When a Cardinal is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, he finds himself at the centre of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of The Church.

Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake, secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church. This is a skilfully crafted film with stunning cinematography and a beautiful score that takes many surprising turns, culminating in a climactic reveal that will leave audiences astonished. The A-list cast also includes Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.

UK/USA 2024 Edward Berger 120m

This David Lean (director) and Noël Coward (writer) wondrous romance is brought back to life with this new 4K remaster to celebrate its 80th anniversary.

Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) is thrown by chance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard). Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love. This film is sheer perfection - the gold standard of tragic romances whose influence can still be seen to this day.

UK 1945 David Lean 86m

A big and beautiful portrayal of the legendary Swiss folk hero William Tell (Claes Bang) - he who used a bow and arrow to shoot an apple off the head of his son.

The narrative unfolds in the 14th Century amidst the days of the Holy Roman Empire where Europe's nations fiercely vie for supremacy and the ambitious Austrians, desiring more land, encroach upon the serene Switzerland. Austrian King Albrecht, played by a malice-dripping Ben Kingsley, makes plans to dominate the Swiss from within, and after a series of events that included an attack on his troops, we arrive at the famous bow and arrow scene. This is a very handsomely mounted production, with a towering lead performance from Bang, a dynamic supporting cast, magnificent cinematography and production design, and a story that became legendary because it can reach to us across the centuries.

UK 2024 Nick Hamm 133m

A tense and gripping thriller that follows a rural west Irish shepherding family which is thrust into battle on several fronts: internal strife, hostility within the family and a rivalry with another farmer.

When the ongoing rivalry between farmers Michael (Christopher Abbott) and Jack (Barry Keoghan from ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ and ‘Saltburn’) suddenly escalates, it triggers a chain of events that take increasingly devastating turns, leaving both families permanently altered. From first-time filmmaker Christopher Andrews and co-starring Colm Meaney, Paul Ready and Nora-Jane Noone, this is a fierce, muscular debut that signals a bold new cinematic voice. The two leads create a gripping atmosphere, with Keoghan – as usual – proving that he is one of the best actors of the moment.

Ireland/UK 2024 Chris Andrews 105m

Director James Mangold (‘Walk the Line’, ‘Ford v Ferrari’) takes on the enigmatic life of Bob Dylan in a fresh, unconventional biopic. Starring Timothée Chalamet as the iconic folk singer, the film explores Dylan’s transformative journey through fame, identity and reinvention during the 1960s.

Following Dylan’s rise from a Greenwich Village poet to a global music icon, we see the chaos, ambition and uncertainty of a young artist challenging himself and his audience. Chalamet embodies Dylan’s charisma and intensity, while scenes with real-life performances and legendary figures - from Joan Baez to Johnny Cash - anchor the story in music history. Mangold’s direction blends period detail with a restless energy, making this an intimate, raw look at an artist in constant evolution.

USA 2024 James Mangold 141m

Ainda Estou Aqui

A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family's life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence during the tightening grip of a military dictatorship in Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro, 1970. The Paiva family lives in a rented house near the beach which is always full of friends. They are comfortable rather than rich, but they enjoy a different kind of wealth: an intellectual freedom and curiosity that feels increasingly precious as the Brazilian military dictatorship flexes its muscle on the streets outside. One day, men with guns come to take the father, Rubens (Selton Mello), in for questioning. In his absence, his wife Eunice (Fernanda Torres) must find a way to protect her five children and reinvent herself. Walter Salles’ (‘The Motorcycle Diaries’) superb factually-based film – he was a real-life friend of the Paiva family as a teenager – is an engrossing, affecting tribute to a formidable woman and her family. Nominated for best foreign film at the Baftas and Oscars. (Subtitles)

Brazil/France 2024 Walter Salles 136m

A widower from Japan travels with his estranged son to England in order to fulfil his late wife’s dying wish.

After the death of his wife, Kenzaburo (Lily Franky) and his son Toshi (Ryô Nishikido) receive an unexpected letter from beyond the grave. Akiko (Yuri Tsunematsu), their wife and mother, asks them to scatter her ashes at the place she loved most as a child - Lake Windermere in England. Surprised by this unexpected request, the two men, along with Toshi's wife Satsuki (Rin Takanashi) and young daughter Emi, travel together to England from Tokyo to fulfil Akiko's final wish. With little knowledge of where he is going and barely any English, Kenzaburo abandons his family in London and heads to the Lake District on his own with Akiko's ashes, where he stumbles onto the doorstep of a farmer, John (Ciarán Hinds), and his daughter Mary (Aoife Hinds). With their help, Kenzaburo is finally able to set course once again toward Lake Windemere. But his true journey toward forgiveness and reconciliation will prove the hardest of all. Some beautiful cinematography and a great lead performance from Franky make this a very satisfying watch. (Some subtitles)

UK/Japan 2023 Patrick Dickinson 94m

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

A beautifully made drama exploring the complex dynamics of a sprawling family near the wartime border with Germany.

The lush and breathtaking beauty of the Alps, filmed with painterly grace under natural light from frigid winter to redemptive spring, provides the physical and emotional backdrop for Maura Delpero’s visionary film. In the last days of WWII, we see a series of dramatic, consequential events after the arrival of deserting Sicilian soldier (Giuseppe De Domenico). Including a romance with Lucia (Martina Scrinzi). This was a richly deserving winner of the 2024 Grand Jury prize at the Venice film festival. It is a richly compassionate, emotional and detailed drama of family secrets in wartime Italian countryside, in the manner of Ermanno Olmi or the Taviani brothers. It is wonderfully acted with unaffected naturalism by its cast of professionals and newcomers and plays an extravagant pizzicato on the audience’s heartstrings. (Subtitles)

Italy 2024 Maura Delpero 119m

To complement ‘The Brutalist’ we present this King Vidor classic based on the bestseller by Ayn Rand about a visionary architect struggling to maintain his integrity despite personal, professional and economic pressures.

Unconventional and arrogant architect Howard Roark (Gary Cooper) sees himself as misunderstood, having been openly criticized by writer Ellsworth Toohey (Robert Douglas). Taking a job at a quarry in lieu of compromising his vision, Roark becomes involved with rich, married socialite Dominique Francon (Patricia Neal). As he struggles to preserve his ideals and projects while competing for the heart of a married woman, Roark's reactions become increasingly complex and dramatic. This is a dazzling film, shot in a fascinating German Expressionist style, and rarely screened in cinemas.

USA 1949 King Vidor 114m

The Musical

This multi award-winning show captured recently at the Sadler’s Wells Peacock Theatre is an extraordinary musical journey paying homage to Janis Joplin and her biggest musical influences.

Thu 13 Mar 20:00

Sat 15 Mar 15:00

Met Opera

Beethoven’s only opera tells a powerful story of love, courage and justice. Leonore, disguised as prison guard Fidelio, risks everything to rescue her husband Florestan from tyranny.

Sun 16 Mar 14:30

Nozomi

What would be worse - your son being a murderer or the murdered? This tense drama skilfully navigates a family through this very dilemma.

Architect Ishikawa Kazuto (Tsutsumi Shinichi) and his proofreader wife Kiyomi (Ishida Yuriko) live peacefully in a stylish luxury home with their high school son Tadashi (Okada Kenshi) and daughter Miyabi (Kiyohara Kaya). One day, Tadashi leaves home and doesn’t return, news breaks that one of Tadashi’s classmates has been murdered and the police suspect Tadashi’s involvement. The family dynamic is placed under intense strain – Kazuto desperately wants to believe in his son’s innocence, while Kiyomi is determined to protect him at any cost, even if he’s guilty. This suspenseful drama meticulously dissects and reassembles the thought processes of an ordinary family torn to shreds by juvenile crime and the ensuing ruthless media frenzy that purports to represent social justice. (Subtitles)

Japan 2020 Tsutsumi Yukihiko 108m

Royal Ballet & Opera

The greatest love story ever told – through ballet. An ancient family feud casts a long shadow over the town of Verona.

Sun 23 Mar 14:45

Suyoocheon

In this campus-life comedy/drama, a lecturer persuades her uncle to direct her school's theatrical skit due to his past experience. While sketching near a stream, a scandalous incident involving students occurs, implicating both of them.

In the wake of a scandal involving several of her students, Jeonim (Kim Minhee), an artist and lecturer at a women's university, asks her uncle Chu Sieon (Kwon Haehyo) to step in and direct a short play for the skit festival put on by her department. Her uncle is an actor-director, recently blacklisted after a scandal of his own. He decides to direct the short play because of a similar experience directing a play at the same university 40 years earlier. It doesn't take long before Sieon develops feelings for Jeonim's colleague, Professor Jeong (Cho Yunhee), a textile professor. This is a very enjoyable celebration of the creative process, and more specifically, of artists following their impulses when it comes to idea generation and collaboration. (Subtitles)

S. Korea 2024 Hong Sang-soo 111m

Pamela Anderson is a revelation in this poignant Vegas-set drama that sees a seasoned showgirl having to plan for her future when her long-running show abruptly closes.

A poignant film of resilience, rhinestones and feathers, stars Anderson as Shelley, a glamorous showgirl who must plan for her future when her show closes after a 30-year run. She has not just lost a job she adored, at an age when she is unlikely to get another like it; she has lost her very identity. Gia Coppola's (granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola) latest is an atmospheric and sympathetic drama about the showgirls on the Vegas strip, featuring sharply drawn characters and outstanding performances from Jamie Lee Curtis as Shelley’s friend Annette, and Pamela Anderson, who both play their roles with a lack of vanity that gives the film its enthralling power.

USA 2024 Gia Coppola 84m

Oscar favourite for Best Film. This is a visually arresting drama that tells the story of ambition, art and survival in the aftermath of World War II, exploring the life of a visionary architect as he seeks to leave his mark on postwar America.

László Toth (Adrien Brody) is a Hungarian architect who emigrates to America with his wife Erzsébet (Marion Cotillard), in search of a fresh start and creative freedom. As Toth’s career takes off, he faces the dark intersections of art and politics, grappling with personal sacrifice and ethical compromises. With stunning cinematography that mirrors the stark and monumental style of brutalist architecture, ‘The Brutalist’ is both a character study and a meditation on art’s power and cost. Corbet’s ambitious storytelling and the film’s haunting aesthetic make this an unforgettable cinematic experience.

USA/Hungary 2024 Brady Corbet 205m

A bittersweet memoir of a melancholic woman called Grace Pudel - a hoarder of snails, romance novels and guinea pigs.

In 1970s Australia, Grace's (Sarah Snook) life is troubled by misfortune and loss. After their mother dies during pregnancy, she and her twin brother, Gilbert (Mason Litsos), are raised by their paraplegic-alcoholic former juggler father, Percy (Dominique Pignon). After Percy passes away in his sleep, the siblings are forcibly separated and thrust into separate homes. Gilbert finds himself in the care of a cruel evangelical family, while Grace, grappling with intense loneliness, gradually withdraws into her shell, much like the snails she adopts. As the years pass, and despite new disappointments and sorrows, a glimmer of hope emerges when she strikes up an enduring friendship with an elderly eccentric woman called Pinky (Jacki Weaver). Adam Elliott - Australia’s answer to Aardman’s Nick Park – has created a beautiful film with a distinctive kind of lovability and an instinct for the underdog and outsider.

Australia 2024 Adam Elliot 95m

Glamour, Power, Lust and Tragic Death

This talk, for Women’s History Month, explores the often-lurid representation of Tudor Women in cinema.

Sat 22 Mar 10:30

The film traces the journeys of the four members of Led Zeppelin through the music scene of the 1960s and their meeting in the summer of 1968, culminating in 1970.

Interviews, performances and never-before-seen footage provide insight into the origins of Led Zeppelin and their meteoric rise to musical stardom. This is a guide that stops at the release of their second album, ‘Led Zeppelin II’, which may leave some fans disappointed that the film quits before the iconic ‘Stairway to Heaven’, but once you hear the colossal opening chords to ‘Whole Lotta Love’, no power on earth will stop you nodding along. The documentary is structured around archive clips and good-humoured interviews with the surviving members (Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones) of the band plus voice recordings of John Bonham who died in 1980.

UK 2025 Bernard MacMahon 121m

We screen this Stanley Kubrick classic as an accompaniment to the NT Live performance later this week. An unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.

Starring Peter Sellers at the peak of his powers, this is a film about what could happen if the wrong person pushed the wrong button. U.S. Air Force General Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden) goes completely insane, and sends his bombers to destroy the U.S.S.R. He thinks that the communists are conspiring to pollute the water supply of the American people. Sellers plays stiff-upper-lipped RAF officer Lionel Mandrake and also the insidiously bland President Merkin Muffley, and, most shockingly of all, the ex-Nazi wheelchair-bound scientist Doctor Strangelove. The result of Kubrick’s work is scary, hilarious and nightmarishly beautiful, far more effective in its portrait of insanity and call for disarmament than any number of worthy documentaries.

USA 1964 Stanley Kubrick 95m

Exhibition on Screen

The Impressionists are the most popular group in art history – millions flock every year to marvel at their masterpieces. But, to begin with, they were scorned, penniless outsiders. 1874 was the year that changed everything; the first Impressionists, “hungry for independence”, broke the mould by holding their own exhibition outside official channels. Impressionism was born and the art world was changed forever.

What led to that first groundbreaking show 150 years ago? Who were the maverick personalities that wielded their brushes in such a radical and provocative way? The spectacular Musée d’Orsay exhibition brings fresh eyes to this extraordinary tale of passion and rebellion. The story is told not by historians and curators but in the words of those who witnessed the dawn of Impressionism: the artists, press and people of Paris, 1874. Made in close collaboration with the Musée d’Orsay and National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

90m

We are delighted to welcome producer Phil Grabsky to introduce and Q&A the Apr 14 screening.

Bake-neko Anzu-chan

This award-winning animation is what you get when you combine the fantasy of ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ with the deadpan humour and reality of everyday life.

When a temple's chief priest finds a kitten crying, he names it Anzu and decides to look after it. 30 years later, it turns out that the cat is no ordinary cat, it can now speak and live like a human. Anzu (voiced by Moriyama Mirai) travels around on a moped and works part-time as a masseuse. One day, the head priest's son (Aoki Munetaka), a long-estranged and shifty widower with huge debts, returns to the temple with his 11-year-old daughter Karin (Goto Noa). Anzu the cat reluctantly accepts his request to look after the emotionally-drained girl. This is an incredibly charming French-Japanese co-production brings together two directors from different mediums to create this irreverent fable about bridging the human world and the afterlife. Audience Award winner for Best Animated Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival 2024. (Subtitles)

Japan 2024 Kuno Yoko & Yamashita Nobuhiro 97m

NT Live

Steve Coogan plays four roles in the world premiere stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s comedy masterpiece.

Thu 27 Mar 19:30

Sat 28 Mar 15:15

Quand Vient l'Automne

Michelle, a retiree in Burgundy, is expecting her grandson, but a mistake ruins her plans. When her friend Marie-Claude's son is released from prison, Michelle's purpose is revived.

Michelle (Hélène Vincent) is enjoying a peaceful retirement in a Burgundy village, close to her longtime friend Marie-Claude (Josiane Balasko). When her Parisian daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier) drops off her son Lucas (Garlan Erlos) to spend school vacation with his grandma, Michelle, stressed out by her daughter, serves her toxic mushrooms for lunch. Valérie quickly recovers, but forbids her mother from seeing her grandson anymore. Feeling lonely and guilty, Michelle falls into a depression... until Marie-Claude's son Vincent (Pierre Lottin) gets out of prison. This film is a gift of a showcase for Hélène Vincent - she is magnetic. But nobody is exactly who they appear in Ozon’s nimble, perceptive film. When winter and mortality are beckoning, the past only counts for so much. (Subtitles)

France 2024 François Ozon 102m

A true story that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface.

This tense and emotionally powerful action thriller tells the remarkable true story of a commercial diver (Finn Cole of ‘Peaky Blinders’ fame) stranded at the bottom of the North Sea with only five minutes of oxygen and no chance of rescue. A story of one man’s impossible fight for survival and a crew (includes Woody Harrelson and MyAnna Buring) doing everything they can to bring him home alive. Director Alex Parkinson had previously created a documentary on this amazing rescue story, so was the only correct choice to helm this production.

USA 2025 Alex Parkinson 93m

When an intelligence agent is suspected of betraying the nation, her husband - also a legendary agent - faces the ultimate test of whether to be loyal to his marriage, or his country.

A gripping spy drama about legendary intelligence agents George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) and his beloved wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). When she is suspected of betraying the nation, George faces the ultimate test – loyalty to his marriage or his country.

Steven Soderbergh (‘Traffic’, ‘Erin Brockovich’) directs a brilliant cast that also includes Pierce Brosnan, Tom Burke and Naomie Harris.

USA 2025 Steven Soderbergh 93m

A documentary by Sadie Frost looking at the life of the greatest it-girl of all time - UK model and cultural icon Twiggy, real name Lesley Lawson.

An intimate, star-studded dive into the birth of an icon, and everything that followed. Featuring contributions from Dustin Hoffman, Paul McCartney, Charlotte Tilbury, Joanna Lumley and many more, this is an exploration of the model's upbringing, career, relationships and everything else that has made her the woman she is today, and the first time the icon has told her story first-hand. Frost, this film’s director, is carving out a niche for docs about fashion icons. ‘Twiggy’ is her second, after the playful and very successful ‘Quant’ (2021).

UK 2025 Sadie Frost 97m

The Way Things Seem and the Way They Are

With a restoration of ’Picnic at Hanging Rock’ in the cinema this season, this talk will look back at the career of its astonishingly versatile director.

Sat 29 Mar 10:30 (Auditorium)

Returning to the big screen this February to celebrate its 50th anniversary in a dazzling 4K restoration, Peter Weir’s adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s novel has lost none of its mystique or mesmerising power.

In the early 1900s, Miranda (Anne Lambert) attends a girl’s boarding school in Australia. One Valentine's Day, the school's typically strict headmistress (Rachel Roberts) treats the girls to a picnic field trip to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite rules against it, Miranda and several other girls venture off. It's not until the end of the day that the faculty realizes the girls and one of the teachers (Vivean Gray) have disappeared mysteriously. A significant influence on the work of Sofia Coppola, ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ has become a landmark for its dreamlike exploration of the intensely romantic, yet profoundly unsettling, experience of girlhood and burgeoning sexuality.

Australia 1975 Peter Weir 107m

Screening to complement our Tudor Women on Film Talk (22 Mar) as well as the Richard Burton films (from 11 Apr). King Henry VIII of England discards one wife, Catharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favour of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.

This film adaption of a Broadway play is based on the historical events surrounding the founding of the Church of England. Catherine of Aragon (Irene Papas), empowered wife of King Henry VIII (Richard Burton), has yet to give birth to an heir. King Henry's wandering eyes fall on the devout and nubile Anne Boleyn (Geneviève Bujold), who refuses his sexual advances. Henry eventually convinces Anne to marry him, but to move forward, the king must face a church that believes divorce is a sin. This is a stunningly acted, sumptuous, grand-scale drama of the royal bed chamber and political intrigues that created the Church of England.

UK 1969 Charles Jarrott 145m

The Musical

Elton John's 'Billy Elliot' musical – based on Stephen Daldry's 2000 film – beamed into cinemas, shot live in HD at Victoria Palace Theatre in London's West End.

Sun 30 Mar 14:15

Wed 2 Apr 19:45

Samurai Taimusurippaa

A clever, funny and distinctly Japanese time-travel film that sees a real samurai crash-lands in the middle of a jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) production.

As the Edo period (1603-1868) draws to its dramatic close, two swordsmen clash with a political foe. They are interrupted by a flash of lightning, heralding a bizarre paranormal event, and Kosaka Shinzaemon (Yamaguchi Makiya) awakens to find himself... in a quiet lane in Kyoto. His confusion turns to alarm when among the locals clad in the robes of old Japan, he sees people wearing unfamiliar attire. Even the folks who seem ordinary to him are behaving oddly – it turns out he’s travelled several centuries forward in time, landing right in the middle of a 21stcentury film set! Award-winning director Yasuda Junichi offers a remarkably poignant comedy drama, nailed down by the subtle and convincing performance of experienced jidaigeki actor Yamaguchi Makiya. The film is more than just a fun fish-out-of-water fantasy: it’s an homage to the waning genre of samurai cinema. Audience Award winner for Best Asian Feature at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival. (Subtitles)

Japan 2024 Yasuda Junichi 131m

Royal Ballet & Opera

Puccini’s captivating opera of a cold-hearted princess and her mysterious suitor. Featuring the ever-popular ‘Nessun Dorma’, this opera of love and revenge.

Tue 1 Apr 19:15

Sun 6 Apr 14:15