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13 Jan The Ballad of Wallis Island
James Griffiths / UK 2024 / 100 min / Cert 12A
Musician Herb (Tom Bassot) formerly half of a successful folk duo arrives on the remote Wallis Island to play a very lucrative show for super fan Charles (Tim Key) a reclusive lottery winner. Herb is surprised when his former musical and romantic partner Nell (Carrie Mulligan) arrives on the island to play the gig too. After an almost inevitable row, Herb attempts to leave the island but stays because he needs the money, the show must go on. The film mines a great deal of warmth and humour from its humble premise and has been described by Richard Curtis as “one of the ten greatest films of all time”.
20 Jan The Girl With the Needle
Magnus von Horn / Denmark, Poland, Sweden 2024 / 123min / Cert 15 / Subtitles
In post-World War 1 Copenhagen, Karoline, her husband missing in action, struggles to make ends meet working in a linen factory. After falling pregnant by the factory owner, she seeks help from a woman to have her baby adopted. What starts as a film about the aftermath of post-war living, develops into something else entirely: a Dickensian portrait of a world that is closer to ours than we may think. Stunningly photographed in high contrast black and white, and Oscar nominated for best international feature, this is “a film that lingers long in the mind after viewing”. 'Pure Cinema' AwardsWatch
27 Jan Mr. Burton
Mark Evans / UK 2024 / 124min / Cert 12A
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Wales 1942. School teacher Philip Burton (Toby Jones) sees untapped potential in his 17-year-old student Richard Jenkins (Harry Lawtey). He takes the boy under his wing, teaching him acting craft and elocution, before officially becoming his legal guardian. Richard undergoes an astonishing Pygmalion-like transformation throughout the film and, having changed his name, becomes a recognisable Richard Burton for his RSC debut. Toby Jones gives a nuanced performance with quiet, sometimes troubled, determination, supported by Ma Smith (Lesley Manville), who exudes convincing Welsh charm, whilst we watch as a star is born. “A note-perfect screenplay” The Irish Times.
3 Feb I'm Still Here
Walter Salles / Brazil/France/USA 2024 / 138min / Cert 15 / Subtitles
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Brazil, the 1970s. The joyous beachside life of the Paiva family in Rio de Janeiro comes to an end when Rubens, the father, is taken away by thugs of the military dictatorship. After her own incarceration, his wife Eunice must reinvent herself to keep the family thriving together. Based on the real-life story and memoirs of a family's resilience and determination to find justice and peace, Fernanda Torres's performance as Eunice Paiva is brilliantly understated. The film received an Academy Award for best international feature of 2025. “Shining (and) thoroughly convincing” Sight and Sound.
10 Feb Flow
Gints Zibalodis / Latvia 2024 / 85min / Cert U
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Animation. A black cat finds himself adrift in a post-apocalyptic world when a flood wipes out his forest home. Boarding a stray boat, he is joined by a needy dog, a mischievous ring-tailed lemur, a lazy capybara and a commanding secretary bird. Using the open-source 3-D creation suite Blender, director Zibalados has produced a totally immersive and exciting adventure film, whilst keeping the animal characters as themselves, with very little anthropomorphism and no voicework whatsoever. Quietly ruminating on the damage we've inflicted on the planet, this is a startlingly sophisticated work, deservedly winning the Oscar for best animated feature, 2025.
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17 Feb The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Mohammad Rasoulof / Iran 2024 / 167 min / Cert 15
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A powerful and moving tale of morality, paranoia and resistance set against the backdrop of contemporary protests in Iran which combines deeply felt performances with real footage of the protests. Filmed secretly in Iran; the director and actors were forced to flee the country after the film’s release. Iman has just been promoted to state investigator in the revolutionary court. His wife is delighted with the rise in status, while their two teenage daughters are more interested in the growing protests. However, he soon finds that he is expected to rubber-stamp death penalties without even reading the evidence, and struggles to reconcile his own morality. When his gun goes missing, he suspects his wife and daughters, and the domestic drama gradually builds in intensity and paranoia to a violent and suspenseful climax.
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24 Feb The Marching Band (En Fanfare)
Emmanuel Corcel / France 2025 / 103 min / Cert 15 / Subtitles
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This French comedy-drama, ‘En Fanfare’ looks at nature versus nurture in a thoroughly engaging, even feel-good way. A renowned young classical conductor receives a shock cancer diagnosis and needs a bone marrow transplant. Learning that he is adopted, Thibault finds the brother he wasn’t aware of: Jimmy, who works in the canteen of a struggling northern factory — and plays trombone in the work’s marching band. Despite the initial class/ culture difficulties, and responses to their very different upbringings, they come to share a common purpose (musical, as well as medical!). Sometimes moving, sometimes painful, sometimes laugh-out-loud, this was the top-rated film at the recent ICO Screenings.
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3 Mar The Choral
Nicholas Hyntner / UK 2025 / 112 min / Cert 12A
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Ralph Fiennes stars in this story by Alan Bennet set in Yorkshire in 1916. As war rages on the Western Front, the local Choral Society, determined to press ahead, decides to recruit local young males to swell its ranks. Despite suspicions that he has something to hide, their best bet seems to be Dr Guthrie (Fiennes) - driven, uncompromising, and recently returned from Germany. As conscription papers start to arrive, the whole community discovers that the best response to the chaos that is laying waste to their lives is to make music together. “Leaves us with a heartbeat of wit, poignancy and common sense” The Guardian.
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10 Mar H is for Hawk
Philippa Lowthorpe / UK 2025 / 114 min / Cert 12A
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After the sudden loss of her beloved journalist father, Cambridge academic Helen Macdonald retreats into grief — until a wild goshawk named Mabel crashes into her life. In a bold, haunting adaptation of the acclaimed memoir, Helen’s attempt to tame this fierce creature becomes a raw journey of sorrow, survival and self-rediscovery. Featuring a brilliantly empathetic and moving performance from Claire Foy as Helen, with Brendan Gleeson as her father, Philippa Lowthorpe’s H Is for Hawk plunges us into the wild heart of loss – and dares to ask whether healing can take flight.
“Foy is terrific in a film which balances bruising candour about mental health issues against arresting wildlife photography and a fervent appreciation of the natural world.” Screen International
17 Mar No Other Choice
Park Chan-wook / S Korea 2025 / 139 min / Cert 15 / Subtitles
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What happens when unemployment pushes a decent man beyond his breaking point? In Parasite director, Park Chan-wook’s latest darkly satirical thriller, long-time paper-mill manager Yoo Man-su is cast aside and, desperate to support his family, hatches a chilling plan to eliminate the competition for his next job. Visually bold and intensely cinematic, the film fuses razor-sharp social critique with electrifying set pieces and dark humour. Park’s signature style turns Man-su’s moral unravelling into a tense, exhilarating spectacle – an enjoyably twisted, gripping ride that lingers long after the credits roll. “Sensational state-of-the-nation satire.” The Guardian
24 Mar Sentimental Value
Joachin Trier / Norway 2025 / 133 min / Cert 15 / Subtitles
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Having been estranged from his daughters, Nora and Agnes, once renowned film director Gustav re-enters their lives after the death of their mother. He considers that a new script is the best that he has written and asks Nora to play the lead role.
After she declines, Nora soon discovers that the part has been given to an eager Hollywood star. Focussing on the problematic relationship between the sisters and their father, the film explores emotional conflicts and the challenges of healing and forgiveness within a family. “An intimate exploration of family, memories and the reconciling power of art” Pat Mullen POV Magazine NZ
31 Mar Sorry, Baby
Eva Victor / USA 2025 / 103 min / Cert 15
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A directing debut from comedian Eva Victor. She plays Agnes, who has a great career as the new English professor at a Massachusetts university, but is struggling to process a traumatic event from her time as a postgrad. When a beloved friend on the brink of a major milestone visits, Agnes starts to realise just how stuck she’s been and begins to work through how to move forward. With deadpan delivery emphasising the humour and the pain and recalling Kenneth Lonergan’s dramas with piercing honesty and confident tread, this is a tale of self-compassion and companionship. With a cute kitten.
7 Apr Islands
Jan-Ole Gerster / Germany/USA/UK 2025 / 120 min / Cert 15 / Some subtitles
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Tom (Sam Riley), a washed-up tennis pro, coaches tourists in a middling resort on Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. Drawn to the mother of one of his students, Tom agrees to show the family the island, but the father, Dave, disappears after a night of heavy drinking, suspicion falls on Tom and Dave's wife, Anne (Stacy Martin). With subtle, convincing performance, Sam Riley's Tom begins to discover a new world whilst the mystery deepens. Posing a growing, unanswered question, with shades of Hitchcock and sly humour, this is film noir in blazing sunlight - thoroughly entertaining and engaging
14 Apr Hamnet
Chloe Zhao / UK / 2025 / 125 mins / Cert 12A
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This is a powerful story of love and loss, staring Jess Buckley and Paul Mescal who both give stellar performances as Agnes and Shakespeare in this adaptation of Maggie O’ Farrell’s novel, Hamnet. The story is set against the background of a small village in sixteenth century England, with luscious scenery, where Agnes hones her skills at making herbal medicines. The film follows the relationship between Agnes and William and the impact of the tragic death of their eleven year old son, Hamnet , which inspired Shakespeare’s play, ‘Hamlet’.
21 Apr The President’s Cake
Hasan Hadi / Iraq 2025 / 105 min / Cert 12A / Subtitles
A tragicomic portrait of life under dictatorship and winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes.
Iraq, 1991: 9-year-old Lamia lives in poverty with her grandmother, in a marshland village of rush-built homes on stilts and everyday journeys by canoe. Disaster strikes when she is selected by her school to make a cake for Saddam Hussein’s birthday. Against the odds, she sets out on a determined journey through the big city in search of ingredients, with her friend Saaed and her pet rooster. This compassionate, tragicomic film balances light and dark in its child’s eye view of the moral collapse resulting from poverty and authoritarianism.
5 May I Swear
Kirk Jones / UK 2025 / 120 min / 15 Cert
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This funny, heartfelt and emphatically moving film dramatises the true story of Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson. It chronicles his quest to live normally in a world that insisted on calling him different. Diagnosed at aged 15, John’s Tourette’s made him the target of bullying and violence. He subsequently became one of the UK’s most passionate advocates for greater awareness of this syndrome for which he received an MBE.
Featuring a committed central performance from Robert Aramayo supported by Maxine Peake, Shirley Henderson and Peter Mullan. I Swear is a powerful look at an astonishing life. It takes in the frustration and fatigue of being persistently misunderstood and the wit, grit and resolve that saw Davidson seek to define himself on his own terms.
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12 May A Pale View of Hills
Kei Ishikawa / Japan/UK 2025 / 123min, cert 12A / Partly subtitled
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In this atmospheric adaptation of Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro’s debut novel, A Pale View of Hills drifts between memory and imagination as Etsuko, now living in England, reflects on her strained relationship with daughter Niki and the shadow of her older daughter Keiko. Her recollections return to post-war Nagasaki and her enigmatic friend Sachiko, whose presence becomes increasingly unsettling. Lush, meditative, and quietly gripping, the film blends psychological mystery with lyrical visuals, drawing us into a world where the past is never quite what it seems and remembering becomes its own act of reckoning. “drifting through the uncertain space between memory and history – a beautifully restrained film” The Upcoming
19 May Dead of Winter
Brian Kirk / UK 2025 / 98 min /Cert 15
This action thriller stars Emma Thompson as widow Barb and is set in northern, snowy Minnesota. Barb wants to scatter the ashes of her husband by the lake where they first met so she sets off by herself. She loses her way in a snowstorm and stops at a remote cabin where she notices blood on the snow and sees a young woman trying to escape from an armed man. Barb is hours from the nearest town and there is no phone service. She returns to the cabin and hears the man plotting with his wife. She is the young woman’s only hope and what ensues is a desperate fight for survival.
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