The history of the Merchant Ivory partnership, featuring interviews with James Ivory and close collaborators detailing and celebrating their experiences of being a part of the company.

This is the first definitive feature documentary to lend new and compelling perspectives on the partnership, both professional and personal, of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant and their primary associates, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and composer Richard Robbins. Footage from more than fifty interviews, clips, and archival material gives voice to the family of actors and technicians who helped define Merchant Ivory’s Academy Award-winning work of consummate quality and intelligence. With six Oscar winners among the notable artists participating, these close and often long-term collaborators intimately detail the transformational cinematic creativity and personal and professional drama of the wandering company that left an indelible impact on film culture.

USA 2024 Stephen Soucy 112m

Plus optional Indian Taster Menu!

The light, the lives and the textures of contemporary, working-class Mumbai are explored and celebrated by writer/director Payal Kapadia, who won the Grand Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival for her revelatory fiction feature debut.

Centring on two roommates who also work together in a city hospital - head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and recent hire Anu (Divya Prabha) - plus their coworker, cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), Kapadia's film alights on moments of connection and heartache, hope and disappointment. Prabha, her husband from an arranged marriage living in faraway Germany, is courted by a doctor at her hospital; Anu carries on a romance with a Muslim man, which she must keep a secret from her strict Hindu family; Parvaty finds herself dealing with a sudden eviction from her apartment. Kapadia captures the bustle of the metropolis and the open-air tranquillity of a seaside village with equal radiance, articulated by her superb actresses and by the camera with a lyrical naturalism that occasionally drifts into dreamlike incandescence. (Subtitles)

India 2024 Payal Kapadia 118m

On sale from 1 Nov:

After two decades as one of the most beloved and enduring musicals on the stage, ‘Wicked’ makes its long-awaited journey to the big screen as a spectacular, generation-defining two-part cinematic event this holiday season.

The untold story of the witches of Oz, stars powerhouse Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, who has yet to discover her true power, and Grammy-winning recording artist Ariana Grande as Glinda, a popular young woman, gilded by privilege and ambition, who has yet to discover her true heart. The two meet as students and forge an unlikely but profound friendship. Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths, ultimately seeing them fulfil their destinies as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.

USA 2024 John M. Chu

Set against the gritty urban scenescape of Berlin and a pounding techno soundtrack, this is a frenetic, inventive existential thriller that explores the life-altering impact of seemingly inconsequential actions.

Beautiful, hip and young, poor Lola has but 20 minutes to locate a missing bag containing 100,000 Deutsche Marks or come up with the money some other way - if she can't, gangsters are going to kill her boyfriend. A pulse-raising race against time, the film employs a startling array of innovative techniques to present three separate scenarios, all departing from a single split-second decision Lola makes. Franka Patente, who also sings on the soundtrack, is mesmerizing as Lola. (Subtitles)

Germany 1998 Tom Twyker 78m

Oscar-winning director Chris Sanders (‘How to Train Your Dragon’) returns with a visually stunning adaptation of Peter Brown’s beloved novel. The film follows a robot’s adventure through the wilderness as it learns to survive, make friends, and find its place in a world untouched by technology.

Roz (Daisy Ridley) awakens alone on an island, where she must adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings and form unlikely bonds with the animals around her, including a curious goose named Brightbill (Jacob Tremblay). As Roz navigates the island’s challenges, she faces an unexpected enemy who threatens her new friends and her growing understanding of life itself. With breathtaking animation and a heartfelt narrative, Sanders crafts a story that celebrates resilience, friendship and self-discovery, making ‘The Wild Robot’ a family-friendly epic and a visual treat for all ages.

When a pacifist is called to a political act that could change the course of history, a man of honour responds. This is the true story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who preached love while plotting the assassination of an evil tyrant.

As the world teeters on the brink of annihilation, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Jonas Dassler) is swept into the epicentre of a deadly plot to assassinate Hitler. With his faith and fate at stake, Bonhoeffer must choose between upholding his moral convictions or risking it all to save millions of Jews from genocide. Will his shift from preaching peace to plotting murder alter the course of history or cost him everything?

Belgium/Ireland 2024 Todd Komarnicki 132m

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

A screening both to commemorate Dame Maggie Smith who lived locally and sadly passed away in late September, and a companion piece to the new Merchant Ivory documentary.

In this British drama based on the novel by E.M. Forster, Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter), a young Englishwoman, is touring Italy with her older cousin (Maggie Smith). At a hotel in Florence, Lucy meets the charming and free-spirited George Emerson (Julian Sands). Although intrigued by George, once she's back in England Lucy ponders settling down with the wealthy, staid Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis). When George reappears in her life, Lucy must decide between him and Cecil. This is a thoroughly entertaining screen adaptation of Forster's comedy of manners, distinguished by superb ensemble acting, intelligent writing and stunning design.

UK 1985 James Ivory 117m

The leaders of seven wealthy democracies get lost in the woods while drafting a statement on a global crisis, facing danger as they attempt to find their way out.

Ricocheting between comedy, apocalyptic thriller and swooning soap opera, ‘Rumours’ follows the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit. With unexpected, uproarious performances from a brilliant ensemble cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander and Charles Dance, these so-called leaders become spectacles of incompetence, contending with increasingly surreal obstacles in the misty woods as night falls and they realize they are suddenly alone. A genre-hopping satire of political ineptitude, this is a journey into the absurd heart of power and institutional failure in a slowly burning world. A wickedly funny, surreal, cerebral and ‘Buñuelian’ political satire.

USA 2024 E. Johnson, G. Johnson & G. Maddin 103m

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

Soy Cuba

Four vignettes about the lives of the Cuban people set during the pre-revolutionary era. 60 years on, this is still invigorating and unmissable cinema!

A study in contrasts set in and around Havana that explores Cuba's 1959 revolution. A young woman's fascination with the excess of an American-owned casino leads to her downfall in the eyes of her street vendor boyfriend. A tenant farmer revolts the only way he knows how, attacking the land he works. University students gain first-hand knowledge of political upheaval. And, in the hills outside the city, the members of a poor peasant family are patriotically swept up into the burgeoning revolt. Visually absorbing and formally audacious, ‘Soy Cuba’ opens a long-buried time capsule that has lost none of its captivating power.

Cuba/USSR 1964 Mikhail Kalatozov 141m

Comandante

Edoardo De Angelis presents a gripping wartime drama that has captivated audiences at international film festivals. Set during World War II, the story brings a unique perspective on heroism, honour, and survival at sea.

The film centres on Salvatore Todaro (Pierfrancesco Favino), the real-life Italian submarine commander known for his moral courage and fierce loyalty. While navigating perilous waters, Todaro makes the fateful decision to rescue survivors of a ship he was ordered to sink, defying military protocol and risking the lives of his own crew. Favino delivers a commanding performance as Todaro, a man driven by principles in a brutal time of conflict. De Angelis crafts a beautifully shot lavish period piece that captures both the intensity of underwater warfare and the inner resolve of a man who dares to follow his conscience. This is also a call for tolerance, fully attuned to Italy’s current political climate. (Subtitles)

Italy 2023 Edoardo De Angelis 120m

A riveting historical thriller that recreates one of the largest manhunts in FBI history, where an agent believed that the crimes he was investigating were not the work of financially motivated criminals, but rather a group of dangerous domestic terrorists.

For over a year, a series of bold daylight bank robberies and armoured car heists leaves law enforcement baffled and the public panicked throughout the Pacific Northwest. As the attacks become increasingly violent, FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law) becomes convinced that the robberies are the work of a gang that plans to use the loot to finance an armed uprising against the U.S. government. As the militia builds a war chest of over $4 million, Husk pursues the malevolent racist Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult) to a final bloody standoff that will go down in U.S. history. Intelligent, gripping and smouldering, this is a real-life thriller that Hollywood rarely puts on the big screen anymore. Described as ‘rigorously authentic and briskly compelling’ by Variety and ‘a nail-biter from start to finish’ by The Hollywood Reporter, this brooding, suspenseful thriller has Jude Law leading the cast with confident authority, and his combination with his icy-eyed adversary Hoult keeps us gripped until the end.

USA/UK/Canada 2024 Justin Kurzel 114m

Luca Guadagnino’s latest film is a highly anticipated adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel Queer. Known for his lush, atmospheric storytelling, Guadagnino brings a haunting, visually rich style to this intense, introspective narrative.

Following Lee (Jeremy Allen White), a troubled American expat in Mexico City during the 1950s, Queer explores the highs and lows of his obsessive pursuit of Allerton (Jacob Elordi), a younger man who remains enigmatic and distant. As Lee grapples with inner turmoil, his relationship with Allerton becomes a vehicle for his own self-discovery, bitterness, and, ultimately, self-destruction. Guadagnino’s direction combines lush visuals and moody cinematography to evoke Lee’s disorienting, passionate journey, turning Burroughs’ narrative into something deeply cinematic. Darkly evocative and emotionally charged, Queer captures both the grimness and beauty of Burroughs' original work while showcasing Guadagnino’s unique vision.

Italy/USA 2024 Luca Guadagnino 112m

14 British Independent Film Awards nominations! An unapologetic, wild ride from Belfast-based filmmakers, diving headfirst into the energy and chaos of Northern Ireland’s punk-rap scene.

Following the real-life band Kneecap, this gritty, fast-paced film is equal parts comedy, music and raw social commentary, offering an inside look at the band's rise and rebellion. The story follows Mo Chara (Móglaí Bap) and his bandmates as they navigate fame, friendship and the rough streets of Belfast. Known for their outspoken lyrics in both Irish and English, the band faces off with police, the press and sometimes each other - all while keeping their humour razor-sharp. The film captures the rebellious spirit of a band determined to make their voice heard. It’s loud, it’s political and it’s unlike anything you’ve seen before.

UK/Ireland 2024 Rich Peppiatt 105m

Inaugural winner of the Gibson Award announced at the closing gala of the 2024 Chichester International Film Festival. A young teacher hopes to be transferred to Istanbul after four years of mandatory service in a remote village, but an accusation may derail his work and private life.

Nestled away in wintry East Anatolia, public-school art teacher Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu) yearns to leave the sleepy village for cosmopolitan Istanbul. Further disenchanted when he and colleague Kenan (Musab Ekici) come under public scrutiny, Samet fears circumstances will keep his dreams of a new life permanently out of reach. A silver lining is a budding relationship with fellow teacher Nuray (Merve Dizdar) who develops connections with both Samet and Kenan. As with all of Ceylan’s films, this features compelling patient storytelling, it is often mesmerising and is filled with an undeniable atmosphere. (Subtitles) Will include a short comfort break.

Turkey 2023 Nuri Bilge Ceylan 197m

Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney’s remarkable portrait and definitive musical biography of Paul Simon, one of the greatest songwriters (and performers) in the history of rock’n’roll.

Sun 5 Jan 12:00

Our final film in the Art of Action series sees an F.B.I. Agent going undercover to catch a gang of surfers who may be bank robbers, in this wildly entertaining film by Kathryn Bigelow.

After a string of bizarre bank robberies in Southern California, with the crooks donning masks of various former presidents, a federal agent, Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves), infiltrates the suspected gang. But this is no ordinary group of robbers. They're surfers -- led by the charismatic Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) -- who are addicted to the rush of thievery. But when Utah falls in love with a female surfer, Tyler (Lori Petty), who is close to the gang, it complicates his sense of duty. ‘Point Break’ is a landmark for the action genre.

USA 1991 Kathryn Bigelow 122m