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

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

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

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

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