This film was chosen as Films of Resistance's pick for the Lebanese season, to highlight the way Lebanese and Palestinian communities are interconnected. It will be preceded by an introduction by Dr Kareem Estefan.

In this award-winning documentary, directors Masri and Chamoun focus on the women who played a crucial role in fighting the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon. Preserving their stories on camera, Wild Flowers: Women of South Lebanon is a poignant documentary about courage, resistance, and hope.

Mai Masri is one of the pioneers of Palestinian documentary, with most of her work focusing on the linked histories of Lebanon and Palestine. Her films have been screened internationally and won over 90 awards. She is mostly recognised for her poetic and humanistic approach, centering women and children in her stories. Mai worked closely with her late husband Lebanese filmmaker Jean Chamoun and earned international acclaim with her films, including Children of Fire, Woman for Her Time, Children of Shatila, and Beirut Diaries.

Films of Resistance are a collective offering a decentralised screening and fundraising resource. All funds raised through their screenings are reinvested into Palestinian filmmaking.

The ticket price will include a cup of Palestinian sage tea, courtesy of Kaf for Palestine. There will be a chance to purchase prints and tote bags to raise funds for the cultural centres in Palestine.

On a small farm in a Norwegian forest, the Paynes live a purposefully isolated life, aiming to be wild and free. Maria and Nik, along with their four children Ulv, Falk, Freja, and Ronja are self-sufficient. They practice home-schooling and strive for a closely-knit family dynamic in harmony with nature. However, when tragedy strikes the family, it upends their idyllic world and forces them to forge a new path into modern society.

The Garden Cinema View:

Manifesting initially as a paean to the benefits and challenges of an off-grid, low intervention, lifestyle, A New Kind of Wilderness is quickly upended into a study of grief and, indeed, reintegration into society. It’s practically impossible to be unmoved watching Nik Payne and his young children dealing with such tumultuous grief and upheaval. But there is also humour in the culture clash of wilderness and town (and between the UK and Norway), as well as a sense of catharsis and healing.

The film is set in Southern Lebanon, July 2006, during what is known as Israel’s “Second Lebanon War", a month of fighting characterised mostly by Israeli aerial bombardment of Lebanon, and rocket attacks from the Shia militia Hizballah on northern Israel in response.

During a 24h ceasefire, Marwan heads out in search of his father who refused to leave his Southern village and leaves his wife Rana preparing alone their immigration to Canada. Marwan finds no traces of his father and the ceasefire is quickly broken, forcing him to take shelter in Najib’s house, his father’s friend. Marwan finds himself trapped under the rain of bombs with Najib and a group of elders, friends of his father. Tension rises inside and outside of the house. Suddenly, a group of Israeli soldiers enter the first floor...

Ghossein worked around his tight budget but having all the action take place over three days, in one location, with a creative and imaginative use of sound design. The Arabic title of the film is "the wall of sound". We never see the Israeli soldiers, we only hear snippets of conversation and creaking floorboards. A tense and well-crafted thriller, the film paints an engaging and humanising portrait of the people of Southern Lebanon, especially in light of the current situation.

The film won three awards, (Audience, Jury and technical prize) at the Venice Film Festival International Critics' Week.

The screening on 9 April will be preceded by an introduction to give some context to the story.

The screening on 30 June will be a members' event. Keep an eye out for our announcement.

Our screening on Friday 23 May will be introduced by MINT Film Festival co-director Dr. Carol Rennie. The screening on 27 May will be introduced by MINT co-curator Wenqi Zhang.

Chinese writer-director Lou Ye (Summer Palace, Suzhou River) recalls the COVID lockdown via a hybrid of documentary, web videos, and fragments from his past films, spinning a powerful docufiction out of a nation’s collective trauma.

In 2019, filmmaker Mao Xiaorui and his team discover fascinating old footage from a project abandoned 10 years earlier. This unfinished work (reminiscent of Lou’s acclaimed Spring Fever) brings back nostalgic images of the past. Hoping to realise a project dear to him, Xiaorui reunites his original crew to complete it. But their efforts are disrupted by the onset of COVID-19 in Wuhan, forcing the group into lockdown.

The Garden Cinema View:

Lou Ye’s latest is slippery, ever shapeshifting, meta-docufiction that refracts a variety of early pandemic experiences. Initially an entirely believable depiction of a filmmaker’s attempt to recover and restart his lost film (mirroring Lou’s own motives almost exactly), before morphing into a kind of post-apocalyptic thriller as Wuhan locks down at frightening speed. Ultimately An Unfinished Film weaves in real-life media to present a very moving return to some emotional high and low points of that time. Whilst destined to never finish his intended film, Lou demonstrate how art can be so effective as an emotional memory container and generator for shared moments of trauma.

Mint in Cinemas: The UK Release of An Unfinished Film by Lou Ye is a women-led Chinese cinema release project, presented by MINT Chinese Film Festival (MINT CFF) with the support of the BFI, awarding funds from the National Lottery.

Follow MINT CFF on:

 Instagram: @mintchinesefilmfestival

 Xiaohongshu: @薄荷紫华语电影节

For more info, please visit their website:

 www.unicornscreening.com  

In the aftermath of the 1990 earthquake in Iran that left fifty thousand dead, Abbas Kiarostami returned to Koker, where his camera surveys not only devastation, but also the teeming life in its wake. Blending fiction and reality into a playful, poignant road movie, And Life Goes On follows a film director who, along with his son, makes the trek to the region in hopes of finding out if the young boys who acted in Where Is the Friend’s House? are among the survivors, and discovers a resilient community pressing on in the face of tragedy. Finding beauty in the bleakest of circumstances, Kiarostami crafts a quietly majestic ode to the best of the human spirit.

Introduction by festival director Marketa Uhlirova & fashion curator Isabella Coraça.

Inspired by the dialectical montage of Soviet cinema, this programme stages a visceral collision between two opposing views of fashion: as sublime allure, and as a global industry rooted in extraction and violence. Featuring a sequence of short films produced between 1910 and 1950, Animal Matters juxtaposes glamorous garments and accessories crafted from skins, furs and feathers with newsreels exposing the hunting and processing of animal materials, also including human hair. This deliberate contrast, designed to unsettle, forces fashion’s disconnected narratives to sit side by side, illuminating what is typically obscured. The programme culminates in a lighter note with the recently restored film The Dancing Fleece, a charming ballet-fashion film commissioned by the British wool industry in 1950.

The silent shorts will be accompanied with live music by Stephen Horne

Content warning: This content includes images of dead animals and scenes involving animal skins, which may be distressing for some viewers.

The New Fashion: Rattlesnake Skin Footwear (La Nueva Moda: Calzado de Piel del Serpiente de Cascabel)

USA, 1918. Dir. Unknown (Gaumont America), 45sec

The Snake Leather Industry (De Slangenlederindustrie)

The Netherlands, 1925. Dir. Unknown (Pathé Amsterdam), 4min44sec

A Fitting at the Furrier Henri Vergne by Miss Varesca (Un Essayage Chez le Fourreur Henri Vergne par Mlle. Varesca)

France, 1913. Dir. Unknown, 40sec

Clothing Factory, Česká Kamenice (Ošacovací závody, Česká Kamenice)

Czechia, 1928. Dir. Unknown, 6min (clips)

Untitled

France, c.1915. Dir. Unknown, 2min1sec

Paris Fashions: Hats of the House of Francine Arnould

France, 1912. Dir. Unknown, 1min17sec (clip)

Paris Fashions: Latest Creations in Hair Dressing

France, c.1912. Dir. Unknown, 13secs (clip)

Hunting for Egret Feathers in Africa (Chasse a l'aigrette en Afrique)

France, 1911. Dir. Alfred Machin (Pathé), 5min17sec

Untitled (Birds of Paradise)

France, c.1925. Dir. Unknown (Pathé), 8min22sec

Hair and Frills (Cheveux et Chichis)

France, 1911. Dir. Unknown (Pathé), 4min30sec

The Dancing Fleece

UK, 1950. Dir. Frederick Wilson, 20min

Newly restored in 4K from 35mm nitrate Technicolor film elements preserved by the BFI National Archive

A delightful blend of promotional film and avant-garde dance, this vivid Technicolor production celebrates British wool manufacturing through every stage of its journey. Commissioned by the National Wool Textile Export Corporation and costumed by Norman Hartnell – then a rising star in British couture – the film juxtaposes meticulous, tactile close-ups of wool yarns and fabrics with Lotte Reiniger’s animations and expressive dance choreographies (including a sheep ballet). The film’s dreamlike, quasi-surrealist aesthetic unfolds through scenes where mannequins are ritualistically dressed. Various sequences highlight wool’s transformation: shearing, spinning, dyeing, and weaving, culminating in a glamorous fashion show finale.

With thanks to the BFI National Archive.

All That Is Solid: the third Animate OPEN sets out to celebrate, subvert and confound expectations of what animation can be.

The fifteen short films, selected from an international open call, are from Austria, Belgium, England, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Scotland, South Korea, the USA and Wales. They explore subjects that range from intimate, personal stories to wider geopolitical events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine, and the climate crisis. They consider the places we call home, and our need to connect with other humans, animals and nature. The diverse animation techniques represented include photo cut-out, Risograph, kitchen lithography, timelapse, charcoal, pinscreen, 3D, stop motion, and hand-drawn on paper.

HoH captions and AD are available

Running Order:

High Street Repeat, Laurie Hill and Osbert Parker, 4 mins 25 secs, 2023, UK

In The Garden: Giggles In The Greenery, Dominica Harrison, 4 mins 34 secs, 2024, UK

Silent Panorama, Nicolas Piret, 5 mins 9 secs, 2024, Belgium

NATURA 2040, Hantao Li, 11 mins 5 secs, 2024, UK

TWENTYTИƎWT, Max Hattler, 7 mins, 2023, Hong Kong        

Dull Spots of Greenish Colours, Sasha Svirsky, 10 mins 32 secs, 2024, Germany

Raining through my bones,Meghana Bisineer, 5 mins, 2022, USA

Noggin, Case Jernigan, 7 mins 10 secs, 2024, USA

Liminal Roots, Aliyah Harfoot, 4 mins 20 secs, 2024, UK

Contradiction of Emptiness, Irina Rubina, 3 mins 6 secs, 2024, Germany        

FLORE, Emily Sasmor, 2 mins 12 secs, 2022, USA

Pigeon Holding, Olivia Dugdale, 1 min 41 secs, 2023, UK

I Am a Horse, Chaerin Im, 7 mins 58 secs, 2022, South Korea

Adulting, James Duesing, 8 mins 10 secs, 2024, USA

Mokosh, Anna Dudko, 4 mins 45 secs, 2023, Austria

Animate champions experimentation in animation. Our mission is to engage the public with the creativity and craft of the artform. We do this through supporting artists to create thought provoking projects, engaging with audiences across digital and physical contexts, and promoting critical debate.

animateprojects.org

Some of the films deal with issues that may be sensitive or distressing to some viewers.

Content includes:

Depictions of emotional distress, intense situations, nudity, racism, and COVID-19 lockdown; discussion of trauma, mental health, depression, anxiety, war, torture, death, illness, sex, animal injury and the Ukraine invasion.

Some films include flashing images or stroboscopic effects, intense soundtracks, sudden loud sounds and startling visual effects.

Viewer discretion is advised.

Arze will be premiering in the UK on 13 June here at the Garden Cinema. The screening will be followed by a zoom Q&A with director Mira Shaib, hosted by the Arab Film Club's Sarah Agha.

In Mira Shaib's debut feature, struggling single mum Arzé runs a small fatayer business from her home. As demand picks up, she buys her son a scooter. However, when the scooter is stolen, Arzé, frustrated by the lack of police action, takes matters into her own hands and journeys across Beirut to retrieve it, dragging her son Kinan along with her, navigating the city’s web of sectarianism - constantly adapting her attire and accent as she visits in turn a Sunni restaurateur, a Maronite business, a Palestinian camp, a Shia barber...

Although lighthearted and laugh-out-loud funny in parts, Arze is richly textured film, uncannily revealing the many layers of Beirut's very specific cultural tapistry. The film has proven a real festival hit with Lebanese and international audiences alike, and was Lebanon’s submission for the 2025 Academy Awards.

Northern China, 1999. The grisly discovery of several corpses is made in a small town. A bloody incident during the attempt to capture the alleged murderer leaves two police officers dead and another badly injured. The surviving officer Zhang Zili is suspended from duty; he takes a job as a security guard at a factory. Five years later, another series of mysterious murders occurs. Aided by a former colleague, Zhang decides to investigate under his own initiative.

Diao Yinan's Golden Bear winning third feature is a noirish thriller in drained colours which, whilst playfully alluding to the genre, also invites us into the lives of very ordinary people

In 1960, a young Irish woman named Edna O’Brien wrote a sexually frank debut novel, The Country Girls. She became a literary sensation, writing for The New Yorker, delivering provocative interviews, and authoring screenplays. Her success enraged her writer husband and made her a pariah in her

native Ireland, where her books were banned and burned. She would make her home in London, where she conducted numerous love affairs, hosted star-studded parties, and made and lost a fortune.

In July 2024, Edna passed away and this film provides a final testimony from her, aged 93, as she reflects upon her extraordinary life for filmmaker Sinéad O’Shea’s camera.

Granting the director access to her personal journals - read aloud in the film by the Oscar nominated Irish actress Jessie Buckley - and with additional perspectives offered from Gabriel Byrne, Walter Mosley and an array of renowned writers, Edna does not shy from any subject.

The Garden Cinema View:

This illuminating documentary deploys interviews, archive footage, and readings of Edna O’Brien’s memoirs to foreground her importance to literature alongside the appalling misogyny she suffered throughout her career. Whilst a deep analysis of her writing is not central to this study, there is a firm sense of O’Brien as a hardworking, principled, and resilient artist who faced relentless personal attacks and sexism, from the media and even in her private life. The centrepiece of the film is a remarkable interview with O’Brien, conducted shortly before her death in 2024, which shows her as spikey as ever, but with renewed empathy.

William Hurt and Kathleen Turner strike sparks in this taut, South Florida-set tale of lust, greed, and murder that echoes 1940s film noir but is charged with a steamy passion that could only flare in the 80s. When libidinous but none-too-bright attorney Ned Racine (Hurt) begins an affair with Matty Walker (Turner), the beautiful wife of an unscrupulous tycoon, their desire to be together leads to thoughts of murder.

The screening on 28 June will be introduced by filmmaker and critic Jasper Sharp.

Seijun Suzuki's delirious 1967 hit-man film has drawn comparisons with contemporaries Le samouraï and Point Blank and influenced directors such as John Woo, Jim Jarmusch, and Quentin Tarantino among others.

The story of laconic yakuza Hanada (Joe Shishido), aka 'No. 3 Killer', the third rated hit-man in Japan who takes an impossible job from the mysterious, death obsessed Misako. Hanada bungles the hit and finds himself the target of his employers and a bullet ridden journey leads him to face the No. 1 Killer.

Shot in cool monochrome with beguiling visuals, Branded to Kill is an effortlessly cool crime film with a jazzy score that caused Suzuki to be fired by the studio's executives but is now rightly recognised as his masterpiece.

Alan Parker’s BAFTA-winning ganster musical Bugsy Malone might seem an unlikely idea for a film- a musical comedy set in the 1930s criminal underworld with a cast made up entirely of young teens - but it works brilliantly. 13-year-old Jodie Foster gives an incredible performance as Tallulah.

In late-20s New York, rival gangs led by Fat Sam (John Cassisi) and Dandy Dan fight to control the city. Bugsy Malone (Scott Baio) and his sweetheart Blousey dream of a new life in Hollywood but get caught in the – custard-filled – crossfire.

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

Due to popular demand, we're bringing back Caramel, as part of our Lebanese season. The film will be preceded by Dania Bdeir's short film Warsha.

The screening on 25 June will be preceded by a short intro by Dr Albertine Fox, writer of the article "Visibility displaced: lesbian aurality and disruptive self-naming in Sukkar banat/Caramel and Three Centimetres".

Caramel is a Middle Eastern rom-com that challenges binding cultural traditions whilst celebrating female friendship.

In Beirut, five women meet up at a beauty salon, a highly colourful and sensual microcosm. Layale loves Rabih, but he is married man. Nisrine is a Muslim and she has a problem with her coming wedding: She’s no longer a virgin. Rima is tormented by her attraction to women. Jamale is refusing to grow old. Rose has sacrificed herself to look after her older sister. At the salon, men, sex and motherhood are the subjects at the heart of their intimate and liberated conversations.

Punctuated by laugh out loud moments, this hugely popular film from 2006 offers a genuinely nuanced and moving portrait of the country, with its intimate and layered depiction of both its female protagonists and the wider societal relationships they navigate, at a time of cautious optimism in the country.

Caramel will be preceded by the Oscar-nominated mesmerising Warsha, in which a Syrian migrant working as a crane operator in Beirut volunteers to cover a shift on one of the most dangerous cranes, where he is able to find his freedom.

This exlusive theatrical release of Colosseum: Rise and Fall is in partnership with Blink Films.

The greatest amphitheatre ever built by the Romans and a monument to blood and brutality. But what were the origins of the Colosseum and the gruesome spectacles performed within? With unique access to new archaeology, Colosseum: Rise and Fall explores the true purpose of the Colosseum and the network of amphitheatres spread throughout the Roman Empire. Visiting sites across Europe and north Africa, exploring finds that reveal both the scope of the games and the secrets of the gladiators, Colosseum: Rise and Fall charts the expansion of Rome and the ultimate decline of one of history’s most barbaric empires, through the most iconic of Roman landmarks, the Colosseum.

We’re all haunted – by lost loves, past selves, secrets and societal demands. In this dynamic programme, queer characters and communities dance with the ghosts that haunt them. Should they embrace spectral coexistence or fight for an exorcised future? This collection of short films is a call to action imbued with warmth and spectacle, from the playful tone and dazzling palette of Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites, to the tender surrealism of 302 and the cheeky rebellion of If I Were a Voice. Get ready to expose the truth, reject expectations, and defend what matters the most, with rhythm and style.

Curatorial idea by Lu Etienne and Gareth Mattey, as part of Up Next: Future Film Curators Lab 2024/25

Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites

Grandma Nai sneaks away from the peaceful afterlife after overhearing that her queer grandson is getting engaged to a woman.

Dir. Chheangkea | Cambodia, France, USA | 2025 | 19min

Thunder Bird

The reigning Mother of Myanmar’s Thunder Bird dance troupe reflects on her journey.

Dir. Yadanar Oo | Myanmar | 2025 | 16min

Farewell, Saranghae, Farewell

Hitomi's peaceful life is shaken when her girlfriend Naho's dream of becoming a K-Pop idol comes true.

Dir. Sunhye Hong | South Korea, Japan | 2024 | 26min

302

An officer cadet declares his homosexuality to the Singaporean army.

Dir. Leon Cheo | Singapore | 2024 | 16min

If I Were A Voice

Suspended from the choir, Ralph must figure out how to expose his corrupt school.

Dir. Denbert Tiamson | Philippines | 2024 | 20min

Entertaining Mr Sloane will be introduced by Brigitte Mayr and Michael Omasta from Synema Vienna.

Based on Joe Orton's stage play of the same title - which was labelled the dirtiest show in town - this screen adaptation tells the offbeat story of a brother and sister who take in a lodger and using blackmail, persuade him to join them in a perculiar ménage à trois.

Wolf Suschitsky considered Entertaining Mr Sloane as one of the funniest films he ever had the pleasure of working on, and rated the cast as among the best of what England had to offer.

Winner of Best Animated Feature at the 2025 Academy Awards.

When a flood washes its home away, a solitary cat must seek refuge with a motley crew of animals (including a dog, a capybara, a lemur and a secretarybird), who gradually learn to get along in this endearing, Oscar-winning animation.

Gints Zilbalodis cements his position as a visionary director with this captivating, dialogue-free escapade, whose ambition and scope is breathtaking.

On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for children. We will be decorating cat masks.

On both mornings we will be joined by a giant inflatable flow cat.

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

Please note, screenings taking place in our new Screen 3 will not yet have step-free access whilst we wait for our platform lift to be installed.

A neon-drenched crime thriller which pays tribute to the classics of Hong Kong genre cinema while reinvigorating the form.

Chow Wing’s debut follows Shuang (Tai Bo), who after twenty years in prison retreats from the world of crime, taking a construction job and living alone in a tiny room in the once grand but now rundown Mirador Mansions. His quiet life is thrown into disarray after he meets and decides to help Alice (Kuku So), a teenage girl on the run from her mother’s abusive partner, and when his past starts to catch up with him, Shuang is faced with a harrowing choice. Beautifully shot, For Alice recalls the classic Hong Kong thrillers of the 1980s and 90s through its use of neon and shadows, while reinvigorating the genre with its own suspenseful take on guilt and redemption, marking Wing Chow as a up and coming talent to keep an eye on.

QUEER COGNITION: A Season of Cinema Beyond the Binary is a curated series (May–August 2025) celebrating the complexity, resilience, and radical creativity of queer lives around the world. Spanning decades and continents, the season centres voices that challenge convention, reclaim space, and reimagine identity beyond binaries. Presented in the lead-up to Pride London, Queer Cognition brings together groundbreaking narratives and documentaries that resist erasure and ignite cultural memory, exploring queerness as a living, evolving force, rooted in history and defined by collective creativity.

There will be networking drinks in the bar from 19:15 and after the screening.

Film Synopsis

Venus Xtravaganza emerged as a global trans icon after being featured as a glamorous 'ball walker' in the groundbreaking 1991 documentary Paris Is Burning. Venus was murdered before that film’s release, and now, decades later, I'm Your Venus picks up a trail gone cold as her two families - biological and ballroom - come together to honor her legacy, seek answers about her killing, and in the process find unexpected common ground. With a world premier at New York's Tribeca Film Festival and international premier at the BFI London Film Festival, award winning I'm Your Venus is an intimate exploration of community, grief and resilience.

Dir: Kimberly Reed Prod: Steven Cantor / Jamie Schutz / Mike Stafford (p.g.a)

Trigger Warning: The film discusses prostitution and murder

This screening shall be introduced by award-winning writer-director producer and founder of G.O.A.T Film Club, Ebele Tate.

G.O.A.T Film Club is a movement for change in film and television. Our mission is to amplify Black & Global Majority, women, LGBTQIA+, and disabled voices, creating a space where underrepresented talent and passionate audiences converge. Through curated screenings, workshops, and exclusive networking events, we connect filmmakers and viewers, championing diverse stories and reshaping screen culture to reflect a global perspective. G.O.A.T Film Club redefines film and TV as a space where every voice finds its platform and every audience finds stories that resonate.

Insta: @g.o.a.t_filmclub

Programme supported by Film Hub London, managed by Film London. Proud to be a partner of the BFI Film Network, funded by the National Lottery filmlondon.org.uk/film-hub-london

Get Carter will be introduced by Brigitte Mayr and Michael Omasta from Synema Vienna, and is preceded by the short documentary, Wolfgang Suschitzky - Photographer and Cameraman.

Complimentary wine, courtesy of the Austrian Cultural Forum London, will be available in the Atrium Bar before the screening.

Legendary British star Michael Caine is Jack Carter, the London gangland enforcer who returns to his hometown of Newcastle to avenge his brother’s untimely death. Rarely has the criminal underworld been so realistically portrayed than in this 1971 masterpiece. Shot on location, Wolf Suschitzky's camera work bares unflinching witness to the bleakness of 1970s Newcastle and unremittingly depicts an atmosphere of decay and despair. Unsurprisingly, Get Carter's style influenced many gangster films to come but few come close to matching this classic.

Wolfgang Suschitzky - Photographer and Cameraman (Joerg Burger, 2009, 22 min)

Joerg Burger, himself a photographer and cameraman, portrays Wolf Suschitzky’s eventful professional and private life. Stories, anecdotes, and memorabilia form the basis for a dialog with the versatile cameraman, whose liveliness and mischievous humour lend this short filmic portrait its special charm. A tribute to a great, all too modest man of cinema.

In India Donaldson’s insightful, piercing debut, 17-year-old Sam (Collias) embarks on a three-day backpacking trip in the Catskills with her dad, Chris (Le Gros) and his oldest friend, Matt (McCarthy). As the two men quickly settle into a gently

quarrelsome brotherly dynamic, airing long-held grievances, Sam, wise beyond her years, attempts to mediate. But when lines are crossed and Sam’s trust is betrayed, tensions reach a fever pitch, as Sam struggles with her dad’s emotional limitations and experiences the universal moment when the parental bond is tested.

The Garden Cinema View:

A powerful debut from India Donaldson, Good One serves as a disturbingly accurate and surgical depiction of toxic family dynamics. Not the trivialised type encountered on social media, but toxicity camouflaged as playful banter and intertwined with genuine - if misguided - love. The film masterfully articulates the often vague and complex process of trauma formation within family histories through subtext, rather than explicit dialogue.

The cast give powerful performances, the script is superbly constructed, and the sound design is exceptional. All of which contribute to Donaldson’s delicate psychological excavation of her central trio. Thanks to the sharp characterisations and writing, the film also serves as a genuinely funny comedy, despite exploring difficult themes. At times, the spirit of Kelly Reichardt guides this trek through the forest, evoking the hiking mysteries of Old Joy, as well as a Reichardtian camera which is always drawn to insects, foliage, and other quiet scenes of nature.

This small triumph stands as one of our programming team's favourite films of 2025 thus far.

Gutsy Film Festival celebrates the bold and original work of filmmakers living with hidden disabilities and chronic illnesses. This specially curated programme features a diverse mix of short films spanning a variety of genres. The 60-minute screening will begin with a brief introduction from festival founder Amy Sargeant, sharing the inspiration behind Gutsy and introducing the films. Join us afterwards for drinks in the bar - can't wait to see you there!

Gutsy is a film festival celebrating the work of filmmakers living with hidden disabilities and chronic illnesses. It’s a supportive, inclusive space to showcase creativity, share stories, and connect with others.

The film will be preceded by Al Ittisal (The Call), a short film by Sabine Kahwaji, who will be introducing the screening. 

Serge and his girlfriend Leila arrive late at his parents’ big Easter lunch with the wider family. The electricity has been cut, and tensions are already simmering before coming to a head  when matriarch Josephine realises $12,000 of her savings have disappeared.

Amdist the mouth-watering zooms on the kebbe, fatayer, and tabbouleh, biting remarks and sarcastic swipes always on the verge of snowballing into full-blown political and religious arguments, and dysfunctional-family meltdown, in a manner reminiscent of many a French dyfunctional dinner films (Un Air de Famille comes to mind). The handheld camera never leaves the confines of the flat, as tensions ramp up, the acerbic dialogue - at times hilarious - and Lucien Bourjeily's sharply-observed portrayal packing so much about everything the country has been grappling with over the last few decades.

Emmy-nominated writer and director Lucien Bourjeily is known for both his films and theatre productions. Although his work has travelled internationally, it has sometimes been subject to political censorship.

The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Dubai International Film Festival, the "Special Jury Prize" and "Ensemble Cast" awards at the Festival des cinémas arabes, and was nominated for the Jordan Ressler award at the 2018 Miami International Film Festival, the Critics' Choice Award at the 2018 Hamburg Film Festival and the Best World Fiction film award at the 2018 LA Film Festival.

The screening on 25 June will be preceded by a oud performance by Kareem Samara, and followed by a Q&A with director Lucien Bourjeily.

The screening on 19 June will be preceded by a short and transporative set by oud player Kareem Samara, and will be followed by a Q&A with Lucien Bourjeily hosted by actress and Arab Film Club founder Sarah Agha.

Serge and his girlfriend Leila arrive late at his parents’ big Easter lunch with the wider family. The electricity has been cut, and tensions are already simmering before coming to a head  when matriarch Josephine realises $12,000 of her savings have disappeared.

Amdist the mouth-watering zooms on the kebbe, fatayer, and tabbouleh, biting remarks and sarcastic swipes always on the verge of snowballing into full-blown political and religious arguments, and dysfunctional-family meltdown, in a manner reminiscent of many a French dyfunctional dinner films (Un Air de Famille comes to mind). The handheld camera never leaves the confines of the flat, as tensions ramp up, the acerbic dialogue - at times hilarious - and Lucien Bourjeily's sharply-observed portrayal packing so much about everything the country has been grappling with over the last few decades.

Emmy-nominated writer and director Lucien Bourjeily is known for both his films and theatre productions. Although his work has travelled internationally, it has sometimes been subject to political censorship.

The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Dubai International Film Festival, the "Special Jury Prize" and "Ensemble Cast" awards at the Festival des cinémas arabes, and was nominated for the Jordan Ressler award at the 2018 Miami International Film Festival, the Critics' Choice Award at the 2018 Hamburg Film Festival and the Best World Fiction film award at the 2018 LA Film Festival.

The event is taking place in partnership with the Arab Film Club.  

There will be another matinee screening of the film on 27 June.

Walter Salles (Central Station, The Motorcycle Diaries) makes a triumphant return with an emotionally layered, visually rich account of family life under an oppressive regime.

It's 1971, Brazil faces the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), a mother of five children, is forced to reinvent herself after her family suffers a violent and arbitrary act by the government.

I’m Still Here is based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva's biographical book and tells the true story that helped reconstruct an important part of Brazil’s hidden history.

The Garden Cinema View:

Director Walter Salles continues his exploration of political histories by offering a moving biography of a family enduring hardship after the father is arrested for resisting Brazil’s 1970s junta. Like his previous film The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), I'm Still Here explores how activism impacts upper middle-class lives when educated individuals step beyond their comfort zones. And much like Steve McQueen’s recent Blitz (2024), the meticulous research and inspired production design elevate the experience, adding depth to what is otherwise a traditionally told, but powerful, narrative based on real events.  

The ensemble cast delivers a compelling portrayal of this extended family, capturing a warmth, and distinctly Latin sentiment, that is a joy to see on the big screen – and is especially refreshing after an abundance of cerebral political pieces. Fernanda Torres' performance is particularly remarkable, poised and utterly authentic, making her the standout of the film.

While not formally groundbreaking, I'm Still Here is deeply moving, heartwarming, and a valuable window into this chapter of Brazilian history.

Academy Award Winner: Best International Feature Film

Golden Globe Winner: Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture

Our screening on Tuesday 5 August will be introduced by Lucy Bolton (QMUL).

A critical and commerical flop upon release in 2003, Jane Campion's giallo-infleced, erotic thriller is now considered a masterpiece of female desire and subjectivity.

Frannie (Meg Ryan) is a lonely but determined woman living alone in Manhattan, who becomes involved in a murder investigation following the gruesome slaying of a young woman in her neighbourhood. It soon appears that she may know more about the murderer than she thinks, after witnessing what could have been the prelude to the crime. Drawn to the homicide detective (Mark Ruffalo) investigating the case, she discovers the dark side of passion when she embarks on a risky and turbulent affair with him. But as the death toll rises, each victim getting closer to Frannie, she begins to wonder if her new lover is hiding a deadly secret.

Two of Hong Kong cinema’s most iconic leading men, Tony Leung and Andy Lau, face off in the breathtaking thriller that revitalised the city's twenty-first-century film industry, launched a blockbuster franchise, and inspired Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. The setup is diabolical in its simplicity: two undercover moles -a police officer (Leung) assigned to infiltrate a ruthless triad by posing as a gangster, and a gangster (Lau) who becomes a police officer in order to serve as a spy for the underworld - find themselves locked in a deadly game of cat and mouse, each racing against time to unmask the other. As the shifting loyalties, murky moral compromises, and deadly betrayals mount, Infernal Affairs raises haunting questions about what it means to live a double life, lost in a labyrinth of conflicting identities and allegiances.

The provocative Italian filmmaker Elio Petri’s most internationally acclaimed work is this remarkable, visceral, Oscar-winning thriller. Petri maintains a tricky balance between absurdity and realism in telling the Kafkaesque tale of a Roman police inspector (a commanding Gian Maria Volontè) investigating a heinous crime - which he himself committed. Both a compelling character study and a disturbing commentary on the draconian government crackdowns in Italy in the late 1960s and early 70s, Petri’s kinetic portrait of surreal bureaucracy is a perversely pleasurable rendering of controlled chaos.

This heartwarming Indian drama is about the struggles of a loving gay couple, Kartik and Aman, who live in Mumbai. Their relationship comes under strain when one of them has a fling, resulting in a domestic crisis. Meanwhile, Kartik's parents also face a personal dilemma after they have an argument. Will these two couples ever be able resolve their differences - and can their relationships stand the test of time? A follow-up film to the acclaimed Evening Shadows, Kuch Sapney Apne sensitively explores what happens when relationships are challenged by uncomfortable truths. Boasting fantastic songs by acclaimed Indian composers and singers, this insightful drama explores love’s complicated realities.

Sridhar Rangayan is an Indian producer, director, and writer. For over two decades, he has consistently strived to give a voice to social issues in India through his films, writings, and public speaking. The Pink Mirror, Yours Emotionally, 68 Pages, Purple Skies, Breaking Free, Evening Shadows and Raja Bro are at the forefront of India’s emergent queer cinema movement.

LRB Screen returns to the Garden Cinema with a new series exploring visions of London created by non-British filmmakers: films in which the city is a key player, rather than a backdrop; in which its buildings, streets, parks and rivers cast a distinctive shadow over the drama; in which a fresh encounter makes the city unfamiliar and mysterious again.

London Reviewed begins in perhaps the only way it could, with Blow-Up, Antonioni’s classic countercultural take on (mis)perception and (un)reality in the swinging 1960s. Adapted from a short story by the cult Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar and with English dialogues by the great Marxist playwright Edward Bond, the film follows a fashion photographer (Hemmings, channelling David Bailey) who thinks he might have unintentionally photographed a murder. Moving from the heart of the zeitgeist to a South London park that proves pivotal, its richness in social, cultural and architectural detail makes it one of the defining works of the decade.

Introducing the film, and discussing it afterwards with regular host Gareth Evans, will be Miles Aldridge, the acclaimed fashion photographer and artist. Born two years before the film’s release, Aldridge grew up in the heart of the cultural scene it portrays and has since created his own highly distinctive photographic signature.

Amrou Al-Kadhi’s feature debut follows the relationship between Palestinian-British drag performer Layla and their white, straight-laced, new love interest, Max. Drawn together by fate, their newfound joy is increasingly complicated by urgent questions of difference, forcing them both to confront the bittersweet nature of attraction.

This charming and exuberant tale follows Layla as they lose their way in love and find themself in a transformative relationship that tests who they really are. Al-Kadhi’s film asks: what does it mean to love someone and how much are you willing to compromise?

One of the great works of 1930s poetic realist cinema, Le jour se lève was Marcel Carné’s fourth collaboration with screenwriter and poet Jacques Prévert. In this compelling story of obsessive sexuality and murder, the working-class François (Jean Gabin) resorts to killing in order to free the woman he loves from the controlling influence of another man.

In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon plays Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts. After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armour of fedora and trench coat can protect him. An elegantly stylised masterpiece of cool by maverick director Jean‑Pierre Melville, Le samouraï is a razor-sharp cocktail of 1940s American gangster cinema and 1960s French pop culture - with a liberal dose of Japanese lone-warrior mythology.

The film is part of the Beirut Film Society's first edition of Lebanon Cinema Days in the UK, which shines a spotlight on the powerful voices of Lebanese cinema, presenting a curated selection of films by a new generation of filmmakers. Cinema Days is a mini programme that's part of our wider Lebanese season.

The screening will be preceded by an introduction by film director and academic Maria Abdul Karim on the emerging film scene in Lebanon.

Barefoot from Beirut, dir. by Andrew Dawaf

Far away from home, and after becoming auditorily impaired with a tinnitus as a result of the Beirut blast of August 4th, Tahara, a Lebanese immigrant in Europe, tries singing again, but homesickness overtakes her every emotion.

I Stole the Key From My Own House, dir. by Zinia Khalifeh

At 14 years old, Zinia discreetly steals the spare keys of her own house, after her parents decide to sell it subsequently to a murder of three family members. Today at 21 Zinia uses these keys as a healing tool to her and her Family.

An Album of Vows, dir. by Elio Tarabay

After taking their eternal Vows, a young lebanese priest and nun question their life descisions, until a small encounter provides them with answers.

Yaroun, dir. by Zeinab Mahfoud

Yaroun navigates the emotional journey of an immigrant caught between two worlds amidst escalating tensions in South Lebanon. We follow the protagonist as he seeks solace and refuge under the shelter of the Australian flag.

Remains, dir. Christine Abou Zein

Visually mesmerising film about the struggle of those who remain, the ones who stay stuck and are left with only memories when everything is destroyed and rebuilt.

Alitisal, dir. by Sabine Kahwaji

As a deadly explosion shatters their hometown of Beirut, three Lebanese siblings living abroad confront their mental health struggles amid uncertainty about their parents' fate.

The Sky Never Disappointed Anyone, dir. Ryan Nakhle

Mounir grapples with masculinity and societal expectations. In a surreal exploration of identity and tradition, his attempt to break free leads to a haunting confrontation with his own limitations, mirroring the myth of Icarus.

Ephemeral You, dir. by Nour Dimashkieh

Drawing upon memories, archival footage, and a hike along the seaside in Beirut, this contemplative documentary reflects upon the director’s complex relationship with her father.

Beirut Film Society is committed to using cinema as a platform for dialogue, social impact, and cultural diplomacy. One of the Beirut Film Society’s core missions is to reconnect with the Lebanese diaspora and to promote Lebanese creative expression on the international stage — fostering cultural bridges between Lebanon and the world.

Throughout the season, we will be have Lebanese wine and Al Rifai nuts as part of our bar menu.

Six Lebanese women, different ages, await the return of their sons, brothers, husbands or lovers, who have been missing since the Civil War. VOID depicts the events that take place on the eve of the Beirut Parliament Square sit-in, where the women petition to renew the cases of their missing men. The lives of these women revolve around waiting for the men in their lives. A wait filled with uncertainty, and hope.

Void is a rare film about the plight of the disappeared during Lebanon's Civil War that raged from 1975 to 1990, and more crucially, the aftermath and the impact on their closed ones and the wider society, which has had to grapple with this reality for the following decades. In fact, the Arabic title is "Waynon", which means "where are they?" The stories are nuanced and engaging, carefully avoiding falling into cliches, neither condemning nor lionesing the real people at the heart of this.

The film was written by Georges Khabbaz and directed by seven graduates from Notre Dame University outside of Beirut. The directors were Naji Bechara, Jad Beyrouthy, Zeina Makki, Tarek Korkomaz, Christelle Ighniades, Maria Abdel Karim and Salim Habr. Khabbaz also was the scriptwriter for Lebanon’s Oscar submission, Ghadi, and starred in 2007’s Venice and Sundance festival entry Under the Bombs. Void won the Best Screenplay award at the Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden and the Jury Special Prize at the Alexandria Film Festival for Mediterranean Countries.

Diamand Bou Abboud, who won a number of awards for her stellar performance, also stars in Arze, whose UK premiere is screening as part of this season.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with writer Georges Khabbaz and director Maria Abdul Karim. Tickets will include a glass of Lebanese wine, courtesy of Lebanese Fine Wines, or a soft drink alternative.

The film is part of the Beirut Film Society's first edition of Lebanon Cinema Days in the UK, which shines a spotlight on the powerful voices of Lebanese cinema, presenting a curated selection of films by a new generation of filmmakers.

This festival is presented by Beirut Film Society, an organization committed to using cinema as a platform for dialogue, social impact, and cultural diplomacy. One of the Beirut Film Society’s core missions is to reconnect with the Lebanese diaspora and to promote Lebanese creative expression on the international stage — fostering cultural bridges between Lebanon and the world.

Contemporary shorts from an all-women line up of London-based Lebanese filmmakers.

The screening on 9 June will be followed by a Q&A with all the filmmakers, hosted by curator and producer Taghrid Choucair.

The matinee screening on 16 June will be preceded by an introduction on diaspora by Dr Kareem Estefan.

Neo Nahda, dir. by May Ziade

Mona, a young woman in London, finds archived photographs of Arab women cross-dressing in the 1920s. Somewhere between her fantasies and reality, she starts a feverish journey of uncovering lost histories and her own identity.

BFI Flare selection.

A Tempo the 3rd Act, dir. by Maria Abdel Karim

Dreams can only be fulfilled when you let go of your reality - Yet, where are you outside the dream? Nadia, a 20 year-old Lebanese girl is chasing a lost dream and desperate to discover what lies beyond the echoed music of her little village. Driven by her sense of adventure and triggered by a short argument with her parents, she leaves her town at dawn to chase her secret dream. "To Beirut".

European Film Festival ECU Paris - Best Arab Film winner

Sapporo Film Festival - Best Sound winner

Dubai Film Festival - Best Short nominee

Malmo Film Festival - Best Short nominee

The Sun Sets on Beirut, dir. by Daniela Stephan

Mounia searches for her lost cat among the ruins of the Beirut port explosion. Joined by her best friend Ghady, they navigate the remnants of their city on a quest to recover what’s been lost.

Les Nuits Méditerranéennes du Court - Grand Prix winner, Beirut Women Film Festival - Jury Special Mention, Kurzfilmtage Winterthur official selection

Three Centimeters, dir. by Lara Zeidan

Four teenage girls find their friendship put to the test while suspended high above Beirut on a Ferris wheel. As secrets are revealed and tensions rise, this claustrophobic drama culminates in an unexpected confession.

London Critics' Circle - Best British Short winner

Encounters - Chris Collins Live Action winner

London Film Week - winner

Iris Prize - winner

Submarine, dir. by Mounia Akl

Under the imminent threat of Lebanon's garbage crisis, Hala, a wild child inside of a woman, is the only one to refuse evacuation, clinging to whatever remains of home.

Atlanta Film Festival - Best Short winner

Cannes Cinefondation - Nominee

Valencia - Best Short winner

This film was proposed by our member Sebastian Loew, who writes: 'It used to be screened every year at Christmas at the Academy cinema on Oxford St. (now M&S) and I know people who went to see it every year. But it has more or less disappeared and it would be great to see it again.'

In this expansive drama, the lovely and enigmatic Parisian actress Garance (Arletty) draws the attention of various men in her orbit, including the thoughtful mime Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault) and the ambitious actor Frédérick (Pierre Brasseur). Though Garance and Baptiste have an undeniable connection, their fortunes shift considerably, pushing them apart as well as bringing them back together, even as they pursue other relationships and lead separate lives.

Please note, the screening on Wednesday 21 May is our free members' screening, while the one on Wednesday 28 May is a regular screening, which is open to the general public.

Bi Gan followed the mesmerising Kaili Blues with this noir-tinged stunner about a lost soul (Jue Huang) on a quest to find a missing woman from his past (Wei Tang, Lust, Caution). Following leads across Guizhou province, he crosses paths with a series of colorful characters, among them a prickly hairdresser played by Taiwanese superstar Sylvia Chang. When the search leads him to a dingy movie theater, the film launches into an hour-long, gravity-defying long-take which plunges its protagonist - and us - into a labyrinthine cityscape. China's biggest arthouse hit of all time, the film took in more than £30 million in its opening weekend at the domestic box office.

Screening in the 2D version.

When a misguided American documentary crew in search of their next viral segment ends up in the wrong town in rural Argentina, chaos ensues. As they collaborate with locals to fake a new music trend, unexpected relationships form and an unfolding health crisis becomes apparent.

Colourful and unfiltered, Magic Farm is led by a stellar ensemble including Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff, and Simon Rex. Shot through with a vivid sense of place, this Berlinale and Sundance selection combines a surreal send-up of the media with a heartfelt exploration of humanity.

The Garden Cinema View:

Magic Farm is a biting satire that skewers North-American ignorance as well as stereotypical attitudes towards Latin America. Despite touching on some serious issues (like military juntas and airborne chemicals), it retains a light and relaxed atmosphere. The film's experimental form contributes to its anarchic and irreverent feel, with cameras positioned in bizarre locations (on top of animals, for instance) and strange combinations of shots. The cast's ensemble work is highly enjoyable and adds to the film's entertaining quality.

Whether Magic Farm succeeds in all of its goals is up for discussion, but it certainly touches on several important issues and keeps one engaged and amused throughout.

To celebrate the classic Japanese crime films in our Noir International season, we're delighted to welcome back the team from Sake Collective for a tasting session. 

Sake Collective are a London based 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.  

During the tasting, you'll not only get a chance to preview our new menu offering, but Satoshi Hirasaki from Sake Collective will be showcasing other sakes, taking us through a range of styles, while also teaching us about the history of Japan’s national beverage.

Tickets for the sake tasting are £27.50, and are restricted to 2 per member. Remember to log into your membership account before booking.

We're offering a multibuy discount for any members purchasing tickets for the sake tasting and the screening of Masahiro Shinoda’s Pale Flower 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.

Are you that person in your friend group who everyone asks for film recommendations? Do you know your Before Sunrise from your Aftersun, and your Blue Crush from your Green Ray? These skills you've been honing might just save you from drowning in our summer-themed members' film quiz!

Join us for an evening of mind-melting trivia questions, as well as a variety of picture, audio & video rounds. There will be prizes up for grabs for the top 3 teams, including:

• Skincare starter kits from our Soho neighbours at PURESEOUL to fight off that sun damage
• Adorable beeswax candles from our friends at The Wild Bee Co. to light up those balmy su-hummer ni-hights
• Vouchers for free cinema tickets to escape the oppressive and humid London heat

There will also be a refreshing liquid bonus for the best team name.

We have space for 9 teams of max. 5 contestants each. Tickets are £5, and are restricted to 1 per member, so please make sure to be logged in and book quickly once ticket sales open on Friday 16 May at 13:00.

Important info before booking:

If you would like to be placed on a team with friends (who must also be members of the cinema), you can either:

• Purchase your tickets individually, and leave their names during the checkout process, so we can place you on the same team
• Purchase tickets for the entire team, and assign each ticket to the individual team members (you will need to know their surname as well as the email address their membership is registered under, to do this)

Please note that any teams of 3 contestants or less may be merged together to allow as many members as possible to join.

If you're joining by yourself, you will be placed on a Garden Cinema All Stars team - a great opportunity to meet fellow members!

About PURESEOUL:

As the 'Home of K-Beauty,' PURESEOUL was founded in 2019 and offers an exclusive selection of over 2,000 Korean skincare, makeup, and hair care products, curated with expert insight into Korea’s beauty trends. Working directly with over 60 cult-favourite brands like Torriden, Celimax, and Milk Touch, PURESEOUL leads the market as the ultimate destination for authentic K-Beauty.

About The Wild Bee Co:

The Wild Bee Co. is a female founded, owned and led company based in Surrey, which supports people, planet, and pollinators. Our bees are lovingly cared for in apiaries located in wild flower gardens, parks and rooftops located around London and Surrey. We dedicate a lot of time and energy to the welfare of our pollinator friends so we can harvest our honey in a sustainable and responsible way. By respectfully sharing the magic of the hive and planet, we can help reverse declining Honey Bee populations and help conserve the UK’s threatened pollinators.

Our screening of Sunday 3 August will be introduced by film journalist Darren Richman.

Inspired by true events, this rain-drenched sophomore feature from the Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon ho blends true-crime with social satire and comedy in typically masterful fashion.

In 1986 Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, after two women are found raped and murdered, Seoul detective Seo Tae-yoon (Kim Sang-kyung) is brought in to help local detective Park Doo-man (Song Kang-ho) with the investigation. As more bodies are found, the pair realise they have a serial killer on their hands.

Our screening on Wednesday 17 July will be introduced by John Wischmeyer (City Lit).

The brilliant breakthrough film by writer-director Neil Jordan journeys into the dark heart of the London underworld to weave a gripping, noir-infused love story. Bob Hoskins received a multitude of honors - including an Oscar nomination - for his touchingly vulnerable, not-so-tough-guy portrayal of George, recently released from prison and hired by a sinister mob boss (Michael Caine) to chauffeur call girl Simone (Cathy Tyson, in a celebrated performance) between high-paying clients. George’s fascination with the elegant, enigmatic Simone leads him on a dangerous quest through the city’s underbelly, where love is a weakness to be exploited and betrayed. Jordan’s colorful dialogue and eye for evocatively surreal details lend a dreamlike sheen to Mona Lisa, an unconventionally romantic tale of damaged people searching for tenderness in an unforgiving world.

To celebrate 80 years since the publication of the first Moomin book we present Moomins on the Riviera.

Based of Tove Jansson's beloved Moomin characters, this delightful tales follows our Finnish favourites as they set off on holiday in France. In search of adventure, the Moomins, Snorkmaiden and Little My set sail for the Riviera. But the delights of the Riviera soon threaten our beloved group’s unity as they struggle to resist temptation.

Over at the Southbank Centre you can take part in an array on Moomin activities.

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

Please note, screenings taking place in our new Screen 3 will not yet have step-free access whilst we wait for our platform lift to be installed.

Heraldo relies on crime to get by, but when a hit goes wrong, he escapes into the darkness of a roadside sex motel to hide. The eccentric owner and his restless wife let him stay as long as he helps them out, but as they spend time together, emotions begin to bubble under the surface, hidden desires emerge, and a complex dance of conflicting feelings and secret agendas begins.

The Garden Cinema View:

The publication of The Postman Always Rings Twice in 1934 did not only elevate James M. Cain to ‘serious writer’ status, but also raised the critical appreciation of the hardboiled American crime genre itself. The simple love triangle setup was always more about the telling than the plot, perhaps why film adaptations of the book have paled in comparison to those of Cain’s other great novel, Double Indemnity. The 1946 film is one of the weaker classic Hollywood noirs, despite an impressive turn from Lana Turner. Bob Rafelson brought the eroticism to the surface in his surprisingly tedious 80s version with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. And auteurs as diverse as Luchino Visconti and Christian Petzold have made interesting but flawed attempts.

What is left in Cain’s story for Karim Aïnouz and Motel Destino? Ultimately, the inevitable climax stalls momentum in the third act, but not before an lurid, tropical-noir setup that feels wickedly perverse and slyly humorous. Aïnouz and cinematographer Hélène Louvart (La Chimera, The Lost Daughter) have created a hellish setting - the titular love motel. A strange, nightmare world of neon red corridors, peculiar animal intrusions, and an endless soundtrack of groans and moans. This undeniably sets Motel Destino apart from the other adaptations, even if The Postman Rings Twice still awaits a truly masterful onscreen version.    

On Saturday 14 June, set foot into the shady alleyways and dark corners of the Garden Cinema, to uncover the secrets of yet another unfortunate occurrence on our premises..

Put on your detective hat (fedoras are encouraged!) and crack the case by piecing together clues and interviewing our suspects, although be advised: trust no one. Your investigation will lead you into the bowels of the cinema for a shocking reveal, followed by a screening of the sizzling & seductive ‘80s classic, Body Heat.

As the film’s Floridian heatwave is sure to get you sweating, tickets include a complimentary (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) cocktail to quench your thirst.

To allow everyone enough space to sniff around looking for evidence, we will be running the event twice, once in the afternoon and once in the evening, so please keep your (private) eye on the time of your booking! 

Timings for round 1:

16:00  Murder mystery and cocktails

17:30  Reveal & screening of Body Heat

19:45  Expected finish

Timings for round 2:

19:00  Murder mystery and cocktails

20:30  Reveal & screening of Body Heat

22:45  Expected finish

The event is open to members only, but you are welcome to book up to 2 tickets, meaning you can bring a friend along - two brains are better than one, after all. Tickets are available now for £21.50 each, which includes access to the murder mystery, a complimentary cocktail, and an unallocated seat for the film screening. 

If you have any access needs or require a specific seat in the screen, please email membership@thegardencinema.co.uk so we can try to accommodate.

About the film:

William Hurt and Kathleen Turner strike sparks in this taut, South Florida-set tale of lust, greed, and murder that echoes 1940s film noir but is charged with a steamy passion that could only flare in the '80s. When libidinous but none-too-bright attorney Ned Racine (Hurt) begins an affair with Matty Walker (Turner), the beautiful wife of an unscrupulous tycoon, their desire to be together leads to thoughts of murder.

Ocean with David Attenborough takes viewers on a breathtaking journey showing there is nowhere more vital for our survival, more full of life, wonder, or surprise, than the ocean.

The celebrated broadcaster and filmmaker reveals how his lifetime has coincided with the great age of ocean discovery. Through spectacular sequences featuring coral reefs, kelp forests and the open ocean, Attenborough shares why a healthy ocean keeps the entire planet stable and flourishing.

Stunning, immersive cinematography showcases the wonder of life under the seas and exposes the realities and challenges facing our ocean as never-before-seen, from destructive fishing techniques to mass coral reef bleaching. Yet the story is one of optimism, with Attenborough pointing to inspirational stories from around the world to deliver his greatest message: the ocean can recover to a glory beyond anything anyone alive has ever seen.

This magical retelling of the Orpheus myth turns the lyre-playing singer of Greek legend into a famous left-bank poet in post-war Paris. Fallen out of favour and lost for poetic inspiration, Orphée becomes obsessed with a mysterious black-clad princess who first claims the life of a rival poet, and then Eurydice, his wife.

With its unforgettable imagery - the dissolving mirror through which characters pass into the next world, the leather-clad, death-dealing motorcyclists, and Cocteau’s magical special effects, Orphée is a work of haunting beauty that follows the poetic logic of a dream.

Our screening on Monday 2 June will be introduced by John Wischmeyer (City Lit).

Arguably the definitive film noir, and featuring Robert Mitchum at his best. He plays an ex-private eye trying to escape his past until former girlfriend Kathie (Jane Greer) and gangster Whit (Kirk Douglas) drag him into a world of double-crossing, revenge and murder. First-rate performances, hypnotic cinematography, and an intricate script make this a classic.

Our screening on 11 June will be introduced by freelance curator Yuriko Hamaguchi.

In this cool, seductive jewel of the Japanese New Wave, a yakuza, fresh out of prison, becomes entangled with a beautiful and enigmatic gambling addict; what at first seems a redemptive relationship ends up leading him further down the criminal path. Bewitchingly shot and edited, and laced with a fever-dream-like score by Toru Takemitsu, this gangster romance was a breakthrough for the idiosyncratic Masahiro Shinoda. The pitch-black Pale Flower is an unforgettable excursion into the underworld.

A multibuy discount applies to those attending our sake tasting as well as the screening of Pale Flower on Saturday 21 June. To activate the discount, make sure tickets for both events are in your basket. Then proceed to checkout where screening tickets will reduce to just £8.

A selection of award-winning shorts from the last few years open our Lebanese season with arresting animation, heart-warming drama, laugh out loud moments and biting dialogue.

To celebrate this rare occasion to platform the country's cinematic landscape, our friends and neighbours at Beirut Garden will be providing mezza sampler plates, which, along with a glass of  Kefraya White and Ksara Red wine courtesy of Lebanese Fine Wines, or a soft drink equivalent, will be included in your ticket.

Audience members will have a chance to purchase some of their excellent products in the pop-up shop in our bar area.

The screening will be introduced by season curator Abla Kandalaft, academic and filmmaker Jawal Awar, and co-curator Claire Nicolas.

Films:

Waves '98, dir. by Ely Dagher

A mesmerising mix of animation and live-action footage, ‘Waves ‘98’ is a moving meditation on the contradiction of feeling lost at home. 2015 Palme d'Or winner.

The Trees, dir. by Ramzy Bashour

Bashir attends his father’s funeral in rural Lebanon only to discover a pathogen infecting the trees across his village. 2021 Clermont-Ferrand Special Jury Prize winner.

Les Chenilles, dir. by Michelle & Noel Keserwany

Asma and Sarah, originally from the Levant, find themselves working in the same restaurant in France. Initially wary of each other, they gradually discover a common thread that binds them — one that dates back to when the Silk Road connected Lyon to their home countries. 2023 Golden Bear Award winner.

Sisters of the Rotation, dir. by Michel & Gaby Zarazir

At the Sisters of the Rotation’s convent, the Earth doesn’t spin by itself. Winner of the 2024 Special Jury Award at the Bucharest Short Film Festival, Special Mention at PÖFF Shorts in Tallinn, Live Action Short Jury Prize at Seattle International Film Festival.

If the Sun Drowned Into an Ocean of Clouds, dir. by Wissam Charaf

Beirut, Lebanon. On the waterfront’s construction site, security agent Raed must prevent passing-by walkers from accessing the seaside.

2024 Clermont-Ferrand Special Jury Prize winner.

To accommodate everyone, we are running the same event back to back, with the first event starting at 16:00 and the second starting at 17:00. You can book for either time slot. Please check timings carefully!

First slot

16:00 - 17:00  Lebanese wine, mezza nibbles & pop-up shopping

17:00 - 17:10  Introduction

17:10 - 18:50  Screening of Panorama: Lebanese Award Winners

Second slot

19:00 - 20:00  Lebanese wine, mezza nibbles & pop-up shopping

20:00 - 20:10  Introduction

20:10 - 21:50  Screening of Panorama: Lebanese Award Winners

We will be serving a selection of wines from Chateau Kefraya, Chateau Ksara, Chateau St Thomas, and Domaine Wardy.

We are adding Lebanese Château Kefraya Les Bretèches White wine and mixed nuts from Al Rifai to our bar menu throughout the season.

One of the most acclaimed Hong Kong films of the year, Philip Yung’s latest is a heart-wrenching crime drama based on a shocking real life case.

Acclaimed filmmaker Philip Yung (Port of Call) returns with gripping true crime drama Papa, the winner of multiple awards and which has been hailed as one of the best Hong Kong films of recent years. Café owner Nin’s life is shattered forever when his fifteen-year-old son Ming violently murders his mother and sister one evening. Diagnosed with acute schizophrenia, Ming is remanded indefinitely to a psychiatric prison, while Nin tries to continue his daily pedestrian existence, struggling with immense anger and grief. As time passes, he gives up on trying to understand the reasons for the tragedy, and tries to connect with his son, who despite everything is now his only remaining family.

The screening will feature a pre-recorded introduction by the director.

Ghasita 28 returns to his village near Varanasi after 10 years to find his family struggling financially. His brother, Shambhu, cant meet their needs. Ghasita refuses to do menial village jobs but is intrigued when he meets his childhood friend Pawaru, now wealthy. Pawaru reveals he runs a begging business and offers Ghasita a chance to join, which he accepts to support his family.

Reborn India Film (RIF) is a dynamic organization dedicated to the celebration of cinema through its annual film festivals and round-the-clock programs. Each year, we curate an eclectic lineup of screenings, workshops, podcasts, and more, providing a platform for filmmakers, industry professionals, and audiences to engage, learn, and connect. As a production house, RIF specializes in line production, offering comprehensive services to bring film projects to life. With a passion for storytelling and a commitment to excellence, RIF continues to push boundaries, inspire creativity, and shape the future of Indian cinema.

Leni Riefenstahl is considered one of the most controversial women of the 20th century as an artist and a Nazi propagandist. Her films Triumph of the Will and Olympia stand for perfectly staged body worship and the celebration of the superior and victorious. At the same time, these images project contempt for the imperfect and weak. Riefenstahl’s aesthetics are more present than ever today - but is that also true for their implied message? The film examines this question using documents from Riefenstahl's estate, including private films, photos, recordings and letters. It uncovers fragments of her biography and places them in an extended historical context.

The Garden Cinema View:

A fascinating study of a complex, groundbreaking, and deeply controversial filmmaker. This documentary burrows into the questions of complicity, responsibility, and the relationship between art, media, and politics that engulfed Leni Riefenstahl’s post-war life. Whilst she remains too slippery to ultimately pin down, the sense of an artist attempting to control her image and narrative emerges strongly in this film.

Riefenstahl’s own films are themselves acutely interesting and spectacular even as the act of watching them can be profoundly upsetting. So it is a shame that there is not more analysis of how this imagery proved so effective as a kind of aesthetic of fascism, and indeed how it continues to reoccur from everything from advertising to family blockbusters.  

This special screening of The Colour of Pomegranates ushers in the second season of LOST ART (formerly LONDNR) magazine's pop-up film club, Secret Ceremony.

This edition is all about Tarot, bringing you aesthetic and esoteric cinema experiences curated with the deck's most feared and revered cards in mind. The Colour of Pomegranates channels the power of the first card: The Magician, actualiser of desire.

Soyat-Nova, 18th century Armenian poet and troubadour is the subject of Segei Parajanov's notorious biopic. Absent of cohesive dialogue, Soyat-Nova's life is retold as a visual poem: an experience, not just another 'watch'. Re-cut and released in 1969, a year after its debut screening,  because the Soviet-run company which commissioned the film deemed it 'inaccessible', Secret Ceremony presents The Colour of Pomegranates in its original 1968 cut, in all its complex beauty.

Think of this viewing as a visual feast that offers a glimpse into the lost mythical traditions of Persia and Armenia.

Following this one-of-a-kind screening, we will be joined by FRAS fashion academic, journalist and consultant Babette Radclyffe-Thomas from The Costume Society.

This unmissable talk will provide context to the intricately woven story of fabrics and costume in this film.

20:20: Film Starts

21.50: Film Finishes

22.00: Talk with fashion historian, Babette Radclyffe-Thomas

22:30: End!

Dress code: think chic in neutral tones, earthy colours, browns and golds (if this doesn't appeal to you, just black or white will do!)

To stay up to date with future screenings and equally unmissable events, sign up to our newsletter here.

Secret Ceremony is a pop-up film club, created by LOST ART (formerly LONDNR) magazine, a print and digital culture publication. Secret Ceremony shows supernatural masterpieces, mind-bending surrealism, cult classics, witchy fantasies, and sumptuous forgotten gems. Hosted in visually stunning spaces, every event has its own distinctive flavour, whether it comes from exclusive talks, custom cocktails, or complimentary aura readings.

This is a fundraiser screening. It will be preceded by a small crafts and Lebanese snacks souk in the bar, and a short performance by Lebanese poet Rayanne Chami, and an introduction by curator Taghrid Choucair.

A raw and riveting documentary about Slave to Sirens, the Middle East’s first all-woman thrash metal band.

Set against the backdrop of Lebanon’s political and economic turmoil, Sirens explores what it means to be a musician in a country where censorship constantly looms. Struggling to draw local crowds and enduring relentless online abuse, the band pushes forward, undeterred. Director Rita Baghdadi deftly weaves scenes of protest with the band’s internal struggles, capturing their strength in every frame while exposing a society eager to silence them. The result is an inspirational yet deeply meditative film that serves as a fierce testament to freedom, female solidarity, and the power of our voices.

The film was part of the official selection at Sundance, CPH:DOX, Guadalajara and Thessaloniki film festivals, amongst others.

We are showing Sirens in collaboration with film programmer Caroline Cassin to raise funds for two grassroots organisations in Lebanon: Haven for Artists, a feminist, decolonial initiative supporting cultural workers, and Marsam Alhakaya, a tuition-free 2D animation programme for refugees and marginalised communities in the country.

We will be selling handmade items by Viridiana Marin and Chachoulie by Rima, beautiful photographs of Lebanon by Rabih Arasoghli, and ceramics by Amina Rawat

Event timings:

15:30-16:30 Crafts and snacks for sale in the Atrium Bar

16:30-16:45 Poetry and introduction

16:45-18:05 Screening of Sirens

The touching story of Stelios Kazantzidis, a child of a refugee family from Pontus, who managed to survive and grew up, thanks to his enormous talent, and against all social and personal difficulties. Music, love, family, friends, fishing, creativity, night bouncers, fanatics, and great conflicts, create this mosaic of his life.

Director's notes:

In this film, I aim to delve into the soul of a man who, through his songs, touched millions of others. His powerful and magical voice opened doors for him and those around him. However, family, love, disputes, and his immense popularity left little room for his own happiness. The film reveals the creation of some landmark songs for Greeks, songs still sung and danced to at gatherings. It also portrays a nation transitioning from poverty to a new, unbridled era, offering a glimpse into the roots of our modern-day evolution. Cinematically, the film is character-driven, focusing on their authenticity. As time progresses, changing decor and attire subtly depict a society filling with new materials and colors. We’ll revisit the settings of classic black and-white films and use modern cinematic techniques to portray the backstage stories of Greece's first music stars. The challenge is to reignite admiration for Stelios Kazantzidis as the hero of this cinematic journey.

- Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side. Starring Toshiro Mifune as the rookie cop and Takashi Shimura as the seasoned detective who keeps him on the right side of the law, Stray Dog goes beyond crime thriller, probing the squalid world of postwar Japan and the nature of the criminal mind

Join us for the Table of the Elements relaunch party at The Garden Cinema, Covent Garden, highlighted by a screening of the feature documentary Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present. The gathering inaugurates an ambitious pre-order and membership drive to support the 2025 season of new projects. This is the first in a month-long, worldwide series of activities, uniting Table of the Elements’ global community through concerts, exhibitions, pop-ups, listening parties, and special collaborations across key cities.

Table of the Elements is a curatorial platform, interdisciplinary production organization, live-event presenter, and fine-arts print, audio, and film publisher, lauded by Pitchfork Media as “a national treasure.” Since its origin as a record label in 1993, TotE has been dedicated to preserving, promoting, and promulgating works by international creators of experimental audio, avant-performance, and modern composition. The label’s 150-plus releases are a vital contemporary chronicle, a survey of meaningful eruptions across a broad horizon of sound and vision.  Each project demonstrates how a publishing concern might romp wild, unbridled from the carousel of convention.

Relaunch Party No. 1 schedule:

18:30  Doors open

19:00  Screening of Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present + Q&A

21:00  Party with special guests & DJ sets TBC

Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present is a nonfiction film that examines the pioneering life and works of filmmaker, musician, artist, and educator Tony Conrad. Utilizing intimate footage of Tony and his collaborators shot over the last twenty-two years and his own archive of recordings and films, Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present mirrors Conrad’s playfully radical approach to art making. The non-linear structure allows Conrad to wildly free-associate his streams of consciousness, revealing an honest and humane way of navigating a remarkable, creative life.

Join us for the ultimate Sunday hang-out: a slow-drifting, sun-bleached escape into fading Americana and hippie existentialism, with a UK premiere of the restoration of legendary documentary, Tarpon. This will be preceded by two episodes of the cult TV show, Fishing with John. Both screenings will be introduced by actor and filmmaker Tim Plester and Ryan Bellett, programmer of Video Bazaar.

Tarpon

For decades, the unreleased documentary Tarpon remained somewhat of a myth. Some were lucky to get a bootlegged copy, but for most, the film was urban legend. With appearances by authors Richard Brautigan, Thomas McGuane, and Jim Harrison, the film was born from a 1972 visit to the Florida Keys by French filmmaker, Christian Odasso. Enraptured by the aesthetics and ethics of catch-and-release tarpon fishing, Odasso paired with his brother-in-law, Guy de la Valdene, to co-direct this film about fishing, fishermen, authors, and nature lovers. The film was shot in the cinéma verité style on Kodak 16mm Ektachrome, Jimmy Buffet composed the original music and Jim Harrison narrated his own text. The film reveals some of the only extant video footage of Richard Brautigan, the cult 60s poet and novelist, and also follows several important fishing guides - Gil Drake, Steve Huff, and Woody Sexton - pioneers and legends of a bygone era of Florida fishing.

Fishing with John - Episodes 5 & 6

What happens when you drop John Lurie and Dennis Hopper in a tropical lagoon and hand them fishing rods? Nothing much, and everything. These two surreal, meandering episodes from Lurie's cult '90s show are the perfect dreamlike companion to Tarpon. Lurie and Hopper search for the mythical and elusive giant squid in Thailand, which also is apparently hunting them and hypnotises John and Dennis with its 'volleyball' sized eye. Narrated with absurd gravitas, filled with long silences and existential tangents, it’s fishing as performance art, as therapy, as existential riddle.

Come for the fish. Stay for the vibes. Nurse your hangover, dodge your inbox, and sink into the long, warm tide of cinematic splendour.

16:00 - Intro by Video Bazaar

16:10 - Fishing with John Episodes 5&6

17:00 - Intermission

17:10 - Intro by Tim Plester

17:20 - Tarpon

Realizing he is not long for this world, an aging 18th century poet (Jean Marais) travels through time in search of divine wisdom. In a mysterious, possibly post-apocalyptic wasteland, he has a series of enigmatic and surreal encounters with symbolic phantoms (Roger Blin, Brigitte Bardot, Marie Déa) with whom he muses about the nature of art and his own career. Ultimately, the poet strives to achieve his own rebirth as an immortal celestial being.

Paul Verhoeven's last film produced in the Netherlands before he created his Hollywood classics Robocop and Total Recall, invites us into the twisted psyche of Gerard Reve, a troubled writer whose life becomes entangled with mysterious women, murder, and the supernatural. As Reve spirals into a world of erotic desire and deceit, he must navigate the blurred lines between reality and fantasy to uncover the truth. Indulge your senses, challenge your perceptions, and join us for The 4th Man.

Wim Wenders pays loving homage to rough-and-tumble Hollywood film noir with The American Friend, a loose adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel Ripley’s Game. Dennis Hopper oozes quirky menace as an amoral American art dealer who entangles a terminally ill German everyman, played by Bruno Ganz, in a seedy criminal underworld as revenge for a personal slight - but when the two become embroiled in an ever-deepening murder plot, they form an unlikely bond. Filmed on location in Hamburg and Paris, with some scenes shot in grimy, late-seventies New York City, Wenders’s international breakout is a stripped-down crime story that mixes West German and American film flavors, and it features cameos by filmmakers Jean Eustache, Samuel Fuller, and Nicholas Ray.

Alfredo Gasper, a dissatisfied Buenos Aires newspaperman (Carlos Cores), partners with Paar Liudas, a clever Hungarian refugee (Vassili Lambrinos) who needs money to bring his family to Argentina. Together they create a bogus correspondence school, exploiting the hopes of would-be journalists. As their scheme succeeds beyond their wildest dreams, a mystery woman from Liudas’ past sparks Gasper’s suspicion: his charming colleague may be playing him for a sucker. Soon Gasper finds himself plotting the perfect crime - but fate has many twists in store.

This adaptation of journalist Adolfo Jasca’s award-winning novel was acclaimed upon its release, earning top prizes in 1957 from the Argentine Film Critics Association for Best Picture, with Fernando Ayala named Best Director. American Cinematographer magazine listed Los tallos amargos #49 on its roster of the 100 Best Photographed Films of All-Time.

Our screening on Thursday 26 June will be introduced by Jinhee Choi (KCL).

An eerie, foreboding hospital is the setting for this tense psychological thriller from one of the most acclaimed genre filmmakers of the South Korea Golden Age. An ambitious doctor, set to wed the hospital owner’s daughter, has designs on being chief surgeon. However, when his affair with one of the nurses puts those plans in jeopardy, he takes diabolical steps to ensure his plans aren’t thwarted. Kim Jin-gyu turns in an uncharacteristically menacing performance, while Moon Jeong-sook shines as the nurse who will not be silenced.

This screening of The Duke of Burgundy marks the release of Ryan Gilbey's new book, It Used to be Witches: Under the Spell of Queer Cinema. Ryan will be in conversation with director Peter Strickland following the film, and copies of his book will be available to purchase before and after the screening.

Two entomologists (Sidse Babett Knudsen, Chiara D'Anna) play ritual games of dominance and subservience. Day in and day out, lovers Cynthia and Evelyn enact an elaborate sadomasochistic fantasy as mistress and maid. But as their ritual of domination and submission begins to turn stale, Cynthia yearns for something more conventional, while Evelyn tries to push their taboos even further.

The Extraordinary Miss Flower brings to life the remarkable story of Geraldine Flower and the discovery of a suitcase full of passionate, heartfelt letters of love sent to her in the 60s and 70s that inspired acclaimed Icelandic singer/songwriter Emilíana Torrini to return to the studio and record an entire album of new songs.

Part film, part theatre, part fever dream, The Extraordinary Miss Flower takes the form of a series of specially designed performances of these songs by Emilíana and her band, combined with dramatic scenes and readings from the letters by well known actors and musicians (including Caroline Catz, Nick Cave, Alice Lowe and Richard Ayoade). The film captures the romance of a bygone era and Miss Flower’s extraordinary life - a life full of secrets and enduring friendships, of travel, adventure and love.

The Garden Cinema View:

The Extraordinary Miss Flower is a small art film that serves as a highly inventive alt-biopic. Based on Emilíana Torrini’s songs, themselves inspired by mysterious love letters belonging to Geraldine Flower, the film is a fascinating fusion of live musical performance, dance, and narration. Its biggest success is the seamless blend of all these elements, creating an immersive experience that transcends traditional filmmaking. The film constantly surprises with its alluring combination of visuals, psychedelic effects, and narrative abstractions that resonate on a unconscious, rather than on an intellectual level.

The Extraordinary Miss Flower is a testament to the power of creativity and belies its small budget. Unafraid to take risks, it proves to be a small triumph due to its unique rhythms and original vision.

The Fisherman and the Banker is a modern-day David and Goliath tale, chronicling a fishing community in India’s Gulf of Kutch as they take on the World Bank’s private lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), for funding a coal-fired power plant that threatens their way of life. Filmed over a decade, the documentary captures the fishermen’s fight against industrial encroachment and their alliance with US lawyers to file a groundbreaking lawsuit, which reaches the US Supreme Court in 2018. With a poetic and observational lens, the film explores their legal battle and profound bond with the environment, posing a powerful question: can the resilience of a community rewrite the rules of global power—or will the might of corporations and institutions crush their fight for justice?

“Compelling…witnesses an astonishing fight for justice against all odds”

– The Guardian

“Moving and necessary. A David and Goliath story for an age that desperately needs such stories, on our screens and in our hearts, to revive hope that justice is not doomed in the face of finance “

– Yanis Varoufakis

The film was nominated for best feature film at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Sheena Sumaria.

Sheena Sumaria, a British-Gujarati documentary filmmaker, transitioned from a career in international development to filmmaking. With degrees in Economics and Development Studies from Cambridge and SOAS, her passion for social justice drives her work. She began with “Still Standing,” highlighting life in Medellin’s slums, followed by films on the Chilean student uprising and the 2002 Gujarat pogrom. Her short films address various social issues, including Brexit and homelessness.

Like childhood, animation is full of wonder and simple pleasures. This carefully chosen programme for our littlest and most special audience contains 10 of the best, most recent wonderful short animated films, full of joy, from all around the world. There’ll be talking animals, seriously fun adventures and wondrous tales to spark those little imaginations.

For more information about the London International Animation Festival and our programmes please look at the website at www.liaf.org.uk

My Name is Fear

The fear that lives in your head wants to give an interview. Maybe you and Fear can become friends, or maybe there is a reason to be scared of Fear.

Germany 2021 Dir: Eliza Płocieniak-Alvarez 5 min

Swing

In a world of toys a wooden robot feels lonely. When another robot appears their relationship starts to blossom.

Spain 2022 Dir: Ignasi Tarruella 5 min

Bellysaurus

A tiny dinosaur dreams that she is a big scary dinosaur. When danger strikes, she learns it’s what’s on the inside that counts—literally.

Australia 2021 Dir: Philip Watts 8 min

Fox for Edgar

Edgar is not getting a lot of attention and affection from his parents, as they prefer spending time with their smartphones and laptops than with their son.

Germany 2021 Dir: Pauline Kortmann 8 min

Meta

Interconnection, form, function, flow: all these big ideas about change and growth sprout in playful ways when creatures shape shift and dance to the rhythm of discovery.

Germany 2022 Dir: Antje Heyn 4 min

The Adventures of Goar

An undersea explorer called Goar dives into the bottom of the sea to save her robot friend.

China 2021 Dir: Sergio Lu 6 min

Heartwood

Midge is hiking in the woods with her boring father. When she decides to leave the monotony of the hiking trail to set off on her own adventure, she makes a magical discovery.

UK 2021 Dir: Clara Schildhauer, Reyes Fernández 4 min

How Shammies Travelled

Hankie proposes to travel around the house with eyes closed. Space under the table suddenly turns into a dragon’s cave and the stairs into snowy cliffs.

Latvia 2021 Dir: Edmunds Jansons 6 min

Lost Brain

Every time Louise the crocodile sneezes, she loses part of her brain, until she cannot perform simple tasks and becomes trapped inside her own apartment.

Switzerland 2022 Dir: Isabelle Favez 6 min

The Smortlybacks Come Back!

In a barren world TamLin of the Little People travels with his herd of splendid smortlybacks in search of greener pastures.

Switzerland 2022 Dir: Ted Sieger 8 min

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

Please note, screenings taking place in our new Screen 3 will not yet have step-free access whilst we wait for our platform lift to be installed.

Thibaut is an internationally renowned conductor who travels the world. When he learns he was adopted, he discovers the existence of a younger brother, Jimmy, who works in a school cafeteria and plays the trombone in a small marching band. Everything seems to set them apart, except their love of music. Sensing his brother's exceptional talent, Thibaut decides to remedy the injustice of fate. Jimmy begins to dream of a different life....

The Garden Cinema View:

After his Godot-in-prison comedy, The Big Hit, The Marching Band confirms Emmannuel Courcol as a true believer in the transformative potential of the arts. Pitched somewhere between Brassed Off and The Chorus, this is a decent vintage of feelgood cinema, albeit one that might be too much for the fromage-intolerant. Benjamin Lavernhe and Pierre Lottin harmonise well as the unlikely brothers, and there’s a huge amount of warmth directed towards the left-behind industrial town, whose residents we might more easily associate with gilet jaunes protests or Rassemblement National rallies.

In a bid to secure his family’s legacy, an international tycoon brings his nun-daughter into his most daring scheme yet in this tale of espionage and intrigue from legendary filmmaker Wes Anderson.

Doc'n Roll presents the UK premiere of The Science of Ghosts. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Adrian Crowley.

Director Niall McCann’s observational drama centres on a well-known Irish musician, Adrian Crowley. While being interviewed by a film crew for his latest album, an interruption causes Adrian and the filmmaker to ponder - what would a film about his life be like? Could it ever really reflect who he is? Imagination takes him - and the audience - on a journey as he becomes a ghost visiting his own life, past and future. What emerges is a humorous and original take on the power of storytelling.

The Small World of Sammy Lee will be introduced by Brigitte Mayr and Michael Omasta from Synema Vienna.

Sammy Lee, compère of a shabby Soho gentlemen's club, and inveterate poker player, needs to raise dosh within five hours to pay off his gambling depth.

Wolf Suschitzky's camera closely follows Sammy's attempt to save his neck from the wrath of his bookie, through Soho, to the East End, and back. The film is not only a great black comedy but document of a London long gone.

Introduction by Isabella Coraça and live music by leading silent film accompanist Stephen Horne.

An adaptation of the Madame Butterfly story, The Toll of the Sea presents a tale of cross-racial love and loss set amidst the opulent gardens of an exoticised China. The film follows Lotus Flower (played by Anna May Wong in her first leading role), a young Chinese woman who falls in love with an American traveler. Costume and colour are used to highlight a view of East as a land of pleasure and sensuality. Lotus Flower’s vibrant silk dresses in red and green, enhanced by the ‘natural’ process of two-colour Technicolor, connect her Chinese identity and feminine beauty to the natural surroundings. In a failed attempt to assimilate, Lotus Flower shifts to muted Western fashion. Ultimately, though, clothing is unable to change who she is, and she resigns herself to her tragic fate in an exuberantly embroidered silk robe.

Content warning: includes exoticising images that may be culturally insensitive or offensive.

In a world plagued by genocides, the climate crisis, and the erasure of cultures, this short film programme explores how queer communities continue to imagine possible futures ripe with solidarity and abundance. From queer shamanism to radical care between HIV-positive bodies, ritual and performance become tools to remake the universe. Because to be queer is to refuse to comply with the world as it is, thereby hoping, dreaming, and forging worlds that are not yet born.

This screening is followed by a poetry reading by Sarah Lasoye

Curatorial idea by Arshootti and Xinyi Wang as part of Up Next: Future Film Curators Lab 2024/25

Filament Fortune

HIV-positive bodies stage a reverse-arranging of flowers.

Dir. Beau Gomez | multiple origins | 2024 | 10min

JuJu vs The Possibilities of Life, Love and Death

A chance encounter leads to a trans woman speculating on future possibilities.

Dir. Htet Aung Lwyn | Myanmar | 2024 | 15min

High Tide or Low Tide?

A closeted high schooler takes part in a poetry contest.

Dir. Gio Franco Amarillo Alpuente | Philippines | 2024 | 20min

Hide and Seek

Queer utopias are brought to life through 3D animation.

Dir. Junjie Xu | UK | 2024 | 6min

Baradiya

An indigenous trans woman grapples with becoming a Babaylan, a Filipino queer shaman.

Dir. Gab Mejia, Miko Reyes, David Loughran, Antonio Lantong Dagoc Jr. | Philippines | 2024 | 30min

Discussing the film afterwards - with host Gareth Evans - will be Preisner himself, on-screen live from Greece, with interpretation in person by the composer's own interpreter of choice, Barbara Howard.

While it is clearly evident that a fine soundtrack can redeem a terrible film from complete oblivion and lift a mediocre one to a higher rung, certain scores operate altogether differently. A great composer for the cinema not only produces music of the highest calibre; their work becomes indivisible from our experience and understanding of the film. Their music and songs inform, affect and even direct the course of the narrative and the lives of the characters. Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner is one such artist. Celebrating his 70th birthday this 20th May, Preisner has scored numerous films - by directors including Agniezka Holland, Louis Malle and Thomas Vinterberg - for more than 40 years. But it is his enduring creative relationship with the late, great Krzysztof Kieślowski that has marked him out as one of the medium's greatest. From No End to the Three Colours Trilogy, Preisner's music has crafted an unforgettable atmosphere of startling beauty, profound melancholy and compelling ambiguity. In 1991's The Double Life of Véronique, the role of Preisner's music goes further, playing a key part in the film's storyline and the protagonist's psychology.

A haunting tale of love, loss and intangible association across time and place, it weaves the stories of two young women - doubles perhaps - whose lives interweave in ways that cannot be easily defined. Hal Hinson, writing for The Washington Post, observed that "the film takes us completely into its world, and in doing so, it leaves us with the impression that our own world, once we return to it, is far richer and (more) portentous than we had imagined." That said, The less one knows in advance about this stunning work of art - immaculately filmed by Sławomir Idziak - the better, suffice to say that it launched the career of its luminous leading actor Irène Jacob, who won the Best Actress Award at Cannes in 1991 for her performance.

With thanks to Eliza Dziedzic.

This screening will be introduced by Tony Rayns.

Select Japan is excited to bring the new restoration of Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood to The Garden Cinema. This astonishing film is among the the great Shakespeare adaptations, fusing Macbeth with ghostly Japanese folklore and elements of noh theatre.

One of Kurosawa's masterpieces, Throne of Blood combines beauty and terror to produce a mood of truly haunting power. Starring the irrepressible Toshiro Mifune as the doomed warlord Washizu and a wonderfully creepy Isuzu Yamada as the Lady Macbeth-inspired Asaji, the film shows Kurosawa's familiar control of atmosphere and action combined with the savagery of war.

Abbas Kiarostami takes meta­narrative gamesmanship to masterful new heights in the final installment of 'The Koker Trilogy'. Unfolding behind the scenes of And Life Goes On, this film traces the complications that arise when the romantic misfortune of one of the actors - a young man who pines for the woman cast as his wife, even though, in real life, she will have nothing to do with him - creates turmoil on set and leaves the hapless director caught in the middle. An ineffably lovely, gentle human comedy steeped in the folkways of Iranian village life, Through the Olive Trees peels away layer after layer of artifice as it investigates the elusive, alchemical relationship between cinema and reality.

As part of this year’s festival, SAFAR is running a 5-day intensive workshop which invites participants to creatively explore the legacy of Arab film stars through the creation of video essays. Led by Cairo-based artist Bahia Shehab in collaboration with scholars Dr Stefanie Van de Peer and Dr Kaya Davies Hayon, the workshop is inspired by their newly published book, Transnational Arab Stardom.

Artists and creatives selected to participate in the residency will engage with archival materials, develop their editing skills, and produce short films that respond to the careers and representations of iconic figures such as Umm Kulthum, Omar Sharif, and Asmahan. This event, open to all, will be a showcase of the results of the residency as well as a broader conversation about Arab stardom with Bahia, Stefanie and Kaya.

Tickets are £5 and include a free tea or coffee.

With support from the SOAS Practice Research Network.

Want to participate in the workshop? Find out more here and apply by Friday 23rd May, 3PM

The Felling – an extraordinary and shocking first-hand account of what happened on the tree-lined suburban streets of Sheffield. It tells the true story of a small group of residents in Sheffield who battled to stop a powerful city council and a giant multinational corp. from chopping down thousands of healthy street trees as part of a massive £2.2 billion private contract to maintain the city's highways. What started as innocent local protest turned into a David and Goliath tale, attracting national and international support. As the stakes increased with threats of bankruptcy and imprisonment, ordinary citizens were forced to ask themselves the crucial question: How far am I prepared to go to save a tree?

We’ll screen the recent documentary The Felling after hearing from Stefano Petroni (and a short about Save the Olives and a contribution from Helen Mirren), Paul Wood (Tree Hunting), Ed Spurr (Acorn Vase), Gerit Quealy (Botanical Shakespeare) and other surprise guests to share expertise and a few wee gifties!

Gerit Quealy, author of Botanical Shakespeare, has presented events as part of the Urban Tree Festival. This event is a fundraiser for the UTF. UTF is a non-political, not for profit, Community Interest Company, run by a group of passionate volunteers and staff, working with event organisers who include artists, meditators, young people and the old, mothers with prams, tree wardens, conservationists, dog walkers, writers, rappers, health and welfare practitioners, ecologists and urban planners, food growers and restaurant goers, storytellers ... and everyone who is inspired to love our trees!

Solidarity ticket: the donation above normal ticket price will go to the Urban Tree Festival.

In this irresistible blend of ethnography and poetry, artist Ulrike Ottinger meditates on the lives of those who live in Japan’s Echigo region where the snow often lies several feet deep well into May. If in the popular imagination the natural and the human are frequently thought of as binaries, here the locals have developed their own customs, deftly adjusting to their austere living conditions. With the seasons comes a slowing down of time; women spend their days weaving reems of chirimen – a plain-woven silk crêpe – which is laid out under the evening light to flatten. Through the escapades of two Kabuki performers following in the footsteps of Bokushi Suzuki, who in the mid-19th century wrote Snow Country Tales, the film marinates in the richness of a phantasmagoric, magical world.

Winner of the 2022 Sundance Grand Jury Prize, Utama frames climate change as a process of quiet devastation. Set in the arid Bolivian Altiplano, the film portrays an elderly Quechua couple, Virginio and Sisa (played by non-professional actors José Calcina and Luisa Quispe), who embody an ancestral bond to their land. We follow them through a relentless drought, which jeopardises their traditional way of life: raising llamas, presumably for wool production. While Utama scarcely depicts the processing of fibre, it emphasises the materiality of land and of traditional clothing face to face with environmental collapse and the erosion of cultural heritage. With stunning cinematography framing cracked earth and vast skies as both characters and potent metaphors for ecological fragility, Utama positions environmental harm not as a dramatic event but as a prolonged loss – of water, sustenance, and the tactile heritage embodied by indigenous crafts.

A treasure of Mexico’s cinematic golden age, this deliriously plotted blend of gritty crime film, heart-tugging maternal melodrama, and mambo musical is a dazzling showcase for iconic star Ninón Sevilla. She brings fierce charisma and fiery strength to her role as a rumbera - a female nightclub dancer - who gives up everything to raise an abandoned boy, whom she must protect from his ruthless gangster father. Directed at a dizzying pace by filmmaking titan Emilio Fernández, and shot in stylish chiaroscuro by renowned cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa amid smoky dance halls and atmospherically seedy underworld haunts, Victims of Sin is a ferociously entertaining female-powered noir pulsing with the intoxicating rhythms of some of Latin America’s most legendary musical stars.

Join us in the Atrium Bar for Video Bazaar's newest and most questionable experiment, "NOBODY ASKED FOR THIS!", a strand dedicated to celebrating cinema's most unruly, visionary and profoundly strange detritus.

Commencing the proceedings will be a screening of The Passing, a lo-fi head trip from the outer limits of American underground filmmaking. Directed by John Huckert over the span of seven years and self funded by sheer willpower and a miniscule budget, The Passing is a one of a kind artifact, an existential mediation on death, loneliness and the metaphysical wrapped in the grain of decaying celluloid.

Ernie and Rose are two widower WWII veterans with no one but each other, living in a crumbling old house outside of Baltimore slowly awaiting their death. Wade is a youthful, blue collar laborer with a wife and young child. Their lives seem predetermined to never intersect until memories blur and something unnatural begins to take root beneath the surface. Part esoteric philosphical drama, part body horror and most definitely containing arthouse sensibilties, The Passing exists in a liminal space that is strangely familiar yet steeped in a cosmic dread.

This screening is presented by the cult film club, Video Bazaar, who are dedicated to bringing the weird and the obscure to London audiences at The Garden Cinema.

Elizabeth Sankey is a filmmaker and musician from London. In 2019 she directed and wrote her first feature documentary, ROMANTIC COMEDY, a personal exploration of the genre. The film was shown at many prestigious festivals including IFFR, SXSW, Sheffield DocFest, CPH:DOX and AFI Docs, before being acquired for distribution by MUBI in the UK and 1091 in the US among other international sales.

In 2022 she wrote and directed a feminist TV piece about women's bodies titled BOOBS for the broadcaster Channel 4.

In 2024 she wrote, directed and edited WITCHES, a documentary produced by MUBI that used her own story of being admitted to a psychiatric ward after the birth of her son to explore the connections between perinatal mental health illness and the history and portrayal of witches in western society. The film premiered at Tribeca where it won Special Jury Mention for the Viewpoints award. At the 2024 BIFA Awards it won Best Documentary.

She has written several documentary shorts for BBC iPlayer’s Inside Cinema strand. With her band Summer Camp she has released four  albums on Moshi Moshi Records, and created the soundtrack to Charlie Shackleton’s feature debut BEYOND CLUELESS. She has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Observer, NME, Vice, and McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern.

WITCHES will be followed by a Q&A with Elizabeth Sankey. Please also join us in the cinema bar for networking prior to the screening.

When the light breaks on a long summer’s day in Iceland, from one sunset to another, Una, a young art student encounters love, friendship, sorrow and beauty.

The Garden Cinema View:

A brief encounter with young grief, When the Light Breaks presents the small moments that follow in the immediate wake of tragedy. Running a touch beyond 70 minutes, Rúnar Rúnarsson’s film nevertheless achieves depth and catharsis – aided in this endeavour by naturalistic performances from his believable cast. Most impressive is Sophia Olsson’s 16mm cinematography. Beyond some bravura, but unintrusive, shots, Olsson captures the grief of the characters with empathy, and the horizons of Iceland in stark beauty.    

Aicha lives a quiet, secluded life with her husband, Brahim, and her youngest son, Adam, in a remote village in northern Tunisia. Gifted with prophetic dreams, Aicha and her family live in anguish after the departure of their eldest sons Mehdi and Amine to the violent embrace of war. When Mehdi unexpectedly returns home with a mysterious pregnant wife, Reem, his return also triggers strange events and old wounds in the village, creating a darkness that threatens to consume them all.

Caught between maternal love and her search for the truth, Aïcha welcomes Mehdi and Reem into the family home and vows to protect them at all costs, despite the suspicions of her husband Brahim. Aicha is forced to balance her overwhelming maternal love with her pursuit of the truth behind Mehdi’s experiences, and the painful revelations that challenge her deepest beliefs.

Academy Award-nominated director Meryam Joobeur skilfully utilises magic realism to create a stunning dream-like world and pose serious questions on family, war, and the destructive impact of extremist rhetoric on familial relationships.

Who Do I Belong To is screening as part of SAFAR’s GHOSTS strand, curated by Saeed Taji Farouky.

After the screening, join Saeed in a tea ceremony which sits at the heart of this selection of films.

The ghosts of Palestine represent both the trauma of the past, and simultaneously a continuity of Palestinian culture and inherited strategies of liberation. Our relationship with wild plants and flowers encapsulates these parallel struggles. Following the screening of Who Do I Belong To, anticolonial artist and performer Gamze Şanlı will lead participants through a tea-making workshop with wild plants and flowers, in which the political and folkloric traditions of the plants will be shared.

TIMINGS

18:10 Intro

18:20 Who Do I Belong To (117 min)

20:20 End

20:30- 22:00 Tea Ceremony

In this trailblazing combination of animation and live-action, down-on-his-luck private eye Eddie Valiant gets hired to investigate a pattycake scandal involving Jessica Rabbit, the sultry wife of Toontown superstar, Roger Rabbit.Virtually every major cartoon character shows up in this wonderful Oscar-winning classic.

Recommended for ages 9+

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

Please note, screenings taking place in our new Screen 3 will not yet have step-free access whilst we wait for our platform lift to be installed.

This programme of short films will be introduced by Brigitte Mayr and Michael Omasta from Synema Vienna.

Wolf Suschitzky was always fond of the short form: its playfulness, and the creative freedom that comes with it. While this selection aims to illustrate the versatility of Wolf's work, it also pays tribute to Jack Chambers, father of The Garden Cinema's owner Michael Chambers, who was instrumental in securing a work-permission for Wolf and consequently saved him from incarceration on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien during the early years of WW2.

Films screening:

Cotton Come Back (Donald Alexander, 1946, 26 mins)

Chasing The Blues (Jack Chambers, 1946, 6mins)

The Bespoke Overcoat (Jack Clayton, 1955, 36 mins)

Snow (Geoffrey Jones, 1963, 8 mins)

Les Bicyclettes de Belsize (Douglas Hickox, 1968, 29 mins)

All films photographed by Wolfgang Suschitzky.

In this long-form visual essay, the freshness and innocence of youth ebb and flow to the beat of the capitalist system. Spring is the first part of Wang Bing’s immersive Youth trilogy, and it documents relationships as they fold and unfold amongst a group of young Chinese textile workers. Filming over five years in Zhili, a town located 150 kilometres from Shanghai, Wang’s empathetic camera focuses on the labourers toiling under tungsten lighting, producing brightly coloured children's clothes in factories lining the paradoxically named ‘Happiness Road’. The stamina of Spring – and all involved in it – allows for humanity to flourish in otherwise merciless industrial conditions, giving the film its unique lyricism. As J. Hoberman notes, for Wang, there is a correspondence between spring as a natural season and the idea of youth as a ‘life-season … a state of being’: in Mandarin, the words ‘youth’ and ‘spring’ are nearly synonymous. Here, geographical dispersion, financial insecurity, and family tensions run alongside the rampant seasonal demands of clothing production.