La Plus Précieuse des Marchandises

An unflinching but elegant Holocaust fable about a lumberjack's wife who finds an abandoned baby girl, adapted from Jean-Claude Grumberg’s 2019 novella of the same name.

Once upon a time there was a poor lumberjack and his wife who lived in a deep Polish forest. The poor woman moaned that she had no children. Day and night, trains passed through the woods. One day, as the woman was watching a train that she thought was a cargo train, a package was thrown out and fell into the snow… The film has an exquisite aesthetic, and director Hazanavicius pushes beyond the forest, into the train itself and in through the gates of the concentration camp, juxtaposing the beautiful visuals with the ugliness of mankind.

France/Belgium 2024 Michel Hazanavicius 81m

In the lead up to Holocaust Memorial Day (27 Jan), we present this story of mismatched cousins who reunite for a tour through Poland to honour their beloved grandmother.

David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg) is a married Manhattan tech worker with a young son, who decides to bid the family goodbye and take a week-long road trip to Poland with his screwup cousin Benji (an off-the-charts great Kieran Culkin), whose default mode happens to be, obnoxious. Their beloved, recently deceased grandmother yearned for them to see her native Poland and understand how she grew up in a nurturing Jewish culture and escaped a Nazi death camp. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. This is a film that manages to be ruefully perceptive and laugh-out-loud funny, often at the same time: and that’s not easy.

USA/Poland 2024 Jesse Eisenberg 90m

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

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, a communist family discovers a bunker full of money soon to be worthless. With the help of their neighbours, they embark on a race against time to enter the capitalist world in style.

In 1990 East Germans were given exactly six days after their currency was replaced by the West German Mark to exchange any ‘old’ coins and banknotes. As our East German heroes outsmart formidable opponents, the heist takes an unexpected turn when money officially unrecognized in the GDR circulates. Sandra Huller (‘Anatomy of a Fall’, ‘Zone of Interest’) takes the central role in this sentimental heist comedy, whose title was taken from the unfavourable exchange rate that was imposed on ‘Ostmark’ swaps. Look out for the amazing locations, surviving examples of socialist modern architecture, public art and stylishly hip interiors that act as backdrops to this sunny power-to-the-people crowd-pleaser.

Germany 2024 Natja Brunckhorst 116m

An enthralling Chinese documentary about the torpedoing of a Japanese freighter carrying 1,816 British PoWs in the second world war, excavating the emotional wreckage on all sides.

Just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese began their takeover of Hong Kong, at that time under English custody. Many British soldiers were captured and, as prisoners of war, packed in ships to Japanese labour camps. One such ship was the Lisbon Maru. The film reveals the long-buried truth of the 1942 sinking where 828 Allied prisoners died. Over seven years, filmmaker Fang Li's search for the wreckage and interviews with families uncovered the heartbreaking stories of Allied prisoners, Japanese brutality and heroic Chinese fishermen. (Some subtitles)

China 2023 Fang Li/Ming Fan/Lily Gong 123m

A genre-bending comedy about a frustrated and misanthropic newlywed who discovers certain feral impulses that land her in unlikely situations.

A newly arranged marriage sees an oddball couple shoved together in a small Mumbai shack with paper-thin walls. They are alone, awkward and together. Cranky Uma does her best to cope with the heat, her complete lack of domestic skills, nosy neighbours and her bumbling spouse until one night she discovers strange new feral cravings. Radhika Apte is sensational in the lead role, a gifted physical comedian who puts the dead into deadpan and loads every gesture with an aggressive, almost demented slap-stick infused humour. “It's very, very sharp, very funny, and very surprising.” – Mark Kermode.

UK/India 2024 Karan Kandhari 107m

Join us in celebrating Sir David Attenborough's 99th Birthday in style as the celebrated broadcaster explores the planet's undersea habitats emphasizing the ocean's vital importance while highlighting opportunities for marine life recovery.

This powerful documentary takes viewers on a breathtaking journey showing there is nowhere more vital for our survival, more full of life, wonder or surprise, than the ocean. In the film the celebrated broadcaster and filmmaker reveals how his lifetime has coincided with the great age of ocean discovery. Through spectacular sequences featuring coral reefs, kelp forests and the open ocean, Attenborough shares why a healthy ocean keeps the entire planet stable and flourishing. Stunning, immersive cinematography showcases the wonder of life under the seas and exposes the realities and challenges facing our ocean as never-before-seen, from destructive fishing techniques to mass coral reef bleaching. Yet the story is one of optimism, with Attenborough pointing to inspirational stories from around the world to deliver his greatest message: the ocean can recover to a glory beyond anything anyone alive has ever seen. This special presentation includes 15 minutes of theatrically exclusive content.

UK 2025 C. Butfield/T. Nowlan/K. Scholey 100m