Idealistic young lawyer Arthur Kirkland (Al Pacino) is determined to bypass the topsy-turvy madness of the US legal system and do his best for his clients. However, Arthur's idealism takes a battering when he is pressured to defend a judge (John Forsythe) he knows to be guilty of raping a young girl. Arthur now has to make the most important choice of his life - the choice between his career and his conscience. Directed by Norman Jewison, with a screenplay by husband-and-wife writing team Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin.

Aspiring actor Edward (Sebastian Stan) undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost, in filmmaker Aaron Schimberg’s darkly funny New York noir.

Hailed as 'one of the most intelligent and terrifying horror films of the 1980s' (The Movie Guide), celebrate 40 years of Wes Craven's nightmarish masterpiece with a brand new digital restoration.

From modern horror master Craven comes a timeless shocker that remains the standard bearer for terror. Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) is having grisly nightmares. Meanwhile, her high-school friends, who are having the very same dreams, are being slaughtered in their sleep by the hideous fiend of their shared nightmares. When the police ignore her explanation, she herself must confront the killer in his shadowy realm

In collaboration with CinemaItaliaUK we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren's 90th birthday, with the screening of A Special Day (Una Giornata Particolare) by Golden Globe winner and five-time Oscar nominee Ettore Scola.

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni deliver two of the finest performances of their careers in this moving, quietly subversive drama. Though it’s set in Rome on the historic day in 1938 when Benito Mussolini and the city first rolled out the red carpet for Adolf Hitler, the film takes place entirely in a working-class apartment building, where an unexpected friendship blossoms between a pair of people who haven’t joined the festivities: a conservative housewife and mother tending to her domestic duties and a liberal radio broadcaster awaiting deportation. Scola paints an exquisite portrait in muted tones, a story of two individuals helpless in the face of Fascism’s rise.

CinemaItaliaUK's Mission is to raise awareness of Italian culture by promoting Italian films that go beyond the traditional genres, and to ultimately stimulate and encourage cultural integration.

On Sunday 13 October, Conic Films are teaming up with the Garden Cinema to present a preview of A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, followed by a Q&A with the director, Mark Cousins.

Narrated by Tilda Swinton, the film recently won the top award at Karlovy Vary (the first British title to do so since Kes).

A creative biography of the Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. One of the most important women in British modern art, the painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham was a highly inspirational figure, whose work was deeply impacted by a pivotal event in her life.

In May 1949, this leading representative of the modernist St. Ives group of artists climbed to the top of the Grindelwald glacier in Switzerland, an experience which was to transform the way she saw the world. She spent the rest of her life capturing its shapes and colours, indeed its very essence.

In his essayistic portrait Cousins delves into complex themes of gender, climate change and creativity, while laying bare the artist’s character and vast imagination so pervasively that he creates the impression we are seeing the world through her eyes.

Mark Cousins is a writer and director. He presented cult BBC film series Moviedrome and is most famous for his 15-hour 2011 documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey, as well as the 14-hour documentary Women Make Film. His previous film The Story of Film: A New Generation premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Film Africa presents Al Djanat- The Original Paradise

After the death of her uncle, a dignitary Mandingo Islam, the director films her family courtyard. A dispute over the estate has burst out between advocates of traditional law and proponents of official law, inherited from European colonization. The courtyard becomes the theater where the future of an emblematic family is played out.

And Life Went On is the first London Animation Club event at The Garden Cinema, with special guest speaker Maryam Mohajer.

It is an event in two halves: in part one BAFTA Award-winning animator Maryam Mohajer presents a selection of her work and discusses reconciling animation with work and parenthood. In part two we present an anthology of work by celebrated London Animation Club contributors which displays both an accessibility and an independent spirit.

Part One

The Girl with Short Hair (Maryam Mohajer/UK/2006)

And Life Went On (Maryam Mohajer/UK/2007)

Phantasm (Maryam Mohajer/UK/2012)

Red Dress. No Straps. (Maryam Mohajer/UK/2018)

Grandad Was A Romantic (Maryam Mohajer/UK/2019)

And Granny Would Dance - the making of (Maryam Mohajer/UK/2024)

And Granny Would Dance - trailer (Maryam Mohajer/UK/2024)

Part Two

An anthology of work by celebrated London Animation Club contributors.

Private View (2023) by Stuart Pound

Silly Stuff (2023) by Dennis Sisterson

Mini Gabi World: Paint My Colours (2024) by Gabi Almeida

It's Not My Job (2024) by Kate Jessop

Incident (2024) by Ben Fox

Coup 53 Animated Sequences (2019) by Martyn Pick

TWENTYTИƎWT (2022) by Max Hattler

A Life Half-Lived (2024) by Rob Munday

Beware of Trains (2022) by Emma Calder

Maryam Mohajer is a British-Iranian, BAFTA Winning animator-director who was born in Tehran, Iran just before living through revolution, war and immigration. With a background in painting, she discovered animation after moving to UK in year 2000. She got her MA degree in animation from Royal college of art. Her short films have been screened at many International festivals. She lives and works as an animator, writer, director in London.

London Animation Club is a monthly event for animators and people interested in animation in the capital. Club members and regular guests meet and present their work in informal surroundings conducive to talking and sharing ideas. Our guests range from well known figures, such as Phil Davies, the producer of Peppa Pig, and Peter Firmin, the co-creator of Bagpuss, through to award-winning independent animators like Lizzy Hobbs, along with experimental filmmakers and academics, with much in between. Most popular are our group screenings, in which regular members present new work. We also do group events with institutions such as the Royal College of Art and enjoy a modest international following.

This is London Animation Club's first ticketed cinema event.

Sean Baker won the PALME D'OR in the 2024 Festival De Cannes with Anora.

Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

Four years ago, Tony D'Amato's (Al Pacino) Miami Sharks were at the top. Now, his team is struggling with three consecutive losses, sliding attendance, and aging heroes, particularly 39-year-old quarterback Jack 'Cap' Rooney (Dennis Quaid). Off the field, D'Amato is struggling with a failed marriage and estranged children, and is on a collision course with Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz), the young president/co-owner of the Sharks organisation.

To celebrate the launch of Chris Shepherd’s debut graphic novel, Anfield Rd for Titan Comics, Chris is programming this Bar Shorts. Breaking with Bar Shorts tradition Chris will screen just the one film: Willy Russell’s classic 1977 TV Play for Today -  Our Day Out. It follows a group of teachers as they take a group of Liverpudlian school children on a trip to Wales. But the trip doesn’t go as planned.

Afterwards we will be joined by comedy legend and fellow scouser Alexei Sayle who will chat with Chris about Anfield and 1980s Liverpool. Alexei is an author, actor, stand-up comedian, television presenter and a recording artist. His autobiography Stalin Ate My Homework explores the world of Liverpool suburb Anfield.

Chris will be signing copies of Anfield Road in the bar before and after the event.

To celebrate the publication of Peter Parker’s Some Men in London, Penguin Classics and the London Review Bookshop host a screening of Basil Dearden’s boundary-breaking Victim (1961), followed by Parker in conversation with Mendez.

Parker’s monumental two-volume anthology Some Men in London uncovers the rich reality of life for gay men in London, from the end of the Second World War to decriminalization in 1967. Bringing together contemporary newspaper reports, letters, diaries, psychological textbooks, novels, films, plays and police records, and covering a wide range of viewpoints, the books explore what life was actually like for gay men in this period. Volume II, published on 26 September, takes us through the not-so-Swinging Sixties, on the road to partial decriminalisation – and includes an exploration of the production and release of Victim, a landmark of queer cinema starring Dirk Bogarde.

Basil Dearden’s groundbreaking drama was one of the first films to address homophobia head-on, a cry of protest against British laws forbidding homosexuality.

Hiding in plain sight, the gay community of 1960s London call Soho their home. This cloistered community lives in fear of persecution and under the shadow of blackmail. Enter Melville Farr (Dirk Bogarde): a successful barrister – and a married man – who is drawn into a murder enquiry involving a former acquaintance. As Farr finds himself increasingly implicated in the case, he becomes determined to catch those responsible and refuses to meekly accept his peers' pact of silence and role as victim.

The post-screening Q&A will be hosted by the author and LRB contributor Mendez, whose debut novel, Rainbow Milk, was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn prize.

LRB will be selling copies of Some Men in London (Volumes I and II) and Rainbow Milk in the cinema bar from 7pm. They will also be available from the London Review Bookshop before and after the event.

Peter Parker is the author of biographies of J.R. Ackerley and Christopher Isherwood, The Old Lie, The Last Veteran, Housman Country and A Little Book of Latin for Gardeners. He edited A Reader’s Guide to the Twentieth-Century Novel and Twentieth-Century Writers, is an advisory editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and contributed essays to Britten’s Century and Fifty Gay and Lesbian Books Everybody Must Read. He has written about people, books, art, architecture and gardening for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, and lives in London’s East End.

Bass Culture is presented by Black Music Research Unit at the University of Westminster in partnership with Westminster University and Camden Council.

Bass Culture was commissioned as part of my AHRC research project mapping the impact of Jamaican music on Britain over the last half-century. Central to this documentary is the voices of four generations of African-Caribbean and black British cultural producers – musicians, songwriters, DJs, sound system crews, and industry professionals. Through key voices central to five decades of new British genres such as; British Roots reggae, UK Dub, Pop reggae, Brit Ska(Two-tone), Jungle, Drum And Bass, Trip-Hop, UK Garage, 2 Step, Dubstep, Grime, and a host of other UK sub-genres – we explore the impact of Jamaican music on popular British culture and its continued influence on global popular culture.

The film was produced by Fully Focused Community (FFC), a youth led media organisation that uses the power of film to raise awareness, challenge perceptions and transform lives.

This screening is part of Camden Council's Black History Season which runs from October - December, to celebrate the incredible and wonderful achievements and contributions of Black people across Camden and the UK.

The screening is Pay What You Can, with proceeds going to support the brilliant work of the Black Curriculum.

The screening on Sunday the 17th of November will be introduced by writer and lecturer Dr Julia Wagner.

“All the news behind the news… and some hippie smut.”

In Between the Lines Joan Micklin Silver (herself a former reporter for the Village Voice) creates a lived-in portrait of the smoky dive bars, record stores, pawn shops and strip clubs frequented by a ragtag group of broke but passionate journalists in the dying days of their alternative newspaper. Featuring debut performances from John Heard, Joe Morton, Marilu Henner, Raymond J. Barrie, and Jeff Goldblum (to name just a few), Between The Lines is a top-tier 1970s hangout movie, offering a comedic take on the importance of fighting for what’s important to you when the sticks are down.

Dr Julia Wagner is a lecturer and writer specialising in film and television. She holds a PhD in Film Studies from UCL and is author of Hester Street (BFI/Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2025), a BFI Classics book about Joan Micklin Silver’s debut film.

In partnership with 100 Film Questions Studio, Chinese Cinema Project presents two films featuring mesmerising cinematography by Shuli Huang;

Borrowed Time is a delicate debut feature from filmmaker Choy Ji, executive produced by renowned director Stanley Kwan, and is a representative work of the South China New Wave. Commissioned by Nowness China, Anthony Chen's Reflection is a story of regret and loss amidst the lush landscape of tropical Malaysia.

Both films are shown for the first time in the UK. The screening will be followed by a Zoom Q&A with Borrowed Time director Choy Ji, moderated by Victor Fan (KCL).

Borrowed Time  dir. Choy Ji  95’ 

(UK Premiere)

A late summer typhoon looms as Ting’s wedding approaches. Urged on by her mother, Ting sets out from Guangzhou to Hong Kong to look for her father who has been absent for 20 years. On her trip, Ting’s vague memories from the past come back to her. An unexpected encounter leads Ting to find out the truth of her family. She gets in touch with an old friend, Yuseng. They spend a night together at Yuseng's place, both feeling as if they were in a dream, searching for the lost time...

Reflection  dir. Anthony Chen  7’ 

(UK Premiere)

Under the thick rainforest canopy, a man tries to escape the shadow of his past. As the film unfolds, the memories that haunt him are slowly revealed, and he must confront what he cannot outrun.

Years after leaving her Palestinian village to pursue an acting career in France, Hiam Abbass returns home with her daughter, in this intimate documentary about four generations of women and their shared legacy of separation.

The Garden Cinema View:

The film is many things, a love letter to the director’s own mother, actress Hiam Abbass (Lemon Tree, Succession), an ode to exile, a moving recollection of forced displacement, an exploration of Palestinian identity, and a celebration of female strength and resilience. Shot with sensitivity and candour, the film also allows Lina to portray her own experience as a third-generation child, navigating her own heritage and path. The focus however is firmly on Hiam, who grapples with all that was lost when her grandparents were expelled from Tiberias. All the pieces of the puzzle fit together to tell the story of four generations of women keeping their Palestinian identity and culture alive.

Al Pacino reunites with his Scarface director Brian De Palma for this tough-minded thriller about a gangster looking for salvation down the mean streets of 1970s New York City.

Carlito Brigante (Pacino) gets released early from prison thanks to the work of his lawyer, Kleinfeld (Sean Penn). Vowing to go straight, Carlito nonetheless finds dangers waiting for him in the outside world. As Carlito works toward redemption, Kleinfeld sinks into cocaine-fuelled corruption. When Kleinfeld crosses the mob, Carlito gets caught in the crossfire and has to face a hard choice: remain loyal to the friend who freed him or protect a new life with the woman he loves (Penelope Ann Miller). With enemies closing in from all sides, Carlito must find his way before it’s too late.

Also starring John Leguizamo, Luis Guzmán, and Viggo Mortensen, Carlito’s Way has come to be regarded as among De Palma’s most accomplished films. A hard-hitting gangster noir laced with romance and melancholy, powerful performances and nail-biting suspense.

This film was suggested by our member James Jalloh, who says: 'A precursor to the likes of Eraserhead and Night Of The Living Dead, Carnival of Souls arrived shortly after the mainstream controversy of Peeping Tom and Psycho and took that feeling to another darker place. This movie takes us to a strange other world. An Indie milestone.'

A young woman (Candace Hilligoss) in a small Kansas town survives a drag race accident, then agrees to take a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City. En route, she is haunted by a bizarre apparition that compels her toward an abandoned lakeside pavilion. Made by industrial filmmakers on a small budget, the eerily effective B-movie classic Carnival of Souls was intended to have 'the look of a Bergman and the feel of a Cocteau' - and, with its strikingly used locations and spooky organ score, it succeeds. Herk Harvey’s macabre masterpiece gained a cult following on late-night television and continues to inspire filmmakers today. - The Criterion Collection

Please note, the screening on Monday 21 October is our Free Members' Screening, and the screening on Tuesday 29 October is a general public screening.

Brian De Palma's terrifying classic returns to cinemas in a dazzling new digital restoration.

An awkward, telekinetic teenage girl’s lonely life is dominated by relentless bullying at school and an oppressive religious fanatic mother at home. When her tormentors pull a humiliating prank at the senior prom, she unleashes a horrifying chaos on everyone, leaving nothing but destruction in her wake.

A psychopath is scouring New York City gay clubs and viciously slaying homosexuals. Detective Steve Burns (Al Pacino) is ordered to don leather attire, hang at the city's S&M joints and keep an eye out for the killer. But as Steve becomes immersed in club hopping, he begins to identify with the subculture more than he expected. Meanwhile, Steve behaves distantly around his girlfriend, Nancy (Karen Allen), the police force's homophobia becomes apparent and the killer remains at large.

From acclaimed filmmaker Mati Diop (Atlantics), Dahomey is a poetic and immersive work of art that delves into real perspectives on far-reaching issues surrounding appropriation, self-determination and restitution. Set in November 2021, the documentary charts 26 royal treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey that are due to leave Paris and return to their country of origin: the present-day Republic of Benin. Using multiple perspectives Diop questions how these artifacts should be received in a country that has reinvented itself in their absence. Winner of the coveted Golden Bear prize at the 2024 Berlinale, Dahomey is an affecting though altogether singular conversation piece that is as spellbinding as it is essential.

The Garden Cinema View:

Mati Diop’s Golden Bear winning Dahomey is yet another glowing node in a career that encompasses superb short form work, the beautiful docufiction tribute to her uncle Djibril Diop Mambéty, Mille Soleils, the astonishing ghost story Atlantics, and an era defining performance in Claire Denis’ 35 Shots of Rum. Dahomey, throughout a brief running time, continually shifts registers and tones. The Wiseman-esque sequences of the logistics of storage, transportation, and display provide a riposte to arguments surrounding the safe-keeping and preservation of purloined treasures by ex-colonial powers and institutions. A student debate in Benin, eloquently lays out the complex framework of history, politics, and emotions that the return of these objects invokes. And the voices of the statues themselves speak out, flowing into the ambient score from Wally Badarou and Dean Blunt, and Diop’s own poetic imagery of the city of Abomey.

Proudly screening as part of our Trailblazers season.  

About the film:

A landmark of queer and independent filmmaking, Desert Hearts blazed a trail for lesbian representation on screen. Arriving in the Reno desert to finalise her divorce, uptight New York academic Vivian’s heart is hijacked by unruly tomboy Cay, who she is introduced to in one of cinema’s most rip-roaring ‘meet cute’ sequences. Shot with a languorous, sensual cinematography that Deitch achieved on a small budget, the film is ahead of its time in its unapologetic celebration of lesbian sexuality.

Proudly screening as part of our season celebrating the work of women filmmakers in the US in the 1970s and 80s, Desert Hearts, a landmark of queer and independent filmmaking, blazed a trail for lesbian representation on screen. In celebration of this pioneering film, we're thrilled to organise another queer members' mixer on Saturday 23 November.

Join us in the Garden Bar from 19:00, to meet fellow members - all are welcome, whether you're queer, questioning, or a raging ally. There will be the opportunity to craft your own badge featuring a queer cinematic icons, whilst enjoying a complimentary 'Flaming Hearts' cocktail. Meanwhile, we'll be blasting our favourite queer dancefloor anthems, and your musical suggestions will be welcomed with open arms!

At 20:30 we'll make our way into the screen, where Clara Bradbury-Rance will introduce the film, offering insight into the film's special place in the history of lesbian filmmaking.

Tickets are £16.50 each, and restricted to 2 per member, meaning you can bring a date or a mate. The ticket includes access to the pre-screening disco and badgemaking, a complimentary (non-)alcoholic cocktail, and an unallocated seat for the screening.

Timings:

19:00        ‘Flaming Hearts’ cocktail hour, Desert Hearts disco and queer ‘pin up’ badgemaking with artist Alex Michon

20:30        Film introduction by Clara Bradbury-Rance

20:45        Screening of Desert Hearts

22:20        Expected finish

About the film:

Arriving in the Reno desert to finalise her divorce, uptight New York academic Vivian’s heart is hijacked by unruly tomboy Cay, who she is introduced to in one of cinema’s most rip-roaring ‘meet cute’ sequences. Shot with a languorous, sensual cinematography that Deitch achieved on a small budget, the film is ahead of its time in its unapologetic celebration of lesbian sexuality.

About Clara Bradbury-Rance:

Clara Bradbury-Rance is a Senior Lecturer in Gender and Sexuality Studies at King’s College London. She is the author of the book Lesbian Cinema after Queer Theory (2019). Alongside her academic writing, Clara publishes film reviews in Sight and Sound magazine. She is currently working on a book for the BFI Classics series on Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

On one of the hottest days of August 1972, three amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a Brooklyn bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does. Sidney Lumet’s film, based on a true story, is driven by a legendary performance from Al Pacino, ably supported by John Cazale.

Film Africa presents Everybody Loves Touda.

Touda only dreams of one thing: being a Sheikha, a traditional Moroccan performer. She belts out songs about resistance, love and emancipation, passed down from generation to generation. Every evening, she performs in bars under the gaze of men in her tiny village while hoping for a better future for her and her son. Disrespected and shamed, she sets her sights on leaving for the bright lights of Casablanca…

Doc'n Roll Film Festival presents the World Premiere of Four Strings Good. A feature documentary celebrating a musical life well lived, capturing a live concert celebrating the music and life of multi-instrumentalist, producer and renowned session musician Mo Foster (1944-2023).

Featuring performances by by Ray Russell, Simon Phillips, Tony Hymas, Judie Tzuke, Deborah Bonham, Jimmy Helms, Kim Goody, Moon Williams, Phil Hilborne and others, the event captured Mo's enduring influence, musical legacy and great humour.

A revered figure in the London music scene, Foster played with artists including Jeff Beck, Gil Evans, Phil Collins, Gerry Rafferty, Joan Armatrading and Gary Moore. Fellow session legend Ray Russell, who shared the stage with Foster in the esteemed RMS band, took the initiative to commemorate his friend’s legacy via this musical evening. Four Strings Good captures that event, along with footage of interviews and talks that Foster hosted.

The Garden Cinema are proud to partner with our friends & neighbours at Hiba Express for a fundraiser screening of the highly anticipated Palestinian film The Teacher. 

The screening will be preceded by a live Oud performance by Kareem Samara, and Hiba Express are kindly donating a Gaza Cola for each attendee. After the screening, a mini souq will be set up in the Garden Bar, giving attendees the opportunity to buy traditional Palestinian cake and other goodies. The proceeds of all ticket sales, as well as anything purchased at the souq, will go to the Gaza Cola funds, which is raising money to rebuild the Dignity Hospital in the north strip of Gaza.

Members' tickets are available for £15, and adult tickets for £17. There are also optional donation bands of £20, £25, and £30, if you would like to give extra.

About the film:

A Palestinian school teacher (Saleh Bakri) struggles to reconcile his life-threatening commitment to political resistance with his emotional support for one of his students (Muhammad Abed El Rahman) and the chance of a new romantic relationship with a volunteer worker (Imogen Poots).

The Garden Cinema View:

The Teacher is released in the UK the very same week that a school in the West Bank is besieged by the Israeli army, its Palestinian pupils unable to go home. The film charts the countless ways in which the occupation has dehumanised Palestinians, and the generational traumatic toll it takes. Nabulsi skillfully portrays its impact on the average Palestinian through a rousing narrative, with just enough context and references to real life events to reach and emotionally connect with a wide audience.

The indignity and all-encompassing violence of the occupation permeates every aspect of life, the strain on Bassem’s marriage just one illustration of its domestic micropolitical costs. This is only Nabulsi’s second foray into filmmaking, following BAFTA award-winning short The Present, which in the same vein depicts the way in which Israeli checkpoints and settlements have turned the most routine, menial task - buying a new fridge - into a Herculean and perilous feat. Once again reprising his role as a beaten down dad, Saleh Bakri is as ever eminently watchable.

You can find other screenings of The Teacher here.

Doc'n Roll Film Festival presents the UK Premiere of Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between + Zoom Q&A with director Claire Jeffreys.

Hubris, anger, prejudice...doo-wop, reggae, rock...expectations, heartbreak, transformation...Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between examines the fifty-year career of this genre-bending, biracial singer-songwriter. An enigmatic performer since his start in the Greenwich Village clubs, Jeffreys never reached the success predicted for him. The film asks why and explores how his commitment to writing about race in America is more relevant now than ever.

Adapted for the screen by David Mamet from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the compelling, witty, and endlessly quotable script is delivered with razor-sharp precision by an ensemble cast at the height of their powers.

A group of Chicago real-estate salesmen-cum-con artists live on the edge. Life is good for the one on a roll. For the rest, life hangs in the balance. There is no room for losers. A-B-C: Always Be Closing, sell or go under, is the salesman’s mantra. With the pressure on, so begins a rainy night of cutthroat business and shattered lives. Delivering an Academy Award nominated performance. Al Pacino plays the fast-talking Ricky Roma, alongside Jack Lemmon giving a phenomenal performance as the veteran Shelley 'The Machine' Levene, struggling to keep his neck above water.

Screening in memory of the great Maggie Smith.

In 2001, Robert Altman took the unexpected step into Agatha Christie territory with Gosford Park, a murder-mystery whodunit set in an English country house starring a host of British acting greats and with an Oscar-winning screenplay by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. It would become a huge success with audiences and critics alike.

Set in 1932, the action unfolds during a weekend shooting party hosted by Sir William McArdle (Alan Bates), and his wife Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas) at his estate, Gosford Park. Among the guests are friends, relatives, the actor and composer Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam), and an American film producer (Bob Balaban). When Sir William is found murdered in the library, everyone and their servants becomes a suspect.

John Carpenter's genre defining classic returns... home, in a new digital restoration.

On a black and unholy Halloween night years ago, little Michael Myers brutally slaughtered his sister in cold bold. But for the last fifteen years, town residents have rested easy, knowing that he was safely locked away in a mental hospital – until tonight. Tonight, Michael returns to the same quiet neighbourhood to relive his grisly murder again…and again…and again. For this is a night of evil. Tonight is Halloween!

Michael Mann's classic crime thriller Heat was released in 1995 and stars Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro as two men on opposite sides of the law whose live become tangled and destabilised in an intense game of cat-and-mouse. When one heist led by master thief Neil McCauley (DeNiro) is compromised due to a clue left behind, LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) finds himself obsessed with pursuing them in an ever-escalating war - one that may cause significant collateral damage.

As part of China Week 2024, King’s College London’s Lau China Institute and The Garden Cinema’s Chinese Cinema Project present the screening of I Wish I Knew, followed by a panel discussion.

From the acclaimed 6th Generation Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke, I Wish I Knew is a vivid portrait of the fast-changing metropolis and port city of Shanghai. A century-long history of this legendary city is revealed via interviews with eighteen real life characters who have complex personal relationships with the city’s rich cultural legacy. Those interview subjects include filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien, painter Danqing Chen, writer Han Han, and actress Rebecca Pan, many of whom immigrated from the mainland to Hong Kong and Taiwan due to political upheaval.

I Wish I Knew also features a performance from Jia Zhangke’s long-time collaborator and muse Zhao Tao, in the backdrop of 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

Chris Berry is Professor of Film Studies at King’s College London, and Co-Investigator of the AHRC-funded Chinese Independent Film Archive project with Professor Sabrina Yu, University of Newcastle. He is also co-editor of The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement: For the Public Record, as well as various other works on aspects of Sinitic-language cinema.

Giulia D’Aquila is a PhD candidate in Chinese Studies at the Lau China Institute. Her current research focuses on the role that UK-China film co-production plays in the bilateral relation between the UK and China.

Yanran Yao is a political scientist specializing in Chinese politics, civil society, and globalization. Before joining the Lau China Institute as a fixed-term lecturer, she has been teaching at the University of Hong Kong as a lecturer. She has extensive publications on journals including the Contemporary Journal of China. Her current research interests include Chinese diaspora community organizations and their roles in China’s overseas operations.

China Week is a week-long series of events designed to help contribute to an informed understanding of China's growing global influence through research and public engagement.

The Chinese Cinema Project is an exhibition initiative showcasing works from emerging and under-represented Chinese filmmakers via regular screenings, exploring auteurship and cinematic beauty in its various forms.

From acclaimed director Chris Nolan comes the story of a veteran police detective (Al Pacino) who is sent to a small Alaskan town to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. Forced into a psychological game of cat-and-mouse by the primary suspect (Robin Williams), events escalate and the detective finds his own stability dangerously threatened.

A joyous adventure that celebrates science and nature, Journey to the Beginning of Time sends four schoolboys on an awe-inspiring expedition back through time, where they behold landscapes and creatures that have long since vanished from the earth. Combining live action with stop motion, puppetry and animatronics, visionary filmmaker Karel Zeman evokes worlds of wonder and discovery to produce his most beguiling and magical work.

Rated one of the best children‘s adventure films of all time, it is also a pioneering work of world cinema. Described as the ‘Czech Méliès’, Zeman has been a profound influence on generations of film artists including Jan Švankmajer, Tim Burton, the Quay Brothers and Wes Anderson.

Part of the 28th Made in Prague Festival, 31 October – 30 November 2024. Organized by the Czech Centre London.

Digitally restored as part of Cistíme svet fantazie / Restoring the World of Fantasy, a joint project of the Karel Zeman Museum, the Czech Film Foundation and Czech Television.

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  

This film was proposed by our member Yueqi Guo, who writes: 'Want to watch a film season of director Lucrecia Martel’s work.'

This Argentinean tale, which revolves around a group of families passing summer vacation in a rural country house, does not rely on a concrete plot line, but rather roves, rambles, and stumbles upon each new event. No event, no action, no exchange of words, no scene of the movie is more or less important than another. Instead, the film continues nonsequentially in what feels like a prolonged wait.

Please note, the screening on Tuesday 8 October is our Free Members' Screening, and the screening on Wednesday 16 October is a general public screening.

Gillian Armstrong's heartfelt adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel about love, family and the female spirit, stars Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Bale, Claire Danes, and Susan Sarandon.

With her husband off at war, Marmee (Sarandon) is left alone to raise their four daughters, her Little Women. There is the spirited Jo (Ryder); conservative Meg (Trini Alvarado); fragile Beth (Danes); and romantic Amy (played at different ages by Kristen Dunst and Samantha Mathis). As the years pass, the sisters share some of the most cherished and painful memories of self-discovery, as Marmee and Aunt March (Mary Wickes) guide them through issues of independence, romance and virtue.

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  

London Breeze Film Festival 2024 is delighted to be bringing two screenings of this summer's British animation feature film, Kensuke's Kingdom, to The Garden Cinema as part of our Impact Day and Youth & Family Day programmes within our 5-day festival (23rd to 27th October) at venues around London.

Both screenings are pay-what-you-can:

On Saturday 26th October, come and meet the film's co-directors and animators, Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry, who will join us for a Q&A following the screening. Have your questions ready! We will especially want to hear from children in the audience.

On Sunday 27th October 11am the screening will be followed by a FREE children's craft activity.

Based on the much-loved, best-selling children’s novel by Michael Morpurgo, and adapted for screen by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Kensuke's Kingdom tells the epic adventure of Michael, a young boy, shipwrecked on a remote island, who must adapt to life alone. Over time, he feels another presence, learning that this world is home to both unimaginable danger and beauty, in this gripping animated adaptation of a beloved novel. Kensuke's Kingdom features the voices of Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy, Oscar-nominated Sally Hawkins, Ken Watanabe, Raffey Cassidy, and Aaron MacGregor.

Film Africa presents Mambar Pierrette.

The city of Douala, Cameroon is getting ready for the start of the school year. A long line of customers come to Pierrette to prepare their clothes for upcoming social events and ceremonies. More than a seamstress, she is the confidant of her customers and community. But when it starts pouring and the rain threatens to flood her workshop - one of many misfortunes - Pierrette will have to struggle to stay afloat. Marked by moments of beauty and quiet grace, Mbakam’s naturalistic approach favors a portrait of resilience in the face of adversity and socioeconomic hardship.

It’s 1930s London and everyone’s favourite nanny has returned - Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) is ready to spread joy and magic in the much-anticipated sequel to the 1964 classic. This time, she finds that the Banks children have grown up and found themselves in need of a friendly face - as well as a little bit of magic. A Disney musical and sequel starring Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Ben Wishaw, along with Dick Van Dyke, Emily Mortimer, Colin Firth, and Meryl Streep.

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

Are you the person in your friend group who everyone asks for film recommendations once the end of October approaches? Do you know your Craven from your Carpenter, and your Kreuger from your Karloff?

These skills you've been honing may well save you from eternal damnation, because on Thursday 24 October we're hosting our diabolical Members' Halloween Film Quiz! Join us for an evening of horror themed trivia questions, picture rounds and much more. There will be (cursed) prizes up for grabs for the top 3 teams including:

• Spell candles for Friendship, donated by our friends at The Atlantis Bookshop, who are family-run, celebrating 100 years, and the living history of magic. They're London's oldest independent occult bookshop, on Museum Street - just a few minutes walk from the cinema
• A selection of blood-curdling books (of the dead), donated by our friends/fiends at Fopp Covent Garden, the best shop in Seven Dials for music, films & books at low prices
• Free cinema tickets to be claimed for any spooky (or mundane) film of your choice

There will also be a (questionable) bonus for the best team name, and a special (poisoned) drink for anyone in costume.

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 4 October 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 the full name or 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 which, as proven by previous editions, greatly improves your chances of winning the quiz!

The screening on Saturday the 2nd of November will include a welcome by season programmer Alice Pember and an introduction to the film by film journalist Christina Newland.

A darkly subversive gangster film and an unsung masterpiece of American cinema, in Mikey and Nicky Elaine May brings audiences a career-best performance from writer-director John Cassavetes and one of the most devastating insights into American masculinity ever brought to the big screen. Set over the course of one night, this restless drama finds Nicky (Cassavetes) holed up in a hotel after the boss he stole money from puts a hit out on him. Terrified, he calls on Mikey (Peter Falk), the one person he thinks can save him. The product of a notoriously troubled production and rarely screened in the UK, we are pleased to bring May’s definitive final cut to Garden Cinema audiences this Autumn.

Timings:

20:30  Season welcome (Alice Pember)

20:35  Film introduction (Christina Newland)

20:45  Screening

22:45  Expected finish

Dr Alice Pember is an Assistant Professor in Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick. Her research interests include independent cinema, feminist film philosophy and dance and pop music on screen. Her research has appeared in Modern and Contemporary France, French Screen Studies and Film-Philosophy journals. She teaches across areas related to independent French, British and American cinema, film philosophy and queer and women's cinema. Her monograph The Dancing Girl in Contemporary Cinema will be published next year with Edinburgh University Press.

Christina Newland is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster on film and culture, with bylines at Criterion, BBC, Rolling Stone, MUBI, and others. She is the lead film critic at the i Newspaper and a contributing editor to Empire Magazine. Her newsletter, Sisters Under the Mink, on depictions of women in crime film and television, won a Freelance Writing Award in 2021, and her first book, an edited anthology called She Found It at the Movies: Women Writers on Sex, Desire and Cinema, was published in March 2020.

For Halloween we're screening the family friendly monster film: Monsters Inc.

James Sullivan 'Sulley' and Mike Wazowski are monsters. They earn their living scaring children and are the best in the business… even though they’re more afraid of the children than they are of them. But when Sulley accidentally lets a little human girl into Monstropolis, life turns upside down and she teaches Sulley and Mike that laughter is more powerful than a scream.

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

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

On Saturday 21 September, there will be a special members' screening of My Favourite Cake, with delicious Persian cake by Naroon. You can book tickets for this here.

Since her husband’s death and her daughter’s departure for Europe, Mahin has been living alone in Tehran, until an afternoon tea with friends leads her to break her solitary routine and revitalise her love life. But as Mahin opens herself up to new romance, what begins as an unexpected encounter quickly evolves into an unpredictable, unforgettable evening.

The Garden Cinema View:

Mahin’s daily routines would seem listless even for Jeanne Dielman (for at least she had potatoes to peel). But when, inspired by her friends, she decides to leave her cocoon of isolated non-existence, she embarks on a gently humorous and surprisingly righteous search for companionship. Eventually encountering taxi driver Faramarz (like a depressed version of Perfect Days’ Kōji Yakusho), My Favourite Cake settles into a kind of septuagenarian spin on Before Sunrise. And it’s wonderful. That is until the filmmakers make a highly controversial narrative choice in the film’s final act. Sure to be a controversial decision, for this viewer a potential modern masterpiece is severely undermined by its ending.

The 28th Made in Prague Festival presents the UK premiere of Adam Martinec’s ‘A Rowdily Tragicomic Ode to Family Feuds and Disappearing Traditions‘ , inspired by Miloš Forman’s films and Bohumil Hrabal’s poetics. The film received the Jury’s Special Mention at the 2024 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

The women cry over onions in the kitchen, united in exasperation with their men, the men, led by recent widower Karel, drink plum brandy outside getting ready for a pig killing. This is an annual gathering when family comes together to reconnect and enjoy great food. But this year family tensions are high and things do not go according to plan. Karel’s daughter Romana misses her mother, her sister’s marriage is on the rocks, grandpa doesn’t want to do any more pig killings while the butcher hides the fact that the ammunition is damp and a nosy neighbour plans to report the illegal slaughter. Amidst the chaos, six-year-old Dusik goes missing. Inspired by Milos Forman’s film and Bohumil Hrabal’s poetics, the director unveils the Czech temperament, creating a poignant  comedy full of slapstic moments, searing humour and great empathy amidst gender and generational divides. With strong visuals, an atmospheric soundtrack, and a fantastic array of non-actors, this remarkable debut blends the tragic and comic undertones.

'A Rowdily Tragicomic Ode to Family Feuds and Disappearing Traditions' -Variety

 'Debuting filmmaker Adam Martinec delivers a probe into Czech identity and generational conflict set against the fading tradition of domestic pig slaughter''- Cineuropa

London Palestine Film Festival 2024 presents Real Visions (shorts session). This selection of non-fiction shorts play cross images, dreams, realities and memories. What proof do images reveal? How do visible truths affect our understanding of actualities, and our future existence?

The Bride and The Dowry

1979, Ibrahim Abu Nab, 26’

This rich historical documentary from Palestinian filmmaker, Ibrahim Abu Nab (1931 - 1991), narrates the aftereffects of the 1967 War on the people of the West Bank. From powerful testimonials from lawyers, academics and victims of displacement, to the chronicling of the story of a Palestinian leader targeted as he demands justice for his people, we understand the impact of Israeli occupation on Palestinian life, and the consequences of attempting to defy it. Environmental degradation, land seizures, and resource control are used as tools of oppression. Central to the narrative is the metaphor of a bride and dowry, used by an Israeli human rights lawyer to describe the cruel tactics employed to force Palestinians into submission. The film emphasizes the ongoing resilience of the Palestinian people, despite these relentless pressures.

Trigger warning: harrowing testimonials of torture and other violence

Nazareth

2021, Mike Halboom, 7’

A single photo from 1948: A return to the fateful year of 1948 in Israel, reframed by a single photograph that is taken up one face at a time. Four figures on a hillside bear witness to the revolutionary society, the new state, the new law. Like too many moments of catastrophe it is filled with invisibility charms and ghost relations. How to speak of what can’t be put into words, how to show what cannot be seen?

Tuesday by the Sea

Palestine/USA, 2019, Shourideh C. Molvi, 7’

The border demarcates the inside and outside. Conceptually two-dimensional and two-sided, but without a clear beginning and end, the border creates a length and not a width. This short film, with no dialogue, cuts between two locations, allowing us to see the very real distinctions of two places on a single day. This screening is dedicated to co-founder of Ain Media Gaza, Roshdi al-Sarraj, our loved friend and collaborator on the film, who was tragically martyred on 22 October 2023 when an Israeli airstrike hit his home in Tel al Hawa during breakfast with his family.

Gaza Atelier

Palestine, 2023, Montaser Alsabe, 11’

Ahlam, a young Palestinian fashion designer plans to open her own atelier in Gaza city. With the opening date approaching, things take a different path than what she is planning. But with a name like Ahlam, meaning dreams in Arabic, her ambitions won’t fade.

The Poem we Sang

Canada/Palestine, 2024, Annie Sakkab, 20’

This dream-like documentary meditates on love and longing: the love of one’s family and the longing for one’s home. Photojournalist Annie Sakkab strings together found footage, images, poems and memories to contemplate how to overcome the trauma of losing a family home and forced migration. Through this nostalgic journey, Sakkab transforms lifelong regrets into a healing journey of creative catharsis and bearing witness.

Man Number 4

UK, 2024, Miranda Pennell, 10'

Gaza, December 2023: a photograph shows men in a berm, soldiers in mid-distance and ghostly apartment blocks. A confrontation with this disturbing photograph on social media triggers questions about what it means to be an onlooker.

Our Screening on Thursday 14 October will be introduced by freelance film programmer Nathasha Orlando Kappler.

Oscar-winning superstars Gene Hackman and Al Pacino star as two born losers - one a gruff ex-con who dreams of owning his own carwash and the other, a clowning, likable ex-seaman Just out of jail after serving time on an assault rap, Max (Gene Hackman) is headed for Pittsburgh to open a deluxe car wash. Back from five years at sea, Lion (Al Pacino) wants to hit Detroit and visit the child he's never seen. Co-winner of the 1973 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize, Scarecrow features moving performances of Hackman and Pacino, and glowing landscape cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond.

After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.

Frank (Al Pacino in an Oscar winning performance) is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the US army. He's blind and impossible to get along with. Charlie is at school and is looking forward to going to college. To help pay for a trip home for Christmas, he agrees to look after Frank over Thanksgiving. Frank's niece says this will be easy money, but she didn't reckon on Frank spending his Thanksgiving in New York.

Discover the stunning restoration of a New Hollywood classic from director Sidney Lumet – the true story about a cop who blew the whistle on rampant corruption in the police force. In New York in 1971, an honest policeman, Serpico (Al Pacino in a ferocious and career changing performance), investigates corruption among his fellow workers. In the course of his inquiries, he becomes increasingly isolated but more convinced of their guilt until finally he decides to reveal all to the New York Times.

New digital restoration.

One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Seven Samurai tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride from Akira Kurosawa -featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura - seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action, into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.

Includes a 5 minute intermission

Our screening on 17 March was introduced by Garden Cinema curator George Crosthwait.

The screening on Sunday 8 December will be introduced by writer, editor and founder of Girlhood Studies Claire Marie Healy, who will also join us for an informal post-film discussion in The Garden Cinema Bar.

This digital restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning film features a breakout performance from Laura Dern as Connie, the fifteen-year-old familial black sheep whose summertime idyll of beach trips, mall hangouts and innocent flirtations is shattered by an encounter with a mysterious stranger. Adapted from a short story by Joyce Carol Oates, Chopra fills the gaps of Oates’ sparse story with a dream-like visual palette that evokes Connie’s increasingly nightmarish passage from girl to woman.

Timings:

15:00  Introduction (Claire Marie Healy)

15:15  Screening

16:50  Comfort break

17:00  Discussion (Garden Bar)

18:00  Expected finish

Claire Marie Healy’s writing and curated projects explore film, art, fashion, and the internet. Formerly the editor of Dazed, she has since edited books on roller discos, dancefloors and SFX makeup for places like IDEA and A24. Her ongoing research project, Girlhood Studies, explores how visual culture shapes the experiences of young women, and has encompassed a column, film screenings and an essay-book with the Tate.

After the events of Into the Spider-Verse, Miles Morales is trying his best to settle into his new life as a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. However, school, family and crimefighting is not an easy balance to strike. When a strange entity known as ‘The Spot’ turns up at his local mini-mart, it sets off a chain of events that sees Miles not only reuniting with his multi-verse crush Spider-Gwen but also encountering a world where a seemingly infinite number of Spider-People exist. Whilst this initially seems like an exciting prospect, Miles soon finds that, under the leadership of Spider-Man 2099, these heroes harbour an unforgiving secret that threatens everything precious to him. With a dazzling array of styles, colours, heroes and villains, this follow-up sequel to the groundbreaking original animation also expands on its themes of responsibility, heroism and the importance of family.

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

The origins of Donald Trump are brought to life in a provocative,

electrifying portrait of the man and his mentor, Roy Cohn - a notorious lawyer who will never let the truth get in the way of winning a fight. Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong star as Trump and Cohn respectively, with Maria Bakalova starring as Ivana Trump and acclaimed director Ali Abbasi bringing a unique perspective to this gripping, darkly funny tale of greed, power, and the dark art of the deal.

The Garden Cinema View:

In a surprising thematic turn, Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider, Border) takes on a Trump biopic, with very satisfying results. The Apprentice is a consistently entertaining portrait that - remarkably - humanises Trump without absolving him of any his sins or narcissism.

Sebastian Stan's incredible performance plays a crucial role in maintaining this difficult balance. Astonishingly, Stan manages to transcend Trump's cartoonish facade and reach a kind of authenticity whilst still displaying early behavioural and physical traits of the man we now know.

The film reaches its zenith in its early stages, exploring a young Trump's formative relationships. These include his ruthless mentor, Roy Cohn (portrayed with method-acting bravado by Jeremy Strong), his tyrannical mogul father, and his first wife, Ivana (played with humorous empathy by Borat 2's, Maria Bakalova). The depiction of present-day Trump feels slightly less engaging, perhaps given how extensively he has been studied and satirised in recent years.

The film's stance is that Roy Cohn played a pivotal role in molding him into the figure we know today, emphasising nurture over nature in this monstrous formation. Viewers may disagree with this perspective, but Abbasi presents it with clarity and conviction.

Based on the first of the classic series of novels by CS Lewis, this fantasy adventure film follows four siblings: Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. Evacuated to the countryside during World War Two, the children find a way into another world - through the back of an old wardrobe. Entering the strange world of Narnia, the children discover a land in thrall to the White Witch (Tilda Swinton), where it's winter all year round, but never Christmas, and where magical creatures live in fear of her cruelty. In order to break her wintry spell, the brothers and sisters must join forces with Aslan the Lion, and fulfil their destinies. This wonderful film brings the magic, myths and sheer excitement of CS Lewis' story to life.

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

Aspiring Florida defense lawyer Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) accepts a high-powered position at a New York law firm headed by legal shark John Milton (Al Pacino). As Kevin moves up in the firm's ranks, his wife, Mary Ann (Charlize Theron), has several frightening, mystical experiences that begin to warp her sense of reality. With the stakes getting higher with each case, Kevin quickly learns that his mentor is planning a far greater evil than simply winning without scruples.

Join the Fashion Film Club for a special screening of Gold Diggers of 1933, chosen by Holly Waddington, Academy Award Winner for Best Costume Design (Poor Things). The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Holly and FFC founder Sarah Bailey about costume design, desire and fantasy.

A Broadway producer has the talent, the tunes, the theatre and everything else he needs to put on a show – except the dough. Not to worry, say Ginger Rogers and the other leggy chorines decked out in giant coins. Everyone will soon be singing We're in the Money. Soon after 42nd Street, the brothers Warner again kicked the Depression blues out the stage door and into a back alley. Mervyn Le Roy directs the snappy non-musical portions involving three wonderfully silly love matches (including Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler). And Busby Berkeley brings his peerless magic to the production numbers, his camera swooping and gliding to showstoppers that are naughty (Pettin' in the Park), neon-lit (The Shadow Waltz) and soul-searing (Remember My Forgotten Man). Solid cinema gold! - Warner Bros

The third of a Gold Diggers "franchise", the film tells the story of show girls trying to make a living during the Great Depression, which the film references openly. The Gold Diggers of 1933 is often cited as one of the great classics of pre-Code Hollywood.

The first instalment of what would become Francis Ford Coppola’s epic trilogy chronicling the vicissitudes of the Corleone clan sees patriarch Don Vito navigating an expansion into narcotics and the unexpected ascent of his youngest son Michael. From an inter-family war that erupts on the streets of New York and an attempt to edge in on the lucrative entertainment world of Las Vegas to life in a Sicilian pastoral idyl, the machinations of a complex and far-reaching crime syndicate are never far away in this exemplary mob drama.

The screening on 14 December will be introduced by film historian and Coppola expert Jon Lewis, author of the BFI Film Classics on The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II.

Sequels had not yet become the Hollywood norm when Francis Ford Coppola signed up for a continuation to his hugely successful 1972 adaptation of Mario Puzo’s novel The Godfather, but this second film set a high standard for follow-ups in the way that it enriches and deepens the Corleone family narrative.

Ranging over multiple locations, Coppola’s film ambitiously intertwines two time periods: the story of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) becoming increasingly consumed and isolated by his new power as head of the family, and flashbacks to his father Vito Corleone’s (Robert De Niro) arrival as an immigrant in New York, and his gradual ascent to power.

The project’s ambition did not go unrecognised: like the first film, it won best picture at the 1974 Academy Awards.

The 28th Made in Prague Festival in collaboration with Second Run presents a special screening celebrating the UK Blu-ray release of The Hop-Picker, the very first Czechoslovak film musical.

The Hop-Pickers was an instant sensation upon its release and continues to charm generations of Czech audiences. With its vibrant portrayal of youthful rebellion, blossoming romance, lively production numbers, and irresistibly catchy songs, it has endured as a beloved classic. Channeling the energy of the swinging ’60s with a distinctly Czech twist, The Hop-Pickers boldly blends music, dance, and New Wave realism, offering a fresh take on societal norms and a playful exploration of sexual freedom.  

After seeking the expertise of former Big Tobacco executive Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), seasoned TV producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) suspects a story lies behind Wigand's reluctance to speak. As Bergman persuades Wigand to share his knowledge of industry secrets, the two must contend with the courts and the corporations that stand between them and exposing the truth. All the while, Wigand must struggle to maintain his family life amidst lawsuits and death threats.

In the irreverent spirit of fun that made The Lego Movie a worldwide phenomenon, the self-described leading man of that ensemble—Lego Batman—stars in his own big-screen adventure. But there are big changes brewing in Gotham, and if he wants to save the city from The Joker’s hostile takeover, Batman may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up.

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  

Our screening on 13 October is the latest in our discussion series, In the Works, hosted by Oscar nominated composer Gary Yershon. Gary's guest is the writer and director Jeremy Brock. Jeremy first rose to prominence as the co-creator of Casualty. He was BAFTA nominated for his screenplay for Mrs Brown (1997), and alongside Peter Mogan, he won the BAFTA for Best Adaptated Screenplay for The Last King of Scotland in 2007, which also won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film.  

About the film:

Young Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) decides it’s time for an adventure after he finishes his formal education, so he decides to try his luck in Uganda, and arrives during the downfall of President Obote. General Idi Amin (a towering and Academy Award winning performance from Forest Whitaker) comes to power and asks Garrigan to become his personal doctor.

We’ve dug deep into the LIAF archives and have selected 12 of the best short animated films full of visually dazzling joy from all around the world, for kids of all ages and the whole family.

Here you will meet charismatic characters and encounter amazing tales such as the man whose job it is to make sure each new day starts on time, a Japanese boy Jiro who unexpectedly catches cat flu and how you should never take gravity for granted.

Animation is the most imaginative and engaging of all art forms and is the perfect platform to enthral and inspire the wide-open imaginations of kids. This programme, carefully selected with our youngest audience in mind, is always popular, and not a toy ad in sight.

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

Films Screening:

Heroes

Glory is at our fingertips!

Argentina, 2018, Dir: Juan Pablo Zaramella, 3min

Link

Two characters are linked by their hair. They influence each other with every move they make.

Germany, 2017, Dir: Robert Loebel, 8min

Pearfall

Beware of pearfall. It happens suddenly so you have to be prepared.

Estonia, 2017, Dir: Leonid Schmelkov, 3 min

The Hunt

The disappointment of a harmless hunter and his compatriot - a rabbit.

France, 2017, Dir: Alexey Alekseev, 6 min

Kuap

A tadpole somehow misses out on becoming a frog and is left behind, alone. A little story about growing up.

Switzerland, 2018, Dir: Nils Hedinger, 8 min

Rules of Play

A group of tired playground visitors meet at night for a last contest.

Germany, 2018, Dir: Merlin Flugel, 8 min

Vivat Musketeers!

The world is on the verge of abyss and there is no hope until the musketeers arrive. Long live the musketeers!

Russia, 2017, Dir: Anton Dyakov, 5 min

Cat Days

Jiro, a little boy, feels sick. His father takes him to the doctor. She diagnoses a harmless condition, but it shakes the core of the boy's identity.

Germany/Japan, 2018, Dir: Jon Frickey, 11 min

Mind Games

The adventures of a wandering mind.

USA, 2018, Dir: Jiaqi Yan, 2 min

Flipped

The absurdity of a world where the roles of kids and adults are switched.

UK, 2018, Dir: Hend Esmat & Lamiaa Diab, 5 min

The Theory of Sunset

Deep at night, a dedicated cyclist traverses the wintry forest. The challenge: make sure this new day gets off to a fresh and timely start.

Russia, 2017, Dir: Roman Sokolov, 9 min

Herman Brown is Feeling Down

Herman's quiet, colourful world is suddenly interrupted by something loud and stressy.

UK, 2018, Dir: Dan Castro, 6 min

Rona, fresh out of rehab, returns to the wild Orkney Islands after more than a decade away. As she reconnects with the dramatic landscape where she grew up, memories of her childhood merge with the more recent challenging events that have set her on the path to recovery.

The Garden Cinema View:

Many acclaimed films (The Lost Weekend, Leaving Las Vegas) have explored the detrimental effects of addiction and the success or failure of rehabilitation. What sets The Outrun apart is how truthfully and diligently it presents the relentless, everyday challenge of staying sober without the numbing effects of other substances to ease the pain. Can an ex-addict ever be happy? The film relentlessly explores this question, depicting a mind shaped by years of alcoholism. This journey is the emotional core of the film, brought to life through Saoirse Ronan's most powerful performance to date. The wildly beautiful Orkney Islands provide a stunning backdrop that mirrors the protagonist's internal life.

The Outrun is not flawless, (there are some on-the-nose scenes and a few nature metaphors that don't quite work), yet this doesn't take away from the overall powerful impact. Although The Outrun shares several elements with Nora Fingscheidt's previous works such as System Crasher (2019), it provides an in-depth exploration of its themes that elevates above these earlier films.

Our screening on Saturday 28 September will be introduced by Mark Searby, the author of Al Pacino: The Movies Behind The Man.

Our Screening on Monday 21 October will be introduced by freelance film programmer Nathasha Orlando Kappler.

Bobby (Al Pacino) is a heroin addict who lives in 'Needle Park', the nickname for an area on the Upper West Side of Manhattan where junkies congregate. He meets Helen (Kitty Winn), a lonely homeless girl, and they fall in love. However, Bobby also introduces Helen to heroin, and she eventually becomes addicted, too. As Bobby and Helen become more and more dependent on each other and on heroin, their need for money to feed their habit grows, resulting in crime, desperation and betrayal

London Palestine Film Festival 2024 presents The Roller, The Life, The Fight + virtual screen talk.

 Hazem arrives in Belgium after a painful journey from Gaza. At the same time, Elettra arrives in Brussels to study documentary film. Their first moments together reveal a triggering desire to know each other , the camera becomes the tool they share for understanding. Through the images of their lives, we are plunged into the meeting of two worlds. The displacements they endure strengthen their wish to resist a divided society; the act of recording is a commitment to justice. Being confronted to the rigidity of Hazem’s asylum procedure, they embark on an exile, an inner migration to reach a place where gazes are softer and more just.

This screening will be followed by a virtual screen talk with directors, Elettra Bisogno and Hazem Alqaddi.

It has been years since long-time friends Ingrid, a best-selling novelist, and Martha, a war journalist, have seen each other. Upon learning of Martha’s cancer diagnosis, Ingrid rushes to her side and they rekindle their bond. With each shared memory, including Martha’s recollections of war and of her fractured relationship with her daughter, their connection grows. And a deeply personal request from Martha will bound the two women forever.

Demi Moore gives a career-best performance as Elisabeth Sparkle, a former A-lister past her prime and suddenly fired from her fitness TV show by repellent studio head Harvey (Dennis Quaid).

She is then drawn to the opportunity presented by a mysterious new drug: The Substance. All it takes is one injection and she is reborn - temporarily - as the gorgeous, twentysomething Sue (Margaret Qualley).

The only rule? Time needs to be split: exactly one week in one body, then one week in the other. No exceptions. A perfect balance. What could go wrong

The Garden Cinema View:

Finally following up her superb Revenge, Coralie Fargeat delivers a squishy, body-horror-Hollywood- satire; a broad critique of our/the media’s obsession with female beauty, and the disposability of middle aged performers. The Substance stretches its skin over a dense frame of cinematic references, and there is a degree of pleasure in spotting all the nods to Kubrick, Hitchcock, Sunset Boulevard, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, and many more. Admittedly, this reaches a point of oversaturation, and a couple of famous music cues feel awkwardly on the nose. The Substance is perversely enjoyable (the hefty running time flies by), but it doesn’t match the depth of Cronenberg’s best body-horrors, the genuine unease of Lynch’s Hollywood nightmares, or the sense of actual transgression of Julia Ducournau’s Titane.    

On Saturday 12 October, we're organising a special fundraiser screening of The Teacher. You can find more details about this here.

A Palestinian school teacher (Saleh Bakri) struggles to reconcile his life-threatening commitment to political resistance with his emotional support for one of his students (Muhammad Abed El Rahman) and the chance of a new romantic relationship with a volunteer worker (Imogen Poots).

The Garden Cinema View:

The Teacher is released in the UK the very same week that a school in the West Bank is besieged by the Israeli army, its Palestinian pupils unable to go home. The film charts the countless ways in which the occupation has dehumanised Palestinians, and the generational traumatic toll it takes. Nabulsi skillfully portrays its impact on the average Palestinian through a rousing narrative, with just enough context and references to real life events to reach and emotionally connect with a wide audience.

The indignity and all-encompassing violence of the occupation permeates every aspect of life, the strain on Bassem’s marriage just one illustration of its domestic micropolitical costs. This is only Nabulsi’s second foray into filmmaking, following BAFTA award-winning short The Present, which in the same vein depicts the way in which Israeli checkpoints and settlements have turned the most routine, menial task - buying a new fridge - into a Herculean and perilous feat. Once again reprising his role as a beaten down dad, Saleh Bakri is as ever eminently watchable.

The Water Rats captures the adventures of twelve strangers who, coming from diverse walks of life; mixed ages, ethnicity and interests, unite over the coronavirus lockdown to continue cold water swimming during and in spite of the first Lockdown in 2020.

At first, editor, director and writer Greig Coetzee and award winning photographer Jillian Edelstein had planned to write a six part TV drama - they had met in Esther Freud’s writing group - but, later, decided to make a documentary using all the material gathered, including visuals -stills, drone footage, B roll film and interviews with the members of the Water Rats group.

The group continued to swim together through the Pandemic, becoming a motley crew of outlaws visiting various wild cold waters locations around Hampstead Heath.

The film explores the power of the human connection arising from such a unique and challenging experience within the natural scenarios of some of London’s best-kept-secret natural locations.

In July 2022, The Water Rats was awarded two Impact Awards for Originality/Creativity and merit award for Feature Documentary.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Greig Coetzee and Jillian Edelstein.

Jillian Edelstein works in both portrait and documentary photography. An Honourable Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, her book Truth and Lies: Stories from South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission was published in 2002 and won the Kobal Book Award & the Visa D’Or in the same year. The National Portrait Gallery have collected over one hundred of her portraits. In 2018 she was Included in The Royal Photographic Society’s list of 100 International Photographic Heroines.

Greig Coetzee has over 15 years’ experience writing and editing scripts for South African television, covering both drama and comedy. More recently he has retrained as a film editor and documentary film maker. In South Africa he worked as Head Writer on four different television productions. His radio play, Banana Republic (BBC Radio 4), received a Sony Radio Academy Award in the Drama category. Greig has also enjoyed an international career as a playwright and stage actor.

As part of Trailblazers, we're thrilled to present a landmark double bill featuring two films from 1976 that document women’s contributions to the labour movement. There will be a comfort break between the two screenings.

The screening on Saturday 9 November will be briefly introduced by season programmer Alice Pember and followed by an informal post-film discussion in The Garden Bar, where we will be joined by film critic Christina Newland.

Union Maids (1976, 59m)

Painting a collective portrait of labour organizers that were active in Chicago in the 1930s, Union Maids offers an important and compelling insight into the lives of three women at the forefront of the labour movement in the US. Celebrated upon release, the film’s assemblage of old and new documentary footage, still images and talking head interviews attests to the tenacity (and efficacy) of working-class women in the fight for class equality, offering an optimistic view that was no doubt as invigorating for viewers at the time of its release as it is today.

Harlan County, USA (1976, 103m)

Winning the 1976 Academy Award for ‘Best Documentary Feature’, Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County, USA offers a comparatively present-tense view of the frontline of the then-recent ‘Brookside Strike’, a series of actions taken against the Duke Power Company by miners and their wives in Harlan County, Kentucky in 1973. A product of four years of preparation, filming and editing (during which Kopple lived alongside her subjects in Harlan) the film captures key developments in the strike with an immediacy that attests to her rapport with her subjects. As well as being an important document of working-class solidarity and the intersection of class and gendered liberation, the film also raises important questions about documentary ethics and documentary filmmaking making as feminist praxis.

Saturday 9 November Event Timings

16:00  Welcome (Alice Pember)

16:05  Programme start  

19:15  Discussion (Garden Bar)

20:00  Expected finish

Dr Alice Pember is an Assistant Professor in Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick. Her research interests include independent cinema, feminist film philosophy and dance and pop music on screen. Her research has appeared in Modern and Contemporary France, French Screen Studies and Film-Philosophy journals. She teaches across areas related to independent French, British and American cinema, film philosophy and queer and women's cinema. Her monograph The Dancing Girl in Contemporary Cinema will be published next year with Edinburgh University Press.

Christina Newland is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster on film and culture, with bylines at Criterion, BBC, Rolling Stone, MUBI, and others. She is the lead film critic at the i Newspaper and a contributing editor to Empire Magazine. Her newsletter, Sisters Under the Mink, on depictions of women in crime film and television, won a Freelance Writing Award in 2021, and her first book, an edited anthology called She Found It at the Movies: Women Writers on Sex, Desire and Cinema, was published in March 2020.

Join Video Bazaar on Halloween for a night of occult imagery and esoterica with a rare screening of the 1922 silent horror masterpiece Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages, accompanied by a special live score from Leeds psych-rock quintet, Self Immolation Music.

Released in 1922, Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages is a silent documentary-style horror film by Danish director Benjamin Christensen. Blurring the lines between history, myth, and the macabre, Häxan is an ambitious exploration of witchcraft, demonology, and the persecution of witches throughout the centuries. With its surreal blend of historical reenactments, animation, and early special effects, the film dives deep into medieval superstitions and religious hysteria surrounding witches.

Häxan is divided into seven parts, each illustrating various aspects of witchcraft and the occult, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and beyond. The film provocatively combines real historical research with nightmarish dramatisations of demonic rituals, witch hunts, and torture. Christensen himself appears as Satan in some of the film’s most striking sequences, tempting women to forsake their faith for dark powers.

Orchestrating the sound of this demonic iconography will be Leeds’ Self Immolation Music, who run the gauntlet of dreamlike pulsing basslines, nightmarish synthscapes, and acid soaked guitar licks, all filtered through a punk lens. After years of experimenting with a completely new sound palette, they emerged with a cohesive and unique take on psychedelia. There are nods to the quintessential psychedelic bands that inspired them (Spacemen 3, Hawkwind, The 13th Floor Elevators) but we get something raw and heavier than you might expect.

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

Video Bazaar presents a special anniversary screening of Threads, the harrowing 1984 made-for-TV drama that left audiences across the nation stunned into silence.

Screening at The Garden Cinema 40 years after it was originally broadcast on the BBC, this landmark of British television, directed by Mick Jackson and written by Barry Hines, remains one of the most chilling and realistic depictions of nuclear war ever committed to the screen.

Set in the industrial city of Sheffield, Threads follows the lives of ordinary people as the unthinkable unfolds - a nuclear conflict that shatters society and plunges survivors into a nightmarish struggle for post-fallout existence. With its documentary-style approach, the film explores the horrifying consequences of nuclear war in gruesome detail, making it just as relevant today as it was four decades ago.

Commissioned by the BBC in response to growing public anxiety about nuclear war during the Cold War, Threads was first broadcast on 23 September 1984. This anniversary screening offers a chance to transport yourself back to that same evening, to the living rooms of British families during the heightened tensions of the 1980s, when the looming threat of nuclear conflict felt all too real.

This screening will also feature a pre-recorded video introduction by Bob Mielke, Professor of English at Truman State University and author of the 2023 book Threads, which 'examines the film through the lens of history, pop culture, and horror. Mielke’s impeccable research, sharp analysis, life experience, and gallows humor bring new insight into what makes this film so disturbing - and disturbingly enduring.'

This screening is presented by the cult film collective Video Bazaar, this event showcases rarely screened films and is dedicated to bringing the weird and obscure to London audiences at The Garden Cinema. .

Join Video Bazaar and The Nickel this Halloween for a rare screening of Tony Williams’ Next of Kin. An unsettling piece of Australian horror, this eerie 1982 gem blends gothic suspense with psychological terror, making it perfect viewing for this Halloween season. Please note that this event will feature an introduction and a Halloween mystery video show carefully curated by your hosts.

Set in a decaying, isolated mansion, Next of Kin follows Linda, a young woman who inherits her family's aged rest home, only to discover a series of strange and terrifying events. As paranoia mounts and the past refuses to stay buried, the line between reality and nightmare blurs in this atmospheric slow-burn that builds to a shocking climax.

Often overlooked in the horror canon, Next of Kin has earned a cult following for its eerie slow-burn tension, gothic stylings and a haunting synth heavy score by Klaus Schulze of Tangerine Dream. The suffocating, creeping terror draws you in, leaving you questioning what’s real until the very end.

This screening is presented by The Nickel Cinema and cult film collective Video Bazaar, who exhibit rarely screened films and are dedicated to bringing the weird and obscure to London audiences.

From first periods to life after menopause, the Women Over 50 Film Festival's got you covered. Join WOFFF and friends for an evening of education, insights and laughter with animations, dramas, documentaries and comedies from Britain,Trinidad and Tobago and Canada all focused on periods, perimenopause, menopause and beyond.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with older female filmmakers from tonight’s programme.

Emma Lazenby, Alison Ramsey and Sue Bridge will join hosts Dr Deborah Jermyn from the University of Roehampton ('Everything you need to embrace the change': The 'menopausal turn' in contemporary UK culture) and Nuala O’Sullivan, founder and director of the Women Over 50 Film Festival. Together, we’ll reflect on what perimenopause and menopause mean for us all – and particularly for women over 50.

Men and gender non-binary folks very welcome!

Good Girls Don't by Ana de Lara | Canada | Drama | 15min

Cycle of Change by Emma Lazenby | UK | Animation | 5min

Face It - Abbey by Jason Edwards | UK| Drama | 15min        

Menopause: The Movie by Alison Ramsey | UK | Experimental | 12min

Our Menopause by Nicola Zawadi Cross | Trinidad and Tobago, UK | Documentary | 20min

The Last Egg by Sue Bridge | UK | Animation | 5min

The screening on Sunday 1 December will be followed by a panel discussion with writer and programmer Rōgan Graham and film scholar Giulia Rho, which will be chaired by writer and editor Laura Staab.

A revolutionary film movement that emerged from the UCLA Film School in the early 1970s, the so-called ‘L.A. Rebellion’ was a powerful and transformative chapter in the history of American cinema. A significant cultural and artistic response to the turbulent sociopolitical climate of the time, the films challenged prevailing norms of Black representation, forging a new African American cinematic language.

Often remembered for the pioneering work of male directors like Charles Burnett, this programme of shorts brings together short films by three ‘insurgent sisters’ of the LA Rebellion, featuring an early short by Julie Dash (who would go on to make the acclaimed feature Daughters of the Dust). Offering a specifically ‘womanist’ sensibility, Illusions, Cycles and A Different Image resist the images of Black womenhood produced by Hollywood and independent film of the time, reclaiming Black female subjectivity through poetic and playful cinematic reconstructions of time, space and the body.  

Timings:

15:00  Welcome (Alice Pember)

15:10  Shorts Programme

16:55  Comfort break

17:05  Panel discussion

18:00  Expected finish

A Different Image

Alile Sharon Larkin, 1982, USA, 52m.

An poetic portrait of a beautiful young African American attempting to escape her position as object and discover her true heritage. Through a sensitive and humorous story about her relationship with a man, the film makes provocative connections between racism and sexual stereotyping, showcasing the intersectional cinematic language pioneered by women of the LA Rebellion.

Illusions

Julie Dash, 1982, USA, 34m.

Set in Hollywood during WWII, Illusions tells the story of Mignon Duprée, a studio executive passing for white, and Ester Jeeter, an African American singer hired to dub the voice of a white movie star. The film is a gripping critique of the power of the movies to shape perception, exploring the multiple illusions created by Hollywood and the very illusion of racial identity. An early short by Julie Dash (who would go on to make the critically acclaimed Daughters of the Dust), the film conveys Dash’s sincere love of Hollywood cinema whilst presenting a radical, damning critique of the industry's racism.

Cycles

Zeinabu irene Davis, 1989, USA, 17m.

One of the first films made Zeinabu Irene Davis, an award winning director and producer who is still active today, Cycles (1989) is a playful, experimental film which focuses on an woman anxiously awaiting her overdue period. Combining beautifully intimate still and moving images of the woman’s body and home space with playful stop-motion sequences, the film presents a provocative exploration of African American experience as a collective unconscious and offers a rare on-screen engagement with the topic of periods.

Rōgan Graham is a writer and programmer from South London. Working broadly in film exhibition, her areas of interest are works by Women and Black filmmakers. In 2021 she edited the Clio Award winning FYC book for Barry Jenkins' The Underground Railroad. The founder of Divas Do Film, when she isn’t writing reviews, hosting Q&As or appearing on podcasts, she can be found on a soapbox talking about Mariah Carey.

Dr Giulia Rho has recently completed her PhD in Film Studies. Her research covers experimental women filmmakers and queer artists, especially those operating within the New York Avant Garde and LA Rebellion. Her work deals with post-structuralist feminist philosophy as well as theories of queer time and questions of archival memory and justice. Her writing has appeared in Frames Film Journal and Film-Philosophy.

Dr Laura Staab works as an Assistant Editor at MUBI. She holds a doctorate in film studies from King’s College London and writes regularly on art cinema and experimental film for Another Gaze, Notebook, and Sight & Sound.

In this hilarious cult classic, Mel Brooks gives us a surreal parody of the horror staple, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Respected medical lecturer Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) learns that he has inherited his infamous grandfather's estate in Transylvania. Arriving at the castle, Dr. Frankenstein soon begins to recreate his grandfather's experiments with the help of servants Igor (Marty Feldman), Inga (Teri Garr) and the fearsome Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman). After he creates his own monster (Peter Boyle), new complications ensue with the arrival of the doctor's fiancée, Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn).