In the lush Bornean rainforest, the 11-year-old Keria lives with her father. When her cousin comes to stay her eyes are opened to the beauty of the land but also the struggle to preserve it.

With the forest under greater threat than ever, Kéria, her cousin Selaï and a baby primate, Oshi, face many obstacles. Directed by Claude Barras (‘My Life as a Courgette’), this delightful French film follows Keria’s discovery of her cultural heritage and the need to protect her ancestral forest lands. Delicate details bring the ecosystem to life, from colourful plant life to animals like a baby orangutan rescued from harm. But impending threats loom as logging operations clear sections of forest.  Through Kéria’s journey of self-discovery, the film advocates for protecting the forests and indigenous rights in a thoughtful yet passionate manner. Barras crafts a compelling story with timely themes of environmentalism, cultural identity, and standing up against exploitation.

Switzerland/France/Belgium 2024 Claude Barras 88m

This showjumping documentary explores the unique relationship between horse and athlete, and the highs and lows endured by a sporting hero.

The son of a chemist, Champion showjumper Nick Skelton rode his first pony at the tender age of just 18 months on his pony Oxo. In 2000 Skelton broke his neck in a bad fall; two years later, he was back in the saddle, and grabbing the reins once again, winning Olympic gold twice, first in London in 2012, then aged 58, at Rio in 2016 (with a replacement hip), becoming the oldest British winner of an individual Olympic gold medal in more than 100 years.  This documentary shows him embracing all things equestrian from an early age, leaping across fences as a youth and putting in the hard graft of mucking out the stables, and caring for the horses. This is a must for horse lovers and budding showjumpers.

UK 2025 Sarah George 102M

A chilling and uncompromising portrait of repression and obsession as a brilliant but emotionally stifled piano instructor’s desires spiral into dangerous territory.

Isabelle Huppert gives one of the most startling, complex and layered performances of her career as Professor Erika Kohut, a distinguished piano teacher and scholar. She is brilliant, demanding, unsmiling and regularly humiliates her impressionable students, just as her own elderly mother with whom she lives, bullies her.  When she develops an ‘amour fou’ for a young student Walter (Benoît Magimel), her own paraphilic fetishes emerge as she ‘orchestrates’ their highly destructive affaire. Haneke’s static camera always feels at a distance and yet the feelings of discomfort he engenders feel strangely alluring. This brutal, unflinching exploration of abuse and sexual desire is also a masterpiece of psychological storytelling which will linger long after the credits roll. (Subtitles)

France 2001 Michael Haneke 131m

In Celine Songs’ follow up to ‘Past Lives’ which opened this year’s Chichester Film Festival, a young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.

Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a professional matchmaker torn between former love John (Chris Evans) and a dazzling new possibility Henry (Pedro Pascal). Lucy is very good at her job, as we see when she cajoles a reluctant bride on her wedding day to go through with the marriage. At that wedding Lucy meets the groom's rich, handsome brother, Henry, and is served a drink by John, the ex she broke up with after five years, who is still a struggling actor working the wedding as a waiter. Should she choose her poor ex over her wealthy new suitor? Johnson, Evans and Pascal make for a starry love triangle in this rom-com… but dismiss it as typical rom-com fare at your peril. ‘Materialists’ is something far more original and captivating: a piercingly honest exploration of love and money and the inevitable connection between the two.

USA 2025 Celine Song 116m

40th Anniversary Remaster

Set in South London during the Thatcher years, a gritty tale of forbidden love divided by colour, culture, class, crime, and crisis.

The racial, social and political tensions of south London in the 1980s are vividly captured by Stephen Frears in his breakthrough film originally made for Channel 4. Omar (Gordon Warnecke) is a young British-Pakistani torn between his alcoholic father (Roshan Seth), a disillusioned socialist who wants his son to attend University and rich uncle Nasser (Saeed Jaffrey), who wants Omar to be a successful businessman, gifting him a run-down laundrette, which Omar transforms into a gleaming temple. He is helped by a boyhood friend, the ultra-right-wing, leather-jacketed, peroxide-blonde Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis in his first substantial role). Johnny's National Front sympathies are challenged when the pair embark, unexpectedly, on a passionate love affair - but Johnny's redemption is riddled with moral compromises. The Oscar-nominated screenplay was written by a young Hanif Kureishi and Hans Zimmer contributes to the film’s memorable soundtrack.

UK 1985 Stephen Frears 97M

A crowd-pleasing warm-hearted comedy that has an eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island dreaming of getting his favourite musicians back together.

Kind and chatty Charles (Tim Key) lives alone on the remote Wallis Island. Beautiful and serene with white cliffs and rocky shores (it was shot in Wales), it is not the kind of place where there is a lot of socializing. He dreams of getting his favourite musicians, McGwyer Mortimer (Tom Basden & Carey Mulligan) back together. His fantasy turns into reality when the bandmates and former lovers accept his invitation to play a private show at his home the Island. Old tensions resurface as the artists reunite now at different phases in their lives. Mulligan and Basden are sublime together, naturally exuding the awkward chemistry of artist exes, with Key thoroughly entertaining as the adorable comedic foil. This is the sort of film that oozes mood and warmth (like the folk songs performed in the film) and is very easy to recommend to anyone.

UK 2025 James Griffiths 100m

Join us in celebrating Sir David Attenborough's 99th Birthday in style as the celebrated broadcaster explores the planet's undersea habitats emphasizing the ocean's vital importance while highlighting opportunities for marine life recovery.

This powerful documentary takes viewers on a breathtaking journey showing there is nowhere more vital for our survival, more full of life, wonder or surprise, than the ocean. In the film the celebrated broadcaster and filmmaker reveals how his lifetime has coincided with the great age of ocean discovery. Through spectacular sequences featuring coral reefs, kelp forests and the open ocean, Attenborough shares why a healthy ocean keeps the entire planet stable and flourishing. Stunning, immersive cinematography showcases the wonder of life under the seas and exposes the realities and challenges facing our ocean as never-before-seen, from destructive fishing techniques to mass coral reef bleaching. Yet the story is one of optimism, with Attenborough pointing to inspirational stories from around the world to deliver his greatest message: the ocean can recover to a glory beyond anything anyone alive has ever seen. This special presentation includes 15 minutes of theatrically exclusive content.

UK 2025 C. Butfield/T. Nowlan/K. Scholey 100m

Drømmer

When a 17-year-old writes a memoir about her passion for her teacher, unexpected outcomes rattle three generations

Johanne's (Ella Øverbye) intimate writings about her first love stir friction within her family, prompting her mother (Ane Dahl Torp) and grandmother (Anne Marit Jacobsen) to reexamine their own realities and dreams. Johanne falls in love with her teacher (Selome Emnetu), and to preserve her feelings, documents her emotions and experiences in writing. When her mother and grandmother read what she has written, they are initially shocked by its intimate content but soon see that it has literary potential. As they debate whether to publish it, Johanne navigates the gap between her romantic fantasy and reality. She navigates romantic ideals versus reality, exploring emotions of self-discovery, love and sexuality, all delivered with elegant style by a tightly matched central acting quartet. (Subtitles)

Norway 2024 Dag Johan Haugerud 110m

Smart, vibrant, and urgent, this is one of Spike Lee's most fully realized films - and one of the most important films of the 1980s.

This powerful visual feast combines humour and drama with memorable characters, while tracing the course of a single day on a block in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. Sal (Danny Aiello) opens the pizza parlour he has owned for 25 years in a neighbourhood that has changed considerably over time, now composed primarily of African Americans and Hispanics.

On the hottest day of the year, a simple complaint escalates into tension and violence, bringing out the worst in everyone. From the opening credits sequence featuring the vibrant Rosie Perez, through the unforgettable soundtrack featuring the inimitable Public Enemy, and climaxing with a scene to remember, this is an exceptional film.

USA 1989 Spike Lee 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

National Theatre

A searing new play from the team behind Prima Facie

Jessica Parks is smart, compassionate, a true maverick at the top of her career as an eminent London Crown Court Judge. At work she’s changing and challenging the system one case at a time. But behind the robe, Jessica is a karaoke fiend, a loving wife and a supportive parent.

While managing the impossible juggling act faced by every working mother, an event threatens to throw her life completely off balance. Can she hold her family upright?

Rosamund Pike (Saltburn) makes her National Theatre debut as Jessica. Writer Suzie Miller and director Justin Martin reunite following their global phenomenon Prima Facie with this searing examination of modern masculinity and motherhood.

120m

Tickets £19.50

Thu 4 Sep 19:15

Sun 7 Sep 15:15

Den Sista Resan

In Sweden's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards, renowned Swedish TV-duo Filip and Fredrik embark on a trip to France, aiming to rekindle the zest for life of Filip's father.

When Lars Hammar, after 40 years as a beloved French teacher in Köping, retires, he envisions a delightful "third age" with travel, wine, and experiences together with his wife Tiina. But instead of indulging in life's pleasures, Lars becomes increasingly passive at home in his leather armchair, to the great frustration and despair of both Tiina and their son Filip. That's when Filip gets an idea - to take his frail old father to his beloved France and let him revisit the places he has loved most in life. By retracing the same road trip the family used to take when Filip was a child and secretly orchestrating some of life's most delightful moments, he hopes to reignite Lars' zest for life. With the help of his best friend Fredrik, some hefty doses of optimism and creativity, and an old orange Renault 4, the adventure can begin! This beautiful documentary - the most-watched documentary in Swedish history - will effortlessly delight and sincerely move anyone who takes a chance on it.

Sweden 2024 Filip Hammar & Fredrik Wikingsson 95m

The façade of a picture-perfect couple gets eroded when the husband’s professional dreams come crashing down, igniting a tinderbox of competition and resentment.

A reimagining of the hit 1989 comedy ‘The War of the Roses’, sees two powerhouse actors playing a couple whose marriage devolves into a hilarious divorce battle. The 1989 comedy directed by Danny DeVito starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as a wealthy couple whose seemingly perfect marriage falls apart, leading to an increasingly outrageous divorce battle. More of a jumping-off point than a remake, this acerbic new version features Ivy (Olivia Colman) as a highly successful chef and Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) as her architect husband whose career is on the slide. What at first appears as witty banter between two British expats living in California soon transforms into sharp barbs and physical one-upmanship as their competitive natures get the best of them. This is great fun, and the leads are ably supported by Andy Sandberg (‘Saturday Night Live’) and the glorious Allison Janney.

UK/USA 2025 Jay Roach 121m

Follow one man’s ambitious mission to entice his screen-devoted young children – and children everywhere – into nature to reap its huge benefits and rewards.

Exasperated dad-of-two and film-maker David Bond has had enough. Any attempts to tempt his kids into the great outdoors is met with sulks and resistance. Screen time is their favourite time! But armed with his trusty suitcase of tricks, the concern that our children are getting more and more disconnected from nature, and his sheer determination to succeed, he sets off on a nationwide quest to make wild play more appealing to youngsters. Appointing himself marketing director of ‘Nature’, he attempts a total rebrand. This is a delightful, entertaining and thought-provoking film which led to the influential Wild Network movement.

UK 2013 David Bond 83m

The Chichester-based Parents for the Future will be at the screening to talk about what’s happening for children locally.

Winner of the Audience Award at Toronto, this life-affirming, genre-bending story is based on Stephen King's novella about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.

We begin at the end – specifically, at the end of the world. Two ex-spouses, Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Felicia (Karen Gillan), reunite to watch the Earth crumble, and the stars blink out of existence – but why are there posters everywhere celebrating the mild-mannered Charles "Chuck" Krantz (played by Tom Hiddleston as an adult and Jacob Tremblay as a boy)? Flashbacks unravel the mystery, but the less you know about the film the better. This being a Stephen King adaptation, it has some supernatural elements, but it is not a horror movie, not at all. It is more a meditation on the big questions that we do not have answers to - and whether it would matter if we did. Look out for one scene where you will not believe how well Hiddleston can dance, in what may be the best dance sequence of any film this year.

USA 2025 Mike Flanagan 111m

Kjærlighet

A pragmatic doctor explores the possibility of spontaneous intimacy, questioning societal norms, after a chance meeting with a nurse from her work.

Marianne (Andrea Bræin Hovig), a doctor, and Tor (Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen), a compassionate nurse, are both avoiding conventional relationships. One evening after a blind date, Marianne encounters Tor on the ferry, who often spends his nights there seeking casual encounters with men. Intrigued by his perspective on spontaneous intimacy, Marianne begins to explore whether this could also be an option for her. Satisfying, thoughtful narrative and character play, together with engagingly candid sexual discussions and performances from the ensemble makes this a promising prospect for admirers of mature, thoughtful relationship cinema – especially admirers of Eric Rohmer and the like. (Subtitles)

Norway 2024 Dag Johan Haugerud 119m

A married couple are terrorised by a series of surveillance videotapes left on their front porch in this deeply disquieting slow-burn thriller.

Georges (Daniel Auteuil) is a famous TV presenter living in a modern town house in Paris with his publisher wife Anne (Juliette Binoche), and young son Pierrot. They begin to receive video tapes of their house and family, followed by disturbing, child-like drawings. With no perceived direct threat, the police refuse to help. As the tapes become more personal, Georges takes it upon himself to figure out who is putting his family through the horror. In typical Haneke style, the growing menace is delivered in drip-drip fashion en route to its horrifying denouement. His camera is precisely placed, and he firmly controls what we see and how we see it. Haneke compared the film to a multi-layered Russian doll; exploring social apathy, political guilt and historical repression, questioning methods of surveillance and their uses in power and through his masterful control he leaves his audience with more questions than answers. Unmissable. (Subtitles)

France 2005 Michael Haneke 117m

Central do Brasil

In this wonderful remaster of the multiple award-winning film by Walter Salles (‘The Motorcycle Diaries’, ‘I’m Still Here’), we follow the emotive journey of a former schoolteacher who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

At the heart of this tale of identity and redemption, is the evolving relationship between an apathetic and disillusioned middle-aged letter-writer Dora and an orphaned boy Josue, traversing the vast landscapes of Brazil in search of his long-lost father. Most of the cast and crew had never worked in film before, and one of the leads is a nine-year-old shoe-shine boy who had never been to a cinema.  This elegiac debut drama from Walter Salles was fuelled by a visceral desire to address the future of his country. Letter-writers are a common fact of life in Brazil, a society steeped in poverty where education and literacy are the exclusive preserve of the privileged few.

Brazil 1998 Walter Salles 110m

A personal revolution by a trail-blazing fashion designer to create an ethical collection and bring about change in her environmentally-damaging industry.

Raised off-grid by activist parents, fashion designer Amy Powney of cult label Mother-of-Pearl had long been aghast at the devastating impact of her industry on the environment. So, when she won the coveted Vogue Best Young Designer of the Year Award, she decided to create a clothing collection sustainable from field to finished garment with the aim of inspiring other designers to follow suit. This is a poignant, informative and beautifully-shot documentary of her three-year journey to achieve this and educate herself – and us – along the way. You may rethink the way you clothes shop.

UK/USA 2022 Becky Hunter 100m

We invite you to attend in your favourite pre-loved or home-made outfit! A sustainable fashion exhibition can be viewed in the bar area during the A Greener Screen season.

When Mary finds herself in a public scandal and the family faces financial trouble, the household grapples with the threat of social disgrace.

The global phenomenon returns to the cinema screen for the final time as the Crawley family and their staff enter the 1930s. They must embrace change with the next generation leading Downton Abbey into the future. While we will surely miss the presence of the great Maggie Smith as late Dowager Countess Violet Crawley, the film nevertheless boasts a stellar cast which includes Hugh Bonneville, Penelope Wilton, Michelle Dockery, Joanne Froggatt, Brendan Coyle, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan and Jim Carter. They will be joined for the finale by Joely Richardson, Dominic West, Simon Russell Beale, and the magnificent Paul Giamatti. Book your seat for the final bow!

UK 2024 Simon Curtis 123m

Exhibition on Screen

Pablo Picasso is one of the greatest artists of all time – and right up until his death in 1973 he was the most prolific of artists. Many films have dealt with these later years – the art, the affairs and the wide circle of friends. But where did this all begin? What made Picasso in the first place?

Too long ignored, it is time to look at the early years of Picasso; the upbringing and the learning that led to his extraordinary achievements. Three cities play a key role: Malaga, Barcelona and Paris. Young Picasso visits each and explores their influence on the artist Picasso, focusing on specific artworks from these early years. The film thus explains how this young artist acquired his craft. Looking carefully at two key early periods – the so-called Blue Period and Rose Period – the film takes us all the way to 1907 and the creation of a critical painting in the history of art – Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. It was a painting that shocked the art world but changed it irrevocably. Picasso was only 25 years old. Working closely with all three Picasso Museums in Malaga, Barcelona and Paris this film explains how he rose to great heights.

UK 2018 Phil Grabsky 85m

Tickets £15

Fri 19 Sep 15:45

Sat 20 Sep 15:45

Thu 25 Sep 15:45

A talk reflecting on the impact on the environment of filmmaking.

From epic quests like Scott’s Antarctic expedition and the earliest attempts to conquer Everest, filmmakers have tracked the triumphs and disasters of man’s interactions with the natural world.  

The great outdoors has always proved a natural theatre for the movies, with many films posing profound questions about our relationship with animals, eco systems and one another.  More recently, the rise of the Green movement has prompted a surge of film addressing environmental issues across a variety of genres, from documentary to sci-fi and romance. In this talk, Nick Johnston-Jones of the Education Team considers the impact of film making on the environment for both good and bad, from the earliest days of silent cinema to the modern age, looking at some of the unintended consequences of such movies as well as celebrating their enduring power to delight and inspire audiences, remind us of our place in the natural order and alert us to danger.

100m inc Q&A

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbour is pitted against neighbour in Eddington, New Mexico.

Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), is the world-weary sheriff of the small town of Eddington, New Mexico, population 2,634. The year is 2020, lockdown begins but with no cases of Covid, Cross is adamantly anti mask-wearing, at loggerheads with Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) who takes an opposite view on the personal liberty issue. What’s more, the mayor has emotional history with Cross’s depressive wife Louise (Emma Stone) who now suffers from hysteria and whose mother is a querulous conspiracy theorist and social media addict. Add into this heady mix social polarisation, Black Lives Matter, liberal-white privilege and guns and the tension begins to rise. Austen Butler co stars as a charismatic cult leader in this genre-bending drama about law enforcement and division but it always returns to its roots as a contemporary Western.

USA/Finland Ari Aster 148m

The compelling tale of how frontline activists across continents travelled to Rome for a dialogue with the Pope on how the climate crisis was impacting their communities.

Ten years ago, Pope Francis used his global address to focus on the environment and the need to protect our planet. He was the first in Vatican history to address the climate crisis and his Laudato Si’ – The Letter – has influenced change around the world. This inspiring documentary follows five people, representing groups most affected by climate change, as they journey from the Amazon, India, Senegal and Hawaii with personal stories from their countries. Fascinating footage of their encounter with the Pope interweaves with how their homelands are being blighted. A powerful, heart-breaking yet hopeful watch.

USA 2022 Nicolas Brown 81m

We are delighted to welcome producer Bianca Pitt for a Q&A with Christoph Warrack of Common: Nature Recovery.

An unconventional romantic comedy in which a young American in Paris meets a French girl with a morbid curiosity about the darker sides of the city's history.

Paul (Jeremie Galiana) and Paulette's (Marie Benati) chance encounter on a Parisian boulevard sparks an unusual friendship that grows around a dark game; reenacting scenes of notorious crimes from bygone eras at the sites they occurred. As their morbid road trip approaches the more recent past it becomes more uncomfortable, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, but finding a surprising joy in the darker corners of humanity. British-French writer/director Jethro Massey uses the unique premise as a springboard to examine the impermanence of everything - even an infatuation between two people who seem destined for one another. Including a great soundtrack, this quirky film which won the Critics’ Week Audience Award and Cinema & Arts Award at the Venice Film Festival 2024, could just be a cult film in the making. (Some subtitles)

UK 2024 Jethro Massey 109m

In this quality moving drama, a head teacher battles for his Reform College's survival while managing his own mental health.

Adapted by Max Porter from his novella Shy, ‘Steve’ features another mesmerising performance from Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy playing a headteacher during a pivotal day for students at a last-chance reform school in a world that has left them behind. As Steve deals with his own battles, he meets Shy (Jay Lycurgo), a troubled teen caught between

a dark past and an uncertain future. The action centres around a period of 24 hours, which imbues it with purpose and intensity. Tim Mielants – who directed the quietly powerful ‘Small Things Like These’ returns as director and this is the first official project from Murphy’s new production company Big Things Films alongside collaborator Alan Moloney. Tracey Ullman, Simbi Ajikawo and Emily Watson co-star.

Ireland 2025 Tim Mielants 93m

The Films of Michael Haneke

To accompany a season of restored versions of his films, this talk looks back at the Austrian auteur’s career.

Michael Haneke’s 2012 film ‘Amour’ won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and a BAFTA and is generally considered to be one of the greatest of all films about love, ageing and death. Following masterpieces including ‘The Piano Teacher’, ‘Hidden’ and ‘The White Ribbon’, it established him as one of the most revered directors of the 21st Century, in the European art house tradition of Bergman and Bresson. However, his work defies genre categorisation and some audiences have found his work baffling and disturbing. In this talk, illustrated by a range of clips and accompanied by a short season of his films, Cinema Education Officer Patrick Hargood will explore the underlying themes of Haneke’s films and celebrate their artistry, showing why some of the finest actors of the last fifty years – Binoche, Huppert, Trintignant, Auteuil – have seized any opportunity to work with him.

100m inc Q&A

Tickets £8

Sat 27 Sep 10:30

Das Seiße Band - Eine Deutsche Kindergeschichte

A spellbinding tale of bigotry and brutality in a pre-Great War rural German community.

Another profoundly disquieting but riveting film from Michael Haneke, filmed in lustrous and shimmering black and white. In 1913, a series of malicious events and atrocities start to happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to point to some kind of ritual punishment. Who is responsible? At the heart of everything is the Lutheran pastor who insists on his children wearing a white ribbon for wrongdoings until their father is convinced they are cleansed. The white ribbon could of course be the ancestor of the Jewish yellow star. An air of mystery hangs over the film, with no explicit resolution. The final long-held shot is a tableau of the villagers gathered in a small, bare church just after the outbreak of war, a portrait of a nation on the brink of history. The film deservedly won the Palme d’Or in 2009. (Subtitles)

Germany/Austria/France 2009 Michael Haneke 144m

An under-threat London street tree is the charismatic central character in a David and Goliath battle to save it from the chop.

When the residents of the Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney, London, find out that a property developer has been given permission to fell a much-loved 150-year-old London Plane tree – named ‘The Happy Man Tree' - they start a campaign to save it. The film charts the ups and downs of the nine-month fight by the endlessly determined and creative local activists, including seven-year-old Lucas and 82-year-old estate veteran Sylvia. This charming grassroots-style film, which has touched hearts, will have you rooting for the swaying, stoic tree and the preservation of urban nature.

UK 2022 Katy McGahan 75m

We are delighted to welcome director Katy McGahan for a Q&A after the screening. Why not walk to the cinema after hugging your favourite tree?

Royal Ballet & Opera

An alternative, modern-day Rome provides the backdrop for Oliver Mears’ unmissable, gripping new production of Puccini’s thriller.

In war-torn Rome, Floria Tosca and Mario Cavaradossi live for each other and for their art. But when Cavaradossi helps an escaped prisoner, the lovers make a deadly enemy in the form of Baron Scarpia, Chief of Police. At the mercy of Scarpia’s twisted desires, Tosca is forced to make a horrific bargain: sleeping with the man she hates in order to save the man she loves. Can she find a way out? A star-studded cast includes soprano Anna Netrebko performing the role of Tosca, tenor Freddie De Tommaso as Cavaradossi and bass-baritone Gerald Finley as Scarpia, with Music Director of The Royal Opera Jakub Hrůša conducting his first new production in the role. Sung in Italian with subtitles.

210m inc 2 Intervals

Tickets £19.50

Wed 1 Oct 19:00

Sun 5 Oct 14:45

In this soul-searching, slow-burn, neo-noir mystery, a washed-up tennis pro at a hotel resort finds a personal escape when he crosses paths with an unusual and sophisticated family.

Tom (Sam Riley – ‘Control’), a one-time tennis pro, now hits countless balls over the net to tourists who come to escape their everyday lives at Fuerteventura, the largest of the Canary Islands. The usual endless directionless summer Tom usually fills with booze and brief affairs is brought to a halt with the appearance of a woman from his past (Stacy Martin – ‘The Brutalist’) and the subsequent disappearance of her husband (Jack Farthing – ‘Poldark’). With its unconventional narrative arc, this is a smart and subtle thriller with a real sting in its tale exploring themes of escape, longing, and the complexities of human relationships. The three leads are all very impressive, as is the ultra-wide Cinemascope aspect ratio which really does justice to the beautiful Atlantic locations. (Some subtitles)

Germany 2025 Jan-Ole Gerster 123m

An enthralling Chinese documentary about the torpedoing of a Japanese freighter carrying 1,816 British PoWs in the second world war, excavating the emotional wreckage on all sides.

Just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese began their takeover of Hong Kong, at that time under English custody. Many British soldiers were captured and, as prisoners of war, packed in ships to Japanese labour camps. One such ship was the Lisbon Maru. The film reveals the long-buried truth of the 1942 sinking where 828 Allied prisoners died. Over seven years, filmmaker Fang Li's search for the wreckage and interviews with families uncovered the heartbreaking stories of Allied prisoners, Japanese brutality and heroic Chinese fishermen. (Some subtitles)

China 2023 Fang Li/Ming Fan/Lily Gong 123m

Heralded as the breakout film at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, this is a fragile comedy-drama about the enduring nature of trauma and the healing power of friendship.

Agnes (Eva Victor) is an English professor at a college in rural New England. She is thrilled when her newly married best friend Lydie (Naomi Ackie), recently moved to New York, arrives for a visit. Lydie very quickly notices Agnes’ anxiety which most likely stems from a past fateful sexual encounter with her admiring advisor Preston (Louis Cancelmi). Director Victor makes very funny, ascerbic observations about society’s discomfort in showing empathy toward women who are dealing with personal suffering. ‘Sorry, Baby’ is a film about trauma but it is also an insightful exploration of friendship. With a razor-sharp script, this smartly structured and well-acted little gem with a star-making turn from Victor herself, is a black comedy that is not only nimble but consistently funny. This is a multi-talented filmmaker to keep your eye on. Lucas Hedges (‘Manchester by the Sea’) co-stars.

USA/Spain/France 2025 Eva Victor 103m

Dong Ji Dao

In 1942, the Japanese ship Lisbon Maru with British POWs aboard was torpedoed. Dongji fishermen risked their lives to rescue over 300 British soldiers and protected and rescued three British individuals during a large-scale search by Japanese forces.

Hailed as one of China’s most technically ambitious films to date, this epic documentary dramatises the sinking of the Lisbon Maru - a deadly, little-known disaster that claimed the lives of hundreds of British POWs. After the vessel was mistakenly struck by an American submarine off China’s Dongji Island, more than 800 survivors were rescued by Chinese fishermen in an extraordinary act of wartime bravery. (Subtitles)

China 2025 Zhenxiang Fei & Guan Hu 133m

Straume

Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Animation. Cat is a solitary animal, but as its home is devastated by a great flood, he finds refuge on a boat populated by various species, and will have to team up with them despite their differences.

A wondrous journey, through realms natural and mystical, ‘Flow’ follows a courageous cat after his home is devastated by a great flood. Teaming up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, they must rely on trust, courage and wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet. This is a thrilling animated spectacle as well as a profound meditation on the fragility of the environment and the spirit of friendship and community. Steeped in the soaring possibilities of visual storytelling, ‘Flow’ is a feast for the senses and a treasure for the heart.

Latvia/Belgium/France 2024 Gints Zilbalodis 85m

A dark comedy about Honey O'Donahue, a small-town private investigator, who delves into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church.

Margaret Qualley (‘The Substance’) plays Honey O’Donoghue, a private detective in Bakersfield, California, who has the deep voice and steady gaze of a hard-boiled femme fatale from the 1950s, driving a vintage turquoise Chevrolet SS and batting off the attentions of a local cop (Charlie Day) by telling him, “I like girls” which indeed she does.  Her curiosity is piqued when a woman who reaches out to her for help ends up dead at the bottom of a cliff. This leads her to sniff around a local church run by the lascivious Chris Evans as Reverend Drew, a holy man who deals drugs on the side and likes to have sex with his congregation. This comedic neo-noir is the second of a trilogy of films co-written and directed by Ethan Coen (the first being ‘Drive-Away Dolls’).

UK/USA 2025 Ethan Coen 88m

4K Remaster

This unique, psychological dystopian thriller (here with a 4k remaster), is the film which brought Yorgos Lanthimos (‘The Favourite’, ‘Poor Things’) to prominence on the world stage

Three teenagers live an isolated existence, within the confines of their pristine house, blocked from society by a fence, and only allowed to go into the real world when their “dogtooth,” or canine tooth, has eventually fallen out, symbolising their official coming-of-age. The brilliance here is that, without any clues to the family's past, you easily understand what has been happening. Lanthimos skilfully drops tantalising pieces of information, keeping the viewer in a state of suspense and wonder. Yorgos Lanthimos exploded on to the world stage, winning the Un Certain Regard prize in Cannes which recognises emerging talent and daring work and a Best Film in a Foreign Language Oscar nomination the next year. This uniquely unsettling scenario is open to interpretation and the film will stick around long after you are released from its grip. (Subtitles)

Greece 2009 Yorgos Lanthimos 94m

The lives of two strangers are changed forever when they cross paths on the surfing adventure of a lifetime, discovering love, downshifting and four charismatic horses.

This is a stunning, intimate and unflinching series of love letters within a documentary - firstly, a love between two people, and secondly between humanity and the Earth. Ecologist Matty Hannon begins an incredible solo adventure, to surf the west coast of the Americas by motorbike, from the top of Alaska to the tip of Patagonia. But deep in the wilderness - alone with the wolves and the bears - the journeyman’s plans unexpectedly fall to pieces. After losing everything, and on the cusp of quitting, he meets the girl of his dreams, a permaculture farmer named Heather. Shot over 16 years, the result is an adventurous exposé on the more-than-human-world, offering a physical and spiritual odyssey to better understand our place in Nature. (Some subtitles)

Australia 2022 Matty Hannon 90m

This cult classic is a post-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of an apartment building who occasionally prepares a unique delicacy for his oddball tenants.

Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) is a butcher who owns a run-down apartment building in post-apocalyptic France. The building is in constant need of a handyman, as this position has a history, with previous incumbents having ended up on the neighbours’ dinner tables via the butcher's block. The latest in the long line of disposable workers is Louison (Dominique Pinon), a former circus clown desperate for work and lodging. But this time Clapet's plan hits a snag when his young daughter (Marie-Laure Dougnac) falls head over heels for the lovable Louison. But as bellies begin to rumble, will love be enough to keep Louison out of la charcuterie? Directors Jeunet and Caro combe the dark humour of the Grimm's fairy tales, with the spirit of Terry Gilliam and that peculiarly French knack of putting magic into film. A treat at any time, but especially on a big screen. This is a true masterpiece of the fantastique. (Subtitles)

France 1991 Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro 99m

The Old Film is Dead - We Believe in the New!  

A talk in conjunction with the Friends of Speyer looking back… looking back at Germany’s answer to the French Nouvelle Vague, accompanied by a screening of Fassbinder’s classic ‘Fear Eats the Soul.’

New German Cinema was a reaction to the stagnation of the German film industry and the broader social and political transformations occurring in post-World War Two West Germany. Heavily influenced by Italian neo-realism and the French Nouvelle Vague, a new generation of filmmakers emerged (including, most notably, Fassbinder, Herzog, Wenders, Schlondorff and von Trotta) intent on creating a new national film language and identity. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, often working with small budgets, they sought to engage with contemporary German reality by confronting and assimilating the nation's recent past. The movement saw German cinema return to international significance for the first time since the end of Weimar. Mike Jennings and John Harte of the Cinema's Education Team will give an illustrated talk which will explore the context in which it emerged, identifying important themes and showing clips from films by some of the key players.

100m inc Q&A

Tickets £8

Tue 7 Oct 18:00

Angst Essen Seele Auf

In conjunction with Friends of Speyer

A lonely widow meets a much younger Moroccan worker in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love, to their own surprise and to the outright shock of their families, colleagues, and drinking buddies.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder not only directed this film, but also wrote the screenplay, designed the sets, and produced. Brigitte Mira heads the cast as a lonely German cleaning woman, who enters into an affair with equally lonely - and much younger - Moroccan mechanic Ali (El Hedi Ben Salem). They marry, despite the shocked, bigoted reactions of those around them. This thinly disguised remake of Douglas Sirk's ‘All That Heaven Allows’ won the international critic's prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Technically flawless, deceptively simple and avoiding excesses, it is about problems that are timely and timeless in implications. (Subtitles)

West Germany 1974 Rainer Werner Fassbinder 94m

Des Jours Meilleurs

This thoughtful and moving French comedy drama was chosen as the Surprise Film for the 2025 Chichester International Film Festival, and out of the 81 votes, received 34 4-star votes, and 30 5-stars.

The film sheds light on the often-taboo subject of female alcoholism in a light-hearted yet moving manner. Think of the brilliant 2020 film ‘Another Round’, focusing on women rather than men. The film opens with Suzanne (Valérie Bonneton), a single mother who is stripped of custody of her three children because of her addiction. She is determined to get herself sober so joins a group in a women’s centre where we also find Alice (Sabrina Ouazani), who, because she is young believes she is just a party girl, not an alcoholic; Diane (Michèle Laroque), an actress at the end of her career with a drinking habit; and a host of others. Their social worker Denis (the brilliant Clovis Cornillac) takes them under his wing and comes up with a wild idea to get the women bonded and on the right track - a car rally in Morocco. Between battle, female solidarity and travel, this film will move you, make you laugh and leave you with a sense of hope. (Subtitles)

France 2025 Elsa Bennett/Hippolyte Dard 101m

Through a surprising twist of fate, single strangers Sarah and David get to relive important moments from their respective pasts,

‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey’ features a magical realism which director Kogonada says was partly inspired by his love of Hayao Miyazaki’s animated films.  What if you could open a doorway and walk through it to re-live a defining moment from your past? Sarah (Margot Robbie) and David (Colin Farrell) are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present… and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures. Phoebe Waller-Bridge co-stars.

Ireland/USA 2025 Kogonada 139m

When his punk-rock neighbour asks him to take care of his cat for a few days, New York City bartender Hank Thompson suddenly finds himself caught in the middle of a motley crew of threatening gangsters who all want a piece of him.

Set in the East Village, burned out baseball player turned bartender Hank Thompson (Austen Butler) is unwittingly plunged into a wild fight for survival among the thugs and sociopaths of the downtown criminal underworld in 1990s New York City.  This is Aronofsky’s first film since ‘The Whale’ in 2022 and Austen leads a stellar cast which includes Zoe Kravitz as his girlfriend Yvonne, Regina King, Vincent D’Onofrio, Liev Schreiber and an almost unrecognisable Matt Smith, sporting a flame-coloured Mohican hairstyle!

USA 2025 Darren Aronofsky 109m

Two chimney sweeps living in monogamous, heterosexual marriages both end up in situations that challenge their views on sexuality and gender roles.

Sex certainly comes up early and often in this playful, intricately nuanced character study, but in consistently surprising, stereotype-averse ways. Feier (Jan Gunnar Røise) has a sexual encounter with another man, without himself experiencing it either as an expression of homosexual longings or infidelity. Avde (Thorbjørn Harr) suddenly experiences nocturnal dreams in which he is seen as a woman. This confuses and disturbs him and begins to wonder whether there are aspects of himself that he has suppressed. Haugerud’s sly comedy addresses various crises of modern masculinity with a light, humane touch, finding more curiosity than toxicity in its characters - and making a case for seemingly aberrant desires and impulses as an everyday fact of life. (Subtitles)

Norway 2024 Dag Johan Haugerud 118m

‘Love Never Dies’ is a romantic musical which continues the story of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’. Filmed at the Adelphi Theatre.

Featuring one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s finest musical scores performed by a 21-piece orchestra, a stunning cast of 36 including Ben Lewis and Anna O'Byrne, over 300 incredible costumes and a magnificent set illuminated by over 5000 dazzling light bulbs. The year is 1907. It is 10 years after his disappearance from the Paris Opera House and the Phantom has escaped to a new life in New York where he lives amongst the screaming joy rides and freak shows of Coney Island. In this new world, he has finally found a place for his music to soar. All that is missing is his love.

132m inc Interval

Tickets £15

Sat 11 Oct 15:45

Muriel and her husband, Lee, begin a new life together after he returns home from the Korean War. However, their newfound stability gets upended by the arrival of Lee's charismatic brother, a wayward gambler with a secret past.

Adapted from Shannon Pufahl’s 1950s-based novel, ‘On Swift Horses’ is a film driven by carnal appetites and a longing to break free of societal expectations.  Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her husband Lee (Will Poulter) are embarking on a bright new life in California when he returns from the Korean War. The unexpected arrival of Lee’s charismatic but rather wayward brother Julius (Jacob Elordi) upsets the equilibrium and a dangerous love triangle quickly forms. When Julius takes off in search of the young card cheat he's fallen for in Las Vegas, Muriel’s longing for something more propels her into a secret life of her own, gambling on racehorses and exploring same-sex desires previously unfamiliar to her. This authentic period piece explores the challenges of coming out in the 1950s with meticulously detailed sets and stunning photography.

USA 2024 Daniel Minahan 119m

The highly anticipated sequel to 1984’s seminal comedy sees the band reunite for a farewell show with appearances from Elton John, Questlove and Paul McCartney.

‘Spinal Tap II’ reunites Marty DiBergi, Nigel Tufnel, David St Hubbins and Derek Smalls (played by Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer) as they get together for a final concert, more than 40 years after the 1984 mockumentary that made their name. In between, Spinal Tap released the album ‘Break Like the Wind’ in 1992, appeared on ‘The Simpsons’, played the ‘Live Earth’ charity concert in 2007 and Glastonbury in 2009. U2’s the Edge said of the first film that it was so close to reality that it made him weep, while Ozzy Osbourne quipped “Seen it? I’ve lived it!”.  Enjoy the ride!

USA 2025 Rob Reiner 83m

An elderly couple’s relationship undergoes the ultimate test of love in this simple and honest depiction of old age, illness and dying.

Michael Haneke's 'Amour' is a deliberately difficult experience. Career-high performances from Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva as a genteel Parisian couple in their eighties illuminate the difficult subject matter. One day, Anne has an attack and the couple's bond of love is severely tested as she descends into physical and mental debilitation. Haneke focuses with physician-like steadiness on the test it puts on Georges' love for his wife. She feels humiliated by her condition and hates to be seen, but she can't refuse the agitated visits from their daughter Eva (Isabelle Huppert). In a special cameo, young classical pianist Alexandre Tharaud (who performs Schubert, Beethoven and other music in the film) appears as Anne's brilliant pupil, who has become a world-famous recording artist. A deserving winner of the 2012 Palme d'or. (Subtitles)

Austria/ France/Germany 2012 Michael Haneke 125m

A filmmaker connects with a Palestinian woman in Gaza who documents life under bombardment. After the woman was killed by an Israeli bomb, 200-plus days of digital exchanges, become even more poignant.

This documentary offers an intimate, first-hand perspective on life under siege in Gaza, captured through video calls between director Sepideh Farsi and young Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona, who was tragically killed in an airstrike on her home in April 2025, just one day after the film's Cannes selection was announced. Combining raw immediacy with deep humanity, we see daily life during the conflict through the eyes of a generation caught in an endless cycle of war and living under siege. This is a powerful memorial to someone who was both ordinary and extraordinary. (Subtitles)

France/Palestine 2025 Sepideh Farsi 110m

The true story of John Davidson; diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome at a young age which alienated him from his peers, he struggled with a condition few people had witnessed.

At age 15, John Davidson (Robert Aramayo) faced and overcame many hardships from adolescence and early adulthood, as a result of what was a little known and entirely misunderstood condition in 1980’s Britain. Targeted as insane by his peers, Davidson lived with a condition few had ever witnessed, as he attempted to live a ‘normal’ life against the odds. Written and directed by Kirk Jones (‘Waking Ned’, ‘Nanny McPhee’), this is a heart-warming film that will surely prove popular with filmgoers. The supporting cast includes some of Britain’s best: the always brilliant Maxine Peake (The Theory of Everything), Shirley Henderson (‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’, ‘Trainspotting’), and Cannes Best Actor Award winner & Golden Lion winner Peter Mullan (‘War Horse’).

UK 2025 Kirk Jones 120m

A beautiful, heart-warming – and often funny - story that seeks to explore the fragile interplay between grief, human connection and the redemptive power of kindness.

Anne (Sarah-Jane Potts) is grieving the loss of her partner to the point of becoming mute.  She takes herself to the Canary Islands to spread his ashes, and just maybe, get her voice back, along with her place in the world. After an unwelcoming arrival, she finds herself wandering the streets until a chance encounter with another troubled traveller, Bill (David Ganly), offers an unexpected opportunity which could heal or crumble each of their lives. Potts has a magnetic screen presence, anchoring the film with a blend of vulnerability and resolve, portraying Anne as both fragile and fiercely determined to reclaim her life. It is hard to believe that this is the work of a first-time director (Millson is better known as an actor), achieving here a wonderful film with echoes of ‘Aftersun’ and ’45 Years’. Winner of Best Feature Film at the 2025 London Independent Film Festival and Berlin Indie Film Festival, "This is a magical film. It's got heart, soul and hope. And it’s laced with jeopardy." Irvine Welsh.

UK 2025 Joseph Millson 88m

When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue one of their own's daughter.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film is inspired by Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel ‘Vineland’ set in ‘a zone of blessed anarchy’ in Northern California. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a civil rights activist who joins an anti-government group to combat an “alt-right” white supremacist organisation, with Sean Penn playing the leader. Part political satire, part black comedy and part action blockbuster, the film is shot in glorious Vista Vision with breathtaking cinematography bathed in golden-hour natural light. With a cast to die for which also includes Benicio Del Toro and Regina Hall, the film also marks the sixth feature film collaboration between Anderson and composer Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), whose score oscillates between high tension and playful mischief, grounding the more chaotic moments with sonic weight.

USA 2025 Paul Thomas Anderson 170m

What Do People Eat After the End of the World?

To accompany a screening of Jeunet and Caro’s delightful black comedy ‘Delicatessen’, this talk will offer a tour of post-apocalyptic palates.

Dystopian and post-apocalyptic films are often concerned with what people eat after the world has ended. Whether we are watching a group of survivors try to start a farm in ‘Five’ or exploring fears of synthetic food in ‘Silent Running’, food is a way of exploring both the possibility of restarting civilisation and our darkest fears about the future. In these films, food is much more than what people eat. It is a way of exploring our relationship to the environment, love and family. Covering nearly a century of cinema, Dr Tommy Lynch of the University of Chichester will offer a tour of post-apocalyptic palates. He will conclude by exploring the enduring appeal of cannibalistic futures, from ‘Soylent Green’ to ‘Delicatessen’.

100m inc Q&A

Tickets £8

Sat 18 Oct 10:30

In Neo Sora's narrative feature debut, the threat of natural disaster and citizen unrest provides justification for incursions into personal freedoms by the Japanese government and education authorities.

Despite being close childhood friends, as Yuta (Hayao Kurihara) and Kou (Yukito Hidaki) approach the end of school, their contrasting responses to the darkening mood around them, both at school and in the national political arena, expose differences of which neither had previously been aware. This is a delicate portrait of late adolescence, suspended between pleasurable distractions and creeping anxieties about what comes next. A careful tonal balance is struck between the bittersweet, elegiac qualities of an end-of-school drama, with compassionate observation of the approach of maturity and the volatile microcosm of an educational institution that becomes like a prison, pointing to broader political implications in the outside world. Debuting in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival, ‘Happyend’ is a first step into features for Neo Sora, who made last year’s stirring documentary tribute to his late father, Ryuichi Sakamoto (Subtitles).

Japan/USA/Singapore/UK Neo Sora 2024 113m

Met Opera

Following triumphant Met turns in ‘Roméo et Juliette’, ‘La Traviata’ and ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’, Nadine Sierra summits another peak of the soprano repertoire as Amina, who sleepwalks her way into audiences’ hearts in Bellini’s poignant tale of love lost and found.

In his new production, Rolando Villazón - the tenor who has embarked on a brilliant second career as a director - retains the opera’s original setting in the Swiss Alps but uses its somnambulant plot to explore the emotional and psychological valleys of the mind. Tenor Xabier Anduaga returns after his acclaimed 2023 Met debut in ‘L’Elisir d’Amore’, co-starring as Amina’s fiancé Elvino, alongside soprano Sydney Mancasola as her rival, Lisa, and bass Alexander Vinogradov as Count Rodolfo. Riccardo Frizza takes the podium for one of opera’s most ravishing works. Sung in Italian with English subtitles.

193m inc Interval

Tickets: £21

Sun 19 Oct 14:15

Tue 21 Oct 19:30

50th Anniversary 4K Restoration

This is not only one of Stanley Kubrick’s finest and most influential films, but has been named as one of the greatest films ever made in polls including Sight & Sound. Celebrating 50 years in 2025.

In Kubrick’s own adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel about the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer, Ryan O’Neal stars as Redmond Barry (later Barry Lyndon) and Marisa Berenson is Lady Lyndon. Only a cinema screen can do justice to the stunning visuals of ‘Barry Lyndon’ which won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, Art Direction/Set Decoration, Music and Costume Design. Inspired by painters such as Thomas Gainsborough and William Hogarth, the film has a beautiful, painterly look, enhanced by filming in natural or historically accurate light sources, some lit only by candlelight. Pure cinema, simply unmissable.

UK/USA 1979 Stanley Kubrick 184m

A Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of society in Athens gets ripped off by a smuggler and sets out to seek revenge.

Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. But when Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his dangerous drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late. This is a gripping and uncompromising film, but ultimately sympathetic at the same time… which is a tough balance to strike. The film differs from the others in this Palestinian strand, as it is the only drama, depicting the lives of Palestinian refugees outside of Palestine. (Subtitles)

Palestine 2024 Mahdi Fleifel 105m

A beautifully filmed, heartfelt adaptation of Niall Williams' best-selling novel.  Two young people are made for each other, but as fate and  power of true love pull them together, so too does life threaten to tear them apart.

Nicholas (Fionn O'Shea) and Isabel (Ann Skelly) are made for each other, but fate does not always choose the easiest path to true love. Nicholas' father, William (Pierce Brosnan), comes home one day to shatter his family's modest life, when he tells them that in a moment of divine intervention, God has instructed him to dedicate his life to painting. He quits his job and sets off for the coast, leaving his shell-shocked wife and son to fend for themselves. Meanwhile Isabel and her family live a charmed existence on a small neighbouring island, their house full of music and poetry. When tragedy strikes, the music stops, and Isabel's parents (Helena Bonham Carter, Gabriel Byrne) decide in their grief to send Isabel to a convent school on the mainland. The young lovers embark on their own individual journeys of heartache and misplaced love, before fate contrives to pull the threads of their lives together. Filmed in Donegal and Antrim by cinematographer Damien Elliott, certainly makes the locations glimmer. The skies and seas are azure blue, the beaches are golden, and the sun never seems to dim, lending the film a beautiful fairytale quality.

UK/Ireland 2024 Polly Steele 125m

A husband-and-wife rediscover nature’s beauty and a renewed sense of vitality in this heartstring-pulling adaptation of a true-life tale.

Fifty-somethings Ray Winn and her husband Moth (Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs) receive a bad health diagnosis and court-ordered to vacate the only home they’ve known as a family due to insurmountable circumstances. They decide to walk the South-West Coast Path – the longest (630 miles) uninterrupted footpath in England – from Minehead to Poole along the Devon, Cornwall and Dorset coast armed only with a tent, limited supplies, very few clothes and the travelogue that inspired this trek. Helene Louvart’s excellent cinematography is a real highlight with filming locations including Padstow, Clovelly, Ilfracombe and some of the most beautiful rugged coast in the country, but do see if you can spot the scenes filmed at our very own West Wittering. This portrait of loss, humanity and rebirth is adapted from Raynor Winn’s personal memoir, with Anderson and Isaacs’ intimately textured performances standing out.

UK 2024 Marianne Elliott 115m

Le Assaggiatrici

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

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

Italy/Belgium/Switzerland 2025 Silvio Soldini 123m

Jeunes Mères

The Dardenne Brothers’ latest ensemble drama centres around a group of girls under the care of a ‘maternal assistance’ home in Liège and representing very different instances of children bringing children into the world.

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne got their start making short documentaries set in working-class housing projects. They then brought that same observational approach with them to their fiction features, reflected in the long-take handheld camerawork, gritty street-level locations and casting of non-professional actors that have become their signature.  The two-time Palme d'Or winners’ new film centres upon five young women in a home for young expectant mothers, working for a better life for themselves.  Far from bleak or depressing, the uplifting script evokes a real sense of community, as the characters support one another, taking turns preparing meals, and stepping in when one of them is overwhelmed. ‘Young Mothers’ celebrates an institution where supportive yet firm social workers are available around the clock to serve as exactly the kind of role models its residents lacked in their own lives. This must-see slice of social realism received a 10-minute standing ovation in Cannes this year. (Subtitles)

France/Belgium 2025 Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne 105m

Following in the footsteps of his bumbling father, Detective Frank Drebin Jr. must solve a murder case to prevent the police department from shutting down.

This reboot of the ‘Naked Gun’ franchise is a lot of fun: amiably ridiculous, refreshingly shallow, and a true guilty pleasure! Seamlessly reviving the mile-a-minute patter of sight gags, puns and general buffoonery, it is a relentless comedy delivered with a smirk. Beth (Pamela Anderson) turns up at Det. Drebin’s (Liam Neeson) office. Her brother has been killed in the suspicious crash of an Edentech electric vehicle, with a trail that leads all the way back to the company’s CEO Richard Cane (Danny Huston). Mostly, she is a femme fatale who is even sillier than Priscilla Presley but her comic timing is impeccable, and her breathy throwaway delivery is a delight. Neeson is having a blast, sending up his hyperviolent screen persona of recent years, and his scenes with Anderson are bliss. With so much horror and despair in the world, we all need a little escapist fun and this is it!

USA 2025 Akiva Schaffer 85m

50th Anniversary Remaster

When a massive killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Long Island, it's up to the local police chief, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.

Adapted from Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name,‘Jaws’ catapulted Spielberg’s burgeoning career into the stratosphere and was the cause celebre of 1975, heralding what many believe was the first real ‘blockbuster’. It earned its place in cinema history from the very opening sequence where you see nothing, but fear everything, thanks to John Williams’ menacing score which simply alternates between two notes signally impending doom. Made for just $9 million it went on the gross $470 million worldwide. With largely non-A-listers, the shark was the star of the show but it was the performances of Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw which give the film such humanity. ‘Jaws’ was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and deservedly went on to win three of them.

1975 USA Steven Spielberg 122m

NT Live

Five-time Olivier Award winner Imelda Staunton (‘The Crown’) joins forces with her real-life daughter Bessie Carter (‘Bridgerton’) for the very first time, playing mother and daughter in Bernard Shaw’s incendiary moral classic.

Vivie Warren is a woman ahead of her time. Her mother, however, is a product of that old patriarchal order. Exploiting it, has earned Mrs. Warren a fortune – but at what cost? Filmed live from the West End, this new production reunites Staunton with director Dominic Cooke (‘Follies’, ‘Good’), exploring the clash between morality and independence, traditions and progress.

120m inc Interval

Tickets £19.50

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 a Palestinian activist Basel Adra and an Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham. Best Documentary Oscar Winner 2025!

For half a decade Palestinian activist Basel Adra has been filming the destruction of his community of Masafer Yatta by Israel’s occupation. He began filming at the age of 15 to gather physical evidence. 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 the Best Documentary Oscar in 2025 and Best Documentary at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival. Tragically, just last month, a consultant on the film, Awdah Hathaleen, was killed during an attack by Israeli settlers in the South Hebron hills. (Subtitles)

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

An Associated Press team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion.

This is a film about accelerating conflict and journalists under extreme duress, desperately seeking a Wi-Fi signal amid the ruins to make the world aware and about the spiritual toll that comes from bearing witness. Unflinching lenses capture the sickening collective realisation that ordinary people are being targeted. Photojournalist Mstyslav Chernov’s sobering narration describes the circumstances behind grey-faced medics attempting to resuscitate injured babies and the shattered despair of parents whose children have been shelled while playing football. The deadened manner of Chernov’s voiceover contrasts starkly with the frantic urgency of the images on screen. A harrowing, vital documentary which demands to be seen.

Ukraine/USA 2023 Mstyslav Chernov 97m

Get ready for the ultimate rock experience as ‘Bat Out of Hell’ roars onto the big screen this Halloween!

The cast of the West End production will bring Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf’s iconic anthems to life, including ‘I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’, ‘Paradise by the Dashboard Light’, ‘Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad’, ‘Dead Ringer for Love’, and, of course, ‘Bat Out of Hell’. ‘Bat out of Hell -The Musical’ promises a spectacle that will leave you breathless! This heart-pounding experience, with a powerhouse eight-piece live band on stage, delivers a new production with sprawling multi-level platforms to transport you from ‘Raven’s bedroom’ to the ‘underground world of the Lost’ in a visual feast that pushes the boundaries of live theatre.

160m inc Interval

Special Halloween Event

This reimagining of the iconic 'Nosferatu' (1922) features the music of Radiohead’s 'Kid A' (2000) and 'Amnesiac' (2001) albums. This will be a Halloween to remember with one of the classics of silent cinema coupled with one of the best bands of recent times.

An unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, 'Nosferatu' (1922) is the quintessential silent vampire film, crafted by legendary German director F. W. Murnau. Rather than depicting Dracula as a shape-shifting monster or debonair gentleman, Murnau’s Graf Orlok (as portrayed by Max Schreck) is a nightmarish, spidery creature of bulbous head and taloned claws - perhaps the most genuinely disturbing incarnation of vampirism yet envisioned. Don’t miss out on the chance to experience this imaginative new take on an iconic horror classic! Silents Synced pairs classic silent movies with epic rock music to bring audiences a unique big screen experience. Look out for 'Sherlock Jr' featuring the music of REM in February 2026.

Tickets £12.50

The Untold Stories from Gaza

A collection of 22 short films made in Gaza. Initiated by Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi, the project was born to give a voice to 22 Gazan filmmakers to tell the untold stories of the current war on film.

This film is particularly important given the restrictions on news reporting in Gaza. Shortlisted for the 2025 Academy Awards, it is the latest example of a sub-genre that has boomed over the last decade – the ‘insider testimony’ feature in which people living in conflict zones record their own experience outside the formal restrictions of standard documentary and news coverage conventions. ‘No Other Land’ in this Palestinian strand is another example. Surprisingly what features markedly little here is a sense of rage, or a focus on a precise political context. For all of its bleakness, this is an extremely hopeful film. (Subtitles)

Palestine 2024 Various Directors 112m

1 85-year-old Man, 2 Original Body Parts, 5 Countries, 16 Cities, 23 shows, 6 weeks.

Will he make it home … or is this the end of the road?

One of the most recognisable figures in British comedy, John Cleese’s career spans six decades - from his early days with the Cambridge Footlights to co-founding Monty Python, co-creating Fawlty Towers, and writing and starring in the Oscar-nominated “A Fish Called Wanda”. His unique brand of black humour has made him a global icon and intergalactic treasure.

Thu 13 Nov 20:30