This tense, touching and funny portrait of family dynamics follows three estranged sisters as they converge in a New York apartment to care for their ailing father.

Katie (Carrie Coon) is a controlling Brooklyn mother dealing with a wayward teenage daughter; free-spirited Christina (Elizabeth Olsen) is separated from her offspring for the first time; and Rachel (Natasha Lyonne) is a sports-betting stoner who has never left her father's apartment. We follow the siblings over the course of three volatile days, as death looms, grievances erupt and love seeps through the cracks of a fractured home.

USA 2023 Azazel Jacobs 101m

Gou Zhen

As part of a dog patrol tasked with clearing stray dogs before the 2008 Olympics, a newly released convict bonds with a black stray and the two lonely souls embark on a new journey together.

A warm-hearted crowd pleaser about an ex-convict - Land (Eddie Peng) - and the canine he befriends, this the latest picture from prolific Chinese director Guan Hu, which elevates the man and dog genre in this moving film in which a lost soul is redeemed by his bond with a trusty mutt. This is a beautiful film that, with few words, reveals a personal drama while reflecting a complex social situation that affects many communities in China. The film makes the most of its blighted Gobi desert backdrop. Cinematographer Gai Weizhe shoots in widescreen, the better to capture the intimidatingly bleak lunar expanses of rock and sand. One of two very good Chinese films in this season’s programme (see also ‘Only the River Flows’). (Subtitles)

China 2024 Hu Guan 110m

Saoirse Ronan astounds as a young woman searching for grace in the face of addiction.

After living life on the edge in London, Rona (Ronan) attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. She returns to the wild beauty of Scotland's Orkney Islands (where she grew up but left more than a decade ago) hoping to heal. As she reconnects with the dramatic landscape where she grew up, memories of her childhood merge with the more recent challenging events that have set her on the path to recovery. This is that rare, effective addiction film with a potent, if simple, message: if you persevere with curiosity and awe of the world, you will open the door to loving yourself as a part of it all. Adapted from Amy Liptrot's bestselling memoir.

UK 2023 Nora Fingscheidt 118m

An architect wants to rebuild New York City as a utopia following a devastating disaster. This was the most polarizing film at this years’ Cannes Film Festival.

Francis Ford Coppola turns the fall of ancient Rome into a fable about the perils of American capitalistic greed. Caesar (Adam Driver) is a celebrity architect with aspirations to build a utopia in the ruins of New York City, here called New Rome. This is the battleground between Cesar, Mayor Frankyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) and Hamilton Crassus (Jon Voight), head of the national bank. The supporting cast also includes Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Shia LaBeouf and Dustin Hoffman. Premiered at Cannes 2024 to a mixed reception, and as is most often the case, the most interesting films are those that once seen, leave you not knowing if you have seen a stinker, or the best film ever made.

USA 2024 Francis Ford Coppola 138m

<strong>‘This film contains flickering or flashing lights that may affect those with photosensitive epilepsy’.</strong>

This is the first full length feature documentary about Eric Ravilious, told in his own words through previously unseen private correspondence, made with the blessing of the Ravilious estate.

Sun 8 Sep 15:30

Thu 12 Sep 12:45

ROH

Tumble down the rabbit hole in this ballet adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s famous family story. Journey through Wonderland with Alice and encounter a host of curious characters in Christopher Wheeldon’s unique theatrical interpretation.  

Sat 19 Oct 14:00

Mavka: Lisova Pisnya

A beautiful Ukrainian animation based on a well-known story from Slavic mythology that celebrates the power of love, and the harmony between humankind and the natural world. Screened originally at the 2023 Chichester Film Festival, and brought back this season in support of the local Ukrainian community.

After a long-forgotten war between humans and the spirits of the forest that sees the mountains declared forbidden to humans, Lucas is tasked by the evil Kylina to find the tree of healing that caused the war. Young and naive forest nymph Mavka takes a shine to village artist Lucas, to the strong disapproval of the rest of the forest spirits and humans alike. There are strong ecological themes here, as well as some good old-fashioned fairytale morals about vanity and selfishness. This visually stunning film includes some beautiful Ukrainian folk music with striking close harmonies. (Subtitles)

Ukraine 2023 Oleh Malamuzh & Oleksandra Ruban 99m

Met Opera

Two-time Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s powerful new opera ‘Grounded’, commissioned by the Met and based on librettist George Brant’s acclaimed play, wrestles with the ethical quandaries and psychological toll of 21st-century warfare.

Sun 20 Oct 15:00

To complement our ‘Catching Fire’ special Q&A event and Rolling Stones talk, we present this career-spanning documentary on the band, with concert footage from their ‘A Bigger Bang’ tour.

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese documents the Stones' energetic performance at New York's Beacon Theatre. The concert, filmed in 2006, features Stones standards and favourites, plus guest appearances by Buddy Guy, Christina Aguilera and Jack White III. Scorsese takes note of the band's long career with music clips and interviews from previous decades. This is a masterful concert film, one that will appeal to movie lovers and hardcore Stones admirers alike.

USA 2008 Martin Scorsese 122m

NT Live

Jodie Comer's West End debut. 'Prima Facie' takes us to the heart of where emotion and experience collide with the rules of the game.

Thu 12 Sep 19:45

Sat 21 Sep 15:15

In this sharp, visceral and blackly humorous read on showbiz culture and society, a young actor in a cycle of nightmarish auditions takes it upon himself to find a new part to play.

Aden (Nabhaan Rizwan) is a young man who spends most of his time recording self-tapes for parts he never gets. After he receives multiple rejections for a series of terrible commercial auditions, he takes it upon himself to find a new part to play. This is a distressing metaphor for acting as a career, the ways in which we see other people, how we exploit what we see, and the harm that can cause. A seriously talented performer, Rizwan shines in a role that demands every shade in the spectrum from goofy comedy to dark contemplation. The varying characters he plays in auditions are vividly focussed and the layers of emotion Aden feels throughout each moment are easy to identify with.

UK 2023 Naqqash Khalid 95m

Isabella Tree and her husband, Charlie Burrell, strive to breathe new life into the ailing Knepp estate near Pulborough. A dying landscape is healed against all odds, and goes on to thrive in astonishing ways.

Imagine you’ve inherited a castle in West Sussex plus five square miles of farmland. You continue the family tradition of mixed arable and dairy farming, but the soil is so depleted that yields decrease, year on year. In 2000, faced with these dire circumstances, Isabella and Charlie took the risky decision. They abandoned farming, tore down the fences, introduced herds of Exmoor ponies, longhorn cattle and deer and some cute Tamworth pigs… and waited. 20 years later, largely by helping nature restore itself, Knepp has become a wildlife haven – and a beacon of hope for nature lovers. In this glorious documentary that engenders hope, you will be treated to beautiful Attenborough-style photography of the countryside reasserting itself and of the animals that returned to it. This is unmissable cinema (a huge hit across the country this Summer), and a source of pride for this area of the UK.

UK 2024 David Allen 75m

Le Comte de Monte-Cristo

This new adaptation of the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas was the summer box office smash in France.

Set against the tumultuous post-Napoleonic era, the story follows Edmond Dantès (Pierre Niney), who is wrongly imprisoned and then escapes, crafting intricate revenge schemes against those who wronged him. This is a stunning and emotionally gratifying adventure film, built on rock-solid source material of course – with its timeless revenge theme still entertaining modern-day viewers. Compared to earlier adaptations, this latest version is briskly paced and rousingly acted by an all-around stellar ensemble. Everything about this robust and very enjoyable retelling of the classic is epic in scale: from the lavish sets and the orchestral score to the bold performances and the running time. We will include a short intermission.

France 2024 Alexandre de La Patellière & Matthieu Delaporte 178m

A brilliant young man puts his bright future at risk to help his father.

This new drama, written and directed by, and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor (‘Twelve Years A Slave’), follows the true story of a brilliant young black man from New Jersey (a magnificent performance from Jay Will) raised by his devoted yet struggling mother (Mary J. Blige) following his father’s murder conviction. Having won a scholarship to Yale against all the odds, he puts everything at risk to free his imprisoned father (Ejiofor). Also starring Camila Cabello and based on the New York Times bestseller ‘The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace’ by Jeff Hobb. This is the second directing role for Ejiofor following his debut ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ in 2019.

UK 2024 Chiwetel Ejiofor 119m

Failed comedian Arthur Fleck meets the love of his life, Harley Quinn, while in Arkham State Hospital. Upon release, the pair embark on a doomed romantic misadventure.

USA 2024 Todd Phillips 138m

After undergoing a facial reconstructive surgery, a man becomes fixated on an actor in a stage production based on his former life.

Aspiring actor Edward (Sebastian Stan) undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost. This is as much a tale of outward appearance as it is inner anxieties, a balance director Schimberg strikes in careful ways as he crafts a stunning comedy-drama about seeing oneself. Think Aki Kaurismäki collaborating with David Cronenberg and that may get you close to having an idea to the originality of this film.

USA 2024 Aaron Schimberg 112m

Between Dream and Wakefulness

An Introduction to the Cinema of the Surreal

Following the screenings of the film ‘Lee’ (see above), with Kate Winslet as the photographer Lee Miller, this talk will take a look at Surrealist cinema, including Miller’s only film as an actor, Jean Cocteau’s ’The Blood of a Poet’.

Sat 26 Oct 10:30

ROH

Do not miss the return of this enchantingly staged family folk opera, following the triumphant, Olivier Award-winning run in 2021.

Sat 26 Oct 14:15

An American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that his grandfather was not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.

Respected medical lecturer Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) learns that he has inherited his infamous grandfather's estate in Transylvania. Arriving at the castle, Dr. Frankenstein soon begins to recreate his grandfather's experiments with the help of servants Igor (Marty Feldman), Inga (Teri Garr) and the fearsome Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman). After he creates his own monster (Peter Boyle), new complications ensue with the arrival of the doctor's fiancée, Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn).

USA 1974 Mel Brooks 106m

We take you on an incredible journey through the creation of one of the world’s most iconic recording studios. Directed by John McDermott and produced by Janie Hendrix, George Scott, and McDermott, this film is a treasure trove for music lovers and Hendrix fans alike.

Sun 27 Oct 17:30

In a legendary feat of leadership and perseverance, polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton kept alive his crew of 27 men for over a year despite the loss of their ship in frigid pack ice. Over a century later, a team of modern-day explorers sets out to find the sunken ship.

Using unprecedented AI tools, the actual voices of Shackleton and his crew "read" their personal diaries from the 1914 expedition and, illustrated with Frank Hurley's original expedition footage and photos, create a shiver-inducing venture into the past using immersive techniques. Expedition Leader Dr. John Shears, Subsea Manager Nico Vincent, Director of Exploration Mensun Bound and historian and broadcaster Dan Snow led a team of experts from around the globe in search of this perfect time capsule.

USA/UK 2024 J. Chin, N. Hewit & E. Chai Vasarhelyi 103m

Shipwrecked on a remote island, a young boy must adapt to life alone. But is he alone? A gripping animated adaptation of Michael Morpugo’s beloved novel with an A-list voice cast.

When Michael (Aaron MacGregor) is washed up on an island in the Pacific after falling from his parents' (Cillian Murphy and Sally Hawkins) yacht, he struggles to survive on his own. He can't find food or water, and as Michael and his dog curl up to sleep, he knows they cannot last long. But he soon realizes there is someone close by, someone who is watching over him and helping him to stay alive. Following a close-run battle between life and death, the mysterious stranger – Kensuke (Ken Watanabe) - allows Michael into his world and they become friends, teaching and learning from each other until the day of separation becomes inevitable. This is a traditional hand-drawn animation which adds to the film’s charm, and the message that we should all work together despite our cultural differences is more relevant today than ever.

UK 2023 Neil Boyle & Kirk Hendry 85m

English National Ballet

Spectacular! This is the first time the stage production of ‘Swan Lake’ in-the-round will be shown in cinemas. It brought magic and glorious dancing to a packed Royal Albert Hall.

Wed 30 Oct 19:45

Sat 2 Nov time TBC

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

The story of how a young Donald Trump started his real-estate business in 1970s and '80s New York with the helping hand of infamous lawyer Roy Cohn.

Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan), eager to make his name as a hungry second son of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé -- someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win. Both actors, especially Jeremy Strong, are gripping in a coming-of-age story that portrays the younger Trump somewhat sympathetically, though he loses his soul as he learns to imitate Cohn’s tactics. Can be compared to the Frankenstein tale in which the mad doctor creates a monster and then loses control of it.

USA 2024 Ali Abbasi 120m

This latest from Pedro Almodóvar was awarded the 2024 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion for best film. It tells the story of two friends who get back in touch after many years apart.

Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation. This is Almodóvar’s first feature-length film in English, and contains sharp dialogue, great performances from Moore and Swinton and incredible style that makes it very watchable. Even though this film contemplates death, perhaps even embraces it, in doing so, Almodóvar effectively underscores the need to embrace life and joy.

Spain/USA 2024 Pedro Almodóvar 107m

Mon Crime

François Ozon’s latest film is a joyous comedy set in 1935 Paris, which sees a young actress acquitted of murdering a famous French producer. However, this is where the story just begins. Opened the 2024 Chichester International Film Festival.

Madeleine (Nadia Tereszkiewicz), a pretty, young, penniless and talentless actress, is accused of murdering a famous producer (Jean-Christophe Bouvet). Helped by her best friend Pauline (Rebecca Marder), a young unemployed lawyer, she is acquitted on the grounds of self-defence. A new life of fame and success begins, until the truth comes out. French A-listers Isabelle Huppert (a silent movie queen), Fabrice Luchini (the pedantic magistrate) and Danny Boon (a suave bon vivante) complete the cast. This is a funny, beautifully charismatic film, full of brilliant characters, gorgeous costumes and captivating production design. It is a delicious bit of feel-good French farce from master director François Ozon. (Subtitles)

France 2023 François Ozon 102m

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

Albert Hall

The 25th anniversary of the first public performance of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ was celebrated with a fully-staged, lavish production, set in the sumptuous Victorian splendour of the Royal Albert Hall.

Sun 3 Nov 12:30

In our first Film Club screening (18-25-year-olds) ………

In this chilling adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel, withdrawn and sensitive teen Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) faces taunting from classmates at school and abuse from her fanatically pious mother (Piper Laurie) at home. When strange occurrences start happening around Carrie, she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers. Invited to the prom by the empathetic Tommy Ross (William Katt), Carrie tries to let her guard down, but things eventually take a dark and violent turn. ‘Carrie’ is a horrifying look at supernatural powers, high school cruelty, and teen angst - and it brings us one of the most memorable and disturbing prom scenes in history. Director De Palma went on to direct ‘Scarface,’ ‘The Untouchables’ and even the iconic Bruce Springsteen ‘Dancing in the Dark’ video.

USA 1978 Brian De Palma 98m

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.

This film is a chance to reexamine and better understand this iconic artist. Focusing on his unique creative process, we explore the artist’s years in the south of France where he revolutionised his style. Van Gogh became consumed with a passion for storytelling in his art, turning the world around him into vibrant, idealised spaces and symbolic characters. Poets and lovers filled his imagination; everything he did in the south of France served this new obsession. In part, this is what caused his notorious breakdown, but it didn’t hold back his creativity as he created masterpiece after masterpiece. Made in close collaboration with the National Gallery.

UK 2024 David Bickerstaff 90m

En Fanfare

This French spin on Mark Herman’s ‘Brassed Off’ (the British comedy-drama about colliery bands) has a beating emotional pulse of its own.

Thibaut (Benjamin Lavernhe) is an internationally renowned conductor of the Lille Symphony Orchestra who travels the world. He discovers he was adopted - then also finds out he has a younger brother, Jimmy (Pierre Lottin), who works in a school cafeteria and plays the trombone in a school marching band. While they seem to be worlds apart, their unwavering love of music unites them in difficult circumstances. The third feature film by screenwriter, actor and director Emmanuel Courcol emerges as an immensely touching and melodious work, bringing relationships and music to the fore. (Subtitles)

France 2024 Emmanuel Courcol 103m

Documentary filmmaker extraordinaire Mark Cousins examines the life and work of Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham in his latest cine-essay.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham was a painter, a visionary, an artist. She was a unique thinker. One day in May 1949, Barns-Graham, then 36 years old and an emerging figure in the modernist St. Ives group of artists, climbed the Grindelwald glacier in Switzerland. She experienced an aesthetic and spiritual epiphany which rewired her brain and transformed her art. She spent the rest of her life painting it. Through a cinematic immersion into her art and life, the film explores themes of gender, neurodiversity, climate change, and the nature of creativity from youth to old age.

UK 2024 Mark Cousins 88m

From renegade auteur Jacques Audiard (‘A Prophet,’ ‘The sisters Brothers’) comes this audacious fever dream that defies genres and expectations.

In Mexico, a lawyer receives an unexpected offer to help a feared cartel boss retire from his business and disappear forever by becoming the woman he's always dreamed of being. Through liberating song and dance and bold visuals, this odyssey follows the journey of four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. The fearsome cartel leader Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) enlists Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self. ‘Emilia Peréz; is art, theatre, narco-thriller and social commentary, all wrapped up into one. It's an award-worthy masterpiece and easily one of the best films of the year. Paul Guilhaume’s cinematography is masterful. (Subtitles)

France 2024 Jacques Audiard 130m

Amidst World War I's chaos, a grieving father turns hero, leading villagers to safety while evading a relentless enemy driven by vengeance.

In a Belgian village during the tumultuous start of World War I, the Lambert family finds themselves thrust into the heart of the conflict. At the centre is Leonard (Iain Glen), a devoted husband and father who grapples with protecting his family amidst the chaos of war as German forces advance to their village. Amidst the war, a tender love story blossoms between Adrien Lambert (James Downie), Leonard's son, and Louise Janssen (Sasha Luss), a local villager. Their relationship serves as a beacon of hope and resilience in the face of adversity. With its compelling portrayal of familial bonds, love amidst chaos, and the indomitable human spirit, ‘The Last front’ will immerse audiences in a gripping tale of survival, love, and the enduring impact of war on both individuals and communities. Mesmerising, suspenseful and thrilling, this is a fine drama that shines a spotlight on a part of Europe that really hasn’t been covered very much in war movies.

Belgium 2024 Julien Hayet-Kerknawi 98m

Sad, Mad or Unsettlingly Independent

For the weekend of Remembrance Day, this talk, illustrated by a range of clips, will look back at the range of representations of widowhood in films from different periods and cultures.

Sat 9 Nov – In the Auditorium

This is a new 4K restoration by the BFI of the classic, distinctly beautiful British animated feature film presents the characters and colours sparkling as never before.

Hoping to escape destruction by human developers and save their community, a colony of rabbits, led by Hazel and Fiver, seek out a safe place to set up a new warren. Although hard-hitting in its depiction of survival and conflict, the film is a work of great beauty with an extraordinary voice cast who elevate the work to the highest level. Some of Britain’s best-known actors including John Hurt, Richard Briers, Ralph Richardson, Denholm Elliott, Roy Kinnear and Hannah Gordon, brought the rabbits to life and made them eternally memorable. A unique opportunity to see this classic on the big screen.

UK 1978 Martin Rosen & John Hubley 91m

Toni en Famille

Toni is raising her five children alone. She also sings at bars and had a hit single 20 years ago. Today, as her two eldest prepare to go to college, Toni wonders: what will she do when all of her offspring have left home?

Antonia (Camille Cottin), affectionately known as Toni, is a single mother who tirelessly cares for her five children while juggling a demanding full-time job. Her evenings are filled with song as she performs in local bars to support her family. Toni possesses a remarkable talent, evident from a chart-topping single she recorded two decades ago. As her two eldest children prepare for university, Toni faces a poignant question: What lies ahead when her nest is empty? At 43, can she still grasp the opportunity to regain control of her life? Director Nathan Ambrosioni (‘Paper Flags’) crafts both a poignant portrait of a woman and a moving family tableau, displaying remarkable accuracy and delicacy. The film premiered at the 16th edition of Film Francophone d’Angoulême. Cast also includes Thomas Gioria, Léa Lopez and Louise Labèque. (Subtitles)

France 2023 Nathan Ambrosioni 96m

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of one of the best and most ambitious films of the 21st Century, we present this 4K remaster that sees a team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival.

In Earth's future, a global crop blight and second Dust Bowl are slowly rendering the planet uninhabitable. NASA physicist Professor Brand (Michael Caine) is working on plans to save mankind by transporting Earth's population to a new home via a wormhole. But first, Brand must send former NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and a team of researchers through the wormhole and across the galaxy to find out which of three planets could be mankind's new home. Staggeringly beautiful, bafflingly complex, this is proper event cinema.

USA 2004 Christopher Nolan 169m

Je Verrai Toujours Vos Visages

Victims of violent crime and perpetrators meet up in a restorative justice group in order to have a dialogue and heal from their trauma.

Since 2014, France’s Restorative Justice programme offers a safe space for dialogue between offenders and victims – supported by professionals and volunteers. Among the participants are Chloé (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a victim of sexual assault; Grégoire (Gilles Lellouche), Nawelle (Leïla Bekhti) and Sabine (Miou-Miou), victims of burglary and snatching; while Nassim (Dali Benssalah), Issa (Birane Ba) and Thomas (Fred Testot) are offenders, convicted of violent robberies. In this emotional and difficult journey, they must overcome resentment to find solace and forgiveness, and perhaps, at the end of the road, some of them might even find healing. Adèle Exarchopoulos, won Best Supporting Actress César Award. ‘Herry is brilliant at taking hold of social issues and turning them into works of fiction… an ideal blend of intelligence and emotion.’ CineEurope. (Subtitles)

France 2023 Jeanne Herry 118m

Simply delightful in every sense of the word - a widowed cleaning lady in 1950s London falls madly in love with a couture Dior dress, and decides that she must have one of her own.

Leslie Man Mrs Harris is a warm, hard-working cleaning lady in 1950s London, doggedly going from house to house, quietly tidying up after lives far more exciting and glamorous than hers. But when she sees a Dior dress in one of her regular client’s bedrooms, she falls in love and sets her mind on travelling to Paris to get one herself. This 60-year-old story of pursuing a dream with resolute kindness could not feel more fresh in its knowing class clash. Lesley Manville is an absolute treasure, her command of comedic pathos supreme.

2022 Hungary / UK Anthony Fabian 115m

La Nuit Américaine

Filmed at Nice’s fabled Victorine Studios, François Truffaut explores the joys and strife of moviemaking in one of his most beloved films. This is a congenial tribute to the self-afflicted madness that is making a movie.

Truffaut himself appears as the harried director of a frivolous melodrama, the shooting of which is plagued by the whims of a neurotic actor (Jean-Pierre Léaud), an ageing but still forceful Italian diva (Valentina Cortese) and a British ingenue haunted by personal scandal (Jacqueline Bisset). An 18 of 20 irreverent paean to the prosaic craft of cinema as well as a delightful human comedy about the pitfalls of sex and romance, ‘Day for Night’ is buoyed by robust performances and a sparkling score by the legendary Georges Delerue. (Subtitles)

France 1973 François Truffaut 116m

A story of ambition, blackmail and desire with a dazzling anti-hero at its dark heart, all brought together by a delicious performance by Ian McKellen as a catty theatre critic in 1930s London.

Jimmy Erskine (McKellen) is the most feared and famous theatre critic in 1930s London, saving his most savage takedowns for Nina Land (Gemma Arterton), an already unsure leading lady. He takes pleasure in ritually tearing her down, a practice that has further eroded her fragile sense of confidence. As a gay man forever at the mercy of laws that prohibit his very existence, Jimmy is living life on the edge, indulging in park sex with strangers while showboating his flamboyance in writing. But when his newspaper’s proprietor dies and his son (Mark Strong) takes over, Jimmy may need to turn to Nina for help. As the three become entangled in a whodunnit wrapped in a Faustian pact, their strange triangle winds tighter and tighter to devastating effect for all those caught in the deadly web of blackmail and betrayal. McKellen makes Jimmy simultaneously despicable, understandable and wholly entertaining, whilst Arterton is also a stand-out, as she skilfully navigates how a stage actress tries to overcome personal demons and self-doubt. Supporting cast also includes Romola Garai, Claire Skinner and the always impressive Lesley Manville. This is a whodunnit wrapped in a Faustian pact which winds tighter and tighter.

UK/USA 2023 Anand Tucker 95m

Clint Eastwood is back in the director’s seat, telling us about a family man who while serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma.

Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) is driving late at night and has potentially hit a deer that was in the road. A year later he is called for jury duty about a murder case that he realizes may have a connection to his “deer” run-in. He finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma…one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict - or free - the accused killer.  The cast also includes Toni Collette, Oscar winner J.K. Simmons (‘Whiplash’), and Kiefer Sutherland. Collette and Hoult reunite on the big screen 22 years after playing mother and son in ‘About a Boy’. This is rumoured to be Eastwood’s final film.

USA 2024 Clint Eastwood 157m

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

We kick off our five-film Art of Action season with Buster Keaton’s classic, ‘The General’.

Keaton plays Johnny Gray, a Southern railroad engineer who loves his train engine (the General) almost as much as he loves Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack). After the opening shots of the Civil War are fired at Fort Sumter, Northern spies steal the General (and, unwittingly, Annabelle), switching the story from drama and romance, to adventure mixed with Keaton's trademark deadpan humour as he uses every means possible to catch up to the General, thwart the Yankees and rescue his darling Annabelle. As always, Keaton performs his own stunts, combining his prodigious dexterity, impeccable comic timing, and expressive body language to convey more emotion than the stars of any of the talkies that were soon to dominate cinema.

USA 1927 Buster Keaton 79m

★★★★★ 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

Presented as a companion to the Pallant Gallery exhibition ‘Dora Carrington Beyond Bloomsbury’ and the Chichester Evening Arts Society Talk ‘Dora Carrington: The Tragic Muse of Bloomsbury’.

Painter Dora Carrington (Emma Thompson) develops an intimate but extremely complex bond with writer Lytton Strachey (Jonathan Pryce). Though Lytton is a homosexual, he is enchanted by the mysterious Dora and they begin a lifelong friendship that has strangely romantic undertones. Eventually, Lytton and Dora decide to live together, despite the fact that the latter has fallen in love with military man Ralph Partridge (Steven Waddington), whom she plans to marry. Benefits from a gorgeous Michael Nyman (‘The Piano’) score.

UK 1995 Christopher Hampton 121m

De Nos Frères Blessés

With his second feature, writer-director Hélier Cisterne recreates the tragic true story of a young communist worker devoted to the struggle for Algerian independence.

Fernand Iveton (Vincent Lacoste) became the only Algerian of European background to be executed as a political prisoner by the French authorities during Algeria’s War of Independence. He left behind a loving wife and adoptive son. Moving smoothly between Paris and Algiers, Cisterne plunges us into the heart of a conflict that continues to resonate in contemporary France, North Africa and beyond, providing a chilling reminder of colonial tyranny, as well as a hopeful example of a man who chose humanity over politics and profit. Cast also includes Vicky Krieps and Jules Langlade. The film benefits from a very passionate script along with two main actors who exude conviction. (Subtitles)

France 2022 Hélier Cisterne 95m