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

The fictionalized life of singer Loretta Lynn, a girl who rose from humble beginnings to become a country music star in the 1960s/70s.

Raised in rural Kentucky poverty and married at the age of 13, Loretta Lynn (Sissy Spacek) begins writing and singing her own country songs in her early 1920s. With the tireless help of her husband Oliver "Mooney" Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones), Loretta rises from local honky-tonks and small-time record deals to national tours and hit singles, befriending her idol Patsy Cline (Beverly D'Angelo) and becoming a country music icon despite the toll stardom takes on her family and her marriage. ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’ manages to dig deep, avoiding the saccharine pitfalls that surround many a musical biopic. It is a remarkable film, a slice of Americana seen through the compassionate, unprejudiced eyes of English director Michael Apted.

USA 1980 Michael Apted 124m

This is a gorgeous performance film which uncovers Geraldine Flower's collection of love letters, suggesting a potential double life as a spy.

When Geraldine Flower died in 2019, a suitcase packed with hundreds of love letters written to her by smitten men in the 60s and 70s was found in her London flat. The letters inspired a 2024 album by Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini (called ‘Miss Flower’) and also this intriguing, gorgeous and creative film. The letters here are read by Nick Cave, Richard Ayoade and others, yet Flower maintains her elusiveness to the end. The co-directors, artists and filmmakers Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, won awards and accolades for their inspired and unconventional 2014 film about Nick Cave, ‘20,000 Days on Earth’. With their new film, unshackled from the tropes of musical biography, their creative freedom is able to truly take flight, resulting in a delight for the senses that is both deeply intimate and thrillingly cinematic. A deeply moving film.

UK 2024 Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard 73m

Heralded as the breakout film at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, this is a fragile comedy-drama that examines how a private trauma haunts a young woman long after it occurred.

Agnes (Eva Victor) is an English professor at a college in rural New England. She is thrilled when her newly married best friend Lydie (Naomi Ackie), recently moved to New York, arrives for a visit. Lydie very quickly notices Agnes’ anxiety most likely stemming from a past fateful encounter with her admiring advisor Preston (Louis Cancelmi). Although ‘Sorry, Baby’ takes Agnes’ pain seriously, Victor often makes bitterly hilarious observations about society’s discomfort in showing empathy toward women who are dealing with personal suffering. Sharply written, smartly structured and well-acted, with a star-making turn from director Victor herself, this is a black comedy that is not only nimble but consistently funny, whilst dealing with a difficult subject. This is a multi-talented filmmaker to keep your eye on.

USA/Spain/France 2025 Eva Victor 103m

‘Persuasion’ was Austen’s last finished novel, written when the society she so eloquently satirised was beginning to significantly change.

As one of three daughters of the wealthy Sir Walter Elliot (Corin Redgrave), Anne Elliot (Amanda Root) is a privileged but lonely member of the English aristocracy. Unlike Elizabeth Bennet from ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Anne Elliot is not playful or witty but quiet, sensible, and regrets not having the courage of her convictions. When her father leaves on a trip, he rents out part of his estate to relatives of Anne's ex-fiancé, Capt. Frederick Wentworth (Ciarán Hinds). Though Anne demurred over the marriage because of Wentworth's poor social standing and connections, he has since become very successful, and when he visits, Anne must confront the life she left behind. Hinds plays Wentworth with a wonderful mix of dash and awkwardness. This is a film which reminds us no matter what missteps we make, there might be hope of a happy ending after all.

UK 1995 Roger Michell 103m

A Swedish TV presenter's well-ordered life unravels when she finally confronts her domineering husband about an accusation against him. Her subsequent flight precipitates a chain of lies and paranoia in this taut psychological thriller.

Maria (Mirja Turestedt) is caught in the middle of a media maelstrom after her successful academic husband Magnus (Thomas W Gabrielsson) has been accused of rape. He denies it, but in a flippant, sneering kind of way that makes his guilt plain. When Maria finally snaps in the face of his unrelenting unpleasantness, her journey takes an unexpected turn, finding herself in the wilds of Exmoor, renting an isolated country house with just her dog for company. The film shifts its focus from a broken marriage to a fracturing psyche, and what first looked like a family drama starts moving towards a clever psychological thriller. This Nordic noir debut from Caroline Ingvarsson plays out against the arresting backdrops of Sweden and South West England, adding extra atmosphere to an already mysterious film. ‘Echoes of page-turner adaptations like ‘Girl on the Train’ and ‘Woman in the Window’’ - ScreenDaily. (Some subtitles)

UK/Sweden 2023 Caroline Ingvarsson 93m

A CELEBRATION OF DAVID LYNCH

David Lynch, who died in January of this year, was one of America’s most distinctive auteurs.  At once a pop culture icon, visionary artist and popular surrealist, Lynch enthralled and provoked viewers since his cult screen debut, Eraserhead in 1977.

Lynch’s sense of the beauty and terror of the little details of human lives defines his work.  Surrealistic imagery and bold sound design combine in his films to create unsettling and immersive worlds.  Worlds where horror and humour coexist, in screen masterpieces such as Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks.

Nick Johnston-Jones of the Cinema Education Team presents an overview and discussion of this unique and greatly loved screen artist.

100m inc Q&A

When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.

After a painful breakup, Clementine (Kate Winslet) undergoes a procedure to erase memories of her former boyfriend Joel (Jim Carrey) from her mind. When Joel discovers that Clementine is going to extremes to forget their relationship, he undergoes the same procedure and slowly begins to forget the woman that he loved. Directed by former music video director Michel Gondry, the visually arresting film explores the intricacy of relationships and the pain of loss. The two leads are both quietly heartbreaking in Gondry’s ground-breaking romance, co-written by the one-of-a-kind Charlie Kaufman (‘Being John Malkovich’). It is a wildly imaginative, hugely entertaining tour de force that asks big questions about life and love and fate while never ceasing to fully engage the viewer.

USA 2004 Michel Gondry 108m

David Lynch peeks behind the picket fences of small-town America to reveal a corrupt shadow world of malevolence, sadism and madness.

From the opening shots Lynch turns the Technicolor picture postcard images of middle-class homes into a dreamy vision on the edge of nightmare. College boy Kyle MacLachlan (Jeffrey) returns home and stumbles across a severed human ear in a vacant lot. With the help of a sweetly innocent high school girl (Laura Dern), he turns junior detective and uncovers a frightening yet darkly compelling world of voyeurism and sex. Drawn deeper into the brutal world of drug dealer and blackmailer Frank, played with raving mania by an obscenity-shouting Dennis Hopper, Jeffrey loses his innocence and his moral bearings when confronted with pure, unexplainable evil. Isabella Rossellini is terrifyingly desperate as Hopper's sexual slave who becomes MacLachlan's illicit lover and Dean Stockwell purrs through his role. David Lynch delivers a nightmarish masterpiece.

USA 1986 David Lynch 120m

While matchmaking for friends and neighbours, a young 19th Century Englishwoman nearly misses her own chance at love.

In this adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel, pretty socialite Emma Woodhouse (Gwyneth Paltrow) entertains herself by playing matchmaker for those around her. Her latest "project" is Harriet Smith (Toni Collette), an unpretentious debutant, while Emma herself receives the attentions of the dashing Frank Churchill (Ewan McGregor). However, Emma's attempts at matchmaking cause more problems than solutions and may ultimately jeopardize her own chance at love and happiness. Paltrow makes a resplendent Emma, gliding through the film with an elegance and patrician wit that bring the young Katharine Hepburn to mind.

USA/UK 1996 Douglas McGrath 120m

Once a year, contenders from around the globe descend on a picturesque village in the Scottish Highlands to compete for the title of World Porridge Champion. Amid intense rivalries, steaming bowls of porridge, and the lives of charming locals we see a living legacy unfold.

Dating back to neolithic times, few culinary traditions have survived as long as the hearty bowl of morning porridge. Each year the sleepy highland village of Carrbridge awakens with excitement as locals and competitors from around the globe vie for the honour of winning The Golden Spurtle in the World Porridge Making Championships. This deftly constructed crowd-pleaser is a film to nourish the soul. Its considerable charm and humour come from an appetising combination of lovably eccentric characters, a sharp-eyed camera, a playful, bustling score and the glorious Scottish countryside.  

UK/Australia 2025 Constantine Costi 75m

IN ALL THEIR COMPLEXITY

THE FILMS OF KATE WINSLET

A talk looking back at the career of one of the finest screen actors of the last thirty years.

This talk, by Professor Maggie Andrews, of the Cinema Education Team, will explore, using a range of clips, some of the independent, Hollywood, British and Australasian films which have featured in Kate Winslet’s extensive and high-profile career, of more than thirty years. Her unquestionable acting talent has seen her portray complex, contradictory and often uncompromising versions of femininity on screen. From ‘Heavenly Creatures’ to ‘Lee’ all these texts have raised questions about the limitations and possibilities of contemporary womanhood. Whilst some of Winslet’s roles have been rooted in the gently feminist sensibilities of heritage drama, such as ‘Titanic’ and ‘A Little Chaos’, others have involved thornier problems: women’s illiteracy and culpability, as an SS Guard in ‘The Reader’, or the dangers of DIY abortions in ‘Revolutionary Road’. More recently, her seemingly fearless onscreen sexuality has opened up debates about gender, age, visibility and value, in ‘The Dressmaker’ and ‘Ammonite’.

100m inc Q&A

Based on a true story. A group of renegades attack two young shepherds in the remote Tunisian hills, forcing young Achraf, 13, to return home with a disturbing message.

As if life for 13-year-old goat herder Achraf (Ali Helali) and his older teen cousin Nizar (Yassine Samouni) isn’t precarious enough in their rural Tunisian community, a trip up the Mghila Mountain brings the added risk of potential landmines and threats from the extremists who hide out there. Yet danger seems like a far-off possibility as the teenagers play about in mountain pools and tell stories on a sunny day. Until brutal reality arrives, and they are suddenly set upon by jihadists. Childhood is short-lived in this world, Achraf having to drop out of school because his father is not around. It is also an environment in which the threat of violence is constant while the promise of hope is scarce. A visceral eye-opening film with great performances from all, especially the young Ali Helali. The story is based on the killing of 17-year-old Mabrouk Soltani amid the 2015 Tunisian unrest. (Subtitles)

Tunisia 2024 Lotfi Achour 97m

Jack Lemmon won a Best Actor Oscar for this role, which sees him as a troubled garment manufacturer who explores dark avenues to keep his small debt-ridden factory afloat.

Clothing manufacturer Harry Stoner (Jack Lemmon) mourns the loss of his youthful idealism even as he seals his fate by arranging to have an arsonist (Thayer David) torch his faltering factory for the insurance settlement. Stoner's conflicts with himself, his business partner (Jack Gilford), his distant wife (Patricia Smith) and a demanding client (Norman Burton) boil over during a nightmarish presentation at a fashion show, while a free-spirited hippie girl (Laurie Heineman) offers escape. Featuring a tour-de-force Oscar-winning performance from Lemmon, this is a meticulously painted portrait of a deeply flawed human being, and through it, finds something to say about the growing cynicism and bleak reality of 1970s America.

USA 1973 John G. Avildsen 100m

KJÆRLIGHET

A pragmatic doctor explores the possibility of spontaneous intimacy, questioning societal norms, after a chance meeting with a nurse from her work.

Marianne (Andrea Bræin Hovig), a doctor, and Tor (Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen), a compassionate nurse, are both avoiding conventional relationships. One evening after a blind date, Marianne encounters Tor on the ferry, who often spends his nights there seeking casual encounters with men. Intrigued by his perspective on spontaneous intimacy, Marianne begins to explore whether this could also be an option for her. Satisfying, thoughtful narrative and character play, together with engagingly candid sexual discussions and performances from the ensemble makes this a promising prospect for admirers of mature, thoughtful relationship cinema – especially admirers of Eric Rohmer and the like. (Subtitles)

Norway 2024 Dag Johan Haugerud 119m

LA PETITE VADROUILLE

In this very funny French farce, a group of friends come up with a unique solution to their money problems: organise a fake romantic cruise for a wealthy investor, who is looking to seduce a woman.

Justine (Sandrine Kiberlain), her husband (Denis Podalydès), and their circle of friends find an easy solution to their money problems: they will organize a fake romantic cruise for Franck (Daniel Auteuil), a major investor, take advantage of his romanticism and naivety, and extract his funds. But before Justine can even suggest this plan to Franck, he proposes it first. The motley crew navigate through the French canals and locks, impersonating folk who actually know what they are doing, at the expense of the clueless and amorous Franck. French megastars Auteuil (‘La Belle Époque’) and Kiberlain (‘Mademoiselle Chambon’) shine in this playful farce set upon a slow-drifting houseboat from director Bruno Podalydès (‘The Sweet Escape), whose gift for depicting the foibles of daily life via absurd comedy is on display here once again. A perfect Sunday afternoon film. (Subtitles)

France 2024 Bruno Podalydès 96m

Andriy Dovzhenko demonstrate disobedience to the Soviet system, but system is trying to break him with forbidden punitive psychiatry practice. Will his system break him?

The protagonist Andrii Dovzhenko finds out a horrible truth, that has been hidden in USSR for years - most of those accused of «anti-Soviet propaganda» were never sent to prison, but to special psychiatric hospitals with a diagnosis of "slow progressive schizophrenia". Andrii finds himself in a real hell of punitive psychiatry and faces a difficult choice - to cooperate with the KGB and return to his family, or to reveal the truth about dissidents tortured in such psychiatric hospitals.

(Subtitles)

Ukraine 2024 Denys Tarasov 119m

Kaj Ti Je Deklica

A 16-year-old joins a Catholic school choir and befriends a senior. During a retreat, attractions to a restoration worker create tensions between the two and challenges their faith.

Lucija (Jara Sofija Ostan) is an introverted who is prone to drifting off into daydreams. Key among these are the vividly painted lips of Ana-Marija (Mina Svajger), a confident and popular senior who, like Lucija, sings alto in their Catholic school's all-girls choir. When the choir travels to northern Italy, Lucija finds herself attracted to a workman renovating the convent causing tension within her newly formed social circle. Slovenian director Urska Djukic digs deep into the fertile terrain of religion and adolescent hormones and finds something fresh in this coming-of-age drama. Premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival launching Djukic as a new female force in the industry. The title comes from the ‘Sonic Youth’ song of the same name which plays over the closing credits, and whose lyrics perfectly encapsulate the frustrations of the film’s lead character. (Subtitles)

Slovenia 2025 Urska Djukic 89m

A rare chance to experience a cinematic masterpiece made almost a century ago. ‘Sunrise’ is a pinnacle of craft and one of the most revered films of all time, distinguished by its astonishingly fluid and inventive camera work. The live musical accompaniment mixes improvisation and composition and will be played on piano, flute, accordion and harp.

In this F.W. Murnau (‘Nosferatu’) masterpiece, a farmer (George O'Brien) with a pretty wife (Janet Gaynor) begins a downward spiral after starting an affair with a vacationing woman from the city (Margaret Livingston). She wants him to return to the city with her but when he mentions his wife, she suggests drowning her. Considered one of the greatest silent films. Indeed, in 2022's Sight and Sound poll, it was voted the 11th greatest film of all time! And yet surprisingly few people have seen it.

USA 1927 F.W. Murnau 94m

The live musical accompaniment will be performed by one of the leading silent film performers, Stephen Horne on piano, flute and accordion, alongside award-winning harpist and composer Elizabeth-Jane Baldry.

Tickets £15

The first in Satyajit Ray’s legendary ‘Apu Trilogy’ follows an impoverished priest dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, who leaves his rural Bengal village behind in search of work.

Harihar (Kanu Bannerjee) leaves his wife Sarbojaya (Karuna Bannerjee) alone, to look after rebellious daughter, Durga (Uma Das Gupta) and her young son, Apu (Subir Bannerjee), as well as Harihar's elderly aunt Indir (Chunibala Devi). The children enjoy the small pleasures of their difficult life, while their parents suffer the daily indignities heaped upon them. Specifically, this film is about India, but actually it is about everybody. The poetry of the film transcends its locality and speaks to us all. Satyajit Ray managed to deliver a classic with his debut, which features a soul-shaking sitar soundtrack by Ravi Shankar. (Subtitles)

India 1955 Satyajit Ray 126m

Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, a law student re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial. Kate Winslet deservedly won both Oscar and Bafta for Best Actress for this outstanding performance.

Michael Berg (David Kross), a teen in postwar Germany, begins a passionate but clandestine affair with Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), an older woman who enjoys having classic novels read to her. Then Hanna mysteriously disappears, leaving Michael heartbroken and confused. Years later, Michael, now a law student, gets the shock of his life when he sees Hanna on trial for Nazi war crimes. The Reader boasts some of the finest credentials on film; it is lit by two of Britain's finest cinematographers, Roger Deakins and Chris Menges; it is directed with great sensitivity by Stephen Daldry (The Hours) and with a screenplay by the incomparable David Hare it is gripping and intense, and told with immense restraint and no hint of sensationalism.

Germany/USA 2008 Stephen Daldry 124m

Plus Q&A

An in-depth investigation into the air you breathe on an aircraft and what the industry really knows.

This film took two people a total of 50 years of research and ten years of filming to create. It is made not to sensationalise but to provide audiences with enough research evidence for them to learn and better understand the issues at the heart of the film. Director Tristan Loraine is a former airline Captain who retrained at the British National Film and Television School and at Raindance Film Festival in London in 2006.

UK 2025 Tristan Lorraine 88m

JANE AUSTEN A GÂCHÉ MA VIE

A desperately single bookseller, lost in a fantasy world, finds herself forced to fulfil her dreams of becoming a writer in order to stop messing up her love life.

Agathe (Camille Rutherford), hopelessly clumsy yet charming and full of contradictions, finds herself in desperate singlehood. Her dream is to experience love akin to a Jane Austen novel and her ultimate aspiration is to become a writer. Instead, she spends her days selling books in the legendary British Bookshop, Shakespeare & Co, in Paris. Invited to the Jane Austen Writers' Residency in England, she must confront her insecurities to finally fulfil her ambition of becoming a novelist and put an end to wasting her sentimental life. Agathe, is an Elizabeth Bennet-type character in the shape of a Phoebe Waller-Bridge protagonist: she is lonely, depressed, a bit of an alcoholic and often facing an existential crisis. Full of delight and dry wit, together with a hint of the Richard Curtis rom-com, this is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. (Subtitles)

France 2024 Laura Piani 94m

Film, Flamenco & Food Event

LA VIDA PADRE

A famous chef is astounded at the return of his father, coinciding with the most important moment of the kitchen and the young chef’s life.

In this delicious comedy set in the world of high cuisine, young and ambitious chef Mikel (Enric Auquer) receives an unexpected visit from his father Juan (Karra Elejalde), who disappeared thirty years ago, and has returned with a case of acute amnesia – he can’t recall anything from the last three decades. At a critical moment for the future of his restaurant, Mikel must take charge of the crazy and unpredictable Juan, a verifiable hurricane, to get a third Michelin star for their family restaurant. The two leads have a wonderful chemistry, and you will most likely find yourself laughing and crying at various times in the film. (Subtitles)

Spain 2022 Joaquín Mazón 91m

We take advantage of the screening of this food-based Spanish film, to repeat (after 2024) our delicious tie-in with local Tapas restaurant El Matador, for a very special Film, Flamenco & Food event. You won’t find a deal as good as this anywhere!

Wed 20 Aug 15:45 – Lumiere (film)

Dinner at 18:00 – El Matador (PO19 7LT)

Tickets £48 (Film, Flamenco & Food)

An unconventional romantic comedy in which a young American in Paris meets a French girl with a morbid curiosity about he darker sides of the city's history.

Paul (Jeremie Galiana) and Paulette's (Marie Benati) chance encounter on a Parisian boulevard sparks an unusual friendship that grows around a dark game; reenacting scenes of notorious crimes from bygone eras at the sites they occurred. As their morbid road trip approaches the more recent past it becomes more uncomfortable, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, but finding a surprising joy in the darker corners of humanity. British-French writer/director Jethro Massey uses the unique premise as a springboard to examine the impermanence of everything - even an infatuation between two people who seem destined for one another. Including a great soundtrack, this quirky film which premiered in the Venice Film Festival’s Critics Week last year, could just be a cult film in the making. (Some subtitles)

UK 2024 Jethro Massey 109m

Please join us for this special panel hosted by BFI NETWORK South East, where we’ll explore the realities of independent filmmaking and the path to securing funding.

Perfect for aspiring and emerging filmmakers and creatives, the session will open with a screening of BFI NETWORK-funded short films, followed by an in-depth discussion with the filmmakers themselves. If you're curious about how to bring your stories to life while navigating the ups and downs of independent film production, this event is not to be missed!

Join is at Fernleigh, 40 North Street, Chichester, PO19 1LX on 20 August at 16:00 – 17:30 followed by networking drinks.

£5.00 registration fee

Amidst the profound social change and political turmoil of 1960s post-war Japan, a bold generation of avant-garde artists emerged, redefining the boundaries of art.

Through underground theatre, experimental photography, surreal illustrations, and the radical dance of Butoh. Their groundbreaking creations not only captured the spirit of their time but also transformed the global art landscape forever. A new aesthetic of photography was born: “Are, Bure, Boke” (rough, dark and out of focus), pioneered by Moriyama Daidō and the Provoke magazine photographers. Master of underground theatre Terayama Shūji produced countless magical, surreal and vividly colourful films, plays and photobooks, Yokoo Tadanori and Awazu Kiyoshi revolutionised graphic design with their incandescent theatre posters, Tanaami Keiichi, Japan’s answer to Andy Warhol, developed his unique kaleidoscopic vision of Pop-Art, and Butoh founders Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo impacted modern dance forever with their dance of darkness and light. (Some subtitles)

UK/Japan/France 2025 Amélie Ravalec 100m

LE DÉLUGE

Follows the last uncertain days of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette before they were executed.

1792. Louis XVI (Guillaume Canet), his wife Marie Antoinette (Mélanie Laurent), and their children have been arrested and imprisoned in the Tour de Temple, a sinister chateau in Paris, awaiting their trial. Far from the splendour of Versailles, they are isolated and vulnerable for the first time in their lives. Drawn from the diaries of Louis XVI’s personal valet Jean-Baptiste Cléry (played by Fabrizio Rongione), the film begins in the immediate aftermath of the 1792 insurrection that saw the Tuileries Palace stormed by armed revolutionaries and the monarchy abolished. Arrested, the royal family and their entourage arrive at the Tour du Temple, a large but sparsely appointed chateau in central Paris, where they are to be confined while their fate is determined. The deposed, imprisoned monarchs are mocked by whatever finery they have held onto, looking shrunken in their dirtied robes and increasingly unkempt wigs. With empathy and stirring performances from Canet and a blistering Laurent, this is a fascinating story from which modern France was born, told with a de-frilled austerity that feels decidedly new. (Subtitles)

France 2024 Gianluca Jodice 101m

Laura Palmer's harrowing final days are chronicled one year after the murder of Teresa Banks, a resident of Twin Peaks' neighbouring town.

In the folksy town of Deerfield, Washington, FBI Agent Desmond (Chris Isaak) inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The killer is never apprehended, and, after experiencing dark visions and supernatural encounters, Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) chillingly predicts that the culprit will claim another life. Meanwhile, in the similarly cozy town of Twin Peaks, hedonistic beauty Lara Palmer (Sheryl Lee) hangs with lowlifes and seems destined for a grisly fate. This haunting prequel to Lynch’s infamous TV hit is a moody and surreal fever dream, anchored by a career best performance by Sheryl Lee. It will linger long after the credits roll.

USA 1992 David Lynch 147m

The Short Film Showcase returns to the Chichester International Film Festival programme. Join us for a mixture of shorts ranging from the locally produced, to those made on the other side of the world.

Various Directors

Sight & Sound best films of the year (2024). The light, the lives and the textures of contemporary, working-class Mumbai are explored and celebrated in this Cannes Grand Prize winner.

Centring on two roommates - Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha) plus their coworker Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) - Kapadia's film alights on moments of connection and heartache, hope and disappointment. Prabha has her husband from an arranged marriage living in faraway Germany; Hindu Anu carries on a secret romance with a Muslim man; Parvaty finds herself dealing with a sudden eviction. Kapadia captures the bustle of the metropolis and the open-air tranquillity of a seaside village with equal radiance, articulated by her superb actresses and by the camera that occasionally drifts into dreamlike incandescence. (Subtitles)

India 2024 Payal Kapadia 118m

Fanny, born into a poor family, is sent away to live with wealthy uncle, where she will be brought up for a proper introduction to society.

Fanny (Frances O'Connor), born into a poor family, is sent away to live with her uncle Sir Thomas (Harold Pinter), his wife (Lindsay Duncan) and their four children. She is treated unfavourably by her relatives, except for her cousin Edmund (Jonny Lee Miller), whom she grows fond of. However, Fanny's life is thrown into disarray with the arrival of worldly Mary Crawford (Embeth Davidtz) and her brother Henry (Alessandro Nivola). Harold Pinter's portrayal of the decent, insensitive Sir Thomas, a man with various guilts gnawing at his soul, is a highlight of the film, alongside Patricia Rozema’s rich and tactile direction, making sure to take care of the less obvious interactions in the grander scenes.

UK/USA 1999 Patricia Rozema 112m

In a society that doesn't give a damn about people like her, a rebellious mother of three risks everything to get a piece of paradise.

In a small town on the edge of wild country, an eccentric and delinquent mother (Ophélia Kolb) has had enough of the rules. Crushed by her mistakes and by a society that doesn't give a damn - or a second chance - to people like her, she'll do anything to prove to her children, and to herself, that she still is a good person. This is a poignant story about inequality and socioeconomic challenges that single parents often face, especially as they exist in a world that makes it nearly impossible to get a leg up. This story which challenges perceptions of motherhood and morality is a triumph of expression and humanity from award-winning filmmaker Jasmin Gordon and actor Ophélia Kolb. (Subtitles)

Switzerland 2024 Jasmin Gordon 83m

THE FINE ART OF FILMING AUSTEN

As the celebrations continue for the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen, this talk looks back at the numerous film versions of her work.

As the millennium drew to a close, Cool Britannia gathered momentum on the wave of Britpop and the Young British Artists. Into this celebration of youth suddenly burst a plethora of screen adaptations of a Regency novelist not seen in the cinema for over fifty years. 250 years after her birth, this talk, by Cinema Education Officer Patrick Hargood, will look back at the Austen phenomenon and its aftermath, focusing on the big screen adaptations of her work. Films under discussion (including plenty of clips) will include Ang Lee and Emma Thompson’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’, along with Gwyneth Paltrow as ‘Emma’, and her modern iteration, Alicia Silverstone’s Cher, in ‘Clueless’. Thirty years on the Austen juggernaut continues its relentless path, but what does this say about British culture and identity and to what extent do the adaptations offer an authentic version of Austen’s art?

100m inc Q&A

LE ASSAGGIATRICI

Based on Margot Wölk’s extraordinary real-life account, this film sees a group of women risk their lives as Hitler’s ‘food tasters’.

Rosa Sauer (Elisa Schlott) flees her bombed-out Berlin apartment, moves in with her in-laws, all while her husband, a German soldier, is fighting in Ukraine. Not too far away in a forest surrounded by barbed wire is the "Wolf's Lair" - the Eastern Front military headquarters of Adolf Hitler. Rosa lands among a group of war-weary young women, long deprived of sufficient food, who are forcibly recruited by the SS. They are driven every day to Hitler's complex to serve as his food tasters, dining on abundant vegetarian delicacies three times a day. The only price: risking their lives with each bite as they are tasked with making sure that the food intended for Adolf Hitler has not been poisoned. The extraordinary account by then 95-year-old Margot Wölk created a sensation when it first appeared in a Berlin tabloid more than a decade ago. Her decision to break decades of silence about her wartime experiences captured the imagination of German reporters, then global media, finally inspiring a documentary, two novels and a play. (Subtitles)

Italy/Belgium/Switzerland 2025 Silvio Soldini 123m

This is the first-ever film adaptation of ‘The First Man’ - an early and rare story from the pen of Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, Eugene O'Neill. This psychological romantic drama set in 1920s Connecticut, delves into themes of obsession, grief and betrayal.

World renowned anthropologist Curtis (Vincent Andriano) is consumed by grief over his young daughters' deaths. He finds solace in immersing himself in preparations for his upcoming expedition to Mongolia, where he aims to unravel the mystery of "The First Man”. However, he must confront an undercurrent of family conflict as he battles against his relatives' unsettling suspicions that his wife Martha (Charlotte Asprey) is carrying his best friend Bigelow's (Alan Turkington) child. 100 years after it was first published, here is a chance to see this psychological romance on the big screen, in a film that also explores the struggle to have children in later life, a theme that is very relevant today and will resonate with modern audiences.

UK 2024 Hardeep Giani 140m

DOCUMENTARY & LIVE JAZZ GIG WITH GUY BARKER

Film

LISTEN UP: THE LIVES OF QUINCY JONES (PG)

A unique look at the legendary musician, arranger, composer and producer, Quincy Jones, this documentary offers a collage of memories, sounds and intimate interviews with musical greats in a rousing showcase.

The filmmakers have looked unblinkingly at both happy and sad times, and some of the most poignant moments come as Quincy’s oldest daughter, Jolie Jones, talks quietly about her father. Many others who rarely talk for documentaries, talk here: Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and even the shy Michael Jackson. Jones became the first black composer to score for mainstream films (‘In Cold Blood’) and has produced for musicians as varied as Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and rapper Kool Moe Dee. The film is constructed in a kaleidoscopic way. Instead of moving ponderously from one subject to another and following chronological order, the filmmakers organize their material more like a jazz composition. The interview subjects are like soloists improvising on a theme and occasionally stepping in to comment on someone else’s observations. The result is an original piece of work and by the end of the film, we know Quincy Jones much better than expected.

USA 1990 Ellen Weissbrod 111m

Plus

LIVE JAZZ GIG

Complementing the documentary there will be a special set of jazz by five exceptional musicians, celebrating Quincy Jones' boundary-defying influence on the musical universe.

Originating from Australia, vocalist Georgia Van Etten possesses a big, buttery voice, with which she creates retro soundscapes fusing soulful melodies with folk, jazz, rock and cinematic pop.

Joining her is the legendary Guy Barker, whose illustrious five-decade career includes being the UK’s premier jazz trumpet star, a highly sought session musician, and latterly, composer, arranger and conductor, and leader of his own jazz orchestra. His extensive international credits speak to his highest regard in the music world.

Award-winning pianist Jim Watson, a prominent figure on the UK music scene and beyond, has lent his talents to recordings and performances with acclaimed artists like Kurt Elling and Van Morrison.

Hailing from Ireland, Darren Beckett established himself in New York at 18 as a drummer of precocious talent, performing with Brandon Flowers, Van Morrison and Lee Konitz. Darren is a highly sought-after jazz and studio musician, collaborating with artists such as Ronnie Wood and Nick Cave.

Curating this special musical tribute is the superb bassist Andrew Cleyndert, who makes a welcome return to Chichester to lead this world class band.

Film & Gig - 180m

Tickets £24

Thu 21 Aug 19:00 – Auditorium

DRACULA THE MESSIAH - PART THREE, THE SEDUCER 

Following the original Bram Stoker novel very closely, this is part three of ‘The Four Gospels of Dracula the Messiah’, covering the part of the story from when Dracula arrives in England to the death and burial of Lucy Westenra.

This dramatic and moving chapter can be viewed as a stand-alone film. It shows Dracula’s (Philip Blair) effect upon Lucy Westenra (Olga Brook), her mother Mrs Westenra (Rudi Davies) and her friend Mina Harker (Charlotte Rogers); we see the bewilderment of Lucy's fiancé Arthur Holmwood (Gareth McChlery) as he struggles to keep Lucy alive. We also meet Dracula's apostle, the lunatic Renfield (Kevin McMonagle) who is in the insane asylum next door to the Westenra household. This is also the part of the story where we meet Dr. Van Helsing (played by Mick Ford) and see the continuation of the story of the prostitute Lilith (Åslög Von Roos) who has been sent in a box by Dracula to the Satanist Mr Hawkins (Simon Usher), Jonathan Harker’s employer. The development of the religious and philosophical ideas in the film, as well as its genuine descent into the underworld of lust and living death, make this film one of the most fulfilling, serious and thoughtful of all Dracula films

UK 2020 Gregory Motton 84m

Buck is a country singer on the road caught in a romantic triangle with Viv and Lily, the daughter of his longtime musical sidekick.

Country music star Buck Bonham (Willie Nelson) has spent a lot of years on the road, but despite his wife Viv's (Dyan Cannon) requests that he stay put, he just cannot give up the lifestyle. When his guitar player and best friend, Garland Ramsey (Slim Pickens), decides to retire, Buck replaces him with Garland's daughter, Lily (Amy Irving), and heads back out on tour. The two begin an affair which Viv quickly picks up on, and Buck is forced to choose between the two women he loves. Cannon (‘Heaven Can Wait’) is exquisite in one of her best roles, but the presence of the great Willie Nelson is the real highlight, making his starring debut at the age of 47 (and not looking a day over 60). Grizzled, grinning, sweet-voiced and pleasant, and a very engaging actor.

USA 1980 Jerry Schatzberg 119m

Plus Q&A

Lobular breast cancer is the second most common type of breast cancer, yet it remains an 'unmet clinical need'. This is the moving story of Dr Susan Michaelis and some of the ladies diagnosed with the disease who set about to change that.

The film tells the story of some remarkable ladies (including the Director’s wife) who set up the Lobular Moon Shot Project campaign to get the Government to fund a £20 million five-year research project into their type of breast cancer known as lobular breast cancer. A type of breast cancer that rarely shows on a mammogram and does not have a specific disease based on its unique biology. The campaign has become the most bipartisan supported political campaign in the nation with over 345 MPs pledging their support to the project and calling on the government to fund this vital research. More than the post office scandal, blood fiasco etc. Local MP Jess Brown-Fuller supports the project as do every Liberal Democrat MP.

UK 2025 Tristan Lorraine 88m

SORDA

A mother’s deafness raises concerns during her pregnancy regarding connecting with her daughter. Post-delivery, her partner supports her as she learns to mother in a society lacking adequate accommodations for the hearing-impaired.

Living in rural Spain, where she works in a pottery studio, Angela (Miriam Garlo), who is deaf, and her hearing partner Hector (Alvaro Cervantes), are thrilled at the prospect of having their first baby. But when their daughter is born, their difference in ability drives a wedge between them as the deaf and hearing worlds diverge dramatically. Hung on a stunning performance by deaf actor Miriam Garlo, this is an achingly beautiful film, which brings to light some of the challenges of being hearing impaired. From a heart-wrenching scene where already in the vulnerable and overwhelming position of having her first baby, Angela struggles to lip-read the myriad midwives in the room; or an irritable exchange with a shop assistant selling a hearing aid who cannot understand her. The title refers not only to Angela, but to a society that a society that is simply not prepared for them and doesn’t really listen. (Subtitles)

Spain 2024 Eva Libertad 99m

When a low caste girl's body is found in the rural badlands of Northern India, a newly appointed police officer is pulled into the investigation alongside her corrupt colleagues.

Santosh (brilliantly played by Shahana Goswami) is an emotionally bruised young woman who takes up the option of ‘compassionate appointment’, a scheme in India that enables women to take up their deceased husband’s old jobs. When a girl’s body is found, her lazy, bribable fellow officers, under the command of bullying Inspector Sharma, seem to do anything but the right thing. This terrific slow-burn drama is the anti-Hollywood version of the straight-arrow cop navigating corruption on the force (think ‘LA Confidential’ and ‘Serpico’), but more unusually, it is a female rural Indian police officer at the core, meaning a far murkier and less predictable affair. The problems are far too deep-seated for one well-meaning, inexperienced young constable to solve, leading us into a maze of compromised ethics, police brutality, caste violence and misogyny. Quality filmmaking.

India 2024 Sandhya Suri 128m

Based on the best-selling novel by Rosalie Ham, this bittersweet, comedy-drama is set in early 1950s Australia.

Tilly Dunnage (Kate Winslet), a beautiful and talented misfit, after many years working as a dressmaker in exclusive Parisian fashion houses, returns home to the tiny, backward, middle-of-nowhere town of Dungatar to right the wrongs of the past. Not only does she reconcile with her ailing, eccentric mother Molly (Judy Davis steals the show here with many references to Gloria Swanson and Sunset Boulevard) and unexpectedly falls in love with the pure-hearted Teddy (Liam Hemsworth), but armed with her sewing machine and incredible sense of style, she transforms the women of the town and in so doing gets sweet revenge on those who did her wrong. Enormously good fun.

Australia 2015 Jocelyn Moorhouse 118m

Typically one of the hottest tickets of the Film Festival, the Surprise Film is a unique one-off screening where you will only know the film when the opening credits are projected on to the screen.

Can this year’s selection be another Audience Award Winner as a few past Surprise Films have been (‘Pride’, ‘Untouchable’, ‘The Collini Case’)? Or will it be a Japanese film with Swedish subtitles that will have you wanting to walk out after 20 minutes? I bet you will stay to the very final credits with this year’s choice. Join us for this exciting cinema experience on the last Friday of the Festival.

Approx 100m

Two chimney sweeps living in monogamous, heterosexual marriages both end up in situations that challenge their views on sexuality and gender roles.

Sex certainly comes up early and often in this playful, intricately nuanced character study, but in consistently surprising, stereotype-averse ways. Feier (Jan Gunnar Røise) has a sexual encounter with another man, without himself experiencing it either as an expression of homosexual longings or infidelity. Avde (Thorbjørn Harr) suddenly experiences nocturnal dreams in which he is seen as a woman. This confuses and disturbs him and begins to wonder whether there are aspects of himself that he has suppressed. Haugerud’s sly comedy addresses various crises of modern masculinity with a light, humane touch, finding more curiosity than toxicity in its characters - and making a case for seemingly aberrant desires and impulses as an everyday fact of life. (Subtitles)

Norway 2024 Dag Johan Haugerud 118m

LA LUNA SOTT'ACQUA

A fresco with dreamlike atmospheres in Erto, a village devastated by the 1963 Vajont Dam collapse, torn between the desire for rebirth and the need to preserve the memory of a painful past.

Filmed over 10 years in the village of Erto on the Italian Alps, which survived the tragedy defined by the United Nations as "The biggest man-made disaster in time of peace". The Vajont Dam was the tallest in the world in 1963 and during the initial filling of the lake, a landslide caused a tsunami of water to overflow the dam in a wave of 250 metres that killed 2000 people. The dam itself remained almost completely intact. Erto was declared uninhabitable by the authorities, with two thousand inhabitants kicked out. Of these, one hundred returned, illegally occupying their homes, resisting, existing as a village. That was 1963. Today Erto still exists. Over the past 10 years, the director has followed the residents fighting to not be forgotten, including a disagreement on a controversial plan to instal a light-based art installation on the dam wall. This is a dreamlike documentary with the magnificent Dolomites as the lead character and the strength and pride of the Erto residents in strong support. (Subtitles)

Italy 2023 Alessandro Negrini 99m

Francis Lee’s sensational biopic of palaeontology pioneer Mary Anning reimagines her erotic encounter with a woman trapped in a stifling marriage.

It is odd to reflect that Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan had not featured in a film together before this one.  Ammonite unites them at last, with Winslet as palaeontologist Mary Anning, collecting specimens along Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. She is entrusted to care for Charlotte, the young wife of a wealthy tourist. Initially they clash but despite differences of class and personality a bond grows between them compelling the two women to determine the true nature of their relationship. Francis Lee also directed the bleak and beautiful ‘God’s Own Country in 2017. Expect suppressed emotions and scandal set against the rugged and magnificent southern coastline.

UK 2020 Francis Lee 120m

JACK LEMMON ON SCREEN

It’s the centenary of one of the best loved Hollywood stars and this talk will celebrate his work.

100 years after the birth of Hollywood’s ultimate everyman, Jack Lemmon remains an irresistibly charismatic screen presence, with two Academy awards and a body of work including cinematic masterpieces and hefty television drama. Although best known for comedy classics like ‘Some Like it Hot’, he conveyed pathos and tragedy in even the most light-hearted of scenes. From early career turns in ‘Mister Roberts’ to the dark satire of ‘The Apartment’, and the desperate death of the American Dream in ‘The China Syndrome’ and ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’, he was always a dynamic force, elevating even the smallest of roles. To accompany the festival’s Jack Lemmon strand, join film writer and lifelong Lemmon fan, Hannah Gatward, for a discussion, including a range of memorable clips, on the rich and varied films of this sometimes-overlooked legend of the screen. As he said before every take: “It’s magic time”.

100m inc Q&A

An alcoholic marries a young woman and systematically addicts her to booze so that they can share his "passion" together.

Joe Clay (Jack Lemmon) is a rising young public relations executive when he meets Kirsten Arnesen (Lee Remick), a pretty secretary, at a business party. Joe and Kirsten are both ambitious, and they are on the road to success when they fall in love and marry. Soon after, however, Joe coaxes Kirsten to begin drinking with him on a regular basis. The movie plays like an extended ad for Prohibition, three decades after it ended. There is a kind of nervy, self-loathing sycophant whom Jack Lemmon can play better than any other actor: he did it in ‘The Apartment’, and there is a harrowing variant in this film.

USA 1962 Blake Edwards 117m

WITH PET SHOP BOYS SCORE

This is a special centenary edition of Sergei Eisenstein’s legendary ‘Battleship Potemkin’ featuring the celebrated score by the British dup Pet Shop Boys.

A fixture in the critical canon almost since its premiere, Eisenstein’s film about a 1905 naval mutiny was revolutionary in both form and content. It is renowned for its dynamic compositional strength and editing of such frame-perfect precision that it’s hard not to be swept along. First revealed at a special outdoor screening in front of an estimated 25,000 in Trafalgar Square in 2004, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe’s score, performed with the Dresdner Sinfoniker and orchestrated by Torsten Rasch, blends electronic beats with orchestral grandeur to create a contemporary cinematic experience.

USSR 1925 Sergei Eisenstein 73m

After a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.

A brunette (Laura Elena Harring) is left without memory after a car crash and wanders the streets of Los Angeles in a daze before being taken in by Betty (Naomi Watts), a wholesome Midwestern blonde who has come to the City of Angels seeking fame as an actress. Together, the two attempt to solve the mystery of the brunette’s true identity. This film has a hypnotic rhythm that could only be Lynch's, and it really draws you in - it is a bone fide masterpiece, an erotic, unsettling, darkly comic journey through the subconscious city of night. There is something endlessly fascinating about a film that prioritises questions over answers, stretching our expectations of what cinema can achieve while scene by scene also providing a richly fulfilling experience. ‘Mullholland Drive’ topped the ‘Best Film of the 21st Century’ poll as judged by BBC Culture.

France/USA 2001 David Lynch 147m