This screening will be introduced by season co-curator Millie Zhou.

Inititated by the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, twenty outstanding Taiwanese directors were each asked to create one five-minute short film inspired by the same topic: the uniqueness of Taiwan.

The resulting stories and documentaries, which did not have to adhere to any kind of dictates, either formally or in terms of content, provide an astonishingly multifaceted panorama of Taiwanese society. The filmmakers’ personal perspectives span a wide-ranging network of images, between historical events and political vigilance, rebellion and devotion, magical realism and unflinching illusion. The diverse cinematic approaches used by these cineastes open a window onto their own imagination - whether they choose to employ an epistolary form, or a monologue, to include elements of a thriller, silent cinema, theatre of the absurd or dark comedy, or simply to observe carefully with a camera.

Both screenings of this new restoration of A City of Sadness will feature pre-recorded introductions from Tony Rayns.

Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, A City of Sadness announced Hou’s arrival as a world-class filmmaker and foremost recorder of his nation’s troubled past. This intimate epic chronicles the tragedies that befall the three Lin brothers - a gangster, a translator for the Japanese administration, and a photographer - and those around them during a chaotic period in Taiwan’s national history, between the end of Japanese Imperial rule (1945) and the secession from Mainland China and creation of martial law (1949-1987). The film was groundbreaking in its depiction of the February 28 Incident of 1947, when thousands of native Taiwanese were killed in protests against the Nationalist government.

Each screening of A Confucian Confusion will be preceded by a video introduction from Tony Rayns.

Edward Yang’s first cinematic foray into comedy may have been a surprising stylistic departure, but in its richly novelistic vision of urban discontent, it is quintessential Yang. This relationship roundelay centers on a coterie of young Taipei professionals whose paths converge at an entertainment company where the boundaries between art and commerce, and love and business, have become hopelessly blurred. Evoking the chaos of a city infiltrated by Western chains, logos, and attitudes, A Confucian Confusion is an incisive reflection on the role of traditional values in a materialistic, amoral society.

Select Japan is excited to bring Shunji Iwai's masterpiece of contemporary Japanese cinema, All About Lily Chou-Chou back to London.

For kids around the world, music is often the only salvation when the pain and anxiety of teenage life becomes too much to bear. Yuichi (Hayato Ichihara) is in the 8th grade and he worships Lily Chou-Chou, a Bjork-like chanteuse whose epic music is lush and transcendent. Yuichi only lives for Lily Chou-Chou's big Tokyo concert, where the lies and violence can be washed away by the presence of his goddess and her powerful music. But fate has yet another obstacle in store for Lily's devoted fan.

Content warnings: suicide, sexual violence.

All About Lily Chou-Chou contains several sequences with flashing lights that may affect those who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or have other photosensitivities.

Our screening on 30 August was followed by an online Q&A with Shunji Iwai.

This is a special centenary edition of Sergei Eisenstein’s legendary Battleship Potemkin featuring the celebrated Tenant / Lowe score performed by Pet Shop Boys and Dresdner Sinfoniker.

A fixture in the critical canon almost since its premiere, Eisenstein’s film about a 1905 naval mutiny was revolutionary in both form and content. Battleship Potemkin is renowned for its

dynamic compositional strength and editing of such frame perfect precision that it’s hard not to be swept along.

First revealed at a special outdoor screening in front of an estimated 25,000 in Trafalgar Square in 2004, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe’s score, performed with the Dresdner Sinfoniker and orchestrated by Torsten Rasch, blends electronic beats with orchestral grandeur to create a contemporary cinematic experience.

Doggie devastation and slapstick fun are the key ingredients in this riotous canine comedy. Forget the human actors, it's the titular St Bernard pup who steals the show, slobbering his way into mischief after he flees dognappers and winds up in the home of the Newton family. Though the kids love the mutt, dad George really doesn't want the responsibility especially after the initially cute ball of fluff grows to giant proportions. But when a crooked vet targets Beethoven for animal experiments, George naturally has a change of heart.

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

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

On 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.

Hotshot race car Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is living life in the fast lane...until he hits a detour and gets stranded in Radiator Springs, a forgotten town on Route 66. There he meets Sally, Mater, Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) and a heap of hilarious characters who help him discover there's more to life than trophies and fame.

Cars is a heartwarming film about friendship, teamwork, and community.

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 film will be introduced by Senior Architect Jemma Miller.

Jeremy Sandford's drama about a young family's slide into homelessness and poverty was a defining moment in 1960s television, demonstrating how far drama could influence the political agenda. The controversy generated by Cathy Come Home led to public outrage at the state of housing in Britain, and gave a welcome boost to the (coincidental) launch of the homelessness charity Shelter a few days after the play was first broadcast, as part of the BBC's The Wednesday Play strand.

The play follows young lovers Cathy and Reg from the optimism of their early married days through a spiral of misfortune that follows Reg's work accident, leading to eviction and separation, and culminating, in what remains one of TV's most memorable scenes, in a hysterical Cathy having her children forcibly taken away by Social Services. - BFI, screenonline

Jemma Miller is a Senior Architect at Hawkins\Brown. Having been inspired by Ken Loach’s film Cathy Come Home at university, Jemma embarked upon a career in architecture and has spent the last decade working as an Architect specialising in housing in London and the Southeast. With a passion for people centric place-making and a keen advocate for community engagement on projects, she has a range of experience in community consultation, working with local schools and community groups. Her work at university is focused on equitable environments and the harsh social disparities within our city, bolstered by the built environment.

Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) was a high-school baseball phenom who can’t play anymore, but everything else is going okay. He’s got a great girl (Zoë Kravitz), tends bar at a New York dive, and his favourite team is making an underdog run at the pennant.

When his punk-rock neighbour Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to take care of his cat for a few days, Hank suddenly finds himself caught in the middle of a motley crew of threatening gangsters. They all want a piece of him; the problem is he has no idea why. As Hank attempts to evade their ever-tightening grip, he’s got to use all his hustle to stay alive long enough to find out…

The Garden Cinema View:

A disturbingly violent struggle for survival in the lawless and grimy streets of late-90s NYC? That’s right, it’s Darren Aronofsky’s most light-hearted and entertaining film!

If the scuzzy 70s proves the touchstone for the Safdies and Sean Baker, here Aronofsky is instead pulling from the likes of Doug Liman’s Go, Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and 90s Elmore Leonard adaptations like Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, and Out of Sight. There’s a touch of Scorsese’s After Hours (which is becoming quite fashionable these days), not just in the casting of Griffin Dunne in a small role.

He's just one of a very fun cast led by a very desirable, and frequently topless Austin Butler. This is a good part for Butler, and it’s nice to see him not impersonating a legend (Elvis), as an unrecognisable psychopath (Dune), or playing a photograph (The Bikeriders).

As you may gather from the above, Caught Stealing is not Aronofsky’s most original or serious work, but it is a very well made and enjoyable throwback caper which feels quite refreshing.  

Michio Okabe’s subversive underground film was shot on 16mm in Shinjuku in 1968, and documents the radical spirit of Japan’s creative and artistic scene in those years. Crazy Love is structured as a collage of diverse activities and performers, including a happening by avant-garde art group Zero Jigen (Zero Dimension), Genpei Akasegawa’s fake bill, a march by futen (hippies), and parodies of adverts and cinema entertainment. Okabe was influenced by Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising but developed his own distinctly kitsch, camp aesthetic, which is fully in evidence here; the director himself appears onscreen, acting out roles including James Bond. Challenging established social norms and codes of sexual behaviour, Crazy Love is a testament both to a liberated, experimental moment in art and film, and to an iconoclastic filmmaker.

Deaf follows a young deaf woman and her hearing partner, who are expecting a baby, unable to know whether their child will be hearing or deaf until birth. A beautiful, nuanced depiction of their journey, the film's clever use of sound and silence immerses us in Ángela's experience and explores the struggles she faces, given the inadequacies of the world for deaf people

Digital restoration.

The father, the mother and their three kids live at the outskirts of a city. There is a tall fence surrounding the house. The kids have never been outside that fence. They are being educated, entertained, bored and exercised in the manner that their parents deem appropriate, without any influence from the outside world. They believe that the airplanes flying over are toys and that zombies are small yellow flowers. The only person allowed to enter the house is Christina. She works as a security guard at the father’s business. The father arranges her visits to the house in order to appease the sexual urges of the son. The whole family is fond of her, especially the eldest daughter. One day Christina gives her as a present a headband that has stones that glow in the dark and asks for something in return.

The Oslo Stories Trilogy (Sex, Dreams, Love) is an ambitious set of films from novelist-turned-filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud, contemplating romance, intimacy, and desire in contemporary Norway.

A Berlin Golden Bear Winner (2025), Dreams is a coming-of-age story about Johane, who falls in love for the first time with her teacher. Preserving her emotions and experiences in her journal, she shows the work to her mother and grandmother. Initially shocked, they soon see the literary potential and debate whether to encourage its publication, setting in motion a frank exploration of their differing views on love, sexuality, and self-discovery.

Witty, gentle, and eye-opening, Haugerud charts a full investigation on what contemporary love means in this series of films about romantic, sexual, philosophical, and creative awakenings.

The Garden Cinema View:

The last to be filmed (but second chronologically) in this loose trilogy of human relations has the clearest narrative structure of the trio, whilst still retaining a strong visual flair, and digressions into moments of quiet poetry. Whilst the film is heavy with voiceover narration, this seems fitting for a story about writers, and indeed about an interior world of fantasy and desire. At the core of Dreams is an ethical issue concerning safeguarding and grooming, and this plays out intelligently, with scenes involving the teenage protagonist, her mother and grandmother, showing the contrasting wisdom and blind spots of these three generations of women. Dag Johan Haugerud films Oslo in close detail, picking out the communities and contradictions of a city which contains wonderful nature, characterful districts, and the impersonal surfaces of global capitalism.  

Our screening on 8 September will be introduced by Tom Cunliffe (UCL).

Having completed junior high education, Wan leaves his hometown for Taipei City. With him is Huen, the girl he grew up with. In Taipei, they lead a very hard, but happy life. Then, Wan is drafted into military service. On the eve of his departure, Huen gives him 1,096 self-addressed and postal stamped envelopes, hoping that Wan will write to her every day during his three-year military service period.

Based on the personal experience of Wu Nien-jen, the co-writer of the film, Dust in the Wind is a nostalgic portrayal of the changing Taiwan of the early 1970s

Amongst the best-loved family films of all time, Steven Spielberg’s hugely influential tale follows troubled 10-year-old Elliott who stumbles upon a gentle alien stranded on Earth. Elliott smuggles the alien that he names 'E.T.' into his suburban California house, introduces him to his brother and sister, and attempts to find his new friend safe passage home.

Accompanied by John Williams’ fantastical score, ET has had children and grown-ups laughing and shedding a quiet tear ever since it first captivated cinema audiences in 1982.

Into Film recommends this film for children 8+. The film includes some frightening scenes, bad language and rude humour, which may not be suitable for young children. For more information, visit the BBFC.

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 Friday 19 September will be introduced by Victor Fan (KCL).

Ang Lee’s generous, touching Eat Drink Man Woman focuses on master chef Chu and his three daughters (all of them living at home) as they confront seismic changes in their lives. The film is the third instalment in Ang Lee’s family trilogy, known unofficially (and ironically) as the 'Father Knows Best' series, largely because venerable actor Sihung Lung (whom Lee lured out of retirement) played a father in each film. Constructed around a series of all-in family dinners, where each of the characters eventually (very reluctantly) drops a bombshell announcement, the film hinges on the tension between modernity and tradition, family and personal freedom, and, especially, the necessity of confiding and sharing. With the profound empathy that typifies his best work, Lee drops us into the drama without much explanation and carefully disrupts our assumptions about the characters - and the narratives they construct about themselves.

This Taiwanese Cinema: Now & Then opening night screening of Eat Drink Man Woman will be followed by a drinks reception in The Atrium Bar, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan, open to ticket holders for the film.

Ang Lee’s generous, touching Eat Drink Man Woman focuses on master chef Chu and his three daughters (all of them living at home) as they confront seismic changes in their lives. The film is the third instalment in Ang Lee’s family trilogy, known unofficially (and ironically) as the 'Father Knows Best' series, largely because venerable actor Sihung Lung (whom Lee lured out of retirement) played a father in each film. Constructed around a series of all-in family dinners, where each of the characters eventually (very reluctantly) drops a bombshell announcement, the film hinges on the tension between modernity and tradition, family and personal freedom, and, especially, the necessity of confiding and sharing. With the profound empathy that typifies his best work, Lee drops us into the drama without much explanation and carefully disrupts our assumptions about the characters - and the narratives they construct about themselves.

In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.

The Garden Cinema View:

Writing about Eddington without destroying its quirks and surprises is tricky - but here we are. In this surprisingly ambitious attempt to diagnose the mess of contradictions and chaos that is the USA, Ari Aster ultimately trips over his own anxieties and spirals into a chasm of neurosis and nihilism. The town of Eddington is itself a wonderfully realised space, and is potentially rich soil for a state-of-the-nation satire. There are nods to the Coens (No Country for Old Men and The Big Lebowski), John Sayles (Lone Star), and PTA (Inherent Vice), but without the consistency of tone that truly merits such comparisons.

It's a shocking, silly, fried-out mess - and that goes for the US and for Eddington.  

On Tuesday 21 October, Mary Wild, Freudian cinephile and creator of the Projections lecture series at the Freud Museum, will join us for a post screening Q&A.

Family Life is a remake of David Mercer’s TV play In Two Minds, which had been filmed by Ken Loach four years previously. The broadcast of the latter provoked controversy, owing to its negative portrayal of the received treatment for schizophrenia. Family Life, like In Two Minds, promotes the theories of psychiatrist R. D. Laing, who did not believe that schizophrenia was a brain disease but a psychological syndrome that 'cannot be understood without understanding despair'. In Family Life, a troubled nineteen-year-old’s mental condition is exacerbated by her unfeeling relatives, and the cold and ineffective solutions of medical practitioners, who prescribe drug and electro-convulsive therapy.

- BFI article

Family Life will be screened with English subtitles.

In celebration of the iconic costume designs by Cecil Beaton in the film My Fair Lady, cinema member Martina Bohn will guide you to create a small hat, fit for any wardrobe. Using a sinamay base, participants can make a small trilby or fascinator, applying feathers, ribbons, or other materials to decorate their fashion creation. If you have any single buttons, brooches, or other small items you love, please bring them with you to incorporate into your own design.

The materials and tools required, complimentary coffees & teas, and a seat for the screening of My Fair Lady are all included in the ticket price of £32.50. Due to the limited capacity of this event, tickets are restricted to 1 per member.

Event timings:

10:30 - 13:00  Fascinator/trilby making workshop

13:00 - 14:00  Break for lunch (not provided)

14:00 - 17:00  Screening of My Fair Lady

Meet Martina Bohn, a London Milliner:

With a passion for colour and bold aesthetics, Martina Bohn will lead us through a hat making experience. Martina works as a milliner from her small studio in Lambs Conduit Street, designing fashion accessories for everyday use. Martina set up her own label about ten years ago, making bespoke hats from vintage hat blocks. Besides looking after her own fashion brand, she also runs the UK hat block library, lending hat blocks to theatres, costume designers, and other milliners.

If you'd like to attend just the screening of My Fair Lady without joining for the workshop, you can book tickets here.

Our screening of Female Trouble on the 16th of August will feature an introduction by Jaye Hudson from TGirlsOnFilm

Glamour has never been more grotesque than in Female Trouble, which injects the Hollywood melodrama with anarchic decadence. Divine, director John Waters’ larger-than-life muse, engulfs the screen with charisma as Dawn Davenport, the living embodiment of the film’s lurid mantra, 'Crime is beauty', who progresses from a teenage nightmare hell-bent on getting cha-cha heels for Christmas to a fame monster whose egomaniacal impulses land her in the electric chair. Shot in Waters’ native Baltimore on 16mm, with a cast drawn from his beloved troupe of regulars, the Dreamlanders (including Mink Stole, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Edith Massey, and Cookie Mueller), this film­ - the director’s favorite of his work with Divine - comes to life through the tinsel-toned vision of production designer Vincent Peranio and costume designer/makeup artist Van Smith. An endlessly quotable fan favorite, Female Trouble offers up perverse pleasures that never fail to satisfy.

Join us to watch and discuss a series of short films made by and with student-activists from the Gaza encampments in the UK.

Produced within the ‘Cinema and Solidarity’ research project, funded by the University of Warwick, the films explore co-resistance, particularly by students of Palestinian or Jewish heritage. These diverse and brave works offer unique insight into activism and cross-cultural solidarity. They reflect the students’ rich experiences and perspectives which drew them to the political movement opposing the ongoing genocide.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A – panelists to be announced soon!

Film produced by Michele Aaron

Interviews directed by Manal Massalha.

Screenings supported by the University of Warwick and Na'amod

The prism of diaspora transforms one’s identity into complex colours, in exchange for existing in a liminal space between cultures, generations, borders, and time. Enriching perspectives can be found across wider East and Southeast Asian experiences. A perfect day, the dangers of border-crossing – is grass indeed greener on the other side?

Followed by an in-person Q&A with filmmakers in this programme.

Ticket holders will receive a free drink of Hong Kong-style milk tea after the screening, supported by My Cup of HK Tea.

Films in Programme:

Clearance

Malaysia | 2025 | Colour | 15’ | In English and Bahasa Melayu with English subtitles

Dir.: Charles Normsaskul

With the help of a translator on the phone, a Malaysian woman is interviewed by an immigration officer to decide if she can enter the United Kingdom.

Side A: A Summer Day

Taiwan | 2024 | Colour | 21’ | In Mandarin, Cantonese and Hindi with English subtitles

Dir.: Kin Fai Wan  

Fei will get the best birthday present ever if he finishes his homework, his mother promised. But it's already the last day of summer, and Fei hasn't received anything yet. Best Live Action Short at Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival 2024.

Give and Take

Canada | 2025 | Colour | 60’ | In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles

Dir.: Jimmy Lo 羅志明

A schoolteacher and an artist, two newlyweds, leave their lives in Hong Kong and wrestle with the promise of freedom in Canada.

Hong Kong Film Festival UK returns for its third edition from 12–28 September in London, presenting reflective, boundary-shifting cinema from Hong Kong and the ESEA diaspora. This year’s programme foregrounds transient and transitioning identities, exploring perspectives on migration, activism, marginalised communities, and gender, highlighting also the creative lens of women filmmakers. From dynamic contemporary works to intimate personal narratives, the festival centres voices that challenge, navigate, and reimagine belonging. Supported by the BFI.

War overshadows Lviv, a beautiful ancient city in western Ukraine, but life continues to move forward. How does one cope with maintaining normalcy, when sirens are ablaze with constant Russian attacks threatening all aspects of society? Hong Kong iconic documentary filmmaker Tammy Cheung (Secondary School, Rice Distribution) dives into the realities lived by Lviv and its people, her camera as her tool of solidarity, sharing the stories of ordinary citizens, refugees, drafted men, journalists, medics, and more.  

Lviv Diary is a sombering insight into the tears and trauma of war, shining necessary spotlight on the people holding onto Ukraine’s fight for freedom and against authoritarian expansion. As a practitioner of “Direct Cinema” and long-time documentarian on social and political causes, Cheung does not employ voice over or interviews, reiterating the unifying power of observation and being present.

Holding its world premiere at Hong Kong Film Festival UK, Lviv Diary is Cheung’s second documentary about the war in Ukraine.

Followed by an in person conversation with director Tammy Cheung, moderated by Chris Berry.

In Ukrainian with Chinese and English subtitles

With support from Amnesty International UK.

Hong Kong Film Festival UK returns for its third edition from 12–28 September in London, presenting reflective, boundary-shifting cinema from Hong Kong and the ESEA diaspora. This year’s programme foregrounds transient and transitioning identities, exploring perspectives on migration, activism, marginalised communities, and gender, highlighting also the creative lens of women filmmakers. From dynamic contemporary works to intimate personal narratives, the festival centres voices that challenge, navigate, and reimagine belonging. Supported by the BFI.

Whether caused by the rising cost of living or our tumultuous political environments, many of us across Europe and Asia are bound by the desire to emigrate and seek greener pastures in another country. But what are the emotional costs of such a move?

In Next Stop, Somewhere, filmmakers James Lee and Jeremiah Foo explore the personal struggles of emigration in all their intimacy and complexity through two parallel stories of separation and connection: Huang (Anthony Wong), a Hong Kong actor enduring a two-week hotel quarantine upon relocating to Taiwan, and Kim (Kendra Sow), a Vietnamese woman navigating challenging new relationships as she arrives in Malaysia for an arranged marriage.

Framed with the sensitivity of an Edward Yang film, an unusually tight aspect ratio, and a beautiful use of colour, Next Stop, Somewhere is a tender exploration of diasporic experience and what happens when our longing to escape confronts the realities of emigration.

Followed by a live online Q&A with Producer Jeremiah Foo, moderated by Suyin Haynes.

In Cantonese, Mandarin and Vietnamese with Chinese and English subtitles

Hong Kong Film Festival UK returns for its third edition from 12–28 September in London, presenting reflective, boundary-shifting cinema from Hong Kong and the ESEA diaspora. This year’s programme foregrounds transient and transitioning identities, exploring perspectives on migration, activism, marginalised communities, and gender, highlighting also the creative lens of women filmmakers. From dynamic contemporary works to intimate personal narratives, the festival centres voices that challenge, navigate, and reimagine belonging. Supported by the BFI.

Monica Vitti stars here as Giuliana, the slightly whacky girl with whom bourgeois lawyer Pietro (Giorgio Albertazzi) meets cute at a bohemian bacchanal. Just as quickly, the two get married, setting the stage for a humorous study of then-contemporary romance and the state of sexual politics in Italy. Something of a time capsule, I Married You for Fun contributed significantly to Vitti branching out from the inscrutable Antonioni talisman to becoming more synonymous with Italian cinema in the 1960s.

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 bar to network with fellow members.

For our upcoming session on Monday 8 September, we are crosspollinating with our Planting Seeds strand, as we will be joined by Danusia Samal and Will Attenborough from Green Rider, a movement of artists and productions shifting the TV & film industry towards a fairer and healthier way of working, and by Josh Cockcroft from Climate Spring, a global organisation dedicated to shifting our cultural response to the climate crisis by championing storytelling that transforms how it is represented in film, TV, and popular culture. We will discuss how different key players from the film sector come together to create a greener, cleaner, and fairer film industry, and how scripted and unscripted projects which cover climate-related topics can find funding and support.

Tickets are £5, and include a token for a complimentary soft drink, house wine, or beer. They're restricted to 1 per member.

About the speakers:

Green Rider:

Danusia Samal is a co-founder of Green Rider. She's also an actor and writer, known for The Great, Gangs of London and Bodies. She won the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award for Out of Sorts in 2018. In 2020, she launched the Virtual Collaborators Network, supporting creatives to collaborate remotely in lockdown.

Will Attenborough is a co-founder of Green Rider. He is an actor and climate campaigner, known for Our Girl, The Output, and Dunkirk, as well as Another Country and Photograph 51 in the West End. He's an experienced climate finance strategist who's run successful campaigns with Equity and the Mayor of London, which led to billions of pounds being moved out of fossil fuel investments and into clean solutions.

Website | Instagram

Climate Spring:

Josh Cockcroft is a British-Zanzibari producer, changemaker, and Director of Research and Impact of Climate Spring, the global organisation funding and supporting storytelling that changes the way society sees the climate crisis. His work bridges culture, equity and systemic transformation, using strategies based on robust insights and data. His career has spanned the screen & culture sectors, philanthropy and tech start ups. Alongside his work at Climate Spring, he is a trustee of the Arvon Foundation and Cultural Philanthropy Foundation, as well as Chair of the DEI Data Standard.

Website | Instagram

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

• Film music, with Jen Moss (I, Tonya), Gary Downing (MRKR), and Harry Escott (Shame)
• Art direction, with Lydia Fry (Blade Runner 2049) and Charlotte Dirickx (Saltburn)
• 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)

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

The screening on Thursday, September 11 will be followed by a Q&A with director Jan-Ole Gerster. 

Between drinking sessions and one-night stands, washed-up tennis pro Tom (Sam Riley) clings to a job coaching holidaymakers at a hotel in Fuerteventura. When an English couple (Stacy Martin and Jack Farthing) arrive, their presence sets off a chain of events that leads to a mysterious disappearance.

Islands is a contemporary, intelligent thriller with noirish undertones and stylistic echoes of Alfred Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith, stunningly shot against the sun-drenched volcanic landscapes of the Canary Islands.

The Garden Cinema View:

Islands establishes itself beautifully, with Sam Riley’s fried-out resort tennis coach presenting a kind of modern day Under the Volcano level of alcoholism and nihilism in the burning sun. As Ace (Riley) is joined by a Comfort of Strangers-esque pair of British tourists, a Patricia Highsmith-like mystery unfolds. The slightly diffuse plotting feels a bit underwhelming given the fertile setup, but Riley’s curiously mannered, dehydrated, and perpetuality knackered central performance is eminently engrossing.

In this 250th anniversary year of author Jane Austen's birth, there has been renewed focus on the many cinema adaptations of her much-loved books. This 1999 take on her 1814 novel, written for the screen and directed by Patricia Rozema, a key figure in the Toronto New Wave of Canadian cinema, is notable for several reasons. Superb cast and striking direction aside, it brings Austen's own character, letters and writing into the action, invigorating the character of Fanny (a vivid Frances O'Connor), the poor relative who is sent as a child to live with her landed uncle and aunt and learn the ways of 'polite' society. Engaging prismatically with the blurring of boundaries between Austen's life and her writing, Rozema explores issues of class, power, property, enslavement and empire alongside questions of sexuality and gender. This all makes for a welcome departure from the primarily etiquette-led and familial/relational angling of most versions, while not of course ignoring those dynamics by which many of the more resonant themes are investigated.

Well-received, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times declared it "an uncommonly intelligent film, smart and amusing too, and anyone who thinks it is not faithful to Austen doesn't know the author but only her plots," while Andrew Johnston for Time Out New York wrote, "Rozema captures the writer's combination of prickly wit and hopeless romanticism as few filmmakers have."

We are delighted that Rozema will be joining us to introduce the film, and discuss it after the screening with Gareth Evans.

Jaws, first released in 1975, is a landmark film that redefined the summer blockbuster and left a lasting impact on global cinema. Based on Peter Benchley's novel, it became the highest-grossing film of the year, earning a Best Picture nomination and three Academy Awards, including one for John Williams' iconic score. Its influence extends to inspiring filmmakers and captivating audiences with its thrilling and unforgettable story.

At a political rally, bricklayer Oreste (Marcello Mastroianni) sees flower girl Adelaide (Monica Vitti) and is so thoroughly smitten that he decides he must leave his wife for her. The pair's happiness doesn't last, however, as a young pizza chef named Nello (Giancarlo Giannini) also has eyes for Adelaide. He sends her a heart-shaped pizza pie and in no time has broken up their relationship. Adelaide leaves Oreste, who becomes passionately grief-stricken and considers suicide.

Join us on Friday 26 September as we celebrate the launch of Ken Loach: A Retrospective with a members' party. Your first drink will be on the house, as our friends from Lost and Grounded Brewers are contributing to the community spirit by providing a complimentary beer for each attendee. You will also receive a raffle ticket, which means you may be lucky enough to walk away with a BluRay or DVD of one of Loach's films, free tickets, or another excellent prize!

Our guest musicians Oliver Hamilton & Mataio Austin Dean will perform a selection of protest songs, and we'll end the night with a screening of Ken Loach's 1991 Riff Raff, starring Robert Carlyle and Emer McCourt.

Tickets are £15 and are restricted to 2 per member, meaning you can bring a friend along, even if they're not a member. The ticket price include access to the pre-screening event with live music, a complimentary beer (or soft drink alternative), and an unallocated seat for the screening.

Event timings:

19:30  Season launch party with live music performance & prize raffle

20:30  Screen doors open

20:45  Screening of Riff Raff

22:30  Expected finish

About the musicians:

Oliver Hamilton is member of the bands Caroline and Shovel Dance Collective. He is a fiddle player and pianist working as a performer and arranger in London. Mataio Austin Dean is a member of traditional music group, Shovel Dance Collective. He sings unaccompanied English and Guayanese folksong 'with a truly unquestionable authenticity...channelling the spirit of Ewan MacColl' - Tradfolk.

About Lost and Grounded Brewers:

Lost and Grounded Brewers is an independent brewery based in Bristol, established by Co-Founders Alex Troncoso and Annie Clements in July 2016. With a contemporary focus on sustainability and operating from their state-of-the-art brewhouse, their process echoes traditional German brewing methods to produce beers with balance, nuance and a depth of character. Renowned for their award-winning lager Keller Pils, their diverse range comprises of fine, specialty lagers, Belgian-inspired beers and Garden Cinema favourite, Garden Pale Ale.

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The screening on Thursday October 16 will be followed by a Q&A with David Bradley, Kes lead actor .

Named one of the ten best British films of the century by the BFI, Ken Loach’s Kes, is cinema’s quintessential portrait of working-class Northern England. Billy (an astonishingly naturalistic David Bradley) is a fifteen-year-old miner’s son whose close bond with a wild kestrel provides him with a spiritual escape from his dead-end life.

Kes brought to the big screen the sociopolitical engagement Loach had established in his work for the BBC, and pushed the British “angry young man” film of the sixties into a new realm of authenticity, using real locations and nonprofessional actors. Loach’s poignant coming-of-age drama remains the now legendary director’s most beloved and influential film. 
- The Criterion Collection

The concluding chapter of Michelangelo Antonioni’s informal trilogy on contemporary malaise (following L’avventura and La notte), L’eclisse tells the story of a young woman (Monica Vitti) who leaves one lover (Francisco Rabal) and drifts into a relationship with another (Alain Delon). Using the architecture of Rome as a backdrop for the doomed affair, Antonioni achieves the apotheosis of his style in this return to the theme that preoccupied him the most: the difficulty of connection in an alienating modern world.

LRB Screen, the London Review Bookshop’s long-running screening series, continues its exploration of visions of London created by non-British filmmakers: films in which the city is a key player, rather than a backdrop; in which its buildings, streets, parks and rivers cast a distinctive shadow over the drama; in which a fresh encounter makes the city unfamiliar and mysterious again.

The series continues with Moonlighting, the remarkable, surprisingly underappreciated study of exile, precarious labour and the rapidly financialising city from one of Poland's greatest directors, Jerzy Skolimowski. It was the second of his films to be set in London (the first being the 1970 cult classic Deep End). It follows the travails of Polish labourers working illegally in London during the weeks just before and after the banning of the Solidarity movement in Poland, a period of great uncertainty and turmoil. It won the best screenplay award at Cannes, and was acclaimed internationally: the New York Times called it one of the two best films ever made about exile, and the Chicago Reader praised its leading actor, Jeremy Irons, for delivering ‘a performance worthy of Chaplin’.

We are delighted that Irons will be joining us to introduce the film, and discuss it after the screening with Gareth Evans.

To launch our celebration of Monica Vitti in style, members are invited to join us on Friday 19 September for a pre-screening cocktail hour. We'll be serving up the drink that was named after the actress, as well as delicious tiramisù, courtesty of our friends from Agrodolce in Fitzrovia. Their restaurant, like Vitti herself, originates in Rome, and aims to bring a slice of the capital city's gastronomic heritage to the heart of Central London.

Join us in the Atrium Bar from 19:30 for drinks & dessert, while the soulful voices of Mina, Adriano Celentano, and their contemporaries croon in the background. At 20:30 we'll head into the screen to continue our dive into Rome, with Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Eclisse, which features one of Vitti's most iconic performances.

Tickets are £18.50 each and available to members only, but you are welcome to book up to 2 and bring a friend along for the occasion. They include a complimentary alcoholic or non-alcoholic cocktail, a serving of tiramisù, and an unallocated seat for the film. If you have any access needs or require a specific seat in the screen, please email membership@thegardencinema.co.uk so we can do our best to accommodate. Unfortunately, we are unable to cater to dietary restrictions or offer alternatives for the tiramisù.

About Agrodolce:

In Rome, Agrodolce has always emphasised the use of fresh, locally sourced ingredients, thoughtfully chosen from reliable suppliers. With the same dedication to excellence and authenticity, they have now embarked on their culinary expedition in London, by opening a location on Charlotte Street. Here, they are committed to supporting the local market and ensuring that only the finest and most pristine ingredients grace our dishes. Agrodolce’s menu is a celebration of Italian gastronomy, blending passion, tradition, and flavor. At its core is the art of handmade pasta, with indulgent dishes like creamy Cacio e Pepe and rich Carbonara. Each plate unites Rome’s timeless culinary heritage with the vibrant markets of London. This perfect balance of authenticity and creativity embodies their philosophy: 'tradizione fatta con amore' - tradition made with love, served with pride, and savored in every bite.

Website | Instagram

Ladybird Ladybird screenwriter Rona Munro will join us for a post-screening Q&A on Sunday 2 November.

Based on a true story, Ladybird, Ladybird tracks the heartbreaking tale of a woman whose tumultuous past and mental illnesses cause her children to be taken away from her by social services. Ken Loach once again demonstrates his proficiency for drawing excellent performances from unlikely actors with this gut-wrenching drama anchored by an award-winning central turn from erstwhile comedian Crissy Rock.

Like his previous films, Loach has a clear and resolute view on this complex and humanistic tale of a citizen let down by the establishment in place to support her. Crissy Rock won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival and it is easy to see why her startlingly raw performance as Maggie gained so much critical acclaim. - BFI

Ladybird Ladybird will be screened with English subtitles.

The screening will be followed by a conversation between Professor Paul Preston and historian and author Richard Baxell.

David is an unemployed communist that comes to Spain in 1937 during the civil war to enroll the republicans and defend the democracy against the fascists. He makes friends between the soldiers. 

Land and Freedom, though set during the Spanish Civil War, has much to say about Britain in the 1980s and 90s. Ken Loach, a committed socialist director, draws parallels between the triumph of fascism in Spain and the rise of the far right amid the widespread unemployment at the time the film was made. The film won two awards at the Cannes film festival and remains one of his most acclaimed. - BFI iPlayer

Land and Freedom won a César Award for Best Foreign Film (1995)

Our screening on 21 September will be introduced by Victor Fan (KCL).

Although most commonly associated with the wuxia genre, in 1979 King Hu directed the epic fantasy-horror, Legend of the Mountain. Heavily influenced by traditional Chinese aesthetics and Zen Buddhist philosophy, it has come to be regarded as one of his greatest filmmaking achievements.

A young scholar, Ho Yunqing (Shih Jun, A Touch of Zen, Dragon Inn), is tasked by an eminent monk to transcribe a Buddhist sutra said to have immense power over the spirits of the afterlife. To execute his work in peace, he travels to an isolated monastery deep in the mountains, where he encounters a number of strange people, including the mysterious and beautiful Melody (Hsu Feng, A Touch of Zen, Dragon Inn). As malicious spirits attempt to steal the sutra, Ho becomes entangled in a conflict between duelling forces of good and evil. Will he leave the mountain alive?

Introverted 16-year-old Lucia (Jara Sofija Ostan) joins her Catholic school's all-girls choir, where she befriends Ana-Maria (Mina Švajger), a popular and flirty third-year student. But when the choir travels to a countryside convent for a weekend of intensive rehearsals, Lucia’s interest in a dark-eyed restoration worker tests her friendship with Ana-Maria and the other girls. As she navigates unfamiliar surroundings and her budding sexuality, Lucia begins to question her beliefs and values, disrupting the harmony within the choir.

The Garden Cinema View:

Coming of age within the cloistered convent walls is not exactly new territory for cinema, but never has the relationship between sexual awakening and religious pressure been explored with such lightness and naturalism as in this debut feature. Driven by a captivating central performance from Jara Sofija Ostan as 16-year-old Lucija, Little Trouble Girls swaps the usual nun-fun histrionics of shame and punishment for something much looser and (relatively) unburdened by guilt. The trade-off is a lack of narrative heft, and the film rides on febrile waves of confusing attraction, rather than any particular conflict. A slight, short, but impactful watch.  

Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) is a postman and Man U supporter on the edge of a nervous breakdown. He never got over his divorce from his first wife; his second wife has left him in loco parentis for two wayward stepsons; and now he’s having visions of Eric Cantona. Is this the first sign of madness? Or are the wise words of the charismatic Frenchman just what Eric needs?

Successful on several levels, Looking for Eric is powerful enough to satisfy Loach loyalists, and appealing enough to win over everyone else – if they would only go to see it. As Ken Loach has spent a 40-year career demonstrating, there’s little justice in this world, but if there was, this would be a massive, world-beating hit. - Little White Lies

The Oslo Stories Trilogy (Sex, Dreams, Love) is an ambitious set of films from novelist-turned-filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud, contemplating romance, intimacy, and desire in contemporary Norway.

In Love, (Venice, 2024), Haugerud explores the sexual freedom experienced by Tor, a gay nurse, and the more conventional constraints Marianne, his straight colleague, encounters. Neither wants to be bound by conforming to societal norms, but where one can seemingly live a carefree existence, for women, the realities are more complex.

Witty, gentle, and eye-opening, Haugerud charts a full investigation on what contemporary love means in this series of films about romantic, sexual, philosophical, and creative awakenings.

The Garden Cinema View:

The second to be filmed (but third chronologically - not that it matters) in Dag Johan Haugerud’s trilogy of relationships is, fittingly given the title, the most tender. A loose structure revolves around ferry journeys across the Oslofjord (apparently a hotbed of cruising and pickup activity), centennial celebration preparations at city hall, and the love lives of medical professionals working in a cancer clinic. Like the other entries in the trilogy, this is a film that interweaves beautifully captured montages of the city with extended conversations. These dialogues are often impressively intelligent, mature, and honest. Haugerud’s Oslo is a pleasure to inhabit, and his characters are fascinating to eavesdrop on.

Michelangelo Antonioni invented a new film grammar with this masterwork. An iconic piece of challenging 1960s cinema and a gripping narrative on its own terms, L’avventura concerns the enigmatic disappearance of a young woman during a yachting trip off the coast of Sicily, and the search taken up by her disaffected lover (Gabriele Ferzetti) and best friend (Monica Vitti, in her breakout role). Antonioni’s controversial international sensation is a gorgeously shot tale of modern ennui and spiritual isolation.

Shyam Benegal is one of India’s most venerated filmmakers whose early films were iconic in India’s Parallel Cinema movement. Manthan is not only one of his finest films from that time, but also the story behind it was unique – that 500,000 farmers each contributed a small amount of money towards the making of the film that told the story of the birth of the milk cooperative movement while touching on so many issues like caste, class, gender and economic discrimination. The film was integral to spreading the message of the benefits of the cooperative movement to farmers across the country and a vital part of building that movement.

Manthan is presented from a beautiful new 4K restoration by Film Heritage Foundation.

Mehelli Modi from Second Run will introduce the screening. Manthan is being released on Blu-Ray by Second Run in October.

From Celine Song, the Academy Award-nominated writer and director of Past Lives, comes Materialists: the story of a young, ambitious New York City matchmaker torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.

Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is the star matchmaker at a boutique New York agency, and believes love is a numbers game. Her beliefs are put to the test when two potential suitors for her come along at once.

One is Harry (Pedro Pascal), a suave, wealthy bachelor who's perfect on paper, and can offer her the lifestyle she covets. The other is her ex: John (Chris Evans), a struggling actor working as a cater-waiter, whose messy lifestyle is her biggest hindrance. But how do you choose between the life you want and the love you need?

The Garden Cinema View:

With it’s Vogue aesthetics, Manhattan setting, and laughably attractive cast, Materialists feels initially like stepping back into a blighted mid-00s world of Sex and the City and Hitch. Of course, the surface begins to crack, and all is not as glossy as it seems. This is quite a strange film. Celine Song’s script is full of uncomfortable truths about modern dating, but the screwball setting and one-liners are never exactly funny. In fact, the endless itemising of material wealth and physical capital, and discussions of the mathematics of dating edge this closer to a Bret Easton Ellis New York satire. Comparisons of matchmaking to insurance or mortician work might have come directly from Cronenberg’s The Shrouds (actually Materialists contains some light body horror). Perhaps this explains Dakota Johnson’s glazed lead performance. To be generous, this perfectly fits the narrative of empty consumerism (otherwise it’s just entirely miscast/misjudged).

An enjoyable, occasionally astute and even moving, but rather odd watch.    

After the concerning incidents during our Alfred Hitchcock and Al Pacino seasons, we're sad to announce yet another unfortunate occurrence at The Garden Cinema - this time involving low-life detectives, seductive femme fatales, and other iconic film noir characters.

Join us on Saturday 6 September to find out what happened in the shady alleyways and dark corners of the Atrium Bar, by hunting for clues, piecing together hints, and interviewing our suspects & witnesses - who may or may not be trustworthy.. Once you've cracked the case, you'll be invited to take your seat in the screen for our cinematic reveal, followed by a screening of the sizzling ‘80s classic neo-noir, Body Heat.

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

Event timings:

19:00  Murder mystery and cocktails

20:30  Reveal & screening of Body Heat

22:45  Expected finish

Tickets include access to the murder mystery, a complimentary cocktail, and an unallocated seat for the film screening. They're available to members only, but there is no limit on the amount you're able to purchase, meaning you can bring multiple friends along - the more brains, the better! Every member can purchase a max. of 2 tickets at the members' rate (£25), any additional tickets will need to be purchased at the adults' rate (£27).

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

About the film:

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

In this beloved musical, pompous phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) is so sure of his abilities that he takes it upon himself to transform a Cockney working-class girl into someone who can pass for a cultured member of high society. His subject turns out to be the lovely Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn), who agrees to speech lessons to improve her job prospects. Higgins and Eliza clash, then form an unlikely bond - one that is threatened by an aristocratic suitor (Jeremy Brett).

The screening on Saturday November 8 will be introduced by Assistant Programmer Joe Miller.

His name is Joe, and he’s an alcoholic. He’s only been sober for 10 months, and although AA advises against romance in the first year of recovery, Joe falls in love with a nurse named Sarah. She’s a social worker who has seen a lot of guys like Joe, but there’s something about him–a tenderness, a caring–that touches her.

A love story full of humour, passion and danger, My Name is Joe was filmed in the heart of one of the poorest and most neglected neighbourhoods of Scotland's biggest city. Two street-wise but vulnerable people struggle to overcome the harsh conditions that weigh them down, leaving few choices in their lives.

My Name is Joe won Best Actor at Cannes (Peter Mullan) and a BIFA award for best British Independent Film.

Special screening of the 20th anniversary of Next: A Primer on Urban Painting.

This documentary, co-produced with agnès b, takes place in the United States, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Germany, England, Spain, Japan, and Brazil, and features painters, writers, designers, and members of the global graffiti/street art community who show us their work and illustrate the evolution of modern graffiti from its beginnings in 1970s New York to the early 2000s. This film captured the early days of the global street art movement with many artists who are still active and even more famous today. Trailblazers like Lee Quiñones and Doze Green are given their proper treatment within contemporary art history. It also profiles the next generation of artists that are beginning to make their mark.

Made at the dawn of the digital revolution, Aravena shot his film using a combination of digital video, Super-16, and 35mm, borrowing the modus operandi of the street artists themselves to assemble a collage of sequences into a film that is as free and dynamic as the work of its subjects.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Pablo Aravena, hosted by Cedar Lewisohn.

Pablo Aravena is a London-based Chilean-Canadian filmmaker and curator. His acclaimed documentaries, including NEXT: A Primer on Urban Painting and Chile Estyle, explore street art and urban subcultures across the globe. He’s now working on Aqui Estamos, a portrait of the UK Latin club music scene.

Cedar Lewisohn is a writer, artist and curator based in London. He curated the exhibition Street Art at Tate Modern in 2008 and is the author of the book Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution, published in the same year.  

Our screening on Friday 4 September will be followed by a Q&A with director Jethro Massey.

An unconventional romantic comedy about a young American photographer and a French girl with a taste for the macabre. Paul & Paulette’s chance encounter on a Parisian boulevard sparks an unusual friendship that grows around a dark game: reenacting scenes of notorious crimes from bygone eras at the sites they occurred. As their morbid road trip approaches the more recent past it becomes more uncomfortable, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, but finding a surprising joy in the darker corners of humanity.

This film contains flickering or flashing lights that may affect those with photosensitive epilepsy

Tickets for our 'Odorama' screenings of Polyester will include a Scratch 'n' Sniff card to follow along with the film and smell every delightfully disgusting scent.

For his first studio picture, filth maestro John Waters took advantage of his biggest budget yet to allow his muse Divine to sink his teeth into a role unlike any he had played before: Baltimore housewife Francine Fishpaw, a heroine worthy of a Douglas Sirk melodrama. Blessed with a keen sense of smell and cursed with a philandering pornographer husband, a parasitic mother, and a pair of delinquent children, the long-suffering Francine turns to the bottle as her life falls apart—until deliverance appears in the form of a hunk named Todd Tomorrow (vintage heartthrob Tab Hunter). One of Waters’ most hilarious inventions, Polyester is replete with stomach-churning smells, sadistic nuns, AA meetings, and foot stomping galore.

Poor Cow is Ken Loach's debut feature film.

Following his Wednesday Plays Up the Junction (1965) and Cathy Comes Home (1966), Ken Loach directed his first feature film with the powerful Poor Cow. Reuniting him with his Cathy Comes Home star Carol White, the film follows Joy (White) as she copes with working-class pressures while her husband is in jail. However, she suddenly finds herself romantically involved with young crook Dave (Terence Stamp) in what could be a hopeful change. What follows is a unique character study and portrait of London in one of its most colourful, textured periods, seen through the eyes of one of Britain’s most acclaimed filmmakers. - BFI, iPlayer

Our screening on Sunday 7 September will be introduced by Chris Berry (KCL).

Having just moved from Beijing, elderly tai chi master Mr. Chu (Sihung Lung) struggles to adjust to life in New York, living with his Americanised son Alex (Ye-tong Wang). Chu immediately butts heads with his put-upon white daughter-in-law, Martha (Deb Snyder), a writer who seems to blame him for her own paralysing inability to focus. But when Chu begins teaching tai chi at a local school, his desire to make a meaningful connection comes to fruition in the most unexpected of ways.Pushing Hands is the debut film from Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, forming the first chapter in his 'Father Knows Best' trilogy, which depicts the tensions between the traditional Confucian values of the older generation and the realities of modern life.

Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk offers an intimate, first-hand perspective of life in Gaza, told through a series of video calls between filmmaker Sepideh Farsi and young Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona. Their digital dialogue became a vital record, bearing witness to everyday life, loss, and acts of resistance amid escalating violence. Just a day after the film’s selection at Cannes, Fatma was tragically killed in an Israeli airstrike on her home. This heartbreaking loss deepens the film’s impact, which combines raw immediacy with profound humanity to portray the stark realities of daily life during conflict, seen through the eyes of those trapped in an endless cycle of war and living under siege.

The Garden Cinema View:

Watching the year-long conversation between photojournalist Fatma Hassouna and filmmaker Sepideh Farsi is nothing but devastating given the outcome. The day after the film's Cannes 2025 selection, Hassouna was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza. Her death sparked global condemnation of both her killing and governments' passivity and silence regarding the atrocities in Gaza. As Ken Loach and Paul Laverty astutely observed in their note of solidarity, ‘Hassouna - who died with her two sisters, three brothers, and father - joins what Reporters Without Borders calls “the massacre” of journalists, now approaching 200, over the last 18 months.’

The documentary contrasts pixelated WhatsApp conversations with Hassouna's sharp photographs of rubble, starvation, and devastation. Yet throughout, her grace comes through - always smiling, never self-pitying, and refusing to leave Gaza because it's her home. She transmits news of dying relatives and her own starvation with stoic humour that barely conceals her anger.

Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is an urgent documentary on the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed since the war began.

Winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993.

Bob Williams is a survivor: he supplements his dole by becoming embroiled in whatever scam is on offer. From rustling sheep to rodding drains, he does what he can to keep his family fed. But now, life has dealt him a bitter blow. His van has been stolen and his daughter, Coleen, is approaching her first communion. She needs the traditional white dress, shoes, veil and gloves. Where on earth is the money going to come from?

'What I liked best was the underlying humour, even in this desperate situation. These are characters whose minds have not been deadened and who are naturally articulate and even poetic.' - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times, 1994

In Mumbai, Rani reunites with her college crush Jaydeep after 10 years while trapped in an abusive marriage. As their love rekindles, a medical crisis threatens their future, leading to a desperate search for a kidney donor.

Language: English

Producers

Uday Devaskar

Sushant Tungare

Director Statement: 'Courage. A story close to my heart, as it speaks leaps and bounds about love and what can love mean to someone. Organ donation is an act of love, and, love has no parameters. When this story came to me, the previous two sentences, like personified. While it put me in a position to question myself, why not I thought, put forth these questions in front of the audiences. Courage is a story which makes you fall in love, feel the never ending struggles of a couple and makes the audiences a part of their story even before they realise. Courage as a process was intense, satisfying and most lovable till date. I hope Courage comes in every film makers life Once!'

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

Winner of Best European Film at Berlin, 1991.

Fresh out of Barlinnie prison, young Glaswegian Stevie arrives in London and lands a job on a construction site. Life in the capital is unforgiving, but when he meets Susan, a struggling singer chasing her own dreams, he begins to navigate the brutal ups and downs of survival with something approaching hope.

Riff Raff marks Robert Carlyle's breakout starring role in what's also a rousing ensemble piece that finds its humor in the rough camaraderie of the building site. The film mines its laughs from the authentic banter and brotherhood of men scraping by, while never losing sight of the harsh realities that bind them together. - BFI

The screening on Saturday 20th will be dubbed in English. The screening on Sunday 21st will be in French with English Subtitles.

Claude Barras follows My Life As a Courgette with a stop-motion gem about a girl and an orangutan facing up to deforestation in Borneo.

Keria, who has Indigenous Penan heritage on her mother’s side, lives in Borneo with her father, who works on a palm oil plantation. News that the family home is under threat from deforestation only makes her more passionate about her environment, especially when she meets Oshi, an orphaned orangutan with whom she uncovers the joys and dangers of this beautiful but threatened world. Using his distinctive stop-motion style, Barras has produced a memorable and moving tale whose eco-message is seamlessly integrated into this hugely entertaining and highly relevant film.

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.

Have you ever filmed something that felt risky to share? In an age where your phone can be both a witness and a weapon, Resisters in Borderland offers a powerful look at what it means to document truth under threat. Directed by Toru Kubota (Best New Director 2025, ATP, Japan), the film follows exiled Burmese filmmakers who continue to resist the Myanmar junta – armed only with their cameras.

Paired with a live panel hosted by the Secure Storyteller Network (SSN), this event explores how we protect our footage, our communities, and ourselves. Whether you're an activist, artist, or everyday phone user, this screening invites you to rethink how stories are captured and secured.

All proceeds (excluding expenses) will be donated to Docu Athan, supporting filmmakers in exile.

In Burmese with English subtitles

Hong Kong Film Festival UK returns for its third edition from 12–28 September in London, presenting reflective, boundary-shifting cinema from Hong Kong and the ESEA diaspora. This year’s programme foregrounds transient and transitioning identities, exploring perspectives on migration, activism, marginalised communities, and gender, highlighting also the creative lens of women filmmakers. From dynamic contemporary works to intimate personal narratives, the festival centres voices that challenge, navigate, and reimagine belonging. Supported by the BFI.

The screening of Serial Mom on the 5th of August will feature an intro by season co-curator Ronja Blight

John Waters brings his twisted cinematic vision to the seemingly mundane world of suburbia in Serial Mom, an outrageous dark comedy starring Kathleen Turner (Body Heat, Romancing The Stone).

Beverly (Turner) is the perfect happy homemaker. Along with her doting husband Eugene (Sam Waterston) and two children, Misty (Ricki Lake) and Chip (Matthew Lillard), she lives a life straight out of Good Housekeeping. But this nuclear family just might explode when Beverly's fascination with serial killers collides with her ever-so-proper code of ethics - transforming her from middle class mom to mass murderer! Soon, the bodies begin to pile up… and suburbia faces a horror even worse than wearing white after Labor Day.

The Oslo Stories Trilogy (Sex, Dreams, Love) is an ambitious set of films from novelist-turned-filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud, contemplating romance, intimacy, and desire in contemporary Norway.

Sex (Berlin, 2024) sees two men, both in heterosexual marriages, who have an unexpected experience that challenges them to reconsider their understanding of sexuality, gender, and identity

Witty, gentle, and eye-opening, Haugerud charts a full investigation on what contemporary love means in this series of films about romantic, sexual, philosophical, and creative awakenings.

The Garden Cinema View:

The first entry in Dag Johan Haugerud’s trilogy of human relationships (although the order of viewing is arbitrary), Sex is the most male-centric. Issues of queer sexuality, gender dysmorphia, religion, fatherhood, marriage, and ego are all explored in tender and open conversations between two chimney sweeps and their families. As with Love and Dreams, Haugerud finds humour and insight in these extended dialogues, and even the most unloved corners of Oslo are captured warmly by his camera. Whether Sex marks your entry, middle, or end point to the trilogy, it’s another gem in this special series of films.

This edition of Site&Sound will explore the subterfuge and suspense that is embodied in burglaries and heists . Film and robberies are united by the way that they deal with time and architecture – every second counts and every space matters. Whether scenes are set in a vault, basement or escape routes through the city, buildings extend beyond a mere backdrop; they become a puzzle to be solved or an obstacle to overcome. They are symbols of authority that need to be meticulously mapped out so that they can be subverted, often casting the burglar as the hero.

Plans and blueprints transcend the usual confines of construction as spatial awareness is now a tool for plot and narrative. Tension is created as spaces are navigated, considering surveillance and an expectation of what’s around the next corner. Architecture can be used to shape the rhythm of a story and dictate how the action (or lack thereof) unfolds.

Heist films often reveal bigger ideas: the desire to outwit the system, the fantasy of slipping past security or the thrill of collective risk. As spectators, we're invited to become accomplices, as we hold our breath during the silent drill, feel the weight of a steel door and imagine the experience of slipping through the cracks.

The art of transgression and the beauty of precision are key tenets in heists, with anxiety woven into the fabric of structures. Filmmakers and audiences are united through the power of cinema to steal scenes, one room at a time

Speakers include:

Daniel Hewitt

Lucy Pickford

Geoff Manaugh

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

This screening will be followed by a Zoom Q&A with director Huang Hui-chen.

Excutive produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien and featuring music from composer Gong Lim (Millennium Mambo), Small Talk is one of Taiwan’s most widely-acclaimed documentaries, and the first such film to be selected as Taiwan’s submission to the Academy Awards. The film is an intimate portrait of the director herself, and her mother, A-nu, a Taoist priestess in rural Taiwan.

Through a series of long-shots, Huang Hui-chen interviews A-nu about her troubled past - as a lesbian pressured into an arranged marriage at an early age with an abusive husband - and their uncomfortable estrangement that persists even after decades living under the same roof. Further conversations with A-nu’s siblings and ex-lovers produce a frank and complex portrait that reflects the prejudices and mores of a society at large, while remaining both universally significant and courageously intimate.

Ricky and his family have been fighting an uphill battle against debt since the 2008 financial crash. An opportunity to regain some independence appears by becoming a self-employed delivery driver, but when he and his wife are pulled in different directions, everything will come to a breaking point.

It’s difficult to imagine a more socially engaged or powerful condemnation of the exploitative gig economy than Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, which places the viewer on the ground with an English family trudging through the muck left behind by the erosion of workers’ rights in Europe. Here, the supposed economy of free choice promulgated by neoliberal policies manifests as a domestic realm in which one’s job penetrates into every waking moment, leaving stressed bodies and minds with no time and little wherewithal for a personal life or obligations. - SLANT

The film was nominated for a BAFTA and the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival.

Sorry we Missed you will be screened with English subtitles.

Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on… for everyone around her, at least.

Blending heartache, humour and healing, Sorry, Baby is the stunning and star-making debut from director, writer and actor Eva Victor, also starring Naomi Ackie and Lucas Hedges.

As sharp as it is tender, Sorry, Baby is a quietly powerful tale of seizing back your footing after pain, and of the friendships that sustain you along the way. An authentic, bitingly funny drama that marks the arrival of a brilliant new voice in cinema.

The Garden Cinema View:

A tremendous debut from director/writer/star Eva Victor which is at once a highly literate campus comedy, an ode to female (and feline) friendship, and a clear-eyed study of a life stuck in the wake of trauma. With cinematographer Mia Cioffi Henry, Victor constructs a kind of cosy-yet-chilly, coastal Massachusetts setting of always-winter. Along with a handsome liberal arts college, this idyllic environment becomes a physical manifestation of protagonist Agnes’ grief. Her office at the college is her attacker’s; her isolated (and possibly haunted) house still the one she lived in as a grad-student. Sorry, Baby is emotionally raw in places, but ultimately comforting. It’s also frequently very funny (if jokes about Nabokov and Woolf float your boat).      

Steve traces a pivotal 24 hours in the life of a headteacher of a last-chance reform school who struggles to keep his students in line, while also grappling with his spiraling mental health.

The cult phenomenon of Rocky Horror is explored in depth like never before with an extraordinary cast of contributors. From humble origins as a London fringe theater play to its meteoric rise as the biggest cult film of all time, this is the definitive story of the Rocky Horror Show. With intimate access to its creator Richard O’Brien and other major players such as Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Lou Adler, the documentary explores what makes the play and film so singular: its groundbreaking and transgressive themes, iconic performances and epic songs that took over popular culture.

The Garden Cinema View:

You may well know the major stops on this journey, but it’s nevertheless a pleasure and a comfort to have the trajectory of this cult classic laid out in the words of the main players. There’s some quite touching father-son moments between a sprightly Richard O’Brien and director Linus O’Brien, and it’s equally delightful to see a happy and healthy Tim Curry. A perfect appetiser for your next visit to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And if you’ve never seen it? What are you waiting for?

After the screening on Friday, November 14, Ken Loach's longtime collaborator Rebecca O'Brien will join Gareth Evans for a post-film discussion.

To mark the publication of the new edition of Loach on Loach (edited by Graham Fuller, published by Faber and Faber), copies will be available for purchase at our Atrium bar both before and after the screening.

Determined to have a normal family life once his mother gets out of prison, a Scottish teenager from a tough background sets out to raise the money for a home.

A typically powerful social realist drama, Sweet Sixteen represents Ken Loach's fourth collaboration with Glaswegian scriptwriter Paul Laverty. Shot around the council estates of Greenock, an economically depressed, former shipbuilding town near Glasgow, the film revisits themes familiar from their previous work, featuring the hardships of people at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

The film won Best Screenplay Award at Cannes Film Festival (Paul Laverty) and a BIFA Award for Best British Independent Film.

Our screening on 27 September will be followed by a Zoom Q&A with co-director Shih-Ching Tsou.

The American dream has rarely seemed so far away as in Shih-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker’s raw, vérité Take Out, an immersion in the life of an undocumented Chinese immigrant struggling to get by on the margins of post-9/11 New York City. Facing violent retaliation from a loan shark, restaurant deliveryman Ming Ding has until nightfall to pay back the money he owes, and he encounters both crushing setbacks and moments of unexpected humanity as he races against time to earn enough in tips over the course of a frantic day. From this simple setup, Tsou and Baker fashion a kind of neorealist survival thriller of the everyday, shedding compassionate light on the too often overlooked lives and labour that keep New York running.

With Tsou's new feature, Left-Handed Girl, playing at festivals to critical acclaim, this screening offer an opportunity to revist the start of her wonderful career as a director, writer, and producer.

UK restoration premiere. All screenings will be preceded by a video introduction from Tony Rayns.

Edward Yang’s first theatrical feature film (which also marked the debut of the cinematographer Christopher Doyle) is a visually and emotionally arresting melodrama of fractured romance, disaffection, and the intergenerational breakdown felt across Taiwan in the 1980s. It focuses on the reunion of two old friends - Chia-li (Sylvia Chang), a housewife trapped in a crumbling marriage, and Ching-ching (Terry Hu), a concert pianist newly returned to Taiwan after many years abroad. As they reminisce about their 13 years apart, Yang moves gracefully from past to present, and between perspectives to reflect on his two protagonists’ present stations in life. An intricate memory piece that unfolds with the pacing of a mystery, That Day, on the Beach is one of the greatest debuts of the late 20th century and announced Yang as an artist already in full command of densely layered, compositional storytelling.

Set in Glasgow, Scotland, Angel's Share tells the story of a young father who narrowly avoids a prison sentence. He is determined to turn over a new leaf and when he and his friends from the same community payback group visit a whisky distillery, a route to a new life becomes apparent. More light-hearted than some of his earlier films, this warm, funny caper from Ken Loach is set in Glasgow, with a cast of non-professional, first-time actors.

The film won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2012.

Angel’s Share will be screened with English subtitles.

The Big Flame was writer Jim Allen's second Wednesday Play and his first with director Kenneth Loach. After The Lump, about the exploitation of casual labour in the building trade, Allen used his Marxist credentials to depict striking Liverpool dockers enacting a Communist-style system of workers' control.

The play was filmed in Loach's accustomed drama-documentary format, honed on previous Wednesday Plays like Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home. Real dockers appear, and the actors speak not well-rehearsed lines but in the disjointed, often incoherent, manner of authentic speech. It is captured on murky 16mm film, giving the picture the same quality as contemporaneous newsreel footage. Only the occasional voiceovers diverge from the apparent objectivity of this fly-on-the-wall aesthetic. - BFI, screenonline

For Halloween, the smaller beings in our audience can enjoy a mildly macabre film of their own, with pay-what-you-can screenings of The Book of Life.

From producer Guillermo del Toro (Pinocchio, Pan's Labyrinth)  comes an animated comedy drawing on Mexican folklore. The Book of Life is the journey of Manolo, a young man who embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears. Rich with a fresh take on pop music favorites, The Book of Life encourages us to celebrate the past while looking forward to the future.

'Guillermo del Toro’s creative fingerprints are everywhere in this refreshingly sparky and laugh-out-loud funny family film'- The Guardian

'The Book of Life is bursting with vibrant colours and magic – a constantly expanding, neverending party.' -Sight & Sound

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.

A pioneer of Japanese avant-garde cinema, Michio Okabe’s (1937-2020) films span the late 60s to the mid 70s, capturing the zeitgeist of an era defined by global political upheaval and counter-cultural movements. They collage performance art, historical references, and pop music with a freely associative approach to editing, destabilising fixed meanings of tradition and modernity. Okabe’s playful irreverence is on full display in the three short films of this programme, each one a kaleidoscope of radical possibility as disorientating as it is delightful.

The Doctrine of Creation (1967)

Inspired by Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising (1963), Okabe’s debut film subverts the creation myth of Adam and Eve into a cacophony of consumerist symbols, pop culture references, and absurdist performance.

Camp (1970)

An eclectic troupe of Butoh dancers, yakitori sellers, and vampires construct a fantastical freak show in this anarchic exploration of Japanese camp aesthetics.

Boy-Taste (1973)

Naked men play innocently in an Esoteric Buddhist temple, painting an idyllic yet unsettling portrait of boyhood.

Dating back to neolithic times, few culinary traditions have survived as long as the hearty bowl of morning porridge. Despite its simple recipe of oats, salt and water there is a lot that can vary.

Each year the sleepy highland village of Carrbridge awakens with excitement as locals and competitors from around the globe vie for the honour of winning The Golden Spurtle in the World Porridge Making Championships.

For ageing, charismatic, and soon-to-retire protagonist Charlie Miller, this competition means so much more than just a bowl of steaming oats. With ailing health but a responsibility to his fellow porridge committee members, Charlie is on a mission to secure the future of the championships - and his own legacy.

The Garden Cinema View:

An utterly charming documentary that captures something of the low-stakes-high-effort competition of The King of Kong whilst bumping against Christopher Guest’s wonderful mockumentaries, particularly Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. Behind the oats, The Golden Spurtle is, at heart, a lovely portrait of a Scottish village and its inhabitants which is never patronising, and relishes the idiosyncrasies of small communities.

Scripted by former railwayman Rob Dawber The Navigators lays bare the unappetising choice faced by railway workers after the still contentious privatization of British Rail in the mid-1990s. Either they can continue existing jobs for lower pay and safety standards, or accept redundancy and break up long-established teams, the quality of whose work is at least as much due to personal camaraderie as effective management. The film’s tragic conclusion is as inevitable as it is shocking - and matched by real-life incidents, since filming commenced in the wake of the 2001 Hatfield train crash. It went straight to television in Britain, but was a top-ten box-office hit in Paris, whose audiences must have been bewildered by the British notion of how to run a railway. – BFI

After getting a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, newly engaged couple Brad and Janet encounter the eerie mansion of the flamboyant, seductive Dr. Frank-N-Furter and a variety of eccentric characters. Through elaborate dance and rock music, the mad scientist unveils his latest creation: a perfect, muscular man.

This film was proposed by our member Alexander Eiss, who wrote: 'It's time we get a Wes Anderson film back at the Garden Cinema.'

Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and his wife, Etheline (Anjelica Huston), had three children – Chas, Margot, and Richie  – and then they separated. Chas (Ben Stiller) started buying real estate in his early teens and seemed to have an almost preternatural understanding of international finance. Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a playwright and received a Braverman Grant of $50,000 in the ninth grade. Richie (Luke Wilson) was a junior champion tennis player and won the U.S. Nationals three years in a row. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. The Royal Tenenbaums is a hilarious, touching, and brilliantly stylised study of melancholy and redemption from Wes Anderson.

Please note, the screening on Monday 25 August is our free members' screening, while the one on Thursday 4 September is a regular screening, which is open to the general public.

In the remote Irish woods, Cellach (Brendan Gleeson) prepares a fortress for an impending attack by a Viking war party. Unbeknown to Cellach, his young nephew Brendan (Evan McGuire) -- who has no taste for battle -- works secretly as an apprentice in the scriptorium of the local monastery, learning the ancient art of calligraphy. As the Vikings approach, revered illuminator Aidan (Mick Lally) arrives at the monastery and recruits Brendan to complete a series of dangerous, magical tasks

Into Film age recommendation: 7+

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

Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa find themselves caught up in a typically hilarious yarn as TV's favourite family makes its movie debut. Homer accidentally polutes the local water supply, so Springfield must be encased in a giant protective dome, leaving the Simpsons in a whole heap of trouble.

Into Film recommends this film for ages 7+

It contains mild language and comic violence. For more details see the BBFC website

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  

UK resotration premiere. Our screening on Saturday 4 October will be followed by an online Q&A with Tsai Ming-liang.

The Wayward Cloud is arguably Tsai Ming-liang’s least understood and most neglected work. The film has, moreover, gathered a notorious reputation for its unusual mixture of strange musical numbers and very explicit, deliberately sordid sex - all filtered through Tsai’s signature stylistic minimalism. Like so many of Tsai’s best films, The Wayward Cloud is an offbeat love story, the tale of two lonelyhearts struggling to connect in a drought-stricken Taipei. Complicating things is the fact that one of the lovers - played, as always, by Lee Kang-sheng - is a porn actor, a profession that Tsai uses to evince the ambivalence about both filmmaking and sexuality that run throughout his films.

Content warning: Contains a scene of non-consential sex which viewers may find extremely disturbing.

Our screening on Saturday 6 September will be introduced by Chris Berry (KCL).

The breakthrough film in the West for Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, The Wedding Banquet is the moving and, for its time, groundbreaking, New York–set story of a gay Taiwanese immigrant, Gao Wai-Tung who marries Wei-Wei, a woman from China, both to help her procure a green card and to convince his parents that he is straight. This creates emotional and practical concerns for his boyfriend, Simon, and increasingly manic complications when Wai-Tung’s parents arrive from Taiwan.

On Wednesday, 19 November, the screening will serve as a fundraiser for a Palestinian cultural charity. Irish musicians will perform before the screening and crafts will be on sale in the Atrium bar. The doors will open from 19:00. It will be introduced by historian Geoffrey Bell, author of several books about Ireland, including The Twilight of Unionism.

Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney play brothers who join the Irish Republican Army in 1920 after witnessing the killing of a friend at the hands of the Black and Tans, the British body employed to suppress revolution in Ireland. As the conflict gets increasingly violent and friends and family are tortured and murdered, the brothers become ideologically divided, with tragic results.
The film provoked controversy, with many critics decrying it (some without having seen it) for its negative view of the British. – BFI

The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival (1996)

The Wind That Shakes The Barley will be screened with English subtitles.

This Sidney Lumet film gives a makeover to the classic children's book The Wizard of Oz. Adapted from the 1974 Broadway musical of the same name, and set in 1970s Harlem, the film boasted Quincy Jones as the musical supervisor, and an impressive, all-star cast with Diana Ross as Dorothy, Michael Jackson (in his feature film debut) as Scarecrow, Nipsey Russell as Tin Man, Ted Ross as Cowardly Lion, and Richard Pryor as The Wiz.

Requested by Garden Cinema member Ed Gutteridge who writes: 'It’s so underseen and a total visual and aural delight!'

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.

"Identidad is a deeply personal and urgent exploration of Argentina’s dark past - a past that continues to shape the lives of those searching for the truth. At its core, this film is about memory, justice, and the resilience of identity."

Stolen at birth during Argentina’s dictatorship, a 46-year-old man finally finds his biological family. The doubts Daniel Santucho Navajas had about his identity were finally exposed when the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, who store the genetic information of victims of the military dictatorship in Argentina, found a DNA match for him in July 2023. Reconnecting with his biological family, Daniel uncovers the truth of what happened to him. He learns he was born in a detention centre and covertly adopted while his mother remains one of the thousands of disappeared people. Through his search for the truth, he discovers a widespread programme of illegal adoption and crimes committed during the military dictatorship from 1976-1983.

"Identity" is a documentary film by Daniel's sister Florencia Santucho and Rodrigo Vazquez-Salessi. This film is Florencia Santucho's directorial debut, while Rodrigo Vázquez-Salessi is an award-winning filmmaker and war correspondent who honed his craft in Argentina before moving to the UK in 1995 to study at the National Film & TV School.

This screening is the film's UK premiere and will be followed a Q&A with the director.

The screening on Sunday 28 September will be followed by a Q&A with director Sonum Sumaria. The screening on Thursday 2 October will be followed by a panel discussion with the director, producer Sienna Beckman, and social activist Sushma Iyengar.

Under The Open Sky is a beautifully-crafted observational documentary that offers a rare, intimate portrait of a nomadic camel-herding family in the desert lands of Western India. Spanning five years, the film follows Ahmed and his family, as they face an existential dilemma: to continue their traditional way of life or to adapt to a rapidly modernising world. The film traces their quiet but powerful struggle to hold onto their ancestral way of life as they are increasingly displaced by industrialisation, climate shifts, and economic pressures.

"An unflinching fly-on-the-wall portrayal ...  a refreshing and honest insight " - Geographical Magazine

The film screened at a number of international festivals, including DC South Asian Film Festival (USA)

Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival (Europe), Montevideo World Film Festival (Uruguay), FICCSUR (Chile), and Someplace Else – Living Lightly Film Festival (India)

Sonum Sumaria is an award-winning British-Gujarati filmmaker and has been making films with marginalised communities for the past thirteen years. She read Spanish and Russian at Cambridge University, and studied at The International School of Film and Television in Cuba, going on to complete an MA in Cinematography at MetFilm School in London. She has a deep interest in indigenous and nomadic communities and is particularly drawn to the themes of identity and belonging.

Nell Dunn's Up the Junction, directed by Ken Loach, is a controversial and mould-breaking TV drama, watched by an audience of nearly 10 million on first transmission. A record 400 viewers complained to the BBC, mostly about the programme's bad language and depiction of sexual promiscuity. Now, these aspects seem relatively mild. At the time, Up the Junction's depiction of abortion had a major impact, contributing to the national debate which led to the legalisation of abortion in 1967. -BFI, screenonline

Urchin follows Mike, a rough sleeper in East London, who is trapped in a cycle of self-destruction as he attempts to turn his life around. Premiering at Cannes to rave reviews and a Best Actor award for Frank Dillane, Urchin is an outstanding directorial debut from Harris Dickinson that marks him as an exciting new talent in British filmmaking.

The Garden Cinema View:

Harris Dickenson’s directorial debut plunges us into what looks, at first, like a classic piece of British Social Realism, albeit one set on very vibrant East London streets, akin to the New York of Safdie Brothers or early Sean Baker films. Then something happens, the film’s score kicks in for the first time, and we realise that Urchin is operating on an elevated level of expressionism; a bold, and broadly successful, effort to find poetry on the margins of London.

That this all holds together is due, in no small part, to Frank Dillane’s mesmerising, tender, and brittle central performance as Mike. This, combined with propulsive music and cinematography, results in arguably the finest London street life film since Mike Leigh’s Naked.  

On Thursday 11 September from 18:30 onwards, Women in Film & Television UK will be hosting their regular networking event in the cinema's Atrium Bar. Although these socials are normally open to WFTV members only, on this occasion they would love to extend the invitation to Garden Cinema members who also work in the industry. The event is open to anyone who identifies as a woman or non-binary, and there will be 'speed dating' networking to help you meet new people in a friendly and informal setting. There will also be the opportunity to meet the WFTV team to answer any questions that you might have.

Tickets are free of charge, but due to the limited number of spaces available they will need to be pre-booked. They are restricted to 1 per member. If you are already a member of WFTV, please book a ticket through their website directly to allow Garden Cinema members to attend the event, as well.

In a hidden Orthodox monastery in Belarus, Mother Vera weaves the inner world of an unorthodox young nun with the community that saved her life. After 20 years as a monastic, Vera faces deep inner conflict. Now, she must confront her past and trust her instincts to find the liberation she desires.

'absorbing and majestically shot' -The Film Verdict  

‘transfixingly beautiful film’-Screen Daily

‘sublime and sensorial debut feature’- The Film Verdict

WADW Presents is a series of documentary screenings featuring Q&As with the women creatives behind the camera. It comes from the team behind We Are Doc Women, a group that was founded in 2017 to provide peer support for women directors working in factual television in the UK. They have grown to become a collective of directors, producers, assistant producers and executive producers advocating for equal opportunities, greater support and fair recognition within the industry.

The Dardenne brothers' social-realist drama Young Mothers follows five adolescent mothers living together at a maternal support home in Belgium. From drug addiction to precarious living situations, these women must face the challenges of their situation individually, but living together in this communal home gives them the tools, support and the community they need in order to do so.

The Garden Cinema View:

The Dardennes Brothers return with another typically well observed helping of social realism. Young Mothers is at once almost immediately recognisable as classic Dardennes, whilst feeling like a slight departure. The home for teenage mums at the centre of the film acts as a springboard to tell five individual stories of hardship and triumph faced by the film’s young protagonists. The intense, and sometimes suffocating, focus of the directors' usual single issue/character studies is somewhat dispersed by this structure. And while the film isn’t always an easy watch, this anthology-adjacent structure gives the audience more breathing room, and a little more head space to consider the issues at play. Now nearly 30 years on from their Cannes breakthrough The Promise, the brothers’ filmmaking remains as tender and intelligent as ever.