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

25th Anniversary Performance

The epic love story tells the tragic tale of young bar girl Kim, orphaned by war, who falls in love with American GI Chris – but their lives are torn apart by the fall of Saigon.

Sun 22 Sep 14:45

Moin Hussain’s arresting debut feature about an alienated night-shift worker turns the humble service station into a nightmarish modern limbo

Adam a shy and quiet protagonist working the night shift at Sky Peals Services, a motorway service station and lives a small and lonely life. Upon hearing that his estranged father has died, he finds himself in search of answers. When Adam learns that his late father believed that he was an alien, he becomes more sensitive to his own surroundings and starts to become more observant – reviewing footage of his father from before he died, experiencing blackouts, hearing noises. This isn’t your typical thriller. Adam isn’t looking for some sort of killer. The film is more interested in asking questions than giving answers. All these events are effectively conveyed with against a backdrop of imaginative production design with its use of wide, empty, dark spaces – likely an allusion to the main character’s state.

Part of Venice’s International Critics’ Week selection, ‘Sky Peals’ probes the existential questions of life in this haunting and impressive feature-length debut.

UK 2023 Moin Hussain 91m

Le Procès Goldman

Chronicles the trial of Pierre Goldman, a French left-wing revolutionary who was convicted of several robberies and later mysteriously murdered.

November 1975, and a second trial begins of French leftist radical Pierre Goldman (Arieh Worthalter), who was subject to police prejudice and antisemitism, and accused of several armed robberies and the death of two chemists. As the trial proceeds, it becomes fairly evident, at least to the viewer, that the man is innocent. The question is therefore whether the French state will return a ‘not guilty’ verdict. The trial caused a media frenzy, and was attended by philosopher Régis Debray and actress Simone Signoret, elevating Goldman to cause célèbre status in the wake of May 1968 with the government, especially the criminal justice system, pitted against the left. Alongside the recent ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ and ‘Saint Omer’, this continues a recent trend for quality French indie courtroom dramas. (Subtitles)

France 2023 Cédric Kahn 115m

Amu Darya: River to a Missing Sea

Through oral histories and tales of loss, adaptation and hope, this short film presents a memory of the Amu Darya – the Central Asian river that no longer reaches its destination. It tells how local communities are dealing with the river’s desiccation and how the USSR turned the world’s fourth largest lake – the Aral Sea – into its youngest desert. The human story of an environmental disaster.

With poem translated by Chichester poet Andrew Staniland after he visited the region and got to know the young filmmakers from the Amu Darya Project.

UK 2024 James Chapman, Annie Liddell & Oscar Fraser Turner 28m

Our Sea Forest

Narrated by Chris Packham, this moving documentary tells of the remarkable regeneration of the vast underwater kelp forest off our Sussex shores. Told through the eyes of 74-year-old Eric Smith, a free-diver of the forest since he was a child, it charts the destruction of this once-thriving ecosystem by trawling to its miraculous recovery in recent years. Teeming with sea life and hope. Filmed at Shoreham, Goring and Bognor Regis. Thanks to BBC1 and Big Wave Productions Ltd.

Introduced by Sarah Cunliffe, director of Sussex-based Big Wave Productions which made the documentary aired on the BBC.

UK 2023 Sarah Cunliffe 30m

We are proud to screen Orson Welles’s classic as a tribute to his co-star, Keith Baxter, who died a year ago today at the age of 90, who lived very close to Chichester for most of his life.

This irresistible cocktail of ingredients taken mainly from Shakespeare’s two Henry IV plays and Henry V brings into sharp focus the complex and ill-fated relationship between the young Prince Hal (Baxter) and his mentor in roistering, Sir John Falstaff.  Welles’s vision was realised first in a stage play, which flopped in Dublin in 1960 and failed to transfer to London; but five years later he had translated it triumphantly into a film which he intended as ‘a lament . . . for the death of Merrie England’.  Baxter played Hal in both productions.  In an engaging volume of memoirs, ‘My Sentiments Exactly’, he wrote vividly about working with a titan of the cinema and of ‘the sheer bravura of his genius’ – as evident in ‘Chimes at Midnight’ as it was in ‘Citizen Kane’.  The role changed Baxter’s life.  

Spain/Switzerland/US 1965 Orson Welles 115m + Intro

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

One Hand Clapping

Filmed and recorded over four days, the cinema release of ‘One Hand Clapping’ will include a brand-new introduction by Paul McCartney captured exclusively for this release and feature never-before-seen footage.

Thu 26 Sep 19:00

Sun 29 Sep 16:00

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

In a Mexican border town plagued by neglect, corruption, and violence, a frustrated teacher tries a radical new method to break through his students' apathy and unlock their curiosity, their potential... and maybe even their genius.

Fresh off 'Coda,' Eugenio Derbez plays another idealistic educator attempting to unlock overlooked students' potential, this time at a dysfunctional Mexican elementary school across the U.S. border in Matamoros, Mexico. Sixth grade students at Jose Urbina Lopez Elementary are among the worst performing students in Mexico, existing in a world full of violence and hardship, poverty and neglect rather than one filled with hope and possibility. ‘Radical’ is based on the true story of an inspirational middle school teacher using unconventional means to reach his pupils. The ensemble cast of child actors are exceptional and the director lets us see this world from both the teacher’s and students’ point of view. This is a resolute crowd-pleaser and tear-jerker but it is saved from schmaltzdom by virtue of its true origins in one of the most challenging schools in Mexico. (Subtitles)

Mexico 2023 Christopher Zalla 125m

Werckmeister Harmóniák

A naive young man witnesses an escalation of violence in his small hometown following the arrival of a mysterious circus attraction.

Based upon the 1989 novel ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ by László Krasznahorkai and shot in luminous black-and-white, ‘Werckmeister Harmonies’ portrays the life of János and his uncle György during the communist era in Hungary. It also recounts their journey among helpless citizens as a sinister visiting circus arrives, built around a huge stuffed smelly whale and its star performer, "The Prince” which casts a shadow over everyone's lives.  With the ethereal cinematography of Gabor Medvigy, and the soothing but discordant score by Mihaly Vig, the film explores themes of order and chaos, and it is difficult to view the film without visions of Eastern Europe under Soviet control. Werckmeister Harmonies opened to wide acclaim from critics when it was first released, and it has come to be regarded by many as one of the best films of the 21st century. (Subtitles)

Hungary 2000 Bela Tarr, Agnew Hranitzy 145m

Disappearing World

Environmentalism on the Big Screen

To accompany our season of films ‘A Greener Screen’, this talk will explore the ways in which environmental issues have been portrayed in cinema.

Sat 28 Sep 10:30

To complement our ‘Sexual Revolution of the 60s on Screen’ talk, we present this British classic, where beautiful but amoral model Diana Scott sleeps her way to the top of the London fashion scene at the height of the Swinging Sixties.

Gorgeous but easily bored Diana Scott (Julie Christie) becomes a popular model and actress in London in the 1960s while toying with the affections of two older men, married television newsman Robert Gold (Dirk Bogarde) and public relations mastermind Miles Brand (Laurence Harvey). Although Diana is the toast of swinging London, the dark side of fame and fortune begins to take its toll, but it proves harder to escape the mod scene than she expects. Schlesinger created a film that set tongues to wagging and moralists to wringing their hands. Christie's Oscar-winning performance is remarkably vibrant and outgoing, and hasn't aged a bit.

UK 1965 John Schlesinger 128m