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

Die Theorie von Allem

Set in 1962 at a quantum mechanics conference in an isolated lodge nestled amid the towering landscapes of the Swiss Alps, this is the story of a gifted young physicist, his curmudgeonly mentor, and an enigmatic jazz pianist who knows things about our wunderkind scientist that he's never told another living soul.

German director Timm Kröger - himself also a cinematographer - films his tale with an eye for the majestic natural beauty that surrounds our characters, effectively evoking the paranoid postwar era. Driven by astonishing twists and improbable coincidences, the film unravels a captivatingly complex chronicle with brain-tickling suspense. A comedy, a fantasy, a war drama, a spy thriller and an exercise in old-fashioned style at the same time. (Subtitles)

Germany 2024 Timm Kröger 118m

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

An offbeat, deeply emotional romance that brings together the magnetic pairing of Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. Known for his knack for heartfelt stories with a twist, director John Crowley (‘Brooklyn’) crafts a love story that’s as funny as it is poignant, exploring the strange intersections of fate, memory and connection.

The film follows two seemingly mismatched characters, Eleanor (Pugh) and Louis (Garfield), whose lives unexpectedly intertwine and change each other in profound ways. Their relationship unfolds in fragmented glimpses of joy, heartbreak and fleeting moments that capture the ups and downs of modern love. This is a quirky, beautifully shot exploration of what it means to find - and perhaps lose - “the one”. This is indie romance at its most moving and inventive.

UK 2024 John Crowley 115m

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

A woman pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom, but soon her domesticity takes a surreal turn.

Amy Adams plays a mother who feels like she’s lost herself after leaving her job as an artist to be at home full time. Her husband (Scoot McNairy) isn’t much help, cluelessly stumbling through the small amount of parenting he manages to contribute. Heller skilfully portrays the repeated routines of motherhood – breakfast, lunch, dinner, bath time, bedtime – as both meaningful and exhausting. And in the midst of parenting chaos, the mother becomes convinced she’s turning into a dog. The film is very funny, a little gross and an unforgettable role for Adams who is obviously having a great time.

USA 2024 Marielle Heller 98m

Winner of Best Director in the Certain Regard section of Cannes 2024, Rungano Nyoni brings us a tale where a young Zambian woman confronts long-buried family secrets.

On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula (Susan Chardy) stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family. This is a daring picture that blends fantasy, stylised drama and elements of black comedy to explore the societal pressures that rewrite the truth. Nyoni is the Zambian-Welsh film-maker who in 2017 had a smash with her debut, the witty and distinctive misogyny fable ‘I Am Not a Witch’, and certainly a name to keep looking out for. (Some subtitles)

UK 2024 Rungano Nyoni 95m

A Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing.

This is the incredible true story of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu,

who after witnessing how others who participated in TV contests became overnight celebrities, decided to enter one himself. He ended up living for 15 months inside a small room, naked, starving and alone... and completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV to over 17 million viewers a week. This is a snapshot of a time when reality television was in its infancy, and no one paid much attention to the ethics of extremity for the sake of entertainment. We see how Hamatsu has tried to deal with the aftermath of the experiment, and cannot help but feel a lot of empathy for a person who was put through hell just to make millions of people laugh. (Some subtitles)

UK 2023 Clair Titley 93m

A teacher takes a job at an elite school and forms a strong bond with five students - a relationship that eventually takes a dangerous turn. 

At an international boarding school, an unassuming, yet rigorous, Miss Novak (Mia Wasikowska) joins the teaching staff to instruct a new class on "conscious eating." Her impressionable teenage students each have their own reasons for joining the class - to improve fitness, reduce their carbon footprint, or get extra credit. Although early lectures focus on mindful consumption, Miss Novak's discussions soon become increasingly disordered and extreme. As a few devoted pupils fall deep under her cult-like tutelage, they are given a new, even more sinister goal to aspire to - joining the ominous "Club Zero”. An often disturbing but always engaging film. (Some subtitles)

Austria/UK 2023 Jessica Hausner 110m