Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, is named regent while the tyrant battles abroad. When the king returns, increasingly ill and paranoid, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.

One woman managed to live through and survive the tumultuous sovereignty of King Henry VIII: that woman was Catherine Parr (Alicia Vikander). Director Karim Aïnouz brings her story to life with conviction and style in this historical period drama based on the 2013 novel ‘Queen’s Gambit’ by Elizabeth Fremantle. Parr possessed a certain strength and dedication. She spent time perfecting her craft of writing and spreading her modern religious views while ruling as regent queen when her husband went off to handle military affairs. However, Catherine’s passion for tolerance leads her down a dangerous path when she begins to make frequent visits to Anne Askew (Erin Doherty), a protestant radical who calls for the end of Henry VIII’s rule. Such an act would be treason, and should she get caught, Henry would have no difficulty resorting to old measures. This is a survival tale as good as any, when her back was pushed against the wall, Parr had to pursue desperate measures. The two leads provide stellar memorable performances with Oscar-winner Vikander being quietly compelling in every scene, while Law revels in playing the decaying king.

UK/USA 2024 Karim Aïnouz 121m

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

Lily Bloom moves to Boston to chase her lifelong dream of opening her own business. A chance meeting with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid soon sparks an intense connection, but as the two fall deeply in love, she begins to see sides of Ryle that remind her of her parents' relationship.

‘It Ends with Us’, is adapted from the worldwide bestselling novel by Colleen Hoover. Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life in Boston and a chance to chase a lifelong dream of opening her own business. Cracks then begin to appear in her new intensely exciting relationship with neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) reminding her of her parents’ relationship. When Lily’s first love, Atlas Corrigan, re-enters her life, her relationship with Ryle is upended, and Lily realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.

USA 2024 Director Justin Baldoni 130m

Le Chêne

We discover the untold stories of the forest within the heart of an ancient oak tree following the many creatures inhabiting it in this spectacular wildlife documentary adventure.

From one ancient oak, a world of magic unfolds. ‘Heart of an Oak’ is a poetic, wordless documentary film that explores the inner life of a 210-year-old, 17-metre high oak tree in Sologne in north-central France.  As we explore the eco-system of this complex forest, we encounter wildlife families co-existing within their own society, experiencing problems with the neighbours, education, solidarity, self-protection and survival. This beautifully filmed nature documentary follows the tree and its inhabitants of insects, birds, mice and a red squirrel during a full calendar year. A feast for the senses, it premiered at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 48th César Awards.

France 2022 Directors Laurent Charbonnier & Michel Seydoux 80m

ROH

It’s Figaro’s wedding, and you’re invited to join the Almaviva household for an uproarious day of revelation and scandal.

Tue 10 Sep 18:30

Sun 15 Sep 13:00

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

A fanciful, occasionally moving take on dying, grieving and highly symbolic parrots. 

A young girl named Tuesday, (Lola Petticrew), is reaching the end of her life after what seems to have been a long illness. Death comes to her in the shape of a giant shape-shifting, pot-smoking, colourful macaw whose hearing is perpetually attuned to the sound of pain and suffering, and who spreads his wings to mark the last breath of the dying. Tuesday’s mother Zora (Julia Louis Dreyfuss) takes on Death herself, going to extreme measures to keep her daughter alive. ‘Tuesday’ is a challenging watch at times, and it requires an acceptance of the strange world it inhabits, but it’s a deeply worthwhile experience made all the more poignant by the highly versatile and watchable Julia Louis-Dreyfuss.

UK/USA 2023 Daina O. Pusic 111m

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

Night Courier

In the heart of Riyadh, where desperation and opportunity collide, this is the gripping tale of a mentally fragile man racing against time to save his ailing father.

‘Mandoob’ is a darkly comedic, gripping tale about the lives of Saudi Arabia’s gig workers, who toil in the shadows to make the fantastical lives of elites possible. Fahad’s (Mohammed Aldokhei) aspiring entrepreneur sister Sarah (Hajar Alshammari) and their ailing father Nasser (Mohammed Alttowayan) know that Fahad means well and genuinely wants what’s best for the family. But he is a restless call centre worker whose habitual lateness and apathy regarding irrational customers gets him fired. He becomes a delivery driver for an Uber-like service known as Mandoob (which loosely translates to “courier” in Arabic). This powerful and surprising film cleverly shows the realities of how hard it is to thrive as a gig worker in a system that’s designed to keep them nameless, faceless, perpetually busy and underpaid.

Saudi Arabia 2023 Ali Kalthami 110m

Wim Wenders’ iconic vision of American alienation, starring Stanton as a weatherbeaten drifter, has held its mystery for 40 years.

Paris, Texas follows the mysterious, nearly mute drifter Travis (a magnificent Harry Dean Stanton, whose face is a landscape all its own) as he tries to reconnect with his young son, living with his brother (Dean Stockwell) in Los Angeles, and his missing wife (Nastassja Kinski). From this simple setup, Wenders and writer Shepard produce a powerful statement on codes of masculinity and the myth of the American family, as well as an exquisite visual exploration of a vast, crumbling world of canyons and neon. Paris, Texas is a landmark work in every sense: understated, powerful, sublime – worth seeing for Stanton’s performance alone.

West Germany / France / UK 1982 Wim Wenders 145m

A Wilderness of Mirrors

The Novels of John Le Carré on Screen

As a stage version of his most famous novel ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’ comes to Chichester Festival Theatre, this talk will cover 60 years of film and TV adaptations of the novels by the former MI5 and MI6 agent.

Sat 14 Sep 10:30

This gently absorbing documentary follows Amber, a happiness agent, as he travels the Bhutanese Himalayas surveying people's wellbeing for the government’s Happiness Survey.

How can you measure happiness? The country of Bhutan invented Gross National Happiness to do just that; the concept was first introduced by the 4th King of Bhutan, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in the late 1970s as a wellbeing measurement, when he stated that Gross National Happiness was more important than Gross Domestic Product. Amber travels door- to-door to meet people and measure how happy they are. At the age of 40, he is a a hopeless romantic who still dreams of finding love: a happiness agent in search of his own happiness. This slow burning documentary is suffused with warmth and combines breathtaking scenery with gentle humour whilst not avoiding the darker themes which also emerge, such as alcoholism and loneliness. As we accompany Amber on his cross-country road trip, meeting citizens from all walks of life, we are reminded of the fragility and beauty of our own happiness.  (Subtitles)

Bhutan/Hungary 2024 Director Arun Bhattarai & Dorottya Zurbó 94m

Instead of coming in from the Cold War, British agent Alec Leamas chooses to face another mission. Screening in conjunction with our ‘John le Carré on Screen’ Talk and complementing the Chichester Festival Theatre production.

At the height of the Cold War, British spy Alec Leamas (Richard Burton) is nearly ready to retire, but first he has to take on one last dangerous assignment. Going deep undercover, he poses as a drunken, disgraced former MI5 agent in East Germany in order to gain information about colleagues who have been captured. When he himself is thrown in jail and interrogated, Leamas finds himself caught in a sinister labyrinth of plots and counter-plots unlike anything in his long career. This is the definitive anti-Bond spy movie and the best big-screen adaptation of John le Carré.

UK 1965 Martin Ritt 112m