Director Patricia Ramos sets this film, her second feature and also written by her, in 2016 Havana. It was a time when Cuba featured regularly in the international media with Obama’s visit, a Chanel fashion show and the historic Rolling Stones concert. This film is not about that historical concert, rather that moment. Middle-aged Rita navigates troublesome relationships with her teenage son who wants to leave Cuba, her aging mother, her married lover, and her lifelong friend who is ill. On the eve of the concert, Rita she takes decisions that begin to give her some independence, as she hopes that something interesting is about to happen.

Described in the Cuban press as 'a film that seems simple, but in the end is also a treatise on what has gone and what has been lost, about the unbreakable will to cling to certain values, on the part of people who stay in their place, who are not going anywhere, animated by the crazy idea that they may find, very close to their home, what they have always been looking for.'

PLUS SHORT: Blue Pandora / Pandora Azul | Alan Gonzalez |2023, Cuba, ICAIC- Crisálida Producciones | 13m|18

Compelling award-winning fictional short. The white youth Roy regularly shows up at the doorstep of Pandora, a middle-aged Black transgender woman, in an attempt to convince her of how much he’s in love with her. She wants to stay out of trouble, and is reluctant because of past experiences with men. An interaction that transcends itself in a subtle yet poignant way, in which thoughts not spoken live in the smallest gesture or the exchange of a glance. The film delves into the complexities of love, self-acceptance, and the weight of societal judgment.

The screening will be introduced by Silvia Padrón Duran, director of La Manigua film and culture centre for children and teenagers, Havana.

Screen Cuba: Films to Change the World is a collaborative project of the charity Music Fund for Cuba, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, the Cuban Embassy in the UK and the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC).

Proceeds from the Solidarity ticket will to go to Cuban film institute (ICAIC) projects including restoration of classic films.

Celebrating 100 years of MR James' A Warning to the Curious

1925 saw the publication of A Warning to the Curious and Other Stories, the fourth and final collection from Montague Rhodes James, the Cambridge scholar who became the master of the ghost story.

The title story is arguably James' last great work and certainly his most brutal. It's a story of undeserved death and the hope of not being forgotten - and that's as true for the ghost as it is the protagonist. As the first day of the narrative lands on 17 April, we've chosen to mirror that for this centenary event.

This unique event will see the spellbinding Robert Lloyd Parry perform the original tale before a screening of Lawrence Gordon Clark's celebrated 1972 adaptation. The event will be introduced by Jon Dear, author of the forthcoming book No Diggin' - The Story of the BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas.

Tickets for this celebration of James' work are £15.50 members/£17.50 non-members and includes an allocated seat for both the live performance and the film.

20:30 - Introduction to the evening

20:35 - Live performance

21:20 - Intermission

21:30 - Screening

22:20 - Q&A

22:35 - Finish

About the film:

An amateur archaeologist goes to a remote Norfolk town to search for the lost crown of Anglia, but at every turn he finds his movements tracked by a mysterious stranger dressed in black

The M. R. James Project:

The M. R. James project is an initiative by the Nunkie Theatre Company to bring back to life the eeriest and most entertaining of these enduringly brilliant tales, many of which were originally written to be performed by the James to his friends, in his rooms in King’s College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve, and are now performed by Robert Lloyd Parry, who bears a somewhat uncanny resemblance to the late author...  

UK Premiere of 4K Restoration. The screening on 6 May will be introduced by the season curator Millie Zhou.

One of the most acclaimed, though underseen films of the Hong Kong New Wave, Allen Fong’s Ah Ying is an almost documentary-like work which takes a more realistic and intimate approach than many of the more genre-based or experimental offerings of the movement. The winner of multiple awards and nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Berlin International Film Festival, Ah Ying uses real life for its inspiration, portraying authentic living conditions and flourishing film scene in Hong Kong in the early 1980s.

Based on the autobiographical story of lead actress Hui So-Ying, the film follows Ah Ying, who yearns to be an actress, but is stuck working at her parents’ wet market fish stall while living in a cramped apartment in a rundown housing estate. Taking a job at the Film Culture Centre in return for being allowed to sit in on acting classes, she strikes up a friendship with her Chinese-American teacher, who takes an interest in her life and becomes determined that they should make a film together. 

This screening is in partnership with the Chinese Cinema Project and Focus Hong Kong. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London. In Cantonese with English subtitles.

The screening on 3 May will be introduced by Tony Rayns.

Feature debut from Eddie Fong with fiercely feminist and erotic New Wave take on the classical Chinese historical drama. Produced by the Shaw Brothers, the film is a provocative exploration of passion and oppression, which won awards for its gorgeous art direction and a slew of nominations for its score and cast.

Yu Xuanji, a freethinking young scholar, becomes a Taoist priestess to avoid the traditional roles designated to her as a woman by the society during the Tang Dynasty. However, while this allows Yu to continue her studies and to achieve fame as a poet, her affairs with a wandering swordsman and her maid gradually lead her to scandal and self-destruction. Turning the usual gender roles on their heads, the film is powerful tale of desire and rebellion that plays out against a backdrop of sensual visual poetry. 

This screening is in partnership with the Chinese Cinema Project and Focus Hong Kong. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London. Courtesy of Celestial Pictures Limited. In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles.

The screening on Sunday 13 April will be followed by an in-person or Zoom Q&A with director Sophia Exarhou.

It will be introduced by film critic Savina Petkova.

Synopsis:

Under the hot Greek sun, the animators at an all-inclusive island resort prepare for the busy touristic season. Kalia is the group leader. As summer intensifies and the work pressure builds up, their nights become violent and Kalia's struggle is revealed in the darkness. But when the spotlights turn on again, the show must go on.

Curator's note:

The program concludes with Animal (2023) by Sophia Exarchou, which offers the non-Instagrammable aspect of Greek summer by focusing on the working conditions of entertainment labour in tourist resorts. Filmed with a handheld camera, the viewer can almost smell the cigarettes and alcohol seeping from the screen - an experience in stark contrast to the meticulously composed cinema of Tsangari and Lanthimos.

Savina Petkova is a Bulgarian film critic and programmer based in London, UK with a PhD in Film Studies (King's College London) and a Film Studies Master's Degree (UCL). As a critic and journalist, she has written for Cineuropa, Variety, Sight and Sound, MUBI Notebook, Little White Lies, and many others. Since 2024, she has served as the Programming Panel Lead (features) at the Cambridge Film Festival and as a Features Programmer at the Sofia International Film Festival.  Savina mentors young critics in one of the European Workshops for Film Criticism, being an alumna of Berlinale (2020) and Sarajevo (2020) Talents Press, as well as the Locarno Critics Academy (2023).

The screening on Sunday 9 March the screening will be introduced by Savina Petkova.

Synopsis:

Marina, an emotionally stunted 23-year-old, lives with her dying architect father in a seaside factory town. Finding humans strange and repellent, she keeps her distance, watching David Attenborough nature documentaries instead. Then a stranger arrives and challenges her to a foosball duel.

Curator's note:

In 2009, as the financial crisis broke and Grexit fears loomed, the Greek film industry was rocked by two cinematic grenades. First came Dogtooth (2009), by Yorgos Lanthimos, followed by Attenberg (2010) from emerging director Athina Rachel Tsangkari. Tsangari and Lanthimos reimagined Greece through an unconventional lens, deploying a cool gaze and a deadpan sense of humor that sharply diverged from traditional depictions of Zorba-esque mediterranean exuberance.

Savina Petkova is a Bulgarian film critic and programmer based in London, UK with a PhD in Film Studies (King's College London) and a Film Studies Master's Degree (UCL). As a critic and journalist, she has written for Cineuropa, Variety, Sight and Sound, MUBI Notebook, Little White Lies, and many others. Since 2024, she has served as the Programming Panel Lead (features) at the Cambridge Film Festival and as a Features Programmer at the Sofia International Film Festival.  Savina mentors young critics in one of the European Workshops for Film Criticism, being an alumna of Berlinale (2020) and Sarajevo (2020) Talents Press, as well as the Locarno Critics Academy (2023).

Babe, a pig raised by sheepdogs on a rural English farm, learns to herd sheep with a little help from Farmer Hoggett.

Babe is no ordinary pig - having been brought up alongside collies on the Hoggett Farm, he's mastered all the arts of the sheepdog, sparing him the mysterious fate of his relatives. But he's not the only animal in the barnyard with a personality: Ferdinand the duck wants to be a rooster, and Rex the sheepdog doesn't like sheep. As well as being fantastic entertainment with its cast of talking animals, there's a subtly delivered message to this delightful movie about not simply accepting your apparent role in 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

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.

The screening on 21 April will be introduced by Chris Berry (KCL).

Among the most important films to come out of the Hong Kong New Wave, Ann Hui’s devastating Boat People focuses on the experiences of refugees forced to flee their country in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

A film with urgent contemporary resonance, Boat People sees Ann Hui documenting the hopelessness felt by many, and shows how the severity of life post-War led many people to take the dangerous decision to step into boats in hope of a better existence. For her fourth feature, which screened as part of the Official Selection at Cannes, the director takes a deeply humanistic approach to a harrowing and urgent subject.

Three years after the Communist takeover, a Japanese photojournalist (George Lam) travels to Vietnam to document the country’s seemingly triumphant rebirth. When he befriends a teenage girl (Season Ma) and her destitute family, however, he begins to discover what the government doesn’t want him to see: the brutal, often shocking reality of life in a country where political repression and poverty have forced many to resort to desperate measures in order to survive.

This screening is in partnership with the Chinese Cinema Project and Focus Hong Kong. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London. In Cantonese with English subtitles.

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

To celebrate the start of our new season of Hong Kong New Wave features, we're hosting a members' cocktail hour featuring Butterfly Pea G&Ts (a non-alcoholic alternative will be available), with an alluring twist.. The cocktail hour will be followed by a screening of The Butterfly Murders, which will be introduced by Tom Cunliffe (UCL). Digitally restored and presented in 2K, shown in the UK for the first time.

Timings:

17:30 - 18:30  Cocktail hour

18:30 - 18:40  Intro by Tom Cunliffe

18:40 - 20:10  Screening of The Butterfly Murders

About the film:

Tsui Hark made an immediate impact and established himself as a cinematic visionary with his directorial debut The Butterfly Murders, a pioneering and ‘futuristic’ Hong Kong New Wave take on the traditional wuxia. Combining swordplay, mystery, science fiction, and more, Hark’s first film is breathlessly creative, packed full of stunningly fluid camerawork, gorgeously surreal sets, and hyper-stylised visuals.

Tied together by a dark sense of ironic humour, the film is narrated by Lau Siu-ming’s scholar Fong, who weaves the tale of his investigation into a series of murders seemingly committed by killer butterflies. Enlisting the help of a woman called Green Shadow and a martial arts clan leader, Fong is led to a deserted castle where a conspiracy unfolds, and where a mysterious figure clad in black armour seems to be on a killing spree. Groundbreaking in every sense of the word, the film sees Hark gleefully deconstructing the wuxia form, throwing in a dizzying array of cinematic nods to Hitchcock, spaghetti westerns, Italian giallo cinema, and Japanese crime thrillers along the way.

Tickets are restricted to 2 per member, meaning you can bring a date or a mate, and include a Butterfly Pea gin & tonic (or a non-alcoholic alternative), as well as access to the screening. Seating will be unallocated, so you'll be able to sit with friends, old and new. 

This screening is in partnership with the Chinese Cinema Project and Focus Hong Kong. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London. In Cantonese with English subtitles.

A special event to mark publication of the new novel Call Me Ishmaelle, a dazzling female-led reimagining of Melville's Moby-Dick, by acclaimed writer and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo.

Host Gareth Evans will join Xiaolu after the screening of John Huston's impressive adaptation to talk about her novel's intentions, Melville's enduring influence, and the film itself. Call Me Ishmaelle will be for sale at the event and Xiaolu will be available to sign copies.

The most well-known English language film adaptation of Melville's hugely influential and complex novel, John Huston's 1956 Moby Dick is co-scripted with Ray Bradbury and was the latter's first feature work. Shot in Ireland, Madeira, and Wales, its character-led drama was heightened by off-screen tensions between Huston, Bradbury, and Peck (an imposing Captain Ahab). A vigorous, atmospheric, cinematically impressive, often haunting telling, the film was well-received when released. Many stories were attached to its making, which will be explored in the conversation.

Call Me Ishmaelle reimagines the epic battle between man and nature in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick from a female perspective. As the American Civil War breaks out in 1861, Ishmaelle, orphaned and disguised as a cabin boy, boards the Nimrod, a whaling ship led by the obsessive Captain Seneca, a free Black man of heroic stature who is haunted by a tragic past. Here, she finds protectors in Polynesian harpooner, Kauri, and Taoist monk, Muzi, whose readings of the I-Ching guide their quest. Through the bloody male violence of whaling, and the unveiling of her feminine identity, Ishmaelle realises there is a mysterious bond between herself and the mythical white whale, Moby Dick. Xiaolu Guo has crafted a dramatically different, feminist narrative that stands alongside the original, while offering a powerful exploration of nature, gender and human purpose.

Xiaolu Guo was born in China. An acclaimed film-maker as well as a writer, she published six books in China before moving to Britain in 2002. Her books here include Village of Stone; A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, and I Am China. Her recent memoir, Once Upon a Time in the East, won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her most recent novel A Lover's Discourse was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a visiting professor at the Free University in Berlin.

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

The screening on 23 April will be preceded by a live dance performance from the senior dancers featured in the documentary, and followed by a signing session with the director for her new book Dance in Herland.

To mark International Women's Day, the Chinese Cinema Project presents the debut documentary feature from visual artist and filmmaker Luka Yuanyuan Yang - a film that celebrates sisterhood, and the spirit of independent women.

Chinatown Cha-Cha originated from Yang’s research on Asian American women in show business. While tracing the films of Esther Eng, one of the earliest Asian American female directors, Yang discovered a group of former Chinatown nightclub dancers, who are deeply bonded by their passion for dancing.

As the second or third generation of Chinese immigrants in America (aged between 70-90) these dancers witnessed the rise and fall of the luminous nightclub era of San Francisco’s Chinatown. The film’s Chinese title, Women’s World, is itself a tribute to Esther Eng’s now lost 1939 film It’s A Women’s World, the world’s first all Chinese female cast movie.

The 92-year-old former owner of the illustrious ‘Forbidden City Nightclub’ and nightclub starlet Coby Yee decide to get back on stage again, after joining the senior dance troupe Grant Avenue Follies. Together they go on a final tour, bridging once isolated Chinese communities in the US, Cuba, and China.

The screening on 8 March was introduced by director Luka Yuanyuan Yang.

The screening on 16 March was followed by in-person Q&A with the director and the diaspora, Dance in Herland.

This programme features five shorts made by visual artist and filmmaker Luka Yuanyuan Yang between 2019-2022, that derive from her multifaceted research on Chinese diasporas. By crafting stories where fact and fiction exist, these films challenge conventional historical interpretation, amplify the voices of the forgotten, and preserve the fragmented memories of Chinese immigrant communities.

The screening will be followed by a signing session of the director’s new book, Dance in Herland.

Tales of Chinatown 中国城轶事 (2019) 19’11’’

The film opens with a walking tour in San Francisco Chinatown: walking into the last surviving theater following the scene from the 1940s film “Lady from Shanghai” directed by Orson Welles; wandering from “Shanghai Low” to “Forbidden City Nightclub” – the camera follows the pace of Chinese American nightclub dancer Cynthia Yee, historians Wylie Wong and David Lei onto a journey across time and space.

The Lady from Shanghai 上海来的女士 (2019) 16’24’’

*UK Premiere*

Despite living in San Francisco for her entire adult life, the 78-year-old Ceecee Wu has always considered herself as "the lady from Shanghai", so does her 101-year-old mother with amnesia who always muttered “Where is this? Am I in Shanghai?”   In this film, Ceecee shares a love journal between her and her ex-husband from Shanghai, the two met each other through a dating website in the millennium and formed a relationship that defeats the obstacle of language and geographical boundaries.

Coby and Stephen Are in Love 相爱的柯比与史蒂芬 (2019) 30’41’’

dir. Luka Yuanyuan Yang and Carlo Nasisse

Coby Yee, a 92-year-old retired nightclub dancer and icon from San Francisco Chinatown’s golden age, and Stephen King, a man 20 years her junior who has been an experimental filmmaker since the 1960s anti-war movement. They have found an unlikely love in each other through matching outfits, dance, and art.  Coby updated Stephen’s wardrobe soon after they started dating, she hand-makes all of their clothes and ensures that they never leave the house without matching outfits from head to toe. Stephen has become Coby’s personal archivist, he creates photo albums and collages constructed from glamorous images of Coby, from the past and the present. As their final performance in Las Vegas approaches, Coby and Stephen start to prepare their last dance on the curtain call.

Cantonese Tunes on Mott Street 勿街粤曲 (2022) 16’28’’

*UK Premiere*

"Cantonese Tunes on Mott Street" follows three Cantonese opera enthusiasts in New York: a Chinese immigrant from a Cantonese opera family, a Hong Kong immigrant who moved to New York as a child, and a Chinese refugee from Cuba. For them, Cantonese opera performances serve as a sanctuary.

American Relative 美国亲戚 (2022) 26’28’’

*UK Premiere*

Set in San Francisco and Toisan, "The American Relative" follows Pat Chu Nishimoto as she uncovers her late father's secret. In 1980, she visits China for the first time and discovers a family of half-relatives. The film then shifts to these Chinese relatives, who recount the history of their ancestral home, highlighting the erosion of history and culture amidst rapid modernization.

One of the most endearing children's films of all time, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was also one of the most lavish movies of its era. Based on Ian Fleming’s novel, adapted to the screen by Roald Dahl and produced by the team behind Mary Poppins,  it's a truly magical, musical adventure for the whole family. Dick Van Dyke stars as an inventor who rescues an old car which acquires magical properties.

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.

Let your little ones discover cinema through short films. The Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival is one of the largest short film festivals in the world. This is a special chance to see some of their favourite animated short films for children, in one jam-packed programme.

The films won't have any dialogue and are suitable for children 6+.

Mojappi -It's Mine! (Nijitaro, Japan, 2024)

Mojappi, a trio of naughty kids who live in the forest, just love being naughty. One day, they find out that their friends are baking pancakes! They will do anything to get those pancakes!

Hoofs on skates (Ignas Meilūnas, Lithunia, 2024)

In a winter wonderland two friends are having a blast ice-skating on a frozen lake when suddenly a strange and unfamiliar world cracks open underneath them: now they must learn how to deal with the otherness, not letting the fear rule.

La Légende du colibri (Morgan Devos, France, 2024)

A fire breaks out in the Amazon rainforest, and frightened animals leave their habitat to take refuge on the other bank.

The Night Tunnel (Annechien Strouven, Belgium, France, 2024)

After digging a tunnel on the beach, two kids from different sides of the world meet each other. Together, they dig their way to the North Pole, where they discover a magical way to return home.

Los Carpinchos (Alfredo Soderguit, France, Chili, Uruguay, 2024)

Hunting season has begun. A family of capybaras seek refuge in a chicken coop, but the hens don't trust them. The curiosity of the youngest members of the families will create a union with unexpected consequences.

Yuck! (Loïc Espuche, France, 2024)

Yuck! Couples kissing on the mouth are gross. And the worst is, you can’t miss them: when people are about to kiss, their lips become all pink and shiny.

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 Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival presents highlights and prize winners from this year's National Selection. The festival is one of the largest and most prestigious short film festivals in the world.

The films will be preceded by an introduction by the Clermont-Ferrand programming team.

Join us in the bar afterwards for networking drinks.

FILMS SCREENING:

Papillon (Butterfly)

A man swims in the sea. As he does so, memories come flooding back. From his early childhood to his adult life, all the memories are connected to water. Some are happy, some glorious, some traumatic. This story will be the story of his last swim.

Annecy Animated Film Festival - Andre-Martin Award Winner - 2024

dir. Florence Miailhe | France | 2024 | 15min

Généalogie de la violence (Genealogy of Violence)

Without an apparent reason, a young man of North African origin, sitting in his car with his girlfriend, is violently searched by the police. Thanks to the use of modern techniques, such as 3D scan and AI, the film restores the experience of dispossession of one’s own body and the humiliation of the young man, witnessed by his incredulous girlfriend.

Grand Prix Winner - 2025

Special Effects Award (ADOBE) Winner - 2025

dir. Mohamed Bourouissa | France | 2024 | 15min

Mort d'un acteur (Death of an Actor)

One day, actor Philippe Rebbot hears on the radio news that he has been found dead. Even though he is alive and well, he can't stop the news from spreading.

Male Actor Award Winner - 2025

Fernand Raynaud Comedy Award Winner - 2025

dir. Ambroise Rateau | France | 2024 | 22min

Ni Dieu Ni Père (No God No Father)

This fiction documentary explores the intimate and unusual relationship a young man forms with the Internet. Where the absence of a father figure left him searching for guidance, he finds an unexpected mentor in Google.

Lab Competition Audience Award Winner - 2025

dir. Kermarec Paul | France | 2024 | 11min

Beurk ! (Yuck!)

Yuck. Couples kissing on the mouth are gross. And the worst is, you can't miss them: when people are about to kiss, their lips become all pink and shiny.

National Competition Audience Prize Winner - 2025

Cesar for Best Animated Short - 2025

dir. Loïc Espuche | France | 2024 | 13min

The Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival presents highlights from this year's international competition. The festival is one of the largest and most prestigious short film festivals in the world.

The screening will include an introduction by the programming team.

Join us in the bar for networking before the screening.  

FILMS SCREENING:  

Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

1993, Bosnia and Herzegovina. A passenger train is stopped by paramilitary forces in an ethnic cleansing operation. As they haul off innocent civilians, only one man out of 500 passengers dares to stand up to them.

dir. Nebojsa Slijepcevic | Croatia | 2024 | 14min

Are You Scared to Be Yourself Because You Think that You Might Fail?

Navigating the aftermath of top surgery, Mad grapples with emotional upheaval at home, supported by their partner and mother.

dir. Bec Pecaut | Canada | 2024 | 18min

Unspoken

1979. As volatile protests for Croatian independence break out across the city of Sydney, Croatian-born Marina is forced to expose a secretive love affair with her Australian boyfriend, as an escalating political storm spills into her childhood home with devastating consequences.

dir. Damian Walshe-Howling | Australia | 2024 | 21min

What if They Bomb Here Tonight?

Samir and Nadyn, a Lebanese couple, spend a sleepless night anxious and fearing an Israeli airstrike could shatter the glass walls of their home. With their children peacefully asleep, they battle with whether to flee or risk the worst and stay.

dir.Samir Syriani | Lebanon | 2024 | 16min

Last film TBC

The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival presents the UK highlights from this year's edition. The festival is one of the largest and most prestigious short film festivals in the world, taking place in France with an audience of 200,000 visitors every year.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the film directors

FILMS SCREENING:

Progress Mining

Feed the monster, have a cup of tea, and if it's your first day - don't pay attention to anything peculiar in Sector 3. Nick shows a new worker around the crumbling Progress Mining Company, while Mary tries to get it shut for repairs.

dir. Gabriel Böhmer | United Kingdom | 2024 | 16min

milk

One filmmaker sets out on a journey to discover the mother she never knew.

BAFTA Award nominee

dir. Miranda Stern | United Kingdom | 2024 | 21min

Bunnyhood

Mum would never lie to me, would she?" Innocent Bobby discovers the answer to this question when she is surprised by a last minute trip to the hospital.

Cannes La Cinef Award Winner

dir. Mansi Maheshwari | United Kingdom | 2024 | 9min

A Bear Remembers

Local boy, Peter, is trying to find the source of the metallic sound that haunts the village. When he shares his footage with an old woman it sparks memories of a bear that roamed the hills during her childhood.

Canal+ Award Winner

European Film Award Winner

dir. Linden Feng, Hannah Palumbo, Zhang & Knight | United Kingdom | 2024 | 20min

Conclave follows one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events - selecting the new Pope. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake, secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church.

The Garden Cinema View:

This cinematic offering serves up the dependable acting talents of Fiennes, Tucci, Rossellini, and Lithgow. Additionally, the muscular direction of Edward Berger, and tension ratcheting score from All Quiet on the Western Front composer Volker Bertelmann, help this tale of Vatican intrigue (adapted from a pulpy Robert Harris thriller) resonate with a multitude of recent high stakes elections around the globe. This is as slick as filmmaking gets in the year of our lord 2024, with twists and betrayals rattling along on well-oiled rails. Whether the political allegories, or the attempts at a transcendent ending, elevate Conclave is an ecumenical matter. Maybe, however, being a very satisfying thriller is ultimately the holiest of outcomes.

UK Premiere of 2K Restoration [International Version]. The screening on 14 April will be introduced by Victor Fan (KCL) and followed by a post-film discussion in the den of The Garden Bar.

Banned by the colonial government censors on its original release, Tsui Hark’s third feature Dangerous Encounter of the First Kind remains one of the most controversial films of the New Wave and of contemporary Hong Kong cinema in general. Previously only available in cut, or drastically-altered versions, the incendiary film has finally been restored to its full glory for the big screen, and still retains its power to shock and amaze nearly fifty years later.

Inspired by real life events, the film follows three students and bombmakers who are blackmailed by a mysterious young woman called Pearl after she threatens to expose them to the police. Joining their gang, Pearl pushes them into more and more extreme and violent action, bringing them up against the corrupt authorities, the Triads and gun runners as society seems to crumble around them. 

This screening is in partnership with the Chinese Cinema Project and Focus Hong Kong. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London. In Cantonese with English subtitles.

Trigger Warning: The film includes scenes of animal cruelty.

Synopsis:

A father and a son long lost. Love and hate. Digging deep into mud to find their roots. Revenge and Redemption. A Western, revisited.

Curator's note:

Digger (2020), produced by Rachel Athina Tsangari, is another brilliant tragicomedy, set in the stunningly pictured damp woodlands of Northern Greece. Reminiscent of Rodrigo Sorogoyen's The Beasts, though distinctly its own film, conflict is at its core: between nature and machine, local community and so-called progress, and a father and his long-estranged son.

The screening will be introduced by Oscar-nominated editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, editor of Dogtooth and Lanthimos' longtime collaborator.

After months of anticipation due to its digital restoration, we are excited to inform you that Dogtooth will screen at The Garden Cinema as a one-off screening ahead of its official re-release!

This disturbing and provocative pitch-black satire put Yorgos Lanthimos’ name on the map after it won the Un Certain Regard Prize in Cannes and Best International Film at the Oscars.

'Stirring, violent, and more than a little bit bizarre, Dogtooth is perhaps the foremost example of the new wave of Greek cinema. Ominous, provocative, and surreal, [...] Yorgos Lanthimos laces his debut with the slightest hint of mordant humour. Much like that of Lars von Trier, his work inspires the sort of laughter that comes with a flinch.' - Christina Newland, Sight & Sound

Synopsis:

In an effort to protect their children from the corrupting influence of the outside world, a couple transforms their home into a gated compound of cultural deprivation. When the father invites a trusted outsider into their home their reality begins to crumble, with devastating consequences.

Yorgos Mavropsaridis is one of the most innovative film editors of his generation, renowned for his distinctive editing style and significant contributions to the film industry, particularly in European cinema. He is the long-term collaborator of director Yorgos Lanthimos for whom he edited all his feature films — starting with Kinetta in 2005. Since then, they worked together on Dogtooth (2009), The Lobster (2015), The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), The Favourite (2018), Poor Things (2023) and recently Kinds of Kindness (2024). He is also the editor of Monos (2019), Chevalier (2015), Park (2016) and She Will (2021) amongst other critically acclaimed titles. He has received multiple nominations and awards, including two Academy Award nominations (The Favourite, Poor Things) and two BAFTA nominations.

In this lovingly crafted, wildly eccentric adaptation of a classic French fairy tale, Jacques Demy casts Catherine Deneuve as a princess who must go into hiding as a scullery maid in order to fend off an unwanted marriage proposal—from her own father, the king (Jean Marais). A topsy-turvy riches-to-rags fable with songs by Michel Legrand, Donkey Skin creates a tactile fantasy world that’s perched on the border between the earnest and the satiric, and features Delphine Seyrig in a delicious supporting role as a fashionable fairy godmother.

When a flood of biblical proportions 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.

The Garden Cinema View:

The standout animation from the winter awards cycle, Flow presents a non-human, yet charming and compassionate, Genesis flood narrative. In a refreshing departure from Hollywood animation clichés, these animal protagonists are remarkably animal-like. Indeed their most anthropomorphised scenes, whilst charming, are the weakest in the film.

Flow is a triumph of art direction, depicting a stunning and eerily posthuman world of megalithic geography and deserted architecture. There is surely a gaming influence here. Not least the Stray-esque movements of the feline ‘hero’, but also an echo of the Ozymandias type ruins of Team Ico games such as Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.  

Young viewers should find the perilous journey scary but involving; adults will respond to the sweeping water-world and themes of ecological catastrophe.

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.

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

We open our Planting Seeds strand with Foragers, Jumanna Manna's film depicting the dramas and stories around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine, with wry humour and a meditative pace.

Shot in the Golan Heights, the Galilee and Jerusalem, it moves between fiction, documentary and archival footage to portray the impact of Israeli nature protection laws on these customs. The restrictions prohibit the collection of the artichoke-like ’akkoub and za’atar (thyme), and have resulted in fines and trials for hundreds caught collecting these native plants. For Palestinians, these laws constitute an ecological veil for legislation that further alienates them from their land while Israeli state representatives insist on their scientific expertise and duty to protect.

The film will be introduced by filmmaker Zeina Ramadan.

The ticket price includes a cup of Palestinian sage tea, courtesy of Kaf of Palestine.

Screened in collaboration with AWAN, Films of Resistance, and Independent Film Association.

The film is screening as part of our Planting Seeds strand, which explores issues around nature and environmental activism.

Edward, a novelist saddled with caring for his elderly mother, finally finds himself on the brink of literary success. With pressure to go on a US book tour mounting, the last thing Edward needs is his friends jetting off to Spain for an impromptu Pride holiday, leaving their mothers on his doorstep! Over a chaotic weekend, he has to juggle his burgeoning career with the care of four eccentric, combative, and wildly different ladies.

This screening is held in conjunction with the exhibition The Hands That Shut the Sun, at Hollybush Gardens, running from 14 March - 26 April 2025. This is a group exhibition tracing the entanglement of humans, animals, plants, and the land we share.

While filming in Columbia in 2022, artist Eline McGeorge observed when the camera met the gaze of the birds feeding on the moringa tree: Who is witnessing who in the presence of countless forms of sentience? Among all this knowledge of life inherited and shared, where are the borders between the material and consciousness?

The narratives in these six short films unfold in the spaces between the material and consciousness, the human and non-human, and our relationships with the land, from the tender holding of lost and maintained traditions to complex pasts and imagined futures.

1. Cecilia Vicuña and Robert Kolodny, Death of the Pollinators, 2021

A film by Robert Kolodny using poems and sounds of Cecilia Vicuña and auditory landscapes of musician Ricardo Gallo, telling the story of the death of the Earth's pollinating insects.

2. Eline McGeorge, Fieldnote video - to be part to be many, 2024

McGeorge’s project documents places and situations of various scales – from gigantic open pit coal mining landscapes in Colombia and adjacent hotspots for bird biodiversity, to tiny succulent plants native to a diamond-mined region of the Namib desert.

3. Lucy Beech, A video-essay version of Flush, 2023

Blending documentary, reenactment and poetry Flush focuses on flows of bodily waste in and out of hum/animal bodies in the making of reproductive science.

4. Dani Leventhal & Jared Buckhiester, Hard as Opal, 2015

A soldier's trip to Syria is complicated when he accidentally impregnates a friend. Meanwhile, a horse breeder from Ohio is driven away from home by her own desire to become pregnant.

5. Charlie Prodger, LHB, 2017

Fluctuating between the macro of geopolitical land use and the micro of the personal-political body, Prodger explores the complex relationships between bodies, identity, technology and time.

6. Stephanie Comilang, Search for Life I, 2024

Search for Life is a visual adventure and a profound reflection on history, identity and interconnection among different forms of life

on our planet.

This screening will feature an introduction by Ben Arogundade, author of Hollywood Blackout. Copies of the book, signed by Ben, will be available to buy on the day.

In this Hollywood classic, A sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.

On 29 February 1940, African American star Hattie McDaniel became the first non-white actor to win an Academy Award. The moment marked the beginning of Hollywood’s reluctant move toward diversity and inclusion. Since then, minorities and women have struggled to attain Academy Awards recognition within a system designed to discriminate against them. For the first time, Hollywood Blackout reveals the untold story of their tumultuous journey from exclusion to inclusion; from segregation to celebration.

BEN AROGUNDADE is an award-winning author, journalist, voiceover artist and broadcaster from London. His writing has featured in The Times, The Guardian, The Evening Standard, Elle and GQ, amongst others. He has authored and edited 12 books, and has voiced audiobooks for titles by George Orwell, Charles Darwin and Bernadine Evaristo to name a few. He also writes and presents radio shows for the BBC World Service. Ben’s new book, Hollywood Blackout: Race, Diversity and the Oscars, is out now.

For more context and background on the impact of Hattie McDaniel's win, you can read Ben's longform essay here.

Please note we are unable to offer step-free access to the new Screen 3 and Atrium Bar while we await the installation of our platform lift. Access to the new bar & screen currently requires taking 4 steps up from the box office level, followed by 3 steps down.

The screening on 27 April will be introduced by Dr Ruby Cheung (University of Southampton).

One of the most acclaimed works by Yim Ho, a leading figure of the Hong Kong New Wave, Homecoming is a thoughtful and moving reflection of an increasingly anxious time when the future of the then-colony was being negotiated as part of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed in 1984. Winner of six awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film and Best Director, the film was the first Hong Kong production to be shot entirely on location in the Mainland, giving many audiences their first glimpse of a China which had been closed to the outside world.

The film follows Shan Shan, a young businesswoman who returns to her small village in Guangdong in southern China after becoming exhausted by the pressure and materialistic life in Hong Kong. There she reunites with her childhood friend Ah Zhen, whose life is the opposite of hers, happily married and the headmistress of the local school, though the bond they shared in the past has changed due to the cultural gap that has arisen between them over the years. Exploring the real and imagined differences between the capitalist rat-race of modern Hong Kong and the peaceful and romantic nostalgia of Shan Shan’s Chinese roots, Yim Ho seeks to also find commonality and connection, looking to a shared past as well as an uncertain future.

This screening is in partnership with the Chinese Cinema Project and Focus Hong Kong. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office London. In Mandarin, Teochew and Cantonese with English subtitles.

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

As The Garden Cinema members community is not just made up of cinema enthusiasts, but also covers a large range of film creatives, we like to help connect our members working across all departments of the industry.

For our regular industry panels, we invite knowledgeable speakers to discuss their specific branch of the industry, leaving plenty of time for asking questions. After the discussion, we all head into the Garden Bar, to network with fellow members.

On Thursday 23 April we will be joined by art director Lydia Fry and set decorator Charlotte Dirickx, who will discuss their respective roles and experiences, as well as the relationship between set decoration and art direction.

Tickets are restricted to 1 per member, and available for just £5, which includes a token for a complimentary house wine, beer or soft/hot drink.

About the speakers:

Lydia Fry

Starting out as a prop designer, Lydia Fry has been working in Art Departments for fifteen years on some of the industry’s most acclaimed movies and franchises. Recent art direction credits include Blade Runner 2049, Cruella, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, Rogue One, and Spectre.

Charlotte Dirickx

Having trained at Goldsmiths and Kingston Art School, Charlotte Dirickx has worked as an art director in TV, and is now a set decorator for films, such as Saltburn, Hard Truths, and most recently, The Thing with Feathers.

Check out our Youtube channel for videos of our previous industry panels, which have included:

• Trailer editing, with Dan Noall and Kate Miller
• Screenwriting, with Luna Carmoon (Hoard) and Daniel Kokotajlo (Starve Acre)
• Casting, with Rebecca Wright (Chuck Chuck Baby) and Lucy Jordan (Kinds of Kindness, Poor Things)
• Animation, with Michaël Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle) and Alexandra Sasha Balan (The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse)
• Cinematography, with Evelin van Rei (Passenger), Bebe Dierken (Midas Man) and Nanu Segal (Hoard)
• Costume, with Joanna Johnston (Lincoln) and Charlotte Finlay (Barbie)
• Documentary, with Edward Lovelace (Name Me Lawand) and Tom Howson (Dogwoof)
• Film festivals, with Christina Papasotiriou (Raindance Film Festival) and Philip Ilson (London Short Film Festival)
• Film journalism, with Jacob Stolworthy (The Independent) and Jack Shepherd (Total Film)
• Production, with Georgia Goggin (Pretty Red Dress) and Susan Simnett (Fadia's Tree)

Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her Emotions:  Joy (Amy Poehler); Fear (Bill Hader); Anger (Lewis Black); Disgust (Mindy Kaling); and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). The Emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley’s mind, where they help advise her through everyday. This hilarious, exciting adventure story shows Pixar on top form. As well as being hugely entertaining, the film comes with a poignant message, helping us to understand our own emotions and face up to some of the challenges involved in growing up.

Some flashing lights sequences or patterns may affect photosensitive viewers.

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 Sunday 23 March will be introduced by film programmer Nathasha Orlando Kappler.

Agnès Varda’s tender evocation of the childhood of her husband, Jacques Demy - a dream project that she realised for him when he became too ill to direct it himself - is a wonder-filled portrait of the artist as a young man and an enchanting ode to the magic of cinema. Shot in Demy’s hometown of Nantes (including the house he grew up in), this imaginative blend of narrative and documentary traces his coming of age as he finds escape from the tumult of World War II in puppet shows, fairy tales, opera, and, above all, movies - the formative aesthetic experiences that would fuel his vivid Technicolor imagination and find unforgettable expression in his exuberant New Wave masterworks. Interspersing intimate footage of the older Demy reflecting on his life’s journey, Jacquot de Nantes is a poignant love letter from one visionary artist to another.

After years of only a single 35mm print available for screenings, Leslie Harris’ ground-breaking Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. has finally been digitally restored.

Brooklyn teenager Chantel (played with naturalistic verve by Ariyan A Johnson) dreams of becoming a doctor - which she sees as a route out from the life her working-class parents lead in their housing projects home. Intelligent and sharp-tongued, Chantel thinks she has it all worked out, until she falls for Tyrone (Kevin Thigpen) and discovers she is pregnant. Leslie Harris’ only feature film to date is as ambitious as its central character. Like Boyz N The Hood the previous year, Harris realistically considers the tough choices faced by teenage African-Americans of the period, this time with a female focus.

Winner Special Jury Prize 1993 Sundance Film Festival

Mari Luz Canaquiri says her river is the “ɨa” – the center, life force and mother. Her river deep in Peru’s Amazon provides fish to eat, a transport route and a place to swim and relax. But it is also much more. Underneath the surface live the Karuara, which means “people of the river” in her native tongue.

The Karuara live in a parallel universe underwater and visit their human cousins in dreams. They lounge in hammocks made of boa constrictors, smoke sardines and wear crayfish watches, stingray hats and catfish shoes. Behind their playfulness, the Karuara are powerful spirits with healing powers and great knowledge.

But the Karuara and the old ways are in danger of being forgotten. Mari Luz says her people face cultural genocide. While foreign companies earn millions from the Amazon’s resources, indigenous communities lack basic development like schools, health care and clean water. She formed the Kukama Women’s Federation to fight back. We follow her valiant struggle to protect her people, river and the vibrant spirit world below.

Karuara, People of the River will remind viewers that each river, lake and stream is sacred and that our planet’s fragile water resources must be protected.

This vibrant, hand-painted animated film was screened at the 28 Festival Cine de Lima and Hot Docs Toronto.

The film will be followed by a Q&A with Emilsen Flores - Woman Kukama leader and Gabriel Salazar - Foro Solidaridad Peru.

The film is screening as part of our Planting Seeds season, which explores issues around nature and environmental activism. This screening is in partnership with the Peru Support Group.

La Cocina captures the frenetic energy of the lunch rush at The Grill, a bustling restaurant in Manhattan's Times Square. When money goes missing from the till, suspicion falls on Pedro (Raúl Briones), an undocumented cook who dreams of a better life and is in love with Julia (Rooney Mara), an American waitress who cannot commit to a relationship. Rashid, the restaurant owner, has promised to help Pedro obtain legal status, but a shocking revelation about Julia compels Pedro to spiral into an act that threatens to shut down one of the city's busiest kitchens once and for all. The film is a comic and tragic tribute to the invisible people who keep our restaurants running and our stomachs full, all while chasing an elusive version of the American dream.

The Garden Cinema View:

La Cocina will inevitably draw comparisons to the likes of Boiling Point and The Bear but, high-kitchen-anxiety aside, this is quite a different concoction. Alonso Ruizpalacios is less interested in the success of a restaurant than he is in presenting a convincing demonstration of a soul-grinding capitalist system and addressing the specific immigrant experiences of those who staff many hospitality establishments. The film’s stage origins, the limited location, and single day setting, all allow Ruizpalacios the foundation to (albeit didactically) showcase these sobering themes.

The restaurant featured here is a masterful labyrinth of service corridors, industrial fridges, and frozen back alleys; the kitchen area itself is a kind of broiling hellscape, ever on the edge of ignition. This space is explored by Juan Pablo Ramirez's fluid and serpentine monochrome cinematography. This ultra stylised sheen turns the set piece ‘service rush’ sequences into surreally graceful choreography, closer to the likes of Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover than films such as Boiling Point. Such formalism removes us from the stress of the action, and to a degree some of the emotion, but again serves to bring us closer to the director’s key themes.

The screening on 19 April will be followed by an in-person Q&A with the director Ann Hui, moderated by Tony Rayns.

Following her 'Vietnamese Trilogy', one of the cornerstones of the Hong Kong New Wave, Ann Hui took her career in a different direction, and began adapting literary works. The first of these was Love in a Fallen City, based on the novella by Eileen Chang, whose writing Hui had long admired and wished to bring to the screen, followed by Eighteen Springs (1997) and Love After Love (2017).  

Beginning in Shanghai during the 1940s with the Japanese invasion looming, the film stars Cora Miao as a divorcee who falls for businessman Chow Yun-Fat and follows him to Hong Kong, where they repeatedly separate and get back together against the tense backdrop of the Pacific War. A grounded and movingly humanistic exploration of relationships and the desolation of war, the film saw Hui widening her scope and developing her creative approach and voice as director, while attempting to remain as faithful as possible to Chang’s text.

This screening is in partnership with the Chinese Cinema Project and Focus Hong Kong. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London. Courtesy of Celestial Pictures Limited. In Cantonese with English subtitles.

'Kumba', a shona word from Zimbabawe meaning 'Home'.

Kumba is a dynamic African short film cinema program that serves as a bridge to home, transcending borders to connect African and Diaspora communities. It celebrates identity, culture, and heritage through the powerful medium of film, offering a rich tapestry of stories told from an authentic African perspective. Showcasing a diverse range of narratives, Kumba highlights the vibrancy of African traditions and lived experiences, fostering a sense of belonging across continents.

Thoughtfully curated by Tatenda Jamera of Maona Art, this program brings audiences closer to home through the lens of African filmmakers, creating a space for cultural expression and shared storytelling.

Beutset

ALICIA MENDY, 29 MIN, SENEGAL, 2024

When a parasite contaminates all the drinking water in Dakar, pills are developed to neutralize it. Alioune, a young man, can no longer afford the pills and begins to experience the parasite’s symptoms: madness and insanity. As the days go by, he realizes he has never been more clear-minded. He embarks on a journey of political and spiritual awakening..

The Incredible Sensational Fiancée of Sèyí Àjàyí

ABBESI AKHAMIE, 16 MIN, NIGERIA, 2024

In the whimsical Pan-African society of Alkebulan, the brilliant yet overlooked scholar, Dr. Constance Moumie, discovers that her fiancé, Sèyí Àjàyí, is engaged to Princess Ada, throwing the town into a frenzy. With her bestie Bibi, Constance devises a daring plan to expose her unfaithful lover at his engagement ceremony, seeking both revenge and the recognition she has long deserved.

Alazar

BEZA HAILU LEMMA, 35 MIN, ETHIOPIA, 2024

A farming community in Ethiopia grapples with existential questions when a family patriarch's body mysteriously vanishes from his grave. Beza Hailu Lemma's profoundly affecting drama explores the aftermath.

Bahr

BELAL ABOSAMRA, 8 MIN, EGYPT, 2024

While grieving the loss of his wife, a father struggles with faith in a chance to reconnect with her; the journey is portrayed as death being a beginning rather than an end, a simple line separating two worlds.

The screening on Sunday 23 February will be followed by a Zoom Q&A with director Yannis Economides.

It will be introduced by season curator and Garden Cinema head programmer, Erifili Missiou.

Synopsis:

Dimitris, a grumpy middle-aged man, is having a hard time with his business partner on a particular decision as to opening a new business; and he’s also having a hell of a time with his family members. He has a really short temper, and the unpleasant behaviour of his nasty wife and his disrespectful children don’t contribute much to his health.

Curator's note:

Matchbox viscerally portrays the dark side of the Greek family. Taking the Greek audience by surprise, and now a cult classic, it was an outright slap in the face in 2002, and its heightened realism continues to shock audiences to this day.

Content warning: The film contains intense scenes of verbal abuse and violence some viewers might find upsetting.

Bong Joon-ho's long awaited follow-up to the history making Parasite. An unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer whodemands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.

The Garden Cinema View:

It’s been six years since Bong Joon-ho altered the cinematic landscape with his all-conquering Parasite. His return is a nine-figure budgeted, epic sci-fi-mind-bender. Like his previous Hollywood work, Snowpiercer and Okja, Mickey 17 is, at heart, and anti-capitalist satire which hinges on a high concept central idea (work is literally killing you). As with those earlier films, there’s a sense that Bong doesn’t quite know where to take his narrative after the main point is made. Better then to enjoy the absurdity of his broad caricatures, cute/gross creature designs, and oddities of world building. A noble endeavour in a difficult political landscape, but one that doesn't scale the heights of Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi satires Robocop and Starship Troopers.

Returning to Saint-Martial for his late boss's funeral, Jérémie's stay with widow Martine becomes entangled in a disappearance, a threatening neighbor, and an abbot's shady intentions.

Winner of the Prix Louis-Delluc for Best French Film of 2024 and and hailed as the ‘Best Film of the Year' by Les Cahiers du cinéma.

The Garden Cinema View:

Alain Guiraudie's (Stranger By The Lake) films blend mischievous queer narratives with an almost Chabrolian attraction to deviance and macabre humour. Misericordia is perhaps his most enigmatic film to date – albeit one that has received rapturous acclaim in France. And perhaps this is, in part, due to the immediate ‘Frenchness’ of the setting. The superbly talented cinematographer Claire Mathon (Atlantics, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Spencer, Saint Omer, Guiraudie’s own Stranger by the Lake) captures the Occitanian location in probing mid-shots and steady-cam takes which often keep action and characters at a slight distance. The imposing stone walls and ever shuttered windows imbue the village with a sense of desertion; something is trapped inside.

This is a ‘cuckoo-in-the-nest’ narrative which neither moves into the pure genre thrills of The Talented Mr Ripley or the more transcendental/political sphere of Passolini’s Teorema. Rather, this quiet world turns out to be a seething nest of repressed desire, violence, and (ultimately quite funny) amorality.    

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 also visit the iconic moomin house. 

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 latest project from Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) finds Rafiki relaying the legend of Mufasa to Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), the daughter of Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter). Told in flashbacks, the story introduces our hero as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka – the heir to a royal bloodline.

Blending live-action filmmaking techniques with photoreal computer-generated imagery, Mufasa: The Lion King is directed by Barry Jenkins and features songs by Grammy Award-winning songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda.

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 screening on 29 April will be introduced by Tom Cunliffe (UCL). This is the first time the 2K restoration will be shown in a cinema in the UK.

Hong Kong New Wave pioneer Patrick Tam’s final film in the movement, and his last until After This Our Exile in 2006, My Heart is that Eternal Rose is a dark and dreamy ode to doomed love. Tam’s romantic take on the emerging heroic bloodshed genre throws impassioned melodrama into the mix, as well as plenty of action, making for an intoxicating cinematic experience.

Set against an expressionistic backdrop of nightclubs, stunningly shot by the legendary Christopher Doyle, the film stars Tony Leung, Kenny Bee, and Joey Wong as three friends caught up in the criminal underworld, whose love triangle leads to heartbreaking consequences and bloody shootouts in classic neo-noir style. Through their tragic tale, Tam explores the changing identity of a Hong Kong with one eye on an idealised past and the other on an uncertain political future, set to a glorious synth score and the music from the immortal Anita Mui.

This screening is in partnership with the Chinese Cinema Project and Focus Hong Kong. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London. In Cantonese with English subtitles.

The screening on Sunday 30 March will be introduced by ethnomusicologist Ed Emery.

It will be followed by a live Zoom Q&A with director Angelos Frantzis.

Synopsis:

The story of songwriter Eftyhia Papagiannopoulou (1893-1972), who escaped the burning of Smyrna and journeyed to Athens, Greece, where she became a major figure in Greek popular music and the beloved lyricist of the country.

Curator's note:

My Name is Eftuxia (2019) is the most "sane" film in this program. An engrossing biopic of Rebetiko genre songwriter Eftihia Papagianopoulou, it traces the life of this feisty woman whose life challenged societal norms, against the backdrop of tumultuous challenges - both the country’s and her own.

Ed Emery is an ethnomusicologist and Research Associate in the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies [SOAS, London]. For 25 years he has been engaged with Rebetiko Studies both in London and in Greece (the annual Hydra Rebetiko Gathering). He is the organiser of the famous SOAS Rebetiko Band, where his chosen instruments are tzoura and baglama. In January 2025 he completed the editing of the SOAS Rebetiko Reader. Copies will be on display at the film showing. The book is freely downloadable from www.geocities.ws/soasrebetikoreader.

The screening on 1 April is in tribute of Leslie Cheung and will be introduced by Victor Fan (KCL). Radiance Films, who released the film on Blu-ray, will have a pop-up shop at the screening.

The screening on 13 April will be introduced by Tony Rayns. 

Hailed as one of the very best films of the Hong Kong New Wave, Patrick Tam’s 1982 classic Nomad returns to the screen in a stunning new restoration, re-edited by Tam himself after having been heavily censored on its original release.

Starring the immortal Leslie Cheung in a breakthrough role, the film follows a group of youths in Hong Kong as they try to find their place in the world, flitting between their apartments and the beach, getting caught up in romance, politics, and gangs. At once colourful and cynical, the film is a mix of rebellion, burgeoning sexuality and culture clash, coming at a time when Hong Kong was still under British Colonial rule, though was looking both to China and Japan for its identity.

This screening is in partnership with the Chinese Cinema Project and Focus Hong Kong. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London. 4K restoration, in Cantonese with English subtitles.

The screening on Sunday 16 March will be followed by an in-person or Zoom Q&A with director Filipos Tsitos.

It will be introduced by Dr. Tonia Kazakopoulou.

Synopsis:

The title of Plato’s Academy is a little misleading because no Greek sages are in sight. Rather the film’s Greeks are four scruffy lay-abouts, three of whom own convenience stores at the same quiet Athens intersection. This allows them to sit and guzzle coffee or beer all day while studying the hard-working foreign laborers who have invaded “their” neighborhood.

Curator's note:

A hilarious satire, Plato's Academy (2009), is the purest comedy in this assembly. Released at a time when Albanian and Chinese immigrants flooded the country to take on low-paid jobs, it skewers Greeks’ xenophobic attitudes, and exposes their existential fears.

Tonia Kazakopoulou is a Lecturer in Film & Television at the University of Reading. Her research interests include women's cinema of small nations, and particularly of Greece; contemporary European and world cinemas; the politics of representation in film and television. She has been the curator of the international standing conference Contemporary Greek Film Cultures, and is the co-editor of the book Contemporary Greek Film Cultures form 1990s to the Present (Peter Lang, 2017). She has also published on women's cinema, on Greek women screenwriters, on contemporary Greek cinema and motherhood, as well as on the female characters in Yorgos Lanthimos's films.

Puss in Boots gets his own animated adventure film in this Shrek spin-off. Long before meeting Shrek, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) is run out of town on suspicion of bank robbery, even though the real villain is Puss' friend, Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis). Though there is still animosity between them, Puss and Humpty reunite to steal a goose that lays golden eggs. Joining them for the adventure of nine lifetimes is notorious cat burglar, Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek).

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.

Followed by an in person Q&A with the Quays Brothers, hosted by Gareth Evans

Gareth Evans, Quay Brothers series co-curator for Kinoteka writes: ‘Surely the world’s greatest practising stop-motion artist animators, the Quays Brothers have been painstakingly crafting their own unique, interlinked universe of astonishingly imagined animated worlds for over 45 years. Creating across the short, medium and long form, as well as in production design for opera, ballet and theatre, theirs is a startling cosmology, one informed and inhabited by the mystery and melancholy dreaming of Central and Eastern European artists, writers and wayward wanderers, most notably from the Polish constellation.'

Programme 1:

Kinoteka Ident I, 30’’

Stille Nacht I, 1’40’’

Street of Crocodiles ,21’30’’

Stille Nacht II, 3’30’’

In Absentia, 19’

Stille Nacht III, 3’30’’

Alice in Not so Wonderland, 3’30’’

Q&A with the Quays Brothers

In a London premiere – and a world first for an assembly at this scale – 23 of their immaculately hand-crafted puppet film sets by the Quays Brothers will be on display in Bloomsbury’s Swedenborg House.

Organised by the Polish Cultural Institute in London and supported by the Polish Film Institute, the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival is an annual celebration of Poland’s rich cinematic output that showcases not only the best of contemporary filmmakers but also classics that make up Poland’s rich filmography. Kinoteka will return to celebrate its 23rd year from 6 March - 25 April 2025, featuring over 30 cinema screenings in leading venues around London. Alongside New Polish Cinema, Documentaries and Polish Cinemas Classics, this year's edition will also feature a retrospective of films by Wojciech Has as well as exciting Special Events and screenings of selected films from the Kinotkea programme in 8 UK cities as part of Kinoteka On Tour.

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 screening will be introduced in person by the Quays Brothers and Gareth Evans.

Gareth Evans, Quay Brothers series co-curator for Kinoteka writes: ‘Surely the world’s greatest practising stop-motion artist animators, the Quay Brothers have been painstakingly crafting their own unique, interlinked universe of astonishingly imagined animated worlds for over 45 years. Creating across the short, medium and long form, as well as in production design for opera, ballet and theatre, theirs is a startling cosmology, one informed and inhabited by the mystery and melancholy dreaming of Central and Eastern European artists, writers and wayward wanderers, most notably from the Polish constellation'.

Programme 2

Kinoteka Ident I, 30’’

The Calligrapher, 1’

This Unnameable Little Broom, 11’

Unmistaken Hands, 26’

The Comb, 18

In a London premiere – and a world first for an assembly at this scale – 23 of their immaculately hand-crafted puppet film sets by the Quay Brothers will be on display in Bloomsbury’s Swedenborg House.

Organised by the Polish Cultural Institute in London and supported by the Polish Film Institute, the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival is an annual celebration of Poland’s rich cinematic output that showcases not only the best of contemporary filmmakers but also classics that make up Poland’s rich filmography. Kinoteka will return to celebrate its 23rd year from 6 March - 25 April 2025, featuring over 30 cinema screenings in leading venues around London. Alongside New Polish Cinema, Documentaries and Polish Cinemas Classics, this year's edition will also feature a retrospective of films by Wojciech Has as well as exciting Special Events and screenings of selected films from the Kinotkea programme in 8 UK cities as part of Kinoteka On Tour.

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 government scheme sees newly widowed Santosh inherit her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. When a lowcaste girl is murdered, Santosh is pulled into the investigation by charismatic feminist inspector Sharma.

The screening on Friday 21 March will be introduced by Aashna Thakkar from Reclaim The Frame

The Garden Cinema View:

A UK made, Indian set police procedural, that slowly tightens into a troublingly dark film noir. Perhaps the best depiction of small town law enforcement corruption and ineptitude since Bong Joon ho’s great Memories of Murder, Santosh contains its own powerful statements of Indian misogyny and caste prejudice. Gripping and bleak, this is a mature film that never over explains, and is confident to tell an often elliptical narrative.  

When a bomb endangers the Pha Tang temple, 'Satu' an orphan child laborer decides to head north through the rich and feral landscape of Laos in search of his long lost mother with his new photojournalist friend 'Bo'.

The film was self-funded and shot on location in Laos in Southeast Asia in January 2022, right in the middle of the pandemic, in just 26 days over six weeks. Of those, the crew had to spend ten days in quarantine. Shot on 16mm, the visuals capture Laos’ vibrant beauty, adding depth to this warm, heartfelt narrative.    

The film was nominated at the British Independent Film Awards and the Raindance Film Festival, and won the Grand Prix at the Nara International Film Festival in Japan, as well as two awards at the Cambodia International Film Festival.

'Trigg beautifully captures the beauty and simplicity of Laos' - Film Threat.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Joshua Trigg.

This celebrated film won multiple awards, having started out as a movie-workshop for a group of students in Havana. With echoes of Ken Loach’s Kes, 11-year-old Chala keeps pigeons and illegally trains fighting dogs in order to support himself and his alcoholic mother. Chala is understood by his teacher Carmela, but when a new less experienced teacher sends him to a school for children with behavioural problems, controversy breaks out. Broader issues are exposed when intolerance and bureaucracy overtake the wellbeing and needs of the child. The movie kindled an intense social debate and the Ministry of Education promoted its discussion in schools.

 'A restrained portrayal of the tenderness between Chala and Carmela, who care for each other when family members who should cannot.” '

PLUS Short: An adventure of Elpidio Valdes | Una Aventura de Elpidio Valdes | Juan Padron | 1974, Cuba, ICAIC | animation | 7m |

Juan Padrón is the godfather of animation in Cuba and also revered across Latin America. Elpidio Valdés is a famous and much loved cartoon character in Cuban culture, who entertained generations of Cuban children as a symbol of rebellion against colonialism and imperialism. Recently restored by ICAIC in collaboration with Screen Cuba.

The screening will be introduced by Silvia Padrón Duran, director of La Manigua film and culture centre for children and teenagers, Havana, and daughter of Juan Padrón, Cuba's godfather of animation.

Screen Cuba: Films to Change the World is a collaborative project of the charity Music Fund for Cuba, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, the Cuban Embassy in the UK and the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC).

Proceeds from the Solidarity ticket will to go to Cuban film institute (ICAIC) projects including restoration of classic films.

From a small cabin deep in the Białowieża Forest Simona Kossak (1943 - 2007) studied nature and made history, largely on her own terms. Adrian Panek’s engaging dramatised biography of the pioneering scientist (played by Sandra Drzymalska, EO) centres on her journey from family misfit (her grandfather was artist Wojciech Kossak) to ecological activist. Jakub Gierszał (Doppelganger, Ultima Thule) is her freedom loving photographer companion Lech Wilczek. The natural landscape, especially the deer, plays a pivotal role, exposing issues still relevant today around the position of women in science and our need to take care of the planet.

Organised by the Polish Cultural Institute in London and supported by the Polish Film Institute, the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival is an annual celebration of Poland’s rich cinematic output that showcases not only the best of contemporary filmmakers but also classics that make up Poland’s rich filmography. Kinoteka will return to celebrate its 23rd year from 6 March - 25 April 2025, featuring over 30 cinema screenings in leading venues around London. Alongside New Polish Cinema, Documentaries and Polish Cinemas Classics, this year's edition will also feature a retrospective of films by Wojciech Has as well as exciting Special Events and screenings of selected films from the Kinotkea programme in 8 UK cities as part of Kinoteka On Tour.

A newly arranged marriage. An oddball couple shoved together in a small Mumbai shack with paper-thin walls. They are awkward and alone-together. Unpredictable Uma does her best to cope with the heat, her total lack of domestic skills, nosy neighbours and her bumbling spouse until the nocturnal world of Mumbai and its inhabitants lead her to face her own strange behaviours.

The Garden Cinema View:

The tradition of arranged marriage in India becomes director's Karan Kandhari inspiration for this fun and feral, genre-bending, and post-feminist punk tale set in the vibrant streets of Mumbai. The highly independent protagonist, utterly unequipped for the traditional role of wife, releases her frustrations in unpredictable, animalistic ways that place her firmly in the tradition of the grotesque and monstrous feminine.

Radhika Apte’s lead performance elevates the film, and is complemented by thoughtful cinematography by Sverre Sørdal that beautifully captures Mumbai's warmth and chaotic energy. Though the film slightly loses steam toward the end, as certain jokes and metaphors become repetitive, this completely distinctive feminist narrative is well worth the wild ride.

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

The fourth iteration of the series will delve into the art of World Building, exploring the ways that writers, directors and set designers craft imagined landscapes that extend far beyond mere backdrops. They shape narrative and deepen our understanding of the worlds they inhabit. From towering dystopias to intimate domestic spaces, architecture in film becomes a storytelling tool in of itself - evoking emotion and placing characters within environments that both define and challenge them. Drawing motifs from the ‘real’ world, filmmakers reimagine familiar structures to construct new realms, offering us insight not just into their own stories but also our relationship with the spaces we move through every day.

Speakers include: 

Nada Maktari, designer and architect

Will Wiles, author and critic

Adam Richards, architect

Site&Sound is very grateful for the graphic support from TM (TsevdosMcNeil) who have provided the branding and identity.

The screening on Thursday 23 March will be followed by a live Zoom Q&A with director Argyris Papadimitropoulos.

Synopsis:

Kostis is a 40-year-old doctor that finds himself in the small island of Antiparos, in order to take over the local clinic. His whole life and routine will turn upside down when he meets an international group of young and beautiful tourists and he falls in love with Anna, a 19-year-old goddess.

Curator's note:
A brilliantly idiosyncratic film that sits slightly outside of the Weird Wave constellation, SUNTAN (2016), resists classification. Half uproarious comedy, half thriller, the film shares the bleak satirical undertones of Dogtooth and Attenberg whilst turning expectations for a typical Greek island holiday story on their head.

Content warning: The film contains scenes of violence some viewers might find upsetting.

The screening on 11 April will be introduced by Tom Cunliffe (UCL). Digitally restored and presented in 2K, shown in the UK for the first time. 

Tsui Hark made an immediate impact and established himself as a cinematic visionary with his directorial debut The Butterfly Murders, a pioneering and ‘futuristic’ Hong Kong New Wave take on the traditional wuxia. Combining swordplay, mystery, science fiction, and more, Hark’s first film is breathlessly creative, packed full of stunningly fluid camerawork, gorgeously surreal sets, and hyper-stylised visuals.

Tied together by a dark sense of ironic humour, the film is narrated by Lau Siu-ming’s scholar Fong, who weaves the tale of his investigation into a series of murders seemingly committed by killer butterflies. Enlisting the help of a woman called Green Shadow and a martial arts clan leader, Fong is led to a deserted castle where a conspiracy unfolds, and where a mysterious figure clad in black armour seems to be on a killing spree. Groundbreaking in every sense of the word, the film sees Hark gleefully deconstructing the wuxia form, throwing in a dizzying array of cinematic nods to Hitchcock, spaghetti westerns, Italian giallo cinema, and Japanese crime thrillers along the way.

This screening is in partnership with the Chinese Cinema Project and Focus Hong Kong. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London. In Cantonese with English subtitles.

Screening in memory of the great Gene Hackman.

Hackman stars in this 1971 crime classic about a maverick narcotics detective who stops a huge heroin shipment into New York. Winner of five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director (William Friedkin).

The screening on Sunday 30 March will be followed by a Q&A with the director Armel Hostiou and the producer Jasmina Sijerčić.

One day French filmmaker Armel Hostiou discovers he has a second Facebook account: a fake Armel who has photos of the real one and many, many female friends, all of whom live in Kinshasa. Fake Armel invites them to audition for his next film, which is supposedly set in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Faced with the impossibility of closing this account, the filmmaker decides to go looking for his double.

Part twisty surreal journey, part thorough investigative report into the murky world of online content creating, The Other Profile is Hostiou’s second feature-length documentary, and picked up the Work in Progress Award at last year’s Visions du Reel documentary film festival in Nyon.

To compliment and enrich your experience of Contemporary Cinema: Beyond The Weird Wave, on Saturday 12 April we will be hosting an editing masterclass led by the one and only Yorgos Mavropsaridis, Yorgos Lanthimos' long-time editor.

Schedule:

10:30 - 11:00 Walk-in

11:00 - 12:30 Start of the masterclass

12:30 - 13:30 Break

13:30 - 15:00 Continuation of the masterclass and Q&A

15:00 - 16:00 Networking in the bar area

The masterclass will focus on the logic and philosophy behind Mavropsaridis' editing choices rather than technical aspects. He will speak about the different editing approaches he took for the various films of Yorgos Lanthimos, showcasing specific examples from scenes ranging from Dogtooth (2009) to Kinds of Kindness (2024).

Mavropsaridis will elaborate on the rationale and philosophy behind his editing choices and artistic decisions. This will provide participants with a unique opportunity to engage with his evolution and variation throughout Yorgos Lanthimos' distinctive filmography.

At the end of the session, there will be an open discussion and an opportunity to socialise with Mavropsaridis and other participants.

Yorgos Mavropsaridis is one of the most innovative film editors of his generation, renowned for his distinctive editing style and significant contributions to the film industry, particularly in European cinema. He is the long-term collaborator of director Yorgos Lanthimos for whom he edited all his feature films — starting with Kinetta in 2005. Since then, they worked together on Dogtooth (2009), The Lobster (2015), The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), The Favourite (2018), Poor Things (2023) and recently Kinds of Kindness (2024). He is also the editor of Monos (2019), Chevalier (2015), Park (2016) and She Will (2021) amongst other critically acclaimed titles. He has received multiple nominations and awards, including two Academy Award nominations (The Favourite, Poor Things) and two BAFTA nominations. For his work on The Favourite, he received the ACE Eddie Award.

Francis Hodgson Burnett's classic novel is beautifully brought to life by director Agnieszka Holland, cinematographer Roger Deakins and excuitve producer Francis Ford Coppola. Mary Lennox is an orphan sent to live with her uncle at his Yorkshire mansion that is full of secrets. She is looked after by the housekeeper (Maggie Smith) and soon discovers a cousin she never knew she had and a neglected garden she is determined to bring back 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

The screening on 18 April will be preceded by a reception at the cinema's Atrium Bar and followed by an in-person Q&A with the director Ann Hui, moderated by Chris Berry (KCL).

Timings:

15:45 - 17:00  Reception with complimentary drinks

17:00 - 18:35  Screening of The Story of Woo Viet

18:35 - 19:20  Q&A with Ann Hui, moderated by Chris Berry (KCL)

Ann Hui began her career shining a light on the plight of the illegal Vietnamese immigrants who had been flocking to Hong Kong since the mid-1970s with the 1978 TV drama Below the Lion Rock: The Boy From Vietnam, which she followed with her third feature The Story of Woo Viet in 1981, before completing her ‘Vietnam Trilogy’ in 1982 with Boat People. Deeply humanistic and compassionate, while never shying away from the harshness of reality, the first two entries in the trilogy both follow the stories of the immigrants themselves, and the increasing controversy around the issue in Hong Kong.

This theme was applied in The Story of Woo Viet, with Chow Yun-Fat’s Vietnamese immigrant forced to become a Triad assassin to protect the woman he loves, which combines action, romance and character drama, and through its tale of refugees also meditates on the experiences of the Hong Kong diaspora overseas.

This screening is in partnership with the Chinese Cinema Project and Focus Hong Kong. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London. In Cantonese with English subtitles.

An angelically beautiful Catherine Deneuve was launched to stardom by this dazzling musical heart-tugger from Jacques Demy. She plays an umbrella-shop owner’s delicate daughter, glowing with first love for a handsome garage mechanic, played by Nino Castelnuovo. When the boy is shipped off to fight in Algeria, the two lovers must grow up quickly. Exquisitely designed in a kaleidoscope of colors, and told entirely through the lilting songs of the great composer Michel Legrand, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of the most revered and unorthodox screen musicals of all time.

This film was proposed by our member Lyn Breakwell, who writes: 'A fantastic caustic comedy film starring amongst others Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell. 130 speaking parts were all women. Even the pets were female! But it’s all about the men they want and don’t want in their life. A classic!'

A study of the lives and romantic entanglements of various interconnected women. Trusting Park Avenue socialite Mary Haines (Norma Shearer) loses her husband to scheming shop girl Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford), and can only win him back if she becomes as cunning as her so-called friends.

Please note, the screening on Thursday 27 March is our Free Members' Screening, while the one on Tuesday 1 April is a regular matinee screening, which is open to the general public.

Our screening on 4 April will be introduced by Oscar nominated composer Gary Yershon.

Jacques Demy followed up The Umbrellas of Cherbourg with another musical about missed connections and second chances, this one a more effervescent confection. Twins Delphine and Solange, a dance instructor and a music teacher (played by real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac), long for big-city life; when a fair comes through their quiet port town, so does the possibility of escape. With its jazzy Michel Legrand score, pastel paradise of costumes, and divine supporting cast (George Chakiris, Grover Dale, Danielle Darrieux, Michel Piccoli, and Gene Kelly), The Young Girls of Rochefort is a tribute to Hollywood optimism from sixties French cinema’s preeminent dreamer.

The screening on Friday 28 March in Screen 3 will be followed by a Q&A with directors Jacob Perlmutter, Manon Ouimet, as well as Maggie and Joel.

When artist Maggie Barrett (75) breaks her femur, her husband Joel Meyerowitz (84), a world-famous photographer, becomes her caregiver. In the shadow of mortality, each with a long and

dramatic life behind them, the hard truths of life together provoke in Maggie and Joel an attempt to find a shared inner-peace while there is still time.

Please note we are unable to offer step-free access to the new Screen 3 and Atrium Bar while we await the installation of our platform lift. Access to the new bar & screen currently requires taking 4 steps up from the box office level, followed by 3 steps down.

The Garden Cinema View:

Can the marriage of two fiercely creative and independent people work in the long run? Especially when the two have experienced different levels of success with their work? And can happiness and attraction coincide with resentment and hidden grievances? These are the central questions that directorial duo (and partners in life) Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter explore in this quietly engaging documentary about Joel Meyerowitz and Maggie Barrett's relationship.

The catalyst for exploring the issues underlying the quiet surface of the couple's day-to-day existence is a serious accident that propels a meditation on mortality and the complexities of aging together.

Against the backdrop of stunning Tuscan scenery and immaculate house interiors, the film features Maggie Barrett's elegant piano playing interspersed with examples of Meyerowitz's breathtaking photography, which alone is worth the viewing.

Join Video Bazaar in the hypnotic, fever-dream world of Arrebato, a mind-bending journey through obsession. A rarely screened hidden gem of Spanish horror and an underground masterpiece, Iván Zulueta’s Arrebato is a film unlike any other, blurring the lines between addiction, creativity, and the eerie power of the moving image.

Follow a struggling horror filmmaker as he’s drawn into a surreal descent, haunted by a mysterious artist whose experiments with film reel him into a vortex of time, perception, and something far more sinister. Blending psychological horror, surrealism, and meta-cinema, Arrebato tells the story of José, a struggling horror filmmaker drowning in drugs and creative stagnation. His life is upended when he reconnects a reclusive experimental filmmaker obsessed with capturing a mysterious 'rapture' on film - an unexplained phenomenon that causes those who experience it to disappear entirely, consumed by the cinematic medium itself.

Praised as Spain’s answer to Eraserhead and an uncanny precursor to films such as Kyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse and David Lynch’s Lost Highway, few films capture the hypnotic power of cinema quite like Arrebato. The magnum opus of Iván Zulueta, a visionary but elusive figure in Spanish film history, this is more than just a horror film, it's an intoxicating descent into addiction, artistic obsession, and the eerie nature of the moving image itself.

Revered by directors like Pedro Almodóvar, Iván Zulueta’s masterpiece has grown into near-mythic status over the decades. Seize this rare opportunity to experience it as it was meant to be seen, immersed in the dark embrace of the cinema.

This screening is presented by the cult film collective, Video Bazaar, who are proud to show this rarely screened film, and are dedicated to bringing the weird and the obscure to London audiences at The Garden Cinema. Please note that this film will feature an introduction and carefully curated pre show material.

It's time for the annual Giant Vegetable Fete, and it's vitally important that the extra large carrots are protected - so Wallace and Gromit are on duty keeping hungry bunnies out of the way without harming them. Everything seems under control until the appearance of the dreaded Were-Rabbit. Will Wallace's inventions and Gromit's good sense save the day? This is the first Wallace and Gromit adventure at full movie length, but it's every bit as good as the earlier, shorter ones.

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.

Margy Kinmonth’s feature documentary shines a light on the trailblazing role of women war artists, on the front lines round the world, championing the female perspective on conflict through art and asking: when it's life or death, what do women see that men don't?  Traditionally a male domain, war art by women has been largely unrecognised. Until now...

Culture breaks the taboo, crosses borders - tells the truth to power. Artists featured include Dame Rachel Whiteread, Zhanna Kadyrova, Maggi Hambling, Assil Diab, Dame Laura Knight, Marcelle Hanselaar, Cornelia Parker, Maya Lin, Shirin Neshat and Lee Miller. An entirely female cast of contributors makes this film a unique undertaking – telling vital truths in turbulent times.

The Garden Cinema View:

Margy Kinmonth's latest documentary continues her trilogy exploring artists inspired by war (Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War and War Art with Eddie Redmayne), with a unique central question: is there a distinctive female artistic perspective on war? To investigate, she interviews contemporary female visual artists and the descendants of artists who have grappled with this theme.

While the documentary's premise is intriguing, its ultimate strength lies beyond its structural coherence. Similar to the recent Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other, the raw power of the artwork elevates the film, transcending any potential narrative weaknesses.

Among the numerous fascinating artists featured, the work of Zhanna Kadyrova stands particularly striking. Her installations and sculptures created in bombed-out Ukrainian landscapes while under attack are profoundly harrowing, offering a visceral testimony to art's resilience in the face of destruction.

The Hong Kong New Wave is a filmmaking movement that began in the late 1970s and continued through the 1980s and 90s, which shaped contemporary Hong Kong cinema and is still hugely influential today. It encompasses an incredibly rich, exciting, and diverse body of work, and launched the careers of directors such as Ann Hui, Patrick Tam, and Tsui Hark. 

This panel discussion draws on the perspectives and expertise of speakers from academic, film industry, and filmmaking backgrounds, who work closely with Hong Kong cinema. It will provide attendees a deeper understanding of this often mentioned, but rarely explored cinematic movement, covering its emergence, key figures and their works, the relationship with the Hong Kong studio system and TV industry as well as the Taiwanese and mainland film industries, connections with other global cinematic movements, and its influence and legacy.

Moderator:

Chris Berry is Professor of Film Studies at King’s College London, where he teaches and researches cinemas of the Sinosphere. 

Speakers:

James Mudge is the Festival Director of Focus Hong Kong and Chinese Visual Festival, and has been screening and releasing Hong Kong films around the UK for over 15 years, working with the British Film Institute, the Glasgow Film Theatre, and other organisations. He is a well-known international film critic and the Head Writer for the popular Asian cinema website easternKicks.com, specialising in Hong Kong cinema, and regularly gives talks at industry events around the world. James is also a film producer and writer working between the east and west, and is the owner of The Next Day, a UK-based film production, sales, communications and exhibition company.

Victor Fan is Reader in Film and Media Philosophy, King’s College London and a film festival consultant and moderator. He is the author of Cinema Approaching Reality: Locating Chinese Film Theory (University of Minnesota Press, 2015), Extraterritoriality: Locating Hong Kong Cinema and Media (Edinburg University Press, 2019), and Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy through Buddhism (University of Minnesota Press, 2022). 

Tammy Cheung is one of the most respected documentary filmmakers in Hong Kong. She was born in Shanghai, China, grew up in Hong Kong, and has been based in the UK since 2022. After years of working as a film festival organiser in Canada, Cheung made her directorial debut in 1999 in Hong Kong. In 2005, she started using a 'Direct Cinema' approach, and her works mainly deal with current social and political issues. Her previous films include Invisible Women, Secondary School, Rice Distribution, Moving, July, Speaking Up, Village Middle School, and Election. 

Michelle is enjoying a peaceful retirement in a Burgundy village, close to her longtime friend Marie-Claude. When her Parisian daughter Valérie drops off her son Lucas to spend school vacation with his grandma, Michelle, stressed out by her daughter, serves her toxic mushrooms for lunch. Valérie quickly recovers, but forbids her mother from seeing her grandson anymore. Feeling lonely and guilty, Michelle falls into a depression... until Marie-Claude's son gets out of prison.

The Garden Cinema View:

What starts as a stereotypically French arthouse-style, mild meditation on late age and its discontents proves to be a complex and taut whodunnit by the always unpredictable François Ozon.

In Hitchcockian fashion, every carefully constructed scene ushers in fresh doubt, and poses a new question, transforming this into a deliciously unnerving experience. The acting ensemble is exquisite, particularly Hélène Vincent, whose face becomes a canvas on which the audience can project their discomfort, as she shifts between vulnerability and omniscience.

Although When Autumn Falls works as an electrifying thriller, Ozon never loses sight of what he does best: shedding light on the complexities and nuances of human relationships beyond right or wrong.

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