A Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver in one of the most anticipated movie releases of the year.

Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a Formula One driver who raced in the 1990s, has a horrible crash, forcing him to retire from Formula One and start racing in other disciplines. A Formula One team owner and friend, Ruben (Javier Bardem), contacts Hayes and asks him to come out of retirement to mentor rookie prodigy Joshua "Noah" Pearce (Damson Idris) for the Apex Grand Prix team.  The cast also features Kerry Condon (‘The Banshees of Inisherin’) as the Technical Director of the team and Kim Bodnia (‘The Bridge’, ‘Killing Eve’) as the Team Principal. Directed by Joseph Kosinski who brought us ‘Oblivion’ and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, so expect this to be a cinematic tour de force, blending intense drama, high-speed action and intricate storytelling. Look out for some amazing cameos, as all ten Formula One teams and their drivers in the 2023 season appear as themselves including: Lewis Hamilton and George Russell (Mercedes), Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez (Red Bull Racing) as well as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. (Ferrari). Hans Zimmer has done the soundtrack for the film, so you know you will be coming out of the cinema fully energised.

USA 2025 Joseph Kosinski 156m

A Japanese puppeteer's daughter gets caught up with criminals when their show crosses paths with a crime gang, led by Sugarman and his son Little Sugar.

Set in the rugged landscape of 1790s Britain, Tornado (Kōki) is a young and determined Japanese woman who finds herself caught in a perilous situation when she and her father's travelling puppet Samurai show crosses paths with a gang of ruthless criminals led by Sugarman (Tim Roth) and his ambitious son Little Sugar (Jack Lowden). In an attempt to create a new life for herself, Tornado seizes the opportunity to take matters into her own hands and steal the gold from their most recent heist. What follows is a thrilling action tale, as Tornado, armed with her father's Samurai training, causes havoc as she seeks revenge. It is very interesting to see both the Western and Samurai genres being transplanted to 18th Century rural Scotland. You may remember director John Maclean for his brilliant 2015 Western, ‘Slow West’.

UK 2025 John Maclean 91m

From the People’s War to the People’s Peace

To mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, a Talk for the Festival of Chichester, looking back at the portrayal of this momentous period in cinema.

Professor Maggie Andrews explores the role films played in the transition to peace at the end of the Second World War. ‘The Lamp Still Burns’ (1943), They Came to a City (1944) provided glimpses of the society the 1945 Labour Government was expected to create. However subsequent, films expressed the fantasies, fears and discontents created by the legacies of war.

This talk by Professor Maggie Andrews explores the role British films played in the transition from war to peace at the end of the Second World War. During the conflict cinema offered distraction, escapism, news, propaganda and dreams of a more egalitarian and socially just future. Films, such as ‘The Lamp Still Burns’ (1943) ‘They Came to a City’ (1944) and ‘Victory Wedding’ (1944) provided glimpses of the New Jerusalem the Labour Government, elected on the 5th July 1945, was expected to create.

In the following years, crime films, melodramas (including ‘They Were Sisters’ and ‘Waterloo Road’ — both 1945), action movies, even comedies, expressed and explored the fantasies and fears of a nation coming to terms with the complex legacies of war, whilst the popularity of films such as ‘Madonna and the Seven Moons’ (1945), ‘Scott of Antarctic’ (1948) or ‘The Glass Mountain’ (1949) indicated the nation’s ambivalence and ambiguity towards every day, domestic life in peacetime.

Adult £7.50, Under 25s £6, Blue Light & unemployed £6.

Sat 5 Jul 10:30

To complement the production of ‘Marie and Rosetta’ at the Chichester Festival Theatre, we are delighted to present a documentary on the life and music of African American gospel singer and guitar virtuoso Sister Rosetta Tharpe.  

Southern-born, Chicago-raised and New York-made, Sister Rosetta rose from poverty to become one of the world’s most popular gospel singers. During the 1940s and 50s she introduced the spiritual passion of gospel into the secular world of rock & roll, inspiring some of its greatest stars, including Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. “Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a powerful force of nature, anything but ordinary and plain. She was a big good-looking woman, and divine, not to mention sublime and splendid”. – Bob Dylan. “She’d sing till you cried, then sing till you danced for joy” – Roxie Moore. “Absolutely brilliant – one of the best music docs I’ve ever seen!” - Fred McCormick. First broadcast on BBC Four, this rare screening has been made possible by the family of local director (and great friend of Chichester Cinema) Mick Csaky.

UK 2011 Mick Csaky 60m