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

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

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

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