As an ancient threat endangers both Vikings and dragons alike, the friendship between an inventive Viking and a Night Fury dragon becomes the key to both species forging a new future together.

On the rugged isle of Berk, where Vikings and dragons have been bitter enemies for generations, Hiccup (Mason Thames) stands apart. The inventive yet overlooked son of Chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), Hiccup defies centuries of tradition when he befriends Toothless, a feared Night Fury dragon. Their unlikely bond reveals the true nature of dragons, challenging the very foundations of Viking society. With the fierce and ambitious Astrid (Nico Parker) and the village's quirky blacksmith Gobber (Nick Frost) by his side, Hiccup confronts a world torn by fear and misunderstanding. As an ancient threat emerges, endangering both Vikings and dragons, Hiccup's friendship with Toothless becomes the key to forging a new future. This is the much anticipated real life version of the original 2010 animated film.

UK/USA 2025 Dean DeBlois 125m

In Liebe, Eure Hilde

A young woman falls in love with a member of an anti-Nazi group. The two spend the summer together until they get caught by the Gestapo and she is imprisoned, eight months pregnant.

Berlin, 1942: it was the most beautiful summer for Hilde Coppi (Liv Lise Fries) – madly in love with Hans (Johannes Hegeman) and joyfully pregnant. But amid the passion there is grave danger. Hans becomes involved in the anti-Nazi resistance, with a group of young people who will later be called the “Red Orchestra”. Despite the huge risks, Hilde decides to get involved herself but is arrested by the Gestapo and gives birth to her son in prison. Now in a desperate situation, Hilde develops a quiet inspirational strength, but she only has a few months left with her son. The main protagonist is mostly soft-spoken, reticent and reserved throughout, which is very refreshing, nothing like the warrior queens and Amazonian figures popular cinema loves to laud as female role models. You may remember Andreas Dresden as the director of our 2022 Chichester Film Festival Surprise film – ‘Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush’.

Germany 2024 Andreas Dresen 125m

A beautifully filmed, heartfelt adaptation of Niall Williams' best-selling novel.  Two young people are made for each other, but as fate and  power of true love pull them together, so too does life threaten to tear them apart.

Nicholas (Fionn O'Shea) and Isabel (Ann Skelly) are made for each other, but fate does not always choose the easiest path to true love. Nicholas' father, William (Pierce Brosnan), comes home one day to shatter his family's modest life, when he tells them that in a moment of divine intervention, God has instructed him to dedicate his life to painting. He quits his job and sets off for the coast, leaving his shell-shocked wife and son to fend for themselves. Meanwhile Isabel and her family live a charmed existence on a small neighbouring island, their house full of music and poetry. When tragedy strikes, the music stops, and Isabel's parents (Helena Bonham Carter, Gabriel Byrne) decide in their grief to send Isabel to a convent school on the mainland. The young lovers embark on their own individual journeys of heartache and misplaced love, before fate contrives to pull the threads of their lives together. Filmed in Donegal and Antrim by cinematographer Damien Elliott, certainly makes the locations glimmer. The skies and seas are azure blue, the beaches are golden, and the sun never seems to dim, lending the film a beautiful fairytale quality.

UK/Ireland 2024 Polly Steele 125m

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an evil is waiting to welcome them back.

The dreams of rabble-rousing (and former Chicago enforcers for Al Capone) twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) come to fruition when they return to their small Mississippi hometown and successfully open a music bar in an abandoned sawmill. The place overflows with music and mysticism, and when their cousin Preacher Boy (Miles Caton) picks up his guitar and plays the Blues in front of a rowdy audience, all hell (including a rabble of vampires) breaks loose. Jack O’Connell’s co-stars as the despicably smirking villain in this rip-roaring fusion of masterful visual storytelling and outstanding toe-tapping blues. It looks phenomenal too: shot on 70mm film, the frame throbs with sultry reds and golds. Do not let any vampire film prejudice stop you from seeing this film, it is a recent stand-out of the genre.

USA 2025 Ryan Coogler 137m