entertainers of modern time. The film is uniquely told from Robbie's perspective, incorporating surreal musical sequences (one medley on London’s Regent Street is jaw-dropping) and candid reflections, while capturing his signature wit and indomitable spirit. It follows his journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist - all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring. This wildly ambitious musical biopic also features Steve Pemberton and Alison Steadman.

Australia/UK 2024 Michael Gracey 134m

Sir Cameron Mackintosh Presents…

As the season of performance events of musicals produced by Cameron Mackintosh continues at the cinema, this talk will explore their origins in literature and cinema.

‘Miss Saigon’, ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Les Misérables’ - filmed live performances of all these stage musicals are being screened at Chichester Cinema. This talk, by Andrew Vance of the Chichester Cinema Education Team, will look back at the origins of these stories, including both the literature and the film versions on which they were based and the extent to which they influenced the creatives behind the productions. ‘Les Misérables’ is now in its 40th year and Cameron Mackintosh takes his maxim from the autobiography of Charles B Cochran - “Advice to aspiring young producers: never put a show on for audiences: always put it on for yourself and do it as best you can. Only then, maybe, will an audience come to see it.” For Cameron Mackintosh this has worked very successfully.

100m inc Q&A

Tickets £7.50

Sat 1 Feb 10:30 - In the Auditorium

To complement the new biopic on Maria Callas, we are delighted to welcome back to Chichester director Tony Palmer to introduce and Q&A his documentary on the great soprano.

This film, made at the request of Maria Callas herself, was started in 1973, but wasn't finished until 12 years later. It includes eye-witness accounts by Franco Zeffirelli, Tito Gobbi, Luchino Visconti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Giuseppe Di Stefano and many others who knew her well. It tells a story that was previously unknown, about a great singer who had been brought low by love, and whose career was unbelievably short when considered against her extraordinary worldwide reputation. Maria - just a woman, who often spoke of Callas in the third person, in trouble, asking, begging sometimes, for our understanding and our love. She deserves it, because there was no greater singing actress in our time. And she was only 53 when she died.

UK 1978 Tony Palmer 92m

Pigen Med Nålen

A fictionalised true crime hypnotic thriller based on a real Danish case from 1921, shot in high-contrast expressionist monochrome, and nominated for the 2024 Cannes Palme d’Or.

Copenhagen 1919: Young factory worker Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne) is struggling to survive in post WWI Copenhagen, when she finds herself unemployed, abandoned and pregnant. She meets Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), a charismatic woman running an underground adoption agency, helping mothers to find foster homes for their unwanted children. With nowhere else to turn, Karoline takes on the role of a wet-nurse. A strong connection is formed between the two women, but Karoline's world shatters when she stumbles upon the shocking truth behind her work. Scandi noir gets a 1910s twist in this darkly gripping, unsettling tale about a woman struggling to find love and a sense of morality. Denmark’s submission to the 2025 Foreign Film Oscar category is harrowing in places, but seriously impressive. (Subtitles)

Denmark 2024 Magnus von Horne 115m

The Staged Concert Live! (40th Anniversary)

To mark the 40th anniversary of the world’s most popular musical, a unique opportunity to experience the spectacular staged concert version on the big screen featuring an all-star cast including Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Matt Lucas and John Owen Jones.

Sun 2 Feb 14:30

Tue 4 Feb 18:00

For our second Film Club (18-25’s) screening of the season, we present this unquestionable cinema classic from the master Alfred Hitchcock.

Phoenix secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), on the run after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to run away with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin), is overcome by exhaustion during a heavy rainstorm. Traveling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel and meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a young man with an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother. Featuring Bernard Herrmann’s greatest score, this is a film that is always worth another viewing, especially on the big screen. As New York’s Village Voice reported on the film’s 1960 release, “Hitchcock is the most daring avant-garde filmmaker in America today. All discerning filmgoers are advised to see ‘Psycho’ no less than three times (first for ‘the sheer terror of the experience’, again for the ‘macabre comedy’, and finally for the movie's ‘hidden meanings’."

USA 1960 Alfred Hitchcock 109m

Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grauens

To complement Robert Eggers new film ‘Nosferatu’, we present the original 1922 classic by F.W. Murnau, where Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and the estate agent’s wife.

In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok's servant, Knock (Alexander Granach), prepares for his master to arrive at his new home. The atmosphere and images are timeless in their power – expressionism at its best. “There is pure expressionist inspiration in Murnau's juxtaposition of the evil wolves and the terrified old women: a poetry of fear.” – Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian). (English intertitles)

Germany 1922 F.W. Murnau 94m

★★★★★ Daily Telegraph & Guardian

Donmar Warehouse

David Tennant stars in the title role of this spellbinding story of love and murder, the renewing power of nature, and of the internal struggles of a damaged man as he tries to control his destiny.

Wed 5 Feb 20:00

Sun 9 Feb 16:45

Oscar favourite for Best Film. This is a visually arresting drama that tells the story of ambition, art and survival in the aftermath of World War II, exploring the life of a visionary architect as he seeks to leave his mark on postwar America.

László Toth (Adrien Brody) is a Hungarian architect who emigrates to America with his wife Erzsébet (Marion Cotillard), in search of a fresh start and creative freedom. As Toth’s career takes off, he faces the dark intersections of art and politics, grappling with personal sacrifice and ethical compromises. With stunning cinematography that mirrors the stark and monumental style of brutalist architecture, ‘The Brutalist’ is both a character study and a meditation on art’s power and cost. Corbet’s ambitious storytelling and the film’s haunting aesthetic make this an unforgettable cinematic experience.

USA/Hungary 2024 Brady Corbet 205m

A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much-younger intern.

Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) owns a duplex apartment in the city and a big house in the country. She has a doting husband (Antonio Banderas), two adorable daughters and a gilded career as the CEO of a non-specific “robot business” that runs a successful delivery scheme. She has it all, which naturally means that she wants something else, something more. Before long she has embarked on a perilous affair with her office intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson). Kidman and Dickinson smoulder together, with writer-director Halina Reijn's clinical gaze keeping this sexually frank thriller more provocative than salacious.

USA 2024 Halina Reijn 114m

Uso Happyaku

As the first of seven Japanese films in this mini-season, we offer this entertaining crowd-pleaser that offers a comical take on the serious world of antiques trading. Antiques Roadshow meets Ocean’s Eleven!

While searching a rich family’s storehouse one day, opportunist antiques dealer Norio (Nakai Kiichi) among other items, he finds a valuable 16th-century teacup from Japan’s most famous tea master Sen no Rikyu, and deceives the homeowner to get it for almost nothing. However, the homeowner himself is a fake – in reality, he is a talented but impoverished ceramic artist called Sasuke (Sasaki Kuranosuke). Norio soon realises that by combining Sasuke’s artistic prowess and his dealership, they could make a pretty penny. Maybe, just maybe, they can pull off the greatest swindle the world of Japanese antiques has ever seen. This is such an interesting film that manages to entertain while sharing knowledge about the world of antiques, history, and pottery with precision. (Subtitles)

Japan 2018 Take Masaharu 105m

A beautifully made drama exploring the complex dynamics of a sprawling family near the wartime border with Germany.

The lush and breathtaking beauty of the Alps, filmed with painterly grace under natural light from frigid winter to redemptive spring, provides the physical and emotional backdrop for Maura Delpero’s visionary film. In the last days of WWII, we see a series of dramatic, consequential events after the arrival of deserting Sicilian soldier (Giuseppe De Domenico). Including a romance with Lucia (Martina Scrinzi). This was a richly deserving winner of the 2024 Grand Jury prize at the Venice film festival. It is a richly compassionate, emotional and detailed drama of family secrets in wartime Italian countryside, in the manner of Ermanno Olmi or the Taviani brothers. It is wonderfully acted with unaffected naturalism by its cast of professionals and newcomers and plays an extravagant pizzicato on the audience’s heartstrings. (Subtitles)

Italy 2024 Maura Delpero 119m

La Dégustation

A very enjoyable wine-based romantic comedy about two awkward singles who form an unlikely couple and inadvertently find love.

Jacques (Bernard Campan) is divorced and runs a small wine shop on the verge of bankruptcy in a small French town. Hortense (Isabelle Carré) is also single, full of life and eager to find true love. One day she walks into his store looking for a good drop of wine to share with a group of homeless people that she regularly cooks for, and before too long she has signed up for a tasting workshop at Jacques’ store. The road to romance though, is not exactly smooth, especially when both of them are harbouring secrets – and nursing past hurts. Carré ('L'Enfant de Personne') and Campan ('Tous Inconnus') are both César award-winning actors and have convincing on-screen chemistry for an unlikely couple. Just like a good wine, ‘The Tasting’ has a lasting finish. (Subtitles)

France 2023 Ivan Calbérac 92m

As French romcom ‘The Tasting’ arrives at Chichester Cinema, this talk will look back at some of the films, both vintage and contemporary, from around the world in which booze has played a part.

From the very early days of cinema to the latest releases, the use and misuse of alcohol has featured regularly. To accompany the new French romcom ‘La Dégustation’ (‘The Tasting’), a talk will sample the films that place alcohol at the centre of the narrative, either as the luxury tipple of choice, or the demon drink. Former drinks trade journalist Sandy Guthrie will provide a cocktail of clips to show how wine, beer and spirits can fuel a story or act as a metaphor in films from around the world, whether historical films or contemporary dramas and comedies. Whether it is ‘Whisky Galore!’ or a tale from the vineyards of France, this tasting session will provide a few surprises, some classic vintage films and almost certainly leave the audience pining for a glass of something or other.

100m inc Q&A

Sat 15 Feb 10:00 - In the Auditorium

Director Robert Zemeckis (‘Forrest Gump’, ‘Back to the Future’) brings a mind-bending, visually inventive story to life, adapting Richard McGuire’s acclaimed graphic novel. Known for pushing cinematic boundaries, Zemeckis explores time, memory and the idea of “home” in an experimental, emotionally charged way.

The film stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright as multiple characters across different eras, all connected to the same ordinary room over centuries. From the distant past to the far future, moments of love, loss and everyday life unfold within these four walls, each scene adding new layers to the meaning of place and belonging. With seamless transitions between time periods and captivating visual effects, ‘Here’ creates a moving, almost surreal experience that celebrates life’s fleeting, interconnected moments. Zemeckis’s latest work is a cinematic puzzle, blending the familiar and the extraordinary in a way only he can.

USA 2024 Robert Zemeckis 98m

A musical drama directed by Barry Jenkins (‘Moonlight’) that sees a lost cub meet a sympathetic lion named Taka, and their chance meeting setting in motion an expansive journey of a group of misfits searching for their destiny.

‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka - the heir to a royal bloodline. This is a prequel to ‘The Lion King’ story we all love, set in the pride lands of Tanzania. Aaron Pierre voices Mufasa, a lion who grows up to become the future king and the father of Simba, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. voices Taka, who later becomes known as Scar.

USA 2024 Barry Jenkins 120m

Karumen Kokyo ni Kaeru

A city girl storms a quiet rural village in this iconic light-hearted comedy, which endures as one of Kinoshita Keisuke’s most beloved films.

Just after WWII, in a rural mountain village, the arrival of a girl (Takamine Hideko) and her friend (Kobayashi Toshiko) attracts curiosity from the locals. The girl’s name is Okin, and although originally a village girl, she claims she has now become an artistic dancer in Tokyo going by the stage name of Carmen. The principal of the village school (Chishu Ryu from ‘Tokyo Story’), who considers himself a champion of the arts, is overjoyed to learn that his small village produced such an artist. However, it turns out that Carmen is not a true artistic dancer, but rather a stripper. This film was Japan’s first ever feature produced in full colour, and in Takamine Hideko, had an actress that was loved by many era-defining Japanese filmmakers.

Japan 1951 Kinoshita Keisuke 86m

NT Live

Three-time Olivier Award-winner Sharon D Clarke is joined by Ncuti Gatwa (‘Doctor Who’, ‘Sex Education’) in this joyful reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedy.

Thu 20 Feb 19:00

Sun 23 Feb 14:30

Legendary British filmmaker Mike Leigh skilfully presents a tragicomic study of human strengths and weaknesses.

Reunited with Leigh for the first time since Oscar-nominated ‘Secrets and Lies’, the astonishing Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman wracked by fear, tormented by afflictions and prone to raging tirades against her husband, son, and anyone who looks her way. Meanwhile, her easy-going younger sister (Michele Austin), is a single mother with a life as different from Pansy's as their clashing temperaments. After ‘Mr. Turner’ (2014) and ‘Peterloo’ (2018) Leigh returns to the contemporary world with a fierce, compassionate, and often darkly humorous study of family and the thorny ties that bind us. Marianne Jean-Baptiste delivers what is sure to be one of the best performances of the year, in this stunning film full of heart and compassion.

UK 2024 Mike Leigh 97m

During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes.

After another day of Mark Spitz winning swimming gold medals, gunshots are heard at the Olympic Village, just a few blocks away from ABC’s temporary headquarters. The broadcast team includes the executive in charge Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard); smart and testy head of operations Marvin (Ben Chaplin); local German translator Marianne (Leonie Benesch); and young producer Geoff (John Magaro), meant to cover an uneventful day of boxing and volleyball, who winds up landing on something much more significant. The film details all the logistical hurdles the team needed to scale so they could capture the crisis as it happened, relying on massive TV cameras, smuggled 16mm film stock, a slew of walkie talkies and plenty of ingenuity. Even more importantly, the movie tackles the tough questions faced by several hardworking newsmen - and one vital female translator - as they dealt with a situation in which many human lives hung in the balance. The film focuses mainly on the coverage of the situation, not really concerning itself with the politics behind it – it can be compared to Spielberg’s ‘The Post’. (Some subtitles)

Germany 2024 Tim Fehlbaum 91m

In this psychological thriller, two young women of religion are drawn into a game of cat-and-mouse in the house of a strange man.

Hugh Grant is arguably delivering career-best work here as the sinister Mr. Reed, a theologist who engages in a riveting game of matching wits and beliefs with Sisters Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Paxton (Chloe East), two Mormon missionaries, who visit his seemingly humble abode with the initial intention of converting him. ‘Heretic’ brings an incredibly sharp religious thriller script to life through a chilling and charismatic performance by Grant. Most of the movie's horror and tension is achieved through dialogue and conversations about faith and power. It's provocative, divisive and challenges the audience to question their own convictions when it comes to faith.

USA 2024 Scott Beck & Bryan Woods 110m

Love For Sale

As Oscar contender ‘Anora’ returns to Chichester Cinema, this talk will explore the rich and varied history of sex work on the big screen.

Sean Baker’s demi-monde caper ‘Anora’ is a hotly tipped Oscar contender, and success on the night would put it in a long tradition of Academy Award-winning films about sex work. Why does playing a lady of the night so often guarantee Oscars success? And why is the cinema so fascinated with the oldest profession? Where society turns a blind eye, movies, from Fellini’s ‘Nights of Cabiria’ (1957) to Alan Pakula’s ‘Klute’ (1971) to the hit romcom ‘Pretty Woman’ (1990), sprinkle stardust on the street corner. Alongside films that glamorise the brothel, there is also a complementary lineage of feminist cinema advocating for sex workers’ rights, and illuminating a little-understood world, both in documentary and fiction, going right back to the silent era. In this illustrated lecture with clips, Pamela Hutchinson will explore the portrayal on screen of what Beeban Kidron’s scandalous 1993 documentary called ‘Hookers, Hustlers, Pimps and their Johns’.

100m inc Q&A

Tickets £7.50

Sat 22 Feb 10:30 - In the Auditorium

2024 Palme d’Or Winner! A young sex worker from Brooklyn meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch, but once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

Anora (Mikey Madison) is a New York escort and table dancer. One night, her club manager announces that a high roller is in the house, asking for a dancer who can speak Russian. Ani, who is from an Uzbek background, volunteers. The man is the sweet-faced but otherwise appalling and entitled son of an oligarch, and he quickly takes her back to his luxurious apartment and proposes a Vegas marriage. When Vanya’s less-than-delighted father hears the news, he sends some goons round to sort out the situation with his boneheaded son. Scene-stealing leading lady Madison is surely destined for stardom thanks to her role in this high-energy panic comedy that offers a more realistic take than ‘Pretty Woman’.

USA 2024 Sean Baker 139m

Gobangiri

Japan’s beloved period film genre is taken into contemporary hands. This is a lovingly conceived and meticulously executed throwback that revitalizes the genre.

Yanagida Kakunoshin (Kusanagi Tsuyoshi) was accused of a crime he did not commit. Having lost his wife and been chased out of his hometown of Hikone, he now lives with his daughter Okinu (Kiyohara Kaya) as a ronin (unemployed samurai) in a poor tenement house in Edo. Kakunoshin is an honest man, and also an expert go player; even on the go board is he a paragon of samurai virtue, never stooping to tricks to win. One day, Kakunoshin learns the truth about the false accusation that brought these tragic circumstances upon him from his former colleagues. Together, he and his daughter resolve to take revenge for the sake of their honour. This period drama shines a contemporary light on the genre’s very traditional subject matters, presenting conflicts of honour and revenge punctuated by emotional abysses, flashes of violence and battles on the go board. (Subtitles)

Japan 2024 Shiraishi Kazuya 129m

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

The third Film Club (18-25’s) screening of the season is a vibrant French modern classic that sees a young lady on a quest to spread joy, leading her on a journey to true love.

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

France 2001 Jean-Pierre Jeunet 122m

Dane-ye Anjir-e Ma'abed

A mesmerisingly gripping and controlled parable-thriller in which the paranoia, misogyny and rage of the Iranian state are mapped seamlessly onto an ordinary family unit.

Iman (Missagh Zareh) is a judge who sees the benefits for his family in his career’s rapid advancement, but his student daughters (Setareh Malek and Mahsa Rostami) are suspicious of his increasing collaboration with the regime. He is warned not to confide in his wife (Soheila Golestani) as he is encouraged to wave through death sentences without considering the evidence. Iman’s divided loyalties are exposed when his government-issued handgun goes missing, and suspicion falls on the women in his home. Having debuted at Cannes following Rasoulof fleeing Iran in fears for his safety, this film was many critics’ picks for best of the festival. It combines an electrifying generational battle with real-life footage of Iran’s protest movement, and reveals the reasons why people accept toxic regimes and the courage it takes to resist them. (Subtitles)

Germany/France 2024 Mohammad Rasoulof 168m

At 11:30pm on October 11th, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. Find out what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live.

Full of humour, chaos and the magic of a revolution that almost wasn't, we count down the minutes in real time until we hear those famous words… "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!". This seems like a foolhardy challenge of finding sufficiently funny people to play some of TV’s most beloved - actors who could channel the frailties and insecurities of their counterparts, taking icons and making them human. Who plays Chevy Chase? Or Gilda Radner? Or John Belushi, for that matter? Reitman finds just the right ensemble to capture the lunacy from which ‘SNL’ was born.

USA 2024 Jason Reitman 109m

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock classic 'Jesus Christ Superstar' returns to its roots with this sensational performance.

Filmed in the UK during the Live Arena Tour. An incredible cast including Tim Minchin as Judas Iscariot, Melanie Chisholm as Mary Magdalene, Chris Moyles as King Herod and Ben Forster as Jesus Christ, perform hit songs including 'I Don’t Know How to Love Him', 'Gethsemane', 'Heaven on Their Minds', 'Everything’s Alright', 'King Herod’s Song' and 'Superstar' in an exciting and contemporary interpretation.

Sat 1 Mar 15:00

Royal Ballet & Opera

Prince Siegfried chances upon a flock of swans while out hunting. When one of the swans turns into a beautiful woman, Odette, he is enraptured. But she is under a spell that holds her captive, allowing her to regain her human form only at night.

Sun 2 Mar 14:30

The masterful Steven Soderbergh gives us a thriller about a family hoping for a fresh start after a period of unease. They becomes convinced they are not alone after moving into their new home.

A family - Rebekah (Lucy Liu), Chris (Chris Sullivan) and teen kids Chloe (a phenomenal Callina Liang) and Tyler (Eddy Maday) - arrive at their new home in the suburbs with excess baggage and tensions they hope will dissipate. Chloe, grieving the recent loss of a friend, can see a “presence”, which starts interacting with her in unexpected ways. Shot entirely from the first-person perspective of a haunting spirit, the slow-burn thriller might have collapsed in less experienced hands, but Soderbergh expertly puts a terrific ensemble through their paces. Thirty-five years after his Palme d’Or for ‘Sex, Lies, and Videotape’ it is so inspiring that Soderbergh is still here making movies the way he wants to make them, playing with form in fresh and exciting ways, reminding us that he is one of film's more remarkable storytellers.

USA 2024 Steven Soderbergh 85m

A woman is driven to shroud her identity, caught in a web of secrecy. As she conceals herself, the intricate layers of her hidden life unravel.

Kawabe Ichiko (Sugisaki Hana) is in her mid-20s when she disappears without a trace the day after her boyfriend Hasegawa (Wakaba Ryuya) proposes to her. When he tries to file a report, the police inform him that no record of her exists in the Kawabe family register. As Hasegawa tracks down her whereabouts and obtains testimonies from people who had associated with her, Ichiko’s unfathomable past emerges, along with a sad but shocking truth – the harsh fate she had to bear. Based on director Toda Akihiro’s own award-winning stage play and fronted by one of Japan’s most sought-after actors, Sugisaki Hana, as an unfathomable femme fatale, this is a gripping psychological thriller that tackles issues of poverty, child neglect and abuse, as well as the dark social injustice that exists in Japan. (Subtitles)

Japan 2023 Toda Akihiro 126m

Inugami-ke no Ichizoku

Money makes the world go around – and so it drives people to murder. This is legendary Japanese director Ichikawa Kon’s 1976 classic which holds a very special place in Japan’s long tradition of supernatural suspense.

Just after World War II, the patriarch of the affluent Inugami family dies. The families of his three direct descendants gather, eager to know how his vast assets are distributed in his will. Their anticipation turns to despair, however, when things are revealed to be less straightforward than they expected: the only way of inheriting his fortune is through the marriage of one of his three grandchildren to Tamako, who is an outsider but lives with the deceased.  Ichikawa, one of Japan’s legendary directors, made a name for himself with his skilful use of colours, and here he sets a new standard for the Japanese noir with this multi award-winning blockbuster. Starring Ishizaka Koji, Takamine Mieko, Sanjo Miki and Kusabue Mitsuko. (Subtitles)

Japan 1976 Ichikawa Kon 146m

Nozomi

What would be worse - your son being a murderer or the murdered? This tense drama skilfully navigates a family through this very dilemma.

Architect Ishikawa Kazuto (Tsutsumi Shinichi) and his proofreader wife Kiyomi (Ishida Yuriko) live peacefully in a stylish luxury home with their high school son Tadashi (Okada Kenshi) and daughter Miyabi (Kiyohara Kaya). One day, Tadashi leaves home and doesn’t return, news breaks that one of Tadashi’s classmates has been murdered and the police suspect Tadashi’s involvement. The family dynamic is placed under intense strain – Kazuto desperately wants to believe in his son’s innocence, while Kiyomi is determined to protect him at any cost, even if he’s guilty. This suspenseful drama meticulously dissects and reassembles the thought processes of an ordinary family torn to shreds by juvenile crime and the ensuing ruthless media frenzy that purports to represent social justice. (Subtitles)

Japan 2020 Tsutsumi Yukihiko 108m

Bake-neko Anzu-chan

This award-winning animation is what you get when you combine the fantasy of ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ with the deadpan humour and reality of everyday life.

When a temple's chief priest finds a kitten crying, he names it Anzu and decides to look after it. 30 years later, it turns out that the cat is no ordinary cat, it can now speak and live like a human. Anzu (voiced by Moriyama Mirai) travels around on a moped and works part-time as a masseuse. One day, the head priest's son (Aoki Munetaka), a long-estranged and shifty widower with huge debts, returns to the temple with his 11-year-old daughter Karin (Goto Noa). Anzu the cat reluctantly accepts his request to look after the emotionally-drained girl. This is an incredibly charming French-Japanese co-production brings together two directors from different mediums to create this irreverent fable about bridging the human world and the afterlife. Audience Award winner for Best Animated Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival 2024. (Subtitles)

Japan 2024 Kuno Yoko & Yamashita Nobuhiro 97m

Samurai Taimusurippaa

A clever, funny and distinctly Japanese time-travel film that sees a real samurai crash-lands in the middle of a jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) production.

As the Edo period (1603-1868) draws to its dramatic close, two swordsmen clash with a political foe. They are interrupted by a flash of lightning, heralding a bizarre paranormal event, and Kosaka Shinzaemon (Yamaguchi Makiya) awakens to find himself... in a quiet lane in Kyoto. His confusion turns to alarm when among the locals clad in the robes of old Japan, he sees people wearing unfamiliar attire. Even the folks who seem ordinary to him are behaving oddly – it turns out he’s travelled several centuries forward in time, landing right in the middle of a 21stcentury film set! Award-winning director Yasuda Junichi offers a remarkably poignant comedy drama, nailed down by the subtle and convincing performance of experienced jidaigeki actor Yamaguchi Makiya. The film is more than just a fun fish-out-of-water fantasy: it’s an homage to the waning genre of samurai cinema. Audience Award winner for Best Asian Feature at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival. (Subtitles)

Japan 2024 Yasuda Junichi 131m