A New Yorker newly separated from his wife moves in with his best friend, a divorced sportswriter, but their ideas of housekeeping and lifestyles are as different as night and day. 

When fussy Felix (Jack Lemmon) becomes suicidal over his impending divorce, he accepts an offer to move in with his best friend, messy Oscar (Walter Matthau). Felix drives Oscar crazy with his obsession over his soon-to-be ex. Oscar tries to get him out of his funk by arranging a double date with two wacky British neighbours, Cecily (Monica Evans) and Gwendolyn (Carole Shelley). When the plan backfires and Felix grows even more despondent, his friendship with Oscar is put to the test. Playwright-screenwriter Neil Simon has made the most of every best line in his original play to provide the two film leads with first-rate material to drool over. Still funny and still fresh nearly 60 years after its original release.

USA 1968 Gene Saks 105m

In 1930s Paris, rebellious British painter Leonora Carrington joins surrealists Breton and Dalí. Her romance with Max Ernst forces her to face her inner struggles.

The 1930s-set film follows Carrington (Olivia Vinall) as she rebels against society’s expectations, mingles with iconic figures including André Breton (Denis Eiriey) and Salvador Dalí (Cat Jugavru) in Paris and has a whirlwind love affair with Max Ernst (Alexander Scheer) before fleeing to Mexico during WWII. Today Leonora Carrington is one of the highest selling female painters worldwide, next to Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keeffe. Directed by filmmaking duo Lena Vurma and Thor Klein, the film is based on Elena Poniatowska’s best-selling book ‘Leonora’ and also stars Mercedes Bahleda as Peggy Guggenheim, Cassandra Ciangherotti as Remedios Varo and Ryan Gage as Edward James. (Some Subtitles)

Germany/Mexico/UK 2025 Thor Klein & Lena Vurma 103m

We are delighted to welcome directors Thor Klein and Lena Vurma, plus some cast members, for a Q&A following the Saturday screening.

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.

Dr. Frederic Treves (Anthony Hopkins) discovers Joseph (John) Merrick (John Hurt) in a sideshow. Born with a congenital disorder, Merrick uses his disfigurement to earn a living as the "Elephant Man." Treves brings Merrick into his home, discovering that his rough exterior hides a refined soul, and that Merrick can teach the stodgy British upper class of the time a lesson about dignity. Merrick becomes the toast of London before charming a caring actress (Anne Bancroft). The film’s arc moves the viewer from repulsion and fear to empathy and tenderness – that is the very movement of the story itself. Hurt's Merrick is extremely powerful, and this brooding David Lynch take on a real-life tale is a work of true potency.

USA/UK 1980 David Lynch 124m

The Life and Times of Athol Fugard 

TONY PALMER’S film portrait of Athol Fugard called ‘Falls the Shadow’ won the Gold Medal at the New York Film & TV Festival in 2013

Athol Fugard is the most performed playwright, besides Shakespeare, in the world. His thirty or so plays are performed everywhere. In Poland, in Brazil, Australia and Japan. In the United States, even Iran. The story’s very clear. Man’s inhumanity to man. Totally understandable wherever it is played. And audiences are shocked to have it presented so raw and shocked to often find themselves in tears.

His contribution has been huge. It’s been almost incomparable, and in a South African context of course, the best playwright South Africa has produced. He has been pioneering and, like the greatest of artists, he was still pioneering, still trying out new things. He had incredible energy, new ideas, new images, you know one just staggers back in front of this fount of creative energy.  

It’s given to very few playwrights to create a new voice in drama. Beckett does, Pinter does.  And Fugard does.  An absolutely unique voice that is Athol Fugard. Any playwright who speaks in a new voice makes you sit up and I think that’s why the world sat up and listened to Athol Fugard because he was speaking in a new way.  

"The South African government confirmed Fugard's death and said the country 'has lost one of its greatest literary and theatrical icons, whose work shaped the cultural and social landscape of our nation'" (Mark Kennedy and Gerald Imray, The Independent, 10 March 2025, click here).

"Fugard defined the essence of what he called "pure theater" as nothing more "than the actor and the stage, the actor in space and silence." As an artist he resisted labels, but he conceded that if his work is to be categorized "then it must be as 'actors' theatre.' Humanity was always at the core of Fugard's art" (Mark Kennedy and Gerald Imray, LA Times, 10 March 2025, click here).

"Fugard brought critical, wrenching portrayals of South African society under apartheid to international stages, including Broadway, helping to generate the wave of worldwide criticism that eventually led to the end of that policy in the country, in the process gaining wider access for South African dramaturgy outside that nation" (Carmel Dagan, Variety, 10 March 2025, click here).

"His longtime friend and collaborator John Kani mourned: 'I am deeply saddened by the passing of my dear friend Athol Fugard. May his soul rest in eternal peace'".

"Now he is dead, and a writer of true integrity has gone. He loved the actor who had played Miss Helen in Mecca, the great Yvonne Bryceland – his muse. He loved women; he wrote about the feral stoicism and optimism of the female animal with a warmth quite unusual in a writer – maybe excepting Ibsen. He understood fatalism, and loneliness, and had the ear of a poet for ordinary folk" (Janet Suzman, The Guardian, 9 Mar 2025)

Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis keep this joyous Billy Wilder comedy fizzing from start to finish. 

Two Struggling musicians witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and are now on the run from the Mob. Jerry (Jack Lemmon) and Joe (Tony Curtis) cross-dress into an all-female band. In addition to hiding, each has his own problems; One falls for another band member (Sugar Kane - voluptuously played by Monroe), but can't tell her his gender, and the other has a rich suitor who will not take "No," for an answer. ‘Some Like It Hot’ is effortlessly fluent, joyous and buoyant: a high-concept comedy that stays as high as a kite, while other comedies flag. "Nobody's perfect" is the last line. Wilder, Lemmon, Curtis and Monroe come pretty close.

USA 1959 Billy Wilder 121m

Set against a background of majestic arid landscapes coupled with the electric colours and sounds of Tunis, this is an unmissable exploration of how far one can go to break free from their past.

Every day Aya (Fatma Sfar) takes the minibus to the international hotel in Tozeur where she works as a chambermaid, before returning home to help her parents, whose primary thought is to marry Aya off to an older divorcee. Needless to say, Aya is not happy, so when an unforeseen incident affects her, she jumps at the opportunity unexpectedly afforded to her. Aya finds herself in Tunis, with no friends or papers, and now calling herself Amira. Is this new life any better than the one she previously knew? Featuring a magnetic performance from newcomer Sfar this is a drama-drenched film which looks great and also takes in police and government corruption in a post-revolution Tunisia. (Subtitles)

Tunisia/France 2024 Mehdi Barsaoui 123m

A husband-to-be flees his fiancée on their wedding day in Rangoon, 1917. His travels replace panic with melancholy, while his fiancée trails him across Asia.

1917, colonial Burma. Edward (Gonçalo Waddington), a civil servant for the British Empire, jilts his lovestruck fiancée Molly (Crista Alfaiate) the day she arrives to be married. As he escapes into an unexpected odyssey across Asia, she quickly follows suit amused by his moves. Rendered in stunning black-and-white period visuals interspersed with modern-day documentary footage, this is a dazzling multi-city symphony that will leave you reeling with wonder. Miguel Gomes (‘Tabu’, ‘Arabian Nights’) earnt the Best Director prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival for ‘Grand Tour’, a film that blends melodrama and comedy in a cat-and-mouse chase between lovers. (Subtitles)

Portugal 2024 Miguel Gomes 129m

A beautiful, heart-warming – and often funny - story that seeks to explore the fragile interplay between grief, human connection and the redemptive power of kindness.

Anne (Sarah-Jane Potts) is grieving the loss of her partner to the point of becoming mute.  She takes herself to the Canary Islands to spread his ashes, and just maybe, get her voice back, along with her place in the world. After an unwelcoming arrival, she finds herself wandering the streets until a chance encounter with another troubled traveller, Bill (David Ganly), offers an unexpected opportunity which could heal or crumble each of their lives. Potts has a magnetic screen presence, anchoring the film with a blend of vulnerability and resolve, portraying Anne as both fragile and fiercely determined to reclaim her life. It is hard to believe that this is the work of a first-time director (Millson is better known as an actor), achieving here a wonderful film with echoes of ‘Aftersun’ and ’45 Years’. Winner of Best Feature Film at the 2025 London Independent Film Festival and Berlin Indie Film Festival

"This is a magical film. It's got heart, soul and hope. And it’s laced with jeopardy." Irvine Welsh.

UK 2025 Joseph Millson 88m

A delivery man in Paris faces the dangers of urban nightlife while trying to support his family in Senegal. Entangled in a smuggling ring, he must make tough choices to secure their future.

Seydou (Oumar Diaw) is a migrant delivery worker in the heart of Paris. He navigates the challenges of survival and solitude, finding unexpected moments of connection that illuminate his path. His routine is a cycle of hardship, fleeting interactions and quiet resilience. Among indifferent customers and struggling workers, he forms an unexpected bond with Albert (Albert Delpy), a lonely elderly Parisian. Their friendship offers Seydou a rare connection, reshaping his perspective on belonging. This is ultimately a meditation on faith, connection and resilience in an increasingly fragmented world. Through Seydou’s journey and his bond with Albert, the film invites viewers to see beyond labels, to find strength in unlikely places, and to recognize the shared humanity that unites us all. This is an understated film about economic migration, told in a straightforward and powerful style. (Subtitles)

France 2024 Stevan Lee Mraovitch 80m

A life-affirming, genre-bending story based on Stephen King's novella about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.

We begin at the end – specifically, at the end of the world. Two ex-spouses, Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Felicia (Karen Gillan), reunite to watch the Earth crumble, and the stars blink out of existence – but why are there posters everywhere celebrating the mild-mannered Charles "Chuck" Krantz (played by Tom Hiddleston as an adult and Jacob Tremblay as a boy)? Flashbacks unravel the mystery, but the less you know about the film the better. This being a Stephen King adaptation, it has some supernatural elements, but it is not a horror movie, not at all. It is more a meditation on the big questions that we do not have answers to - and whether it would matter if we did. Look out for one scene where you will not believe how well Hiddleston can dance, in what may be the best dance sequence of any film this year.

USA 2025 Mike Flanagan 111m