4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days was proposed by our members Joe Lovell-McNamee and Tania Sendroiu, who writes: 'Without revealing too much, it’s a film set in the late years of Communist Romania, but it feels all too relevant today. It’s quiet but powerful, and the realism of the scenes puts you right there in the room with the characters. I’d really love to rewatch it.'

The courage and friendship of two Romanian college students is tested when Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) discovers that she is pregnant by her boyfriend (Alex Potocean), and seeks an illegal abortion with the help of her classmate Otilia (Anamaria Marinca). Enlisting the services of the shady Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), the two girls find themselves in extremely tense and uncomfortable situations and must rely on their mutual support to get them through the ordeal.

Please note, the screening on Wednesday 14 January is our free members' screening, while the one on Tuesday 20 January is a regular screening, which is open to the general public.

NEW POLISH CINEMA - Kinoteka 2026:

When Ellen and Paul’s son introduces his new girlfriend one lovely afternoon at their 25th anniversary party, no one suspects that it is the beginning of the end for this happy family. The new girlfriend is Liz, Ellen’s former student expelled from the university some years before for her radical views. Her charming appearance hides great ambition, but no scruples at all. With each successive anniversary, Liz’s influence on the family grows stronger and more destructive, and the new ideology she promotes, called “The Change”, gains more and more publicity. Previously concealed family conflicts gain new strength as the country teeters on the brink of collapse.

KINOTEKA, the UK's leading celebration of Polish cinema, is back with daring new voices, acclaimed auteurs and a rich programme of screenings and events. Organised by the Polish Cultural Institute in London (Instytut Kultury Polskiej w Londynie) and supported by the Polish Film Institute.

To mark the start of LGBT+ History Month, the Royal Anthropological Institute, in partnership with Spectra, Queer Non-Fiction Films, presents a special screening of Avant-Drag! followed by a Q&A with writer and film collaborator Foivos Dousos moderated by Dieter Deswarte

Avant-Drag! Radical Performers Re-Imagine Athens offers an exhilarating look at ten Athenian drag performers who deconstruct gender, nationalism, belonging, and identity, while facing police brutality, transphobia, and racism. As entertaining as it is thought-provoking, Avant-Drag! challenges societal norms and reshapes perceptions of LGBTQ+ culture by capturing the intimate lives of a tightly knit group of drag performers, proving that being othered has never felt so familiar.

The film captures the vibrancy of Athens’ underground drag scene and its role in pushing boundaries and expressing dissident identities, going beyond mainstream drag representations to focus on the more radical, explicitly political, and raw performances. Influenced by the Greek ‘Weird Wave’ cinema movement, Avant-Drag! aims not to be just another ‘pride’ documentary of pensive talking heads, but to juxtapose magical realism, political commentary, and outrageous performances. It is also a love song to the Greek capital, a city that can be as oppressive as it is a refuge for art freaks and a hotbed of creativity. Examining the use of public space and street performance as acts of visibility and protest by the drag community, the doc also addresses the problem of gentrification and the effects of more than a decade of austerity and extreme financial hardship.

Screened at over 50 international festivals, Avant-Drag! has received widespread acclaim, including the Critics’ Choice Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Best Documentary at the Berlin Porn Film Festival and Wicked Queer Boston, the Youth Jury Award at EDOC Ecuador, and Special Mentions at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival and MixNYC, among many others.

“a precious film… it might be considered the Greek Paris Is Burning” Anreas Kyrkos, Avgi

“visionary... a cinematic journey like no other” Martin Schlutt, Kaltblut

“creative, weird and, above all, combative and highly political… outstanding”, Thomas Abeltshauser, Taz

The forest comes alive with Bambi, the critically acclaimed coming-of-age story that has thrilled and entertained generations of fans.

This grand adventure is full of humour, heart, and some of the most beloved characters of all time: Bambi, the wide-eyed fawn, his playful pal Thumper, the lovable skunk Flower, and wise Friend Owl. Featuring breathtakingly beautiful artwork and Academy Award nominated music, Bambi's story unfolds from season to season as the young prince of the forest learns valuable lessons about friendship, love, and the miracle of life.

Into Film age recommendation: 5+

On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children.

The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you

On the evening of 31 March, 1943, legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart confronts his shattered self-confidence in Sardi’s bar as his former collaborator Richard Rodgers celebrates the opening night of his ground-breaking hit musical Oklahoma!

The Garden Cinema View:

This tremendously witty and wordy chamber piece from Richard Linklater feels like a play. It isn’t, but is surely inspired by the stage worlds inhabited by Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein. Effectively a one-location, bar film, Blue Moon follows the cigar-smoked, whisky-drenched afterparty of the Broadway premiere Oklahoma!. Ethan Hawke is a ferocious ball of energy as the Capote-esque Hart. Bitter, quick, cutting, open, rude, and always the most talented person in the room, Hart is spiralling and close to crashing out, but is fascinating to listen to and watch. The film feels stagey, but Linklater imbues the action with a seamless flow, and ultimately Blue Moon is a pleasurable and very funny character study.

There's something going on behind the white picket fences of Lumberton, North Carolina. And after stumbling upon a severed human ear in a field, mystery-loving college student Jeffrey Beaumont is determined to find out what. Teaming up with the daughter of a local police detective, Jeffrey's investigation leads him into a strange world of sensuality and violence, with the intrigue of the missing ear seemingly stemming from the relationship between a troubled nightclub singer and a sociopathic sadomasochist.

Led by our very own 'Queen of Collage', Marzia Castelli, this workshop will allow you to unleash your creativity and craft your own Valentine's cards for that special someone, create mini posters to display in your home, or design other works of art - the possibilities are endless!

You might not be familiar with Marzia's name, but you'll certainly have encountered her designs before: she creates all the artwork for The Garden Cinema, including our season flyers, and can often be found in our bar, camera in hand, taking the beautiful pictures you've seen on our socials and in our newsletters.

Everything you need, from scissors and glue to piles of magazines, will be supplied, and Marzia will be there to offer her artistic insights and help you take your design to the next level. If you have any printed materials lying around that you've been meaning to get rid off, feel free to bring them along as well - after all, you never know what might lead to inspiration.

Tickets are restricted to 1 per member, and available for just £7.50, which includes unlimited complimentary tea & coffee for the duration of the event. We'll start the workshop at 14:30, and are expecting to wrap up by 17:30.

To mark LGBTQI+ History Month in the UK, Instituto Cervantes are teaming up with SRUK – The Spanish Researchers Assoc in the UK to present a screening of Diosa.

Joan, a queer icon from Barcelona also known as Marina, uses their art to explore their femininity and question masculinity. Despite their own resistances and those of their surroundings, DIOSA takes us into their personal journey to understand gender identity.

The film will be followed by a Q&A with the director and Marina.  

A magical journey through sound and vision, Disney's classic Fantasia consists of eight pieces of classical music, each set to its own piece of animation. More than 60 years after the film was made, each section has its own appeal, with moods ranging from charming to awe-inspiring - but the highlight is still the much-loved Sorcerers' Apprentice, with Mickey Mouse frantically battling endless brooms and buckets of water. As an introduction to both animation and classical music, it would be hard to ask for more.

On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children.

The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you.

Forbidden Games was suggested by our member Rachael Grant who writes: 'It’s a heart-breaking story following the bond between two young children trying to cope with their surroundings in a war-ravaged France. The two lead child actors are both excellent, and it’s one of the most poignant and affecting films about civilian life in wartime ever made.'

A young French girl orphaned in a German air attack is befriended by the son of a poor farmer, and together they try to come to terms with the realities of death.

Please note, the screening on Thursday 29 January is our free members' screening, while the one on Tuesday 3 February is a regular matinee screening, which is open to the general public.

The screening on 14 February will be followed by an online Q&A with the director Lu Qingyi.

Four Springs is a documentary film that presents a family’s daily life in the remote town in southern Guizhou. From a subjective angle, the camera introduces the flow of life out of the screen: the quotidian toils, singing, excursions in nature, visits among friends and extended families, funerals, reunions, and separation. It presents the state of being of the two main characters, the director’s own parents, and their attitude when facing irretrievable loss in life.

This special screening celebrates Chinese New Year 2026 (Year of Horse). It is the fourth successive Garden Cinema CNY special event, following the UK Premiere of Kong Dashan’s Journey to the West in 2023, and an immersive screening of Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love in 2024 and screening of Bi Gan’s Kaili Blues in 2025.

The royal ice-drama phenomenon that spawned a franchise, it is no surprise it went on to become the fifth highest-grossing film of all time and the Oscar-winner for Best Animated Feature (it also won Golden Globe and Bafta for the same category). With some critics dubbing Frozen the best animated feature to come out of Disney since its Snow White heydey, the Oscar-winning songs - which were a huge part of the movie and will probably never leave you - were written by husband and wife duo Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

Elsa and Anna are two young princesses of the mountainous kingdom of Arendelle. They were once very close, until an accident caused by Elsa's ice-making powers pushed them apart. Now soon to become Queen, Elsa's worry over her powers has built so much that an emotional outburst causes her to cast the whole kingdom into eternal winter. With the help of gung-ho mountain man Kristoff and friendly snowman Olaf, Princess Anna must find her sister and save Arendelle. Inspired by the 19th century fairy tale The Snow Queen by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, Frozen is a musical adventure that puts an inventive twist on the fairytale tradition while carrying the original tales message of the power of love over evil.

On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children.

The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you.

1580 England. Impoverished Latin tutor William Shakespeare meets free-spirited Agnes, and the pair, captivated by one another, strike up a torrid affair that leads to marriage and three children. Yet as Will pursues a budding theatre career in far-away London, Agnes anchors the domestic sphere alone. When tragedy strikes, the couple’s once-unshakable bond is tested, but their shared experience sets the stage for the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.

The Garden Cinema View:

Chloé Zhao roars back to form with this handsome (not just Paul Mescal) and heartfelt tale of Tudor romance, witchcraft, theatre, and grief. The establishing scenes are magical. As is Zhao’s signature style, the natural landscapes seem to breathe with life. Interior sequences are shot in painterly geometrical framings, with cinematographer Łukasz Żal bringing some of visual sensibility of his work on The Zone of Interest (don’t worry, similarities end there). The narrative sags a little in the middle, heavy with loss, and feeling the absence of the playwright, even as Jessie Buckley’s performance remains impressive. The conclusion soars, however, and proves that the play is truly the thing.

Our screening on Thursday 19 February will be introduced by season curator George Crosthwait, and will be followed by a post film discussion group in the Atrium Bar.

Nobuhiko Obayashi (Hausu) takes on the Bōsōzoku (youth bike gang) genre with a poetic and bittersweet look at rebellious youth and young love.

After being threatened by his girlfriend’s brother, Ko (Riki Takeuchi) goes on a trip on his Kawasaki to contemplate his options. He meets Miiyo (Kiwako Harada) by chance, and the two stay in touch. He later receives an invitation to her island, where he begins to teach her how to ride, and quickly falls for her. Miiyo is an extremely quick study, and the two are a well-matched pair. However, her obsession with motorbikes seems to be leading her down a dangerous path.

As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex and Tess Novak find themselves at a crossroads, both collectively and individually. Facing middle age and the spectre of impending divorce, Alex seeks renewed purpose in the New York stand-up comedy scene, while Tess confronts the sacrifices she made for their family. Together, they’re forced to navigate co-parenting, shifting senses of identity and a burning question: Can love and commitment take a new form?

Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, It Was Just an Accident is a fearless tour-de-force from cinematic luminary Jafar Panahi. Both urgently political and deeply humane, this new moral classic confronts truth and uncertainty, revenge and mercy, head-on.

When auto mechanic Vahid unexpectedly encounters the man who may have been his torturer in prison, he kidnaps him with the intention to exact vengeance. But since the sole clue to Eghbal’s identity is the distinct squeak of his prosthetic leg, Vahid turns to a loose circle of other now-freed victims for confirmation. And the danger only escalates. As they deal with their past and diverging worldviews, the group struggles to decide: Is this him, without a doubt? What would retribution mean, in actuality?

The Garden Cinema View:

Often classified by the media as a thriller or action film, the Palme d'Or 2025 winner It Was Just an Accident is closer to absurdist comedy - an intriguing fusion of Samuel Beckett and slapstick.

Through characters debating opposing viewpoints, Panahi offers a Socratic dialectical debate unfolding in real time: when we seek revenge, do we become like our predators? Should we interrupt the chain of violence by abstaining from it, or strike back, given that bad people will remain unchanged? If we show empathy, will it be reciprocated? Is forgiveness the right path, or does it enable further harm? Is our malice shaped by systemic dysfunction, or do we bear individual responsibility?

A deeply philosophical piece that also deftly functions as a comedy, It Was Just an Accident is filmmaking of the highest order.

When a warlord dies, a peasant thief is called upon to impersonate him, and then finds himself haunted by the warlord’s spirit as well as his own ambitions. In his late colour masterpiece Kagemusha, Akira Kurosawa returns to the samurai film and to a primary theme of his career - the play between illusion and reality. Sumptuously reconstructing the splendour of feudal Japan and the pageantry of war, Kurosawa creates a historical epic that is also a meditation on the nature of power.

The latest season of the LRB’s long-running film series continues its exploration of visions of London created by non-British filmmakers throughout 2026.

First up for the new year is the golden-age British film noir Night and the City. It was Jules Dassin’s last film before he was blacklisted by Hollywood. He declared that he had not read the novel by the now-cult writer, Gerald Kersh, on which it was based. It follows the attempts of a small-time American con artist Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark on definitive, anti-heroic form) to establish himself shattered post-war London’s wrestling rackets.

With a production history as vivid as its tangled plot, Night and the City was widely misunderstood upon release, but is now regarded as a classic of the genre: ‘A work of emotional power and existential drama that stands as a paradigm of noir pathos and despair,’ according to the film scholar Andrew Dickos.

Introducing Night and the City, and discussing it afterwards with regular host Gareth Evans, will be the novelist, occasional LRB contributor and screenwriter Ronan Bennett (Top Boy, Public Enemies, The Day of the Jackal).

A curated selection of artists films that explore how language, communication and meaning circulates around disability, deafness, and chronic illness.

Shifting between experimentation and mistranslation, transparency and legibility, these films interrogate modes of speaking and listening. Here, access is a practice: negotiated in dialogue, shaped by communications technology and examined intimately. Crossed wires, soap-opera fragments, military exercises, and captioning labour collide, as lip-reading becomes a mode of resistance and play.

Mascara Film Club will be joined by artists for a post-screening discussion.

This programme is curated by Mascara Film Club.

Receiver, dir. Jenny Brady, Ireland 2022, 14 mins

All-around Feel Good, dir. Jordan Lord, USA 2024, 25 mins

The Extra’s Ever Moving Lips, dir. Lucy Clout, UK 2019, 8 mins

I Can Hear My Mother’s Voice, dir. Jordan Lord, USA 2021, 5 mins

Nurses II, dir. Lucy Clout, UK 2019, 5 mins

Protection, dir. Leah Clements, UK 2018, 7 mins

All films in this programme include descriptive subtitles. BSL interpretation will be provided for the introduction and post-screening discussion.

A programme inviting young audiences to imagine worlds both vast and small, where empathy and curiosity shape what comes next.

Suitable for children aged 7+ and their parents/guardians.

Across claymation forests, floating whale islands, and moonlit skies, these films explore how imagination helps us make sense of change, from the everyday to the extraordinary. A boy learns to let go of his whale companion; a squirrel turns from hoarding to helping and a woman crosses the globe to save a sprout.

Each story begins in wonder but expands into care - for friends, for the planet, for the connections that hold our worlds together - reminding us that imagination is not just play, but a practice of hope.

Loading Nouns Gets Down, dir. Chris Ullens, UK 2024, 4mins

A Clayful Adventure, dir. Florrie Macleod, UK 2025, 4mins

Lena's Farm: Full Nest, dir. Elena Walf, Germany 2025, 6mins

I Have Not Considered the Lilies, dir. Blake Hunter and Mia Saines, US 2025, 4mins

Leave The Island, dir. Chen Wu, Taiwan 2025, 11mins

Tuu Tuu Til, dir. Veronica Solomon, Germany 2024, 5mins

Gravity Bound, dir. Frankie Lasley, US 2025, 3mins

The Mystery of the Missing Sock, dir. Anouk Witkowska Hiffler and Tomás Felício Oliveira, UK 2025, 3mins

Film Film, dir. Artūrs Vobļikovs, UK 2025, 12mins

Please note: The film “Film Film” includes a brief scene depicting tobacco use. The film is subtitled and contains moments that may be unsettling for very young viewers.

UK PREMIERE.

The latest work from acclaimed Hong Kong writer director Flora Lau, LUZ is a bold new vision which explores how human connections, relationships and our very sense of reality are being reshaped around the world and across different generations by technology. Shot in Hong Kong, Chongqing and Paris and featuring a top drawer international cast, the film’s stunning visuals and layers of meaning make it an immersive and transformative journey through existence.

In the neon-lit streets of Chongqing, ex-con Wei (Guo Xiao Dong) desperately searches for his estranged daughter Fa (Deng En Xi), while Hong Kong gallerist Ren (Sandrine Pinna) grapples with her ailing stepmother Sabine (Isabelle Huppert) in Paris. Their disparate lives collide in a VR world called LUZ, where a mystical deer unexpectedly reveals hidden truths, sparking a journey of discovery and connection.

Supported by The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London

In Chinese Mandarin, French and English with English subtitles

This screening will be preceded by a mini stand-up comedy show, featuring a handful of short comedy sets and compèred by Canadian act Mike Sheer (as seen on BBC, Hulu, Netflix). Both will take place inside Screen 3, so we recommend arriving on time to grab any drinks & snacks from the Atrium Bar beforehand.

Booking will be open to members' only during the presale, with general sales opening on Thursday 15 January at 18:00. Our usual ticket pricing applies (£15 adults, £12 members and their +1).

Timings:

19:00        Atrium Bar open for drinks

19:50        Screen 3 opens

20:00        Live stand-up comedy

20:30        Screening of Is This Thing On?

22:40        Expected finish

About the film:

Directed by Bradley Cooper, and starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern, Is This Thing On? was loosely inspired by John Bishop's gig at Manchester's Frog and Bucket comedy club 25 years ago, when he decided to take part in an open-mic night to avoid paying to enter the venue. Cooper's film came about after Arnett met Bishop, and heard the story about how he had only found comedy in 2000, when he and his wife had temporarily separated.

As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex (Arnett) and Tess Novak (Dern) find themselves at a crossroads, both collectively and individually. Facing middle age and the spectre of impending divorce, Alex seeks renewed purpose in the New York stand-up comedy scene, while Tess confronts the sacrifices she made for their family. Together, they’re forced to navigate co-parenting, shifting senses of identity and a burning question: Can love and commitment take a new form?

Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.

The Garden Cinema View:

There's no time to rest in this angsty 2.5 hour saga made with exceptional filmmaking craft by Josh Safdie. The obsessive pursuit of a ping-pong career becomes launchpad to explore a charismatic yet grating character, and to immerse us in the atmosphere of a long-lost era.

Similarly to Uncut Gems, there is towering suspense amongst the organised chaos, and the plot pushes aggressively forward, demanding full attention for the hefty runtime. But Marty Supreme also revels in its sense of place - a vivid depiction of 1950s New York Jewish community is captured in exquisite detail, and is populated with big, idiosyncratic characters, all of whom feel lived in. The anachronistic use of 80s music blends in seamlessly, never feeling pretentious or like a stylistic gimmick.

Marty Supreme is noisy and, although very engaging, it sometimes makes you wonder to what end - much like its protagonist, moving forward without clear direction. Yet therein lies its charm: in the journey itself rather than any revelatory outcome.

Our Members' Scratch Night returns on Friday 23 January to help more of the creatives in our membership community develop their WIP projects. This is an opportunity to test out material - be it unfinished films, scripts, pieces of writing, or other art forms - in front of a supportive audience, who will then be able to provide you with their thoughts and feedback in a casual setting. The event will take place in the Atrium Bar, and will be hosted by fellow cinema member Roberto Prestia.

We'll have six 15-minute slots available for members to present their material (with microphones and a projector available to use), and additional tickets for audience members who are interested in discovering new work by fellow members, and in contributing to their creative process.

Tickets for the event are £5, and include a token for a complimentary glass of house wine, a beer or a soft drink at the bar. They are restricted to 2 per member, so you're welcome to bring along a +1 for the occasion.

The schedule on the night will be as follows:

19:00-20:00  Introduction and first three presentations of 15 minutes each

20:00-20:30  Break for drinks, providing feedback, and mingling

20:30-21:15  Additional three presentations of 15 minutes each

21:15-22:00  Drinks, providing feedback, and further mingling

Please ensure you select the right option when booking a ticket:

• Only six Presenter tickets will be available to purchase for those looking to present a project.
• The additional tickets will be Audience tickets, for members who want to watch the presentations and provide feedback.

About Roberto:

Roberto Prestia is a London based independent filmmaker. In his quest for DIY filmmaking and creative freedom, he has made constant use of scratch nights and workshops with fellow creatives, as a tool for developing his early shorts as well as his second feature film, which is currently in the making.

To celebrate our trip to 1980s Japan with our Lost Decade season, we're delighted to welcome back the team from Sake Collective for a sake tasting including cheese pairings. 

Sake Collective are an online sake shop, dedicated to creating a new community of people around sake and other traditional Japanese drinks. They have also been supplying The Garden Bar with a variety of rotating sakes.  

Satoshi Hirasaki from Sake Collective will be showcasing five sakes, taking us through a range of styles, while also teaching us about the history of Japan’s national beverage. Each sake will be paired with a complementary cheese serving provided by Soho Dairy.

There will be a pop-up sake shop after the tasting, so you can buy a bottle of your favourite variety to take home.

Tickets for the sake tasting are £30, and are restricted to 2 per member, meaning you can bring a +1 along. Remember to log into your membership account before booking.

We're offering a multi-buy discount for any members purchasing tickets for the sake tasting and the screening of Nobuhiko Obayashi's His Motorbike, Her Island that follows later in the evening: when both tickets are in the shopping basket, the ticket price for the film will automatically be reduced to just £8.00.

Our screening on Wednesday 21 January will be introduced by film journalist James Balmont.

David Bowie stars in Nagisa Oshima's 1983 Palme d'Or-nominated portrait of resilience, pride, friendship and obsession among four very different men confined in the stifling jungle heat of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Java during World War II.

In 1942, British officer Major Jack Celliers (Bowie) is captured by Japanese soldiers, and after a brutal trial sent, physically debilitated but indomitable in mind, to a POW camp overseen by the zealous Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto). Celliers' stubbornness sees him locked in a battle of wills with the camp's new commandant, a man obsessed with discipline and the glory of Imperial Japan who becomes unnaturally preoccupied with the young Major, while Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence (Tom Conti), the only inmate with a degree of sympathy for Japanese culture and an understanding of the language, attempts to bridge the divide through his friendship with Yonoi's second-in-command, Sergeant Hara (Takeshi Kitano), a man possessing a surprising degree of compassion beneath his cruel façade.

Produced by Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky), it was the first English-language film by Oshima (Death by Hanging, In the Realm of the Senses, Gohatto), a leading light of Japanese New Wave cinema, and provided breakthrough big-screen roles for comedian Takeshi Kitano and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also composed the film's hauntingly memorable BAFTA-winning score.

One of the most acclaimed Hong Kong films of recent years, Oliver Chan’s second feature is a powerful and hard-hitting look at the struggles of motherhood

Inspired by her own experiences of becoming a mother and the impact this had on her life and career, Oliver Chan follows the award-winning Still Human with another deeply moving and searching look at Hong Kong society. Challenging gender norms and romanticised notions of motherhood, the film offers a grounded, realistic and at times harrowing look at the sacrifices made by women and the lack of support they often receive after giving birth.

Hedwig Tam gives a stunning, award-winning performance as young mother Suk-jing, whose ordinary life is turned upside down after she gives birth to her daughter. Stressed by having to take care of the baby 24/7 while her husband does little to help, Jing also finds herself dealing with changes to her body, conflicts with her in-laws and problems at work, all the while struggling with depression and an increasing sense of isolation.

Supported by The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London

In Cantonese with English and Traditional Chinese subtitles

In his wickedly incisive new thriller, Park Chan-wook delivers a brutal allegory of modern work culture, starring Lee Byung Hun as a devoted family man driven to violence after losing his job.

When esteemed paper specialist Yoo Man-soo is suddenly laid off, the carefully constructed life he has long prided himself on begins to unravel. So when a coveted new opportunity arises, he devises a flawless plan to eliminate his rivals - by any means necessary. With dazzling precision and a gleefully sinister edge, Park delivers an entertaining thriller steeped in his trademark dark humor, razor-sharp twists, and sumptuous visual style, reaffirming his singular place in contemporary cinema.

The Garden Cinema View:

Park Chan-wook returns with his most purely comic film to date, albeit one still bristling with perverse and violent thrills. This satire of workplace precarity is highly prescient, quite unsettling, and thunderously entertaining. Lee Byung-hun is excellent (although playing to type) as our handsome family man, who finds himself following a path of psychotic logic to guarantee his future employment. Park’s camera moves and edits are as playful and baroque as ever here, but without distracting from the action. And by following his Vertigo-esque Decision to Leave with this marks him as the true heir to Alfred Hitchcock.  

This is the story of Godard making Breathless, told in the style and spirit in which Godard made Breathless.

NEW POLISH CINEMA - Kinoteka 2026:

Well known on TV and with a small role in Scarborn, this is Matylda Giegżno’s first film lead. Her portrayal of a dynamic, fulfilled social worker who is blind and whose life changes following a meeting with a more reserved photographer (rising star Ignacy Liss) was well received by the blind community in Poland. This simple intimate romance challenges stereotypes, showing how moving outside comfort zones can be empowering. Directed by Tadeusz Śliwa, acclaimed for his music videos, it includes original music from Kaśka Sochacka and Kortez whilst Małgorzata Szumowska’s regular DoP Michał Englert ensures that the images shine.

Content Warning: Strong language and scenes of a sexual nature. Drug use and suicide reference.

KINOTEKA, the UK's leading celebration of Polish cinema, is back with daring new voices, acclaimed auteurs and a rich programme of screenings and events. Organised by the Polish Cultural Institute in London (Instytut Kultury Polskiej w Londynie) and supported by the Polish Film Institute.

The UK film industry has historically and systemically failed to represent people from working-class backgrounds. This is the focus of Scottish filmmaker Mark Forbes’ new documentary Quiet On Set: The Class Division in the Film Industry?

Through interviews and testimonies, Mark examines the barriers that working class people have faced accessing and maintaining a career in film. We hear from well known champions of this issue: Paul Laverty, Maxine Peake, Vicky McClure. He also delves into its natural consequence: the dearth of working class representation and storytelling on film. The result is an engaging and eye-opening documentary that paints a comprehensive picture of the systemic nature of exclusion. (The Canary)

After half a year in 2025 with Quiet on Set: The Class Division in the Film Industry? Appearing in four film festivals of 2025, The Galway Film Fleadh gave me the support to cotinue, when so many film festivals opposed what I was championing for.  "Working-class inclusivity for everyone who is working in the film and TV industries". The BFI, BBC, SKY, BECTU, BAFTA, FILM LONDON, DIRECTORS UK, EQUITY, and all the production companies because if they do not support, they are actually weakening the film and TV industry.  

The film will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker, Mark Forbes.

One of the most important and influential film makers in cinematic history, Akira Kurosawa directed 30 films in a career spanning 57 years. His final masterpiece, Ran, is a reimagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear set in feudal Japan. Ran tells the story of Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) an aging warlord who, after spending his life consolidating his empire, decides to abdicate and divide his Kingdom amongst his three sons Taro, Jiro, and Saburo. This leads to a brutal and bloody war between the brothers for absolute power of the kingdom.

A young warrior princess named Raya (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran) tries to reunite her kingdom by finding the last survivor of the race of dragons that used to protect her people. This computer-animated fantasy adventure is a visual feast inspired by Southeast Asian cultures and legends, whilst telling an engaging, accessible story of teamwork and overcoming our prejudices in order to succeed. Nominated for the 2021 Animated Feature Film Oscar, Raya and the Last Dragon was created largely by filmmakers working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children.

The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you

Saipan explores the explosive clash between Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy before the 2002 World Cup. Their feud, rooted in clashing standards and personalities, erupted on the

island of Saipan, shaking the Irish team and nation. As Keane walked out, McCarthy faced chaos. This gripping true story goes beyond sport, it’s a dramatic, often comic tale of leadership, loyalty, and a rivalry that captured global attention.

The Garden Cinema View:

For British and Irish viewers above a certain age, Saipan is a cinematic ‘translation’ of a football drama that monopolised the tabloids in the summer of 2002. For international audiences, it is a fun and twisty character study that explores issues like ego, loyalty, and team spirit.

Steve Coogan gives an impressively restrained performance as the team's well intended, yet not-up-to-the-task, coach who has to take charge of the Republic of Ireland team for a rare Word Cup appearance. However, he finds himself constantly locking horns with the his combustible captain Roy Keane - a terrific Éanna Hardwicke who embodies the bullish star in all his hard working, humourless, brilliance.

Both right and wrong, stubborn and uncollaborative, this is an incident in sports history that divided Ireland (and the world) and a cautionary tale of what is lost when teamwork gives way to ego.

Following the success of global phenomenon The Worst Person in the World, Academy Award-nominee Joachim Trier reunites with BAFTA nominee Renate Reinsve for their universally acclaimed follow-up, Sentimental Value. Winner of the prestigious Cannes Grand Prix award, and featuring career-best performances from Golden Globe winner Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning.

Reinsve plays Nora, a successful stage actress who, along with her sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), reunites with their estranged father Gustav Borg (Skarsgård) – a once-renowned film director planning a major comeback with a script based on his family. When Gustav offers Nora the lead role, which she

promptly declines, he turns his attention to Rachel Kemp (Fanning), an eager young Hollywood starlet primed for her big breakthrough. With their fraught dynamics made even more complex, Nora, Agnes and Gustav are each forced to confront their difficult pasts.

The Garden Cinema View:

Joachim Trier cements has status as the most successful Norwegian filmmaker of all time with an ambitious and self-reflexive family portrait. As any self-respecting auteur will do at some point, Trier has made a film about filmmaking. This is a subject that, although quite indulgent, opens up Sentimental Value for poignant reflections on creativity, performance, and the meaning of (a broken) home.

Although Trier is a very different filmmaker, there is something faintly Bergman-esque in Sentimental Value. The excavation of family history, the merging of identity, a problematic father, and simply the presence of actors (performing Ibsen no less), all help to conjure the ghost of the Swedish master. Actually the film that Sentimental Value evokes most strongly is Mia Hansen-Løve’s Bergman Island, although with less metatextual contortions.  

This is confident and powerful filmmaking, carried off by a superb cast, and is the is best film about a film director since Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory.

A rare screening of the Director’s Cut of Stephen Chow’s classic kung fu football comedy, one of his wildest, wackiest and most beloved films.

Although Stephen Chow had been one of Hong Kong’s biggest box office draws for over a decade, it was Shaolin Soccer in 2001 which saw the comedian becoming a truly global star.

A one of a kind slice of cinematic madness which combines Chow’s trademark mo lei tau slapstick style and his love of kung fu with football, the film broke records on its original release and has remained one of the most popular and acclaimed of his works as director.

A classic underdog sports story, the film follows Chow as Sing, a former Shaolin monk who teams up with down and out ex-football player Fung (Ng Man-tat) to spread the teachings of martial arts. Enlisting the help of several of Sing’s Shaolin brothers they form a team and enter the China Super Cup tournament, coming up against a series of increasingly tough and bizarre opponents. Although the monks find success through using their kung fu skills on the football field, they meet their match in the form of an evil team led by an enemy from Fung’s past.

In Cantonese with English subtitles

Supported by The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London

Site&Sound is an event series that explores the relationship between architecture and film. Each session will feature curated clips and short films around a chosen theme, inviting discussion around particular elements of representation and the different techniques employed by filmmakers. Themes will examine a multitude of perspectives on architecture, ranging from varying building types to their individual component parts and how these are interpreted by the viewer as they see the world through the lens of the built environment.

This edition looks at how cinema engages with the full life cycle of architecture, moving from construction to demolition, encompassing collapse and ruin. In film, buildings are never simply static backdrops but instead they take an active role in shaping plots and creating spectacle. From Buster Keaton’s slapstick ballet of housebuilding in One Week (where buildings go up and fall down at a rapid pace) to high-stakes James Bond sequences played out across cranes and unfinished towers, architecture in transition creates instability, risk and cinematic tension. The viewer gets to experience the skeletons of the built world, where the structures behind the “set” take on a new meaning.

But cinema is equally drawn to what comes after. Scenes of demolition can be both the dramatic conclusion of a story or the start of a character’s journey, while ruins and abandoned spaces invite reflection. Crumbling walls, ravaged interiors and empty structures suggest worlds that have been disrupted or left behind, offering a distinct counterpoint to the possibility of construction. This event will invite the audience to experience architecture as process rather than product, capturing the strange thrill and beauty of spaces caught between what they were and what they might become.

The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle-shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous 'ramen western' by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges-our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café a success with the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster and glimpses of food culture both high and low, the sweet, sexy, and surreal Tampopo is a lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, and one of the most mouthwatering examples of food on film ever made.

London Breeze Film Festival is delighted to present the winner of its Best Feature Documentary award for 2025 at The Garden Cinema.

Here's what our jury member, Curtis Gallant of The Whickers awards, had to say about the film:

“The winning documentary highlights how the past can echo across generations. This highly personal story confronts concealed history on both sides of the Atlantic. It poignantly captures the power of both hate and love, and its title character fills the screen with his big-hearted personality.”

Terry Harrison MBE is on an emotional quest to trace his GI dad, whom he never knew, and learn about the lives of African American soldiers based in Britain during WW2. This epic journey takes him to South Carolina, Washington DC and the Northern Beaches of France. Former Royal Marines Commando, a keen gardener and proud Leicester City fan, Terry has been on a lifelong quest to find out more about his dad until his journey takes a very unexpected new turn.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Jonathan Beamish; Terry Harrison MBE; writer and academic, Prof. Lucy Bland; and GI Trace’s Sally Vincent. The panel will be hosted by broadcaster and presenter, Simon London.

Our screening on Thursday 26 February will be introduced by Mark Player, author of Japanese Cinema and Punk, and will be followed by a post film discussion group in the Atrium Bar.   

A strange man known only as the 'metal fetishist', who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese salaryman, out for a drive with his girlfriend. The salaryman then notices that he is being slowly overtaken by some kind of disease that is turning his body into scrap metal, and that his nemesis is not in fact dead but is somehow masterminding and guiding his rage and frustration-fueled transformation.

Our screening on Thursday 22 January will be introduced by Alastair Phillips (University of Warwick), and followed by a post film discussion group in the Atrium Bar.  

Cinematic anthropologist extraordinaire Shohei Imamura won his first Palme d'Or at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival for The Ballad of Narayama, his transcendent adaptation of two classic stories by Shichiro  Fukazawa.

In a small village in a remote valley where the harshness of life dictates that survival overrules compassion, elderly widow Orin is approaching her 70th birthday - the age when village law says she must go up to the mythic Mount Narayama to die. But there are several loose ends within her own family to tie up first.

Creating a vividly realised inverse image of 'civilised' society with typical directness and black humour, Imamura presents a bracingly unsentimental rumination on mortality and an engrossing study of a community's struggles against the natural elements. Handled with a masterful control and simplicity, moving effortlessly between the comic and the horrific, The Ballad of Narayama is one of the legendary director's deepest, richest works, and ranks among the finest films of its decade.

Set within a modest clinic in the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, run by the married couple San San Oo and Aung Min – both doctors and artists –The Clinic (2023) opens with close observation of the space’s daily operations. Patients arrive at the crowded waiting room seeking relief from insomnia, auditory hallucinations, alcoholism and other conditions.

Ever dynamic, Midi Z’s camera then shifts to follow the husband Aung Min, a filmmaker, who is making a film exploring the lives of the Rohingya community in Myanmar. By documenting the process of filmmaking itself, Midi Z creates a nested structure in which the roles of patient, physician, and filmmaker are intertwined and personal ambitions, political realities, art and mental health coalesce in this delicate reflexive portrait.

Through these layers, the effects of living under chronic instability begin to emerge within the clinic. Decades of civil war, political violence and ethnic conflict in Myanmar have produced not only visible social fractures but also less tangible forms of psychological stress. Filmed across the years before and after the 2021 military coup, The Clinic attends to this quieter register of trauma – one that rarely presents itself as overtly political, yet is inseparable from political reality.

The Clinic was awarded the Grand Prize Visionary Award at Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF) and was nominated for the Best Documentary Award at the Golden Horse Awards and has been shown at various international film festivals including IDFA.

Presented as part of Sine Screen’s Whose Homeland 25-26 film season, with the support of the BFI, awarding National Lottery funding.

Sine Screen is a London-based screening collective dedicated to showcasing independent cinema and moving-image works from across East and Southeast Asia. It aims to create space for critical dialogue around dominant representations of ESEA cultures and histories through diverse programming, and has received support from the British Film Institute and Arts Council England.

Our screening on Saturday 31 January will be introduced by Tom Cunliffe (UCL), and will be followed by a post film discussion group in the Atrium Bar.

The Kobayashi family finally are able to move out of their tiny, cramped Tokyo apartment to the suburban house of their dreams. But things are not as perfect as they seem: the house is infested by termites and the family starts going crazy. Son Masaki is studying so obsessively for his exams that he’s losing his mind; daughter Erika is oblivious of all but her forthcoming record company audition, grandfather Yasukuni starts getting World War II flashbacks and father Katsuhiko is so worried about his family’s 'sickness' that he thinks can only be cured by group suicide. As the Kobayashis’ house begins to crumble, so does the sanity of its inhabitants. Katsuhiko takes it upon himself to keep them from the asylum… at any cost.

Our screening on Thursday 5 February will be introduced by Irene González-López (Birkbeck), and will be followed by a post film discussion group in the Atrium Bar.

Conceived by Shohei Imamura, Kazuo Hara’s infamous and audacious documentary follows Kenzo Okuzaki, an ageing Japanese WW2 veteran, on a mission to uncover the truth about atrocities committed as the war in the Pacific reached its bloody end. Ultimately, Okuzaki blames Japan's Emperor Hirohito himself for these barbarities, and his obsessive pursuit of those he deems responsible soon escalates. Willing to confront the taboos of Japanese society in his fanatical quest for justice, Okuzaki is driven to unsettling acts of violence.

Harrowing and extraordinarily powerful, Hara’s film forces us to face the disturbing realities of war and, crucially, to question the complicity between filmmaker, subject and audience.

Our screening on Tuesday 13 January will be introduced by independent curator Yuriko Hamaguchi.

This lyrical adaptation of the beloved novel by Junichiro Tanizaki was a late-career triumph for director Kon Ichikawa. Structured around the changing of the seasons, The Makioka Sisters follows the lives of four siblings who have taken on their family’s kimono manufacturing business, in the years leading up to the Pacific War. The two oldest have been married for some time, but according to tradition, the rebellious youngest sister cannot wed until the third, conservative and terribly shy, finds a husband. This graceful study of a family at a turning point in history is a poignant evocation of changing times and fading customs, shot in rich, vivid colors.

For this edition of Composing Cinema, we are delighted to welcome Academy Award nominated composer John Cameron who will be joining fellow Oscar-nominee Gary Yershon to discuss his score for Peter Medak's satirical epic, The Ruling Class. John and Gary will be in conversation before the screening.

Peter O’Toole gives a tour-de-force performance as Jack, a man 'cured' of believing he’s God - only to become Jack the Ripper incarnate. Based on Peter Barnes's irreverent play, this darkly comic indictment of Britain’s class system peers behind the closed doors of English aristocracy. Insanity, sadistic sarcasm, and black comedy - with just a touch of the Hollywood musical - are all featured in this beloved cult classic directed by Peter Medak.

A group of tiny blue creatures from a magical forest are accidentally transported to modern-day New York City, where they must find a way back home. With the help of a kind couple, they try to stay hidden while evading a determined wizard who wants to capture them. Their adventure becomes a light-hearted story about courage, teamwork, and friendship in an unfamiliar world.

The live action cast features well-recieved performances from Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria and Sofía Vergara, while pop star Katy Perry takes on the voice of Smurfette.

On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children.

The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you.

January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A 5-year old girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab.

The Garden Cinema View:

After the thrilling Four Daughters (2023), Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania returns with another fierce docufiction.

During the ongoing war in Gaza, several documentaries have attempted to make sense of the horror. All filmmakers work under severe restrictions, barred from entering Gaza, yet none achieve this level of craft. Using an authentic recording of a five-year-old girl killed by the IDF in Gaza in 2024, Ben Hania recreates the child's heart-wrenching communication with two paramedics as she sat trapped in her uncle's car with six dead family members. Relying mostly on close-ups and filmed in a single room, the film generates enormous tension and suspense through exquisite shot selection and editing. Ben Hania knows how to tell a story, and given how chilling and utterly heartbreaking this one is, she does it justice.

There has been discussion about the ethics of Ben Hania's manipulative docufiction method. Our feeling is that all filmmaking is essentially manipulative, particularly supposedly realistic documentaries. And in a time when Western audiences have become desensitised to experiencing war through the comfort of our screens, The Voice of Hind Rajab's raw and, at times, ruthless approach is necessary to cut through this apathy.

The Voice of Hind Rajab won the Grand Jury Prize in Venice and is shortlisted for Best International Feature Film at the 2026 Oscars.

Our screening on 12 February will be introduced by Alexander Jacoby (Oxford Brookes), and will be followed by a film discussion group in the Atrium Bar.

Newly restored, Shinji Somai’s beloved cult film Typhoon Club is widely heralded as the director’s seminal feature and considered to be one of the greatest Japanese films ever made.

Offering a caustic immersion into the lives of disaffected junior high students on the cusp of adulthood, Typhoon Club features a lively cast of young talent including idol Youki Kudoh (The Crazy Family, Mystery Train) facing existential intrigues, budding sexuality, and rising social tensions in the days leading up to a typhoon’s arrival. Stranded in their schoolhouse as the storm settles in, the group undergoes an awakening as they dispel all insecurities, fear and desire under the swell of the tempest.

Content note: contains a scene of sexual assault

Two unemployed Chinese teenagers have trouble resisting the temptations of the Western world.

Burst City is an explosive Molotov cocktail of dystopian sci-fi, Mad Max-style biker wars against yakuza gangsters and the police, and riotous performances from members of the real-life Japanese punk bands The Stalin, The Roosters, The Rockers and INU.

In a derelict industrial wasteland somewhere on the outskirts of Tokyo, two rival punk bands and their unruly mobs of fans gather for a Battle of the Bands-style protest against the construction of a nuclear powerplant, bringing them head to head with the yakuza industrialists behind the development of their turf.

This extraordinary celebration of Japan's punk music scene of the early 1980s thrust Sōgo Ishii (now known by the name of Gakuryū Ishii), to the next level and is regularly cited as an early landmark in Japanese cyberpunk cinema.

This screening is presented by the cult film club, Video Bazaar, who are proud to present this rarely screened film and are dedicated to bringing the weird, the obscure and forgotten classics to London audiences at The Garden Cinema.

What happens when you’ve created the worst hit song ever – at least according to the music press? What comes after fleeting fame, and what does it mean to grow old still chasing a dream?

Kim Hopkins’ moving and funny follow up to her documentary A Bunch of Amateurs features former pop star Dene Michael as he clings to the remnants of fame he once had as a member of 1980s novelty pop group Black Lace. The band’s universally known hit Agadoo – both beloved and hated by many, and the high or low point of any party – is what Dene’s best known for. Now, performing for a dwindling, ageing audience in some of the UK’s most deprived seaside towns and cities, he’s eager to press on with his music career and get out from under the legacy of the Black Lace songbook. Still Pushing Pineapples follows Dene, his spirited 89-year-old mum Anne, and his sassy girlfriend Hayley across Britain and the Costa del Sol in this unmistakably British road movie. En route they navigate love, family duty, and the relentless pursuit of one last chart success. But who needs an ’80s throwback in a loud pineapple shirt and oversized red specs, singing a tired earworm? Apparently, many do (doo doo).

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Kim Hopkins and Margareta Szabo

Kim Hopkins – Director & producer

Kim is an award-winning, working-class, queer British filmmaker, and one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary UK documentary. A highly skilled self shooting director, she brings an unparalleled visual world and deep intimacy to her films. She’s a graduate of the National Film and Television School and a co-founder of Labor of Love Films.

Margareta Szabo – Producer

Margareta is a BAFTA Elevate producer and co-founder of Labor of Love Films. Originally from Budapest and trained in film and theatre, Margareta began her career as an actor. An alum of Berlinale Talents, Sheffield DocFest’s Future Producer School, and Creative Enterprise’s Female Founders programme, Margareta is also a committed mentor and advocate for emerging talent. She is represented by Identity Agency Group.