A young space fanatic with an active imagination, finds himself on a cosmic misadventure where he must form new bonds with alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be.

Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab) wants nothing more than first contact. This lonely 11-year-old stargazer spends his life looking up, dreaming of distant planets and alternative lifeforms who won’t steal his lunch money. Most nights, you’ll find him asleep on the beach, wearing a colander, with ‘Aliens! Abduct Me!’ written in the sand. Well, Elio gets his wish - but far more than he bargained for. Beamed up to an inter-planetary ‘United Nations’ summit, he is mistaken for Earth’s leader, but these are tinderbox times, with warmongering Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) rattling his sabre and ready to invade. Pixar's 29th feature film is the kind of fresh, original storytelling that they have built their brand on.

USA 2025 Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian & Domee Shi 90m

50th Anniversary 4K Restoration

This is not only one of Stanley Kubrick’s finest and most influential films, but has been named as one of the greatest films ever made in polls including Sight & Sound. Celebrating 50 years in 2025.

In Kubrick’s own adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel about the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer, Ryan O’Neal stars as Redmond Barry (later Barry Lyndon) and Marisa Berenson is Lady Lyndon. Only a cinema screen can do justice to the stunning visuals of ‘Barry Lyndon’ which won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, Art Direction/Set Decoration, Music and Costume Design. Inspired by painters such as Thomas Gainsborough and William Hogarth, the film has a beautiful, painterly look, enhanced by filming in natural or historically accurate light sources, some lit only by candlelight. Pure cinema, simply unmissable.

UK/USA 1979 Stanley Kubrick 184m

Superman must reconcile his alien Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as reporter Clark Kent. As the embodiment of truth, justice and the human way he soon finds himself in a world that views these as old-fashioned.

In his signature style, director James Gunn takes on the original superhero in the newly imagined DC Universe with a singular blend of epic action, humour and heart, delivering a Superman who is driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind. David Corenswet takes on the daunting task of becoming Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan plays Lois Lane, while Lex Luther is played by Nicholas Hoult.

USA 2025 James Gunn 122m

In this masterpiece of dystopian science fiction on film, a blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.

Deckard (Harrison Ford) is forced by the police Boss (M. Emmet Walsh) to continue his old job as Replicant Hunter. His assignment: eliminate four escaped Replicants from the colonies who have returned to Earth. Before starting the job, Deckard goes to the Tyrell Corporation and he meets Rachel (Sean Young), a Replicant girl he falls in love with. The pre-CGI effects and industrial set design are somehow still fresh, the rain is incessant, the sun never shines, and the soundtrack is an eerie wave of Vangelis. This is a seminal film, building on older classics like ‘Metropolis’, but establishing a pervasive view of the future that has influenced science fiction films ever since.

USA 1982 Ridley Scott 117m

Based on a remarkable true story, discover how the poor son of a miner became one of the greatest actors the world has ever known – Richard Burton, with the help of an unlikely mentor.

In the Welsh town of Port Talbot, 1942, Richard Jenkins (Harry Lawtey) lives as a wayward schoolboy, caught between the pressures of his struggling family, a devastating war, and his own ambitions. However, a new opportunity arises when Richard’s natural talent for drama catches the attention of his teacher, Philip Burton (Toby Jones). Taking Richard under his wing, the young man thrives under Philip’s strict tutelage and the guidance of kindly landlady, Ma Smith (Lesley Manville). However, as the acting world comes within Richard’s reach, the burden of his past risks holding him back forever.

UK 2025 Marc Evans 123m

Volveréis

Longtime partners self-consciously uncouple in this witty, chatty and loopy non-rom-com with echoes of Woody Allen.

Filmmaker Ale (Itsaso Arana) and her actor boyfriend of 14 years Alex (Vito Sanz) have decided mutually to call it quits after 14 years, cuing a very funny yet properly grown-up portrait of the ideal couple trying to smooth, and even to celebrate, their transition into ideal exes. It’s the celebration aspect that will prove their undoing. If ta good breakup is rare, a joyous breakup is completely mythical. With references to the Swedish master Ingmar Bergman’s fraught relationship with Liv Ullmann, and a style very reminiscent of early Woody Allen, this is a joyful film for real lovers of film. (Subtitles)

Spain 2024 Jonás Trueba 114m

Exhibition on Screen

Hopper’s work is the most recognisable art in America – popular, praised and mysterious. Countless painters, photographers, filmmakers and musicians have been influenced by his art. 

But who was he, and how did a struggling illustrator create such a bounty of notable work? This film takes a deep look into Hopper’s art, his life, and his relationships. From his early career as an illustrator; his wife giving up her own promising art career to be his manager; his critical and commercial acclaim; and in his own words – this film explores the enigmatic personality behind the brush. Combined with expert interviews, diaries and a startling visual reflection of American life, ‘Hopper’ brings to life America’s arguably most influential artist. Hopper is a rare artist whose work is accessible to both the casual and critical observer. Rothko, Banksy, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch and even ‘The Simpsons’ have all been inspired by the unique way Hopper captured American life.

UK 2022 Phil Grabsky 94m

A husband-and-wife rediscover nature’s beauty and a renewed sense of vitality in this heartstring-pulling adaptation of a true-life tale.

Fifty-somethings Ray Winn and her husband Moth (Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs) receive a bad health diagnosis and court-ordered to vacate the only home they’ve known as a family due to insurmountable circumstances. They decide to walk the South-West Coast Path – the longest (630 miles) uninterrupted footpath in England – from Minehead to Poole along the Devon, Cornwall and Dorset coast armed only with a tent, limited supplies, very few clothes and the travelogue that inspired this trek. Helene Louvart’s excellent cinematography is a real highlight with filming locations including Padstow, Clovelly, Ilfracombe and some of the most beautiful rugged coast in the country, but do see if you can spot the scenes filmed at our very own West Wittering. This portrait of loss, humanity and rebirth is adapted from Raynor Winn’s personal memoir, with Anderson and Isaacs’ intimately textured performances standing out.

UK 2024 Marianne Elliott 115m

The life, success and troubles of Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) is a remarkably talented young Viennese composer who unwittingly finds a fierce rival in the disciplined and determined Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham). Resenting Mozart for both his hedonistic lifestyle and his undeniable talent, the highly religious Salieri is gradually consumed by jealousy and becomes obsessed with Mozart's downfall, leading to a devious scheme that has dire consequences for both men. This lavish, flamboyant and ambitious production bagged 8 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Writer and Actor. Indeed Murray Abraham’s Performance as the envious Salieri, a man with more desire to produce music than God gave him talent to create, is one for the ages. Irresistable cinema.

USA 1984 Milos Forman 160m

Two Americans end up in Dakar, Senegal with bombs strapped to their chests and ten hours to find out why.

Two seemingly innocent American men (Hus Miller and Cam McHarg) wake up in the streets of Dakar, with bombs strapped to their chests. Following the orders of a mysterious voice (the unmistakable Willem Defoe) in their cell phones, they will run a desperate race against time that will set a whole country on fire and, inadvertently, plunge them into a quest for a deeper meaning to their lives. Congolese filmmaker Herbulot is a rising talent on the international action scene who blends his knowledge of his homeland with a deep appreciation of the history of action filmmaking.

USA 2024 Jean Luc Herbulot 88m

To launch the 2025 Open Air Screenings programme, we have chosen a chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis.

Johnny Cash’s (Joaquin Phoenix) early days as a boy were spent on the family farm, where he struggled under the scorn of his father (Robert Patrick). He eventually ends up in Memphis, Tennessee, with his wife Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin), and breaks into the music scene after finding his trademark sound - even recording alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. While on tour, Cash meets the love of his life, singer June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), but Cash's volatile lifestyle threatens to keep them apart. The two leads are remarkable, both singing in their own voices adding an extra dimension of rawness: Phoenix is imperious no doubt, but it is Witherspoon who almost steals the show with a simply perfect performance which won her both the Bafta and the Oscar for Best Actress.

USA 2005 James Mangold 136m

Fri 8 Aug 20:00 – Priory Park

Gates open 19:00

TICKETS:

Advance Tickets £12.50 (£14.50 on the day if available)  

OPEN AIR SCREENINGS AT PRIORY PARK:

Screenings take place at Chichester's beautiful Priory Park.

Part of the prestigious Chichester International Film Festival.

Bring a Picnic Blanket or Chair, and a Picnic Basket filled with your favourite goodies.

Drinks & Snacks available.

Over seven hallucinatory days, a village with no name, in an undefined time and place, disappears.

In Athina Rachel Tsangari's (‘Chevalier’, ‘Dogtooth’) tragicomic take on a Western, townsman-turned-farmer Walter Thirsk (Caleb Landry Jones)and befuddled lord of the manor Charles Kent (Harry Melling) are childhood friends about to face an invasion from the outside world: the trauma of modernity. The feral spirit of the world is gorgeously evoked throughout, with Sean Price-Williams’ cinematography a standout. Shooting on film, he embraces the organic qualities of the medium: the edge of the frame is ragged and mossy. Music is also part of the tapestry: the women sing hauntingly lovely traditional Scottish folk songs then the fiddles whip up a frenzy of boisterous bad behaviour. There is a wildness and a pagan spirit to this film’s energy.

UK/Germany/USA/France/Greece 2024 Athina Rachel Tsangari 131m

After two decades as one of the most beloved and enduring musicals on the stage, ‘Wicked’ makes its long-awaited journey to the big screen as a spectacular, generation-defining two-part cinematic event this holiday season. See it before the sequel in November.

The untold story of the witches of Oz, stars powerhouse Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, who has yet to discover her true power, and Grammy-winning recording artist Ariana Grande as Glinda, a popular young woman, gilded by privilege and ambition, who has yet to discover her true heart. The two meet as students and forge an unlikely but profound friendship. Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths, ultimately seeing them fulfil their destinies as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.

USA 2024 John M. Chu 161m

Sat 10 Aug 16:00 – Priory Park

Gates open 15:00

TICKETS:

Special Advance Family Ticket: £28 (2 Adults & 2 Kids) (£34 on the day if available)  

Advance Tickets £12.50 (£14.50 on the day if available)  

Kids £3 (£4 on the day if available)

OPEN AIR SCREENINGS AT PRIORY PARK:

Screenings take place at Chichester's beautiful Priory Park.

Part of the prestigious Chichester International Film Festival.

Bring a Picnic Blanket or Chair, and a Picnic Basket filled with your favourite goodies.

Drinks & Snacks available

David Cronenberg’s latest sees an innovative businessman and grieving widower build a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud.

Karsh, played by a smirking Vincent Cassel whose face and wiry grey hair make him a dead ringer for Cronenberg, has created GraveTech, a wired cemetery that allows mourners to watch their loved ones decompose in real-time, either with an app on their phones or via the monitors affixed to the top of each headstone. Karsh believes his morbid invention will allow people to maintain a meaningful relationship with the bodies of their life partners, even in death. The film also stars Diane Kruger and Guy Pearce. Cronenberg drew on his own wife’s death for this brilliantly cerebral thriller about the physicality of grief.

France/Canada 2024 David Cronenberg 120m

Bridget Jones finally has some luck in her life; she has a great job as a screenwriter, her family and a new boyfriend; the fact that he is over twenty years younger than her isn't the only thing that is causing problems.

Bridget (Renée Zellweger) navigates life as a widow and single mom with the help of her family, friends, and former lover Daniel (Hugh Grant). Back at work and on the apps, she's pursued by a younger man and maybe - just maybe - her son's science teacher. Zellweger, Grant, Colin Firth and Emma Thompson reprise their roles as Bridget Jones, Daniel Cleaver, Mark Darcy and Doctor Rawlings, respectively, with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Isla Fisher, Josette Simon, Nico Parker and Leila Farzad joining the cast.

UK 2025 Michael Morris 124m

Sat 10 Aug 20:45 – Priory Park

Gates open 19:15

TICKETS:

Advance Tickets £12.50 (£14.50 on the day if available)  

OPEN AIR SCREENINGS AT PRIORY PARK:

Screenings take place at Chichester's beautiful Priory Park.

Part of the prestigious Chichester International Film Festival.

Bring a Picnic Blanket or Chair, and a Picnic Basket filled with your favourite goodies.

Drinks & Snacks available

In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other... and him.

At the age of seventy, after years of consolidating his empire, the Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) decides to abdicate and divide his domain amongst his three sons. Taro (Akira Terao), the eldest, will rule. Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), his second son, and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu) will take command of the Second and Third Castles but are expected to obey and support their elder brother. Saburo defies the pledge of obedience and is banished. There is not a wasted second in this film, Kurosawa took film spectacle to new heights, continuing to extend his own powers after the acclaim of ‘Rashomon’ and ‘Seven Samurai’. The film celebrates 40 years in 2025 with this new remastered release.

Japan/France 1985 Akira Kurosawa 160m

(12A)

I feel the need. The need for… well… ‘Top Gun’ under the stars at Priory Park. One of the seminal 1980’s films, it has achieved cinematic cult status and is infinitely rewatchable.

The Top Gun Naval Fighter Weapons School is where the best of the best train to refine their elite flying skills. When hotshot fighter pilot Maverick (Tom Cruise) is sent to the school, his reckless attitude and cocky demeanour put him at odds with the other pilots, especially the cool and collected Iceman (Val Kilmer). But Maverick isn't only competing to be the top fighter pilot, he is also fighting for the attention of his beautiful flight instructor, Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis). This film has defined the modern day action blockbuster.

USA 1986 Tony Scott 119m

Sun 11 Aug 16:00 – Priory Park

Gates open 15:00

TICKETS:

Special Advance Family Ticket: £28 (2 Adults & 2 Kids)

Advance Tickets £12.50 (£14.50 on the day if available)  

Kids (Under 15) £3 (£3 on the day if available)

To close the open-air screenings weekend, let’s celebrate the life and music of legendary reggae musician Bob Marley, an icon who inspired generations through his message of love and unity.

Being a trailblazer, Bob Marley (a compelling Kingsley Ben-Adir) was involved in the development of reggae as a musical genre. Jamaican culture became more popular because of his music, which was not just about sounds, but a way of life. He preached peace, harmony and respect and was not afraid to use his music as a platform for his opinions on politics or religion. He has maintained such popularity over the years that you can find his poster hanging in modern-day student rooms, even though he hasn't produced any music since 1980. He is a true icon. That being the case, the lead actor had to be perfect. Kingsley Ben-Adir was cast as Bob, after an extensive, year-long and globe-spanning search by the studio, and he shines as the Jamaican legend.

USA 2023 Reinaldo Marcus Green 120m

Sun 11 Aug 20:00 – Priory Park

Gates open 19:00

TICKETS:

Advance Tickets £12.50 (£14.50 on the day if available)  

OPEN AIR SCREENINGS AT PRIORY PARK:

Screenings take place at Chichester's beautiful Priory Park.

Part of the prestigious Chichester International Film Festival.

Bring a Picnic Blanket or Chair, and a Picnic Basket filled with your favourite goodies.

Drinks & Snacks available

2025 Live Action Version

A hugely entertaining live-action remake of the much-loved 2002 animation, where a lonely Hawaiian girl befriends a runaway alien, helping to mend her fragmented family.

Lilo (Maia Kealoha) is an orphaned Hawaiian kid who keeps accidentally getting in trouble. Her elder sister, Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong), is trying to keep her on the straight and narrow after the death of their parents. Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders, director of the 2002 film) is a genetically engineered alien. When he is banished from his home planet, considered too dangerous to live, he escapes to Earth, envisaging a reign of destruction. Instead, he has to pose as a dog and move in with Lilo to evade the aliens tailing him. As Stitch tries to avoid capture and Lilo risks being taken away by social services, these two misfits form an unlikely bond. This has the charm of an ’80s family film such as ‘E.T.’ or ‘Gremlins’ and is one of the best of the recent live-action remakes. It will be a sure-fire hit for the family.

USA 2025 Dean Fleischer Camp 108m