The classic cartoon version of the children's story by Dodie Smith. Pongo and Perdita are two dogs leading a happy life in London together- they have successfully paired up their owners, and have recently become the proud parents of 15 adorable puppies. But danger comes from when scary fashion victim Cruella De Vil pays a visit to their owners and is charmed by the pups - she has wicked designs to turn their lovely offspring into a luxurious white-and-black coat! Can Pongo and Perdy save their puppies - plus another 84 little dalmatians that Cruella and her sidekicks have dognapped? Into Film age recommendation: 5+ On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children. The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you.…

Set and filmed in Luton, Ish follows 12-year-old best friends Ish (Farhan Hasnat) and Maram (Yahya Kitana), who wrestle to hold onto their friendship in the wake of a police stop and search. As the ripples take hold, the boys try to make sense of the men they are becoming - and how letting go can be the hardest part of growing up. Written and directed by acclaimed artist Imran Perretta and co-written by Enda Walsh (Hunger), Ish was shot by cinematographer Jermaine Canute Edwards (My Father’s Shadow) and also stars singer/songwriter Joy Crookes. The Garden Cinema View: This impressive debut from Imran Perretta builds an authentic and complex portrayal of teenage life in Bedfordshire across its slight running time. Jermaine Edwards’ (building an impressive resumé following My Father’s Shadow) monochrome cinematography and Perretta’s own otherworldly score draw out the poetry of the tedium of a summer holiday spent on the unlovely streets of Luton and the verges of the M1. A shadow of loss - both personal and geopolitical - looms over these young men who must negotiate racist police stop-and-search policies, as well as their edgy relationship with other boys in town. Perhaps what is really remarkable about Ish is how a portrayal of a British Muslim community feels so immediately universal and relatable. Perretta doesn’t provide us with easy answers to the issues his film evokes, but he does allow for oceans of empathy.   Our 18:30 screening on 1 August was followed by a Q&A with director Imran Perretta and producer Dhiraj Mahey.…

The evening screening on Friday 12 June will be introduced by Dr. Olympia Kiriakou. As nervy as it is hilarious, this screwball masterpiece from Ernst Lubitsch stars Jack Benny and, in her final screen appearance, Carole Lombard as husband-and-wife thespians in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who become caught up in a dangerous spy plot. To Be or Not To Be is a Hollywood film of the boldest black humor, which went into production soon after the U.S. entered World War II. Lubitsch manages to brilliantly balance political satire, romance, slapstick, and urgent wartime suspense in a comic high-wire act that has never been equaled. - The Criterion Collection Dr. Olympia Kiriakou is a film historian specializing in stardom, genre, and gender in classical Hollywood cinema. Her first monograph entitled Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy explores the titular actress’s star persona and career evolution in both silent and sound film. Her writing has been published in Sight and Sound, MUBI’s Notebook, BW/DR, The Saturday Evening Post, and Quarterly Review of Film and Video. Olympia has appeared on Turner Classic Movies and is an advisory board member of the Film Society of Screwball Comedy in Palm Springs, California. Her second book, Virginia Grey: Good Luck Charm, will be published by the University Press of Kentucky in spring 2027.…

The screening on 9 August will be followed by an online Q&A with the director Li Yifan, moderated by Fan Xiang. A joint presentation by tat/boo and Chinese Cinema Project, Li Yifan’s documentary We Were Smart offers a rare first-hand account of the Shamate youth subculture that emerged among young rural migrant workers in China during the 2000s. Known for their dramatic hairstyles, bold fashion, and online communities, Shamate youth were widely mocked and dismissed by mainstream society. Through video testimonies and interviews with former members, the film reveals the lived realities behind the style: left-behind childhoods, factory labour, displacement, loneliness, and the search for belonging. More than a portrait of an internet phenomenon, We Were Smart is a powerful reflection on class, visibility, and youth self-expression. Fan Xiang teaches at the University of Birmingham. Her teaching and research focus on film festivals and grassroots film culture, women’s filmmaking, archives and digital media culture. Her monograph, Contemporary Art Cinema Culture in China (2024), offers an ethnographic account of the role of independent exhibition, underground distribution, and online film criticism in shaping art cinema culture in twenty-first-century China. The book was the runner-up for the BAFTSS Best First Monograph Award. tat/boo’s practice unfolds around the idea of ‘the body as language’, focusing on Chinese youth around the millennial turn. It asks how, when emotion could not be spoken aloud, they invented for themselves a language of body, object, and symbol: one pushed outside the mainstream, yet real enough to live by. Instagram…

New digital restoration. A Russian poet, Andrei, conducts research in Italy on a composer from his homeland. There, he meets old Domenico, a man many consider insane. Domenico entrusts him with a highly original mission: to cross the Bagno Vignoni thermal bath with a lighted candle.…

For years, Grandma Shurou from Chaoshan has lived on the letters and remittances from her husband who left for Nanyang to survive the war and never returned. When her debt-ridden grandson Xiaowei secretly travels to Thailand to find his rumoured 'millionaire' grandpa, he returns with shocking news: his grandpa is long gone, and the person Grandma has exchanged letters with for years is a stranger. As Xiaowei digs deeper, a long-buried misunderstanding spanning three generations begins to unravel, revealing a truth that binds two families across borders and time. The Garden Cinema View: Continuing writer-director Lan Hongchun's long-standing exploration of Teochew culture, Dear You brings to the screen the rarely explored history of Chaoshanese migration to Southeast Asia after the Chinese Civil War. This regional specificity, however, becomes the source of its emotional universality. Produced on a modest budget with a largely non-professional cast, the film became an unexpected box-office phenomenon in China, the latest addition to the recent trend of low-budget, word-of-mouth hits such as Backrooms and Obsession. This appeal here lies not in spectacle but in its almost religious faith in love, loyalty, and human connection. Although the film occasionally veers towards the theatrical, its sincerity remains disarming, and its emotional centre ultimately belongs to the female protagonists and to the handwritten qiaopi letters. In an age of instant communication, Dear You quietly restores the beauty of slow correspondence and the enduring bonds that transcend time and distance. In Teochew with English and simplified Chinese subtitles.…

The screening on 20 July will be introduced by Tom Cunliffe (UCL). Presented in the restored version. An Autumn’s Tale, the second instalment of Mabel Cheung’s acclaimed 'Migration Trilogy' (along with The Illegal Immigrant and Eight Taels of Gold),  was created in collaboration with her long-time screenwriting partner Alex Law and inspired by their experiences as Hong Kong students in New York. Shot on location in New York City, it stars Chow Yun-fat in one of his defining post–A Better Tomorrow roles, alongside Cantopop idol Danny Chan and screen icon Cherie Chung. Set in New York, the film follows Jennifer (Cherie Chung), a young Hong Kong student who arrives expecting to reunite with her boyfriend (Danny Chan), only to discover his infidelity. Forced to rely on her distant relative Samuel Pang (Chow Yun-fat), a rough-edged but kind-hearted immigrant, she gradually forms an unexpected bond with him. Capturing both the hardships and emotional resilience of the Hong Kong diaspora with humour and melancholy, the film remains one of the most beloved classics of Hong Kong cinema. © 2010 Fortune Star Media Limited. All Rights Reserved. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London.…

Our screening on Friday 7 August will be followed by a Q&A with director Charlie McDowell. The Summer Book follows an intergenerational family spending a transformative summer at their rustic vacation home on an unspoiled, remote island in the Gulf of Finland. Adapted from Tove Jansson’s beloved novel, the film explores grief, nature, and the delicate bonds between a young girl, her wise grandmother (Glenn Close), and her grieving father (Anders Danielsen Lie). The Garden Cinema View: This suitably languorous adaptation of Tove Jansson’sclassic novel is an invitation to immerse yourself on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. Director Charlie McDowell adheres to the episodic structure of the book, allowing the loose plot to spool out in a series of charming vignettes. The film is more explicitly weighted with a grief that Jansson only hints at, and Hania Rani’s score, whilst sensitive and calming, feels emotionally leading at times. And perhaps unnecessary, as the sounds of the island – the tide, the breeze, the birds, and the occasional boat – combine with Sturla Brandth Grøvlen’s textured 16mm cinematography to transportive effect. Admittedly, the choice to film in English is a little distancing. Glenn Close is nonetheless reliably superb as Grandma, and the experience is somewhat akin to watching a Ghibli (Jansson was an undeniable influence on Hayao Miyazaki) film dubbed. A film in a minor key, but a nourishing watch.…

Joe and Angela's marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places. Have they reignited the spark or lit the match that burns it all down? The Garden Cinema View: If, like us, the sight of an all celebrity cast raises an eyebrow of cinephile suspicion, think again. Olivia Wilde amazes with her third feature, a taut, hyperintense chamber piece about sex, stale marriages, foursomes, and the quiet ways we let ourselves go. A perfect storm of happy occasions, it's built on the airtight script by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (based on the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs), which is by turns hilarious, unpredictable, and emotionally raw. This script is matched by an exceptional ensemble; their rare chemistry is galvanised by improvisation and uproarious levity (although Penelope Cruz and Seth Rogan clearly steal the show). As Yorgos Mavropsaridis (Lanthimos' permanent collaborator) edits, the mix shifts from a high-paced sitcom style in the first part to a moving finale with real pathos in the second. A comedy thriller with a streak of Bergman at its heart, while channelling Esther Perel along the way - this is your essential warm summer night watch. Whether you bring your neighbours along is up to you.…

This version adds 15 minutes of brand-new material after the end credits, created by director Kane Parsons. A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom in this adaptation of the global phenomenon from Kane Parsons. The Garden Cinema View: The liminal space may well come to be seen as a defining aesthetic of early 21st Century American media. Lorcan Finnegan’s Vivarium (2019), Lynch’s Inland Empire (2006), Genki Kawamura’s recent J-horror Exit 8, Kyle Edward Ball’s Skinamarink (2022), and Apple TV’s hit series Severance have all drawn from this uncanny and bland visual form that frequently refers to Mark Z. Danielewski’s novel House of Leaves (2000). Despite its relative freshness, then-16 year old YouTuber Kane Parsons’ Backrooms web series has quickly become one of touchstones of the form. Parsons is now a (still) very young (20) feature filmmaker with this big screen translation featuring Oscar-nominated lead actors and horror-royalty producers (Osgood Perkins, James Wan). There’s a degree of psychological shallowness and missed symbolism given the professions (therapist and architect) of his protagonists, but Parsons is seemingly more interested in the atmosphere and the appearance of the backrooms themselves. For a film that shares DNA with Charlie Kaufman’s Being John Malkovich and Synecdoche New York, its perhaps fitting to learn that over 30,000 square feet of actual backrooms were built as a set. And although Backrooms settles down into a fun thrill ride rather than a truly unsettling exploration of liminality, moving through these spaces is always a strangely alluring and disconcerting experience.  …

Bouchra, a 35-year-old Moroccan coyote in New York documents her long-distance relationship with her mother in Casablanca, as they explore together the love, pain and secrets that unite them through calls and intimate conversations. The Garden Cinema View: It's remarkable how successfully this anthropomorphic animation manages to capture the nuances of the strained relationship between a conservative Moroccan mother and her lesbian daughter. Coyotes, cows, and bears are enlisted to convey the push and pull between tradition and modernity, local community and diasporic life, contemporary queer dating and friendship. Although the animal faces can often obstruct the emotionality of a scene, the directors' decision to employ as voice actors themselves and their own mothers, counterbalances this issue and the result is remarkably human. Mysterious and sensual, with a distinct noir feel, Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani's debut feature is creatively brave and emotionally resonant.…

With Iran and the world once again on the brink, Coup 53 feels less like history and more like a warning. In 1953, a military coup led by British MI6 backed by the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. His crime: nationalising the country's oil. The truth behind that original regime change for oil was buried for decades. Iranian director Taghi Amirani spent ten years uncovering what really happened. Working with legendary editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Conversation) and a gripping performance by Ralph Fiennes, the film unfolds like a John le Carré spy thriller - except every word is true. Coup 53 exposes the roots of today's tensions with rare clarity and urgency. A documentary. A detective story. A reckoning. The film is showing at the Garden Cinema in collaboration with the Iranian Film Club. The screening on 31 July was followed by a Q&A with director Taghi Amirani and Academy Award-winning editor Walter Murch, hosted by the Iranian Film Club's Zhaleh Bahraini.…

New digital restoration. Alexander is an old writer living in seclusion on a Swedish island. During an evening with friends, he learns that a global nuclear war has broken out, which means the end of the world is coming. Alexander is ready to sacrifice everything to get things back to the way they were, and is told that the local witch might be able to grant his wish.…

With Iran and the world once again on the brink, Coup 53 feels less like history and more like a warning. In 1953, a military coup led by British MI6 backed by the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. His crime: nationalising the country's oil. The truth behind that original regime change for oil was buried for decades. Iranian director Taghi Amirani spent ten years uncovering what really happened. Working with legendary editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Conversation) and a gripping performance by Ralph Fiennes, the film unfolds like a John le Carré spy thriller - except every word is true. Coup 53 exposes the roots of today's tensions with rare clarity and urgency. A documentary. A detective story. A reckoning. The film is showing at the Garden Cinema in collaboration with the Iranian Film Club. The screening on 31 July was followed by a Q&A with director Taghi Amirani and Academy Award-winning editor Walter Murch, hosted by the Iranian Film Club's Zhaleh Bahraini.…

David Byrne and Spike Lee's joyful concert film is now restored and finally released in cinemas. ‘Do we get stupider as we grow up?’ In his wildly popular Broadway show American Utopia, David Byrne reflects on human connections, life and how on earth we work through it. He joins the dots with his music and it all starts making sense. Spike Lee here transforms the production into immersive, dynamic cinema that radiates with astounding performances, inventive contemporary dance and political urgency. i flows like an iridescent dream vision. Work by James Baldwin, Janelle Monáe, and Kurt Schwitters is highlighted among exhilarating renditions of Byrne’s solo work, as well as Talking Heads classics. According to the multi-hyphenate, we love looking at humans more than anything else. Anti-fascist and anti-racist, Byrne illuminates our responsibility to care for one another as he and his co-performers burn down the house.…

Satoshi's Kon's visionary and mind-melting anime Paprika returns for its 20th anniversary. Prepare to enter the realm of fantasy and imagination - where reality and dreams collide in a kaleidoscopic mindscape of sheer visual genius. The film centres on a revolutionary machine that allows scientists to enter and record a subject's dream - (the inspiration for Christopher Nolan's Inception). After being stolen, a fearless detective and brilliant therapist join forces to recover the device - before it falls into the hands of a 'dream terrorist' in this gripping anime thriller from acclaimed director Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers). All screenings are in Japanese with English subtitles.…

Our screening on Friday 7 August will be followed by a Q&A with director Charlie McDowell. The Summer Book follows an intergenerational family spending a transformative summer at their rustic vacation home on an unspoiled, remote island in the Gulf of Finland. Adapted from Tove Jansson’s beloved novel, the film explores grief, nature, and the delicate bonds between a young girl, her wise grandmother (Glenn Close), and her grieving father (Anders Danielsen Lie). The Garden Cinema View: This suitably languorous adaptation of Tove Jansson’sclassic novel is an invitation to immerse yourself on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. Director Charlie McDowell adheres to the episodic structure of the book, allowing the loose plot to spool out in a series of charming vignettes. The film is more explicitly weighted with a grief that Jansson only hints at, and Hania Rani’s score, whilst sensitive and calming, feels emotionally leading at times. And perhaps unnecessary, as the sounds of the island – the tide, the breeze, the birds, and the occasional boat – combine with Sturla Brandth Grøvlen’s textured 16mm cinematography to transportive effect. Admittedly, the choice to film in English is a little distancing. Glenn Close is nonetheless reliably superb as Grandma, and the experience is somewhat akin to watching a Ghibli (Jansson was an undeniable influence on Hayao Miyazaki) film dubbed. A film in a minor key, but a nourishing watch.…

Jean-Luc Godard’s subversive foray into commercial filmmaking is a star-studded Cinemascope epic. Le Mépris stars Michel Piccoli as a screenwriter torn between the demands of a proud European director (played by legendary director Fritz Lang), a crude and arrogant American producer (Jack Palance), and his disillusioned wife, Camille (Brigitte Bardot), as he attempts to doctor the script for a new film version of The Odyssey.…

The screening on 22 July will be introduced by the season curator Millie Zhou. Eight Taels of Gold concludes Mabel Cheung’s celebrated 'Migration Trilogy,' extending her and longtime screenwriting partner Alex Law’s exploration of migration from departure and settlement to the question of return. While The Illegal Immigrant and An Autumn’s Tale focused on Chinese migrants in New York, this final chapter turns its gaze toward the homeland and the emotional complexities of homecoming. The film reunites Cheung and Law with Sammo Hung following Painted Faces (1988), which is closely inspired by Hung’s own experiences in Peking Opera School, and pairs him memorably with Sylvia Chang. The story follows Ba Leung Kam (Sammo Hung), a Chinese taxi driver who returns from New York to his hometown after years abroad, only to discover that his family has moved away. Accompanied by his childhood friend Wu Tsui Po (Sylvia Chang), he embarks on a journey to find them. As the two travel together, initial friction gradually gives way to affection, yet love remains entangled with distance, obligation, and missed opportunities. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London.…

Set and filmed in Luton, Ish follows 12-year-old best friends Ish (Farhan Hasnat) and Maram (Yahya Kitana), who wrestle to hold onto their friendship in the wake of a police stop and search. As the ripples take hold, the boys try to make sense of the men they are becoming - and how letting go can be the hardest part of growing up. Written and directed by acclaimed artist Imran Perretta and co-written by Enda Walsh (Hunger), Ish was shot by cinematographer Jermaine Canute Edwards (My Father’s Shadow) and also stars singer/songwriter Joy Crookes. The Garden Cinema View: This impressive debut from Imran Perretta builds an authentic and complex portrayal of teenage life in Bedfordshire across its slight running time. Jermaine Edwards’ (building an impressive resumé following My Father’s Shadow) monochrome cinematography and Perretta’s own otherworldly score draw out the poetry of the tedium of a summer holiday spent on the unlovely streets of Luton and the verges of the M1. A shadow of loss - both personal and geopolitical - looms over these young men who must negotiate racist police stop-and-search policies, as well as their edgy relationship with other boys in town. Perhaps what is really remarkable about Ish is how a portrayal of a British Muslim community feels so immediately universal and relatable. Perretta doesn’t provide us with easy answers to the issues his film evokes, but he does allow for oceans of empathy.   Our 18:30 screening on 1 August was followed by a Q&A with director Imran Perretta and producer Dhiraj Mahey.…

Joe and Angela's marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places. Have they reignited the spark or lit the match that burns it all down? The Garden Cinema View: If, like us, the sight of an all celebrity cast raises an eyebrow of cinephile suspicion, think again. Olivia Wilde amazes with her third feature, a taut, hyperintense chamber piece about sex, stale marriages, foursomes, and the quiet ways we let ourselves go. A perfect storm of happy occasions, it's built on the airtight script by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (based on the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs), which is by turns hilarious, unpredictable, and emotionally raw. This script is matched by an exceptional ensemble; their rare chemistry is galvanised by improvisation and uproarious levity (although Penelope Cruz and Seth Rogan clearly steal the show). As Yorgos Mavropsaridis (Lanthimos' permanent collaborator) edits, the mix shifts from a high-paced sitcom style in the first part to a moving finale with real pathos in the second. A comedy thriller with a streak of Bergman at its heart, while channelling Esther Perel along the way - this is your essential warm summer night watch. Whether you bring your neighbours along is up to you.…

Bouchra, a 35-year-old Moroccan coyote in New York documents her long-distance relationship with her mother in Casablanca, as they explore together the love, pain and secrets that unite them through calls and intimate conversations. The Garden Cinema View: It's remarkable how successfully this anthropomorphic animation manages to capture the nuances of the strained relationship between a conservative Moroccan mother and her lesbian daughter. Coyotes, cows, and bears are enlisted to convey the push and pull between tradition and modernity, local community and diasporic life, contemporary queer dating and friendship. Although the animal faces can often obstruct the emotionality of a scene, the directors' decision to employ as voice actors themselves and their own mothers, counterbalances this issue and the result is remarkably human. Mysterious and sensual, with a distinct noir feel, Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani's debut feature is creatively brave and emotionally resonant.…

UK Premiere of the restoration. In Cantonese with English subtitles. A Chinese Ghost Story III is the final installment of the trilogy (along with the original film and A Chinese Ghost Story II), and its most exuberant and playful entry, reuniting director Ching Siu-tung and producer Tsui Hark for another dazzling blend of romance, fantasy and martial arts. In this concluding chapter, Tony Leung replaces Leslie Cheung as the male lead in a lighter and more comedic role of his than usual. When two monks try to transport a statue of Buddha, they encounter thieves, which forces them to go to the Orchid Temple. They then meet Lotus, a ghost, and find out she serves the evil Tree Devil. The Tree Demon's seal, as cast by the monk Yin in the original film, only lasts for 100 years. Now 100 years later, the Tree Demon awakens……

David Byrne and Spike Lee's joyful concert film is now restored and finally released in cinemas. ‘Do we get stupider as we grow up?’ In his wildly popular Broadway show American Utopia, David Byrne reflects on human connections, life and how on earth we work through it. He joins the dots with his music and it all starts making sense. Spike Lee here transforms the production into immersive, dynamic cinema that radiates with astounding performances, inventive contemporary dance and political urgency. i flows like an iridescent dream vision. Work by James Baldwin, Janelle Monáe, and Kurt Schwitters is highlighted among exhilarating renditions of Byrne’s solo work, as well as Talking Heads classics. According to the multi-hyphenate, we love looking at humans more than anything else. Anti-fascist and anti-racist, Byrne illuminates our responsibility to care for one another as he and his co-performers burn down the house.…

Told entirely from the perspective of its avian protagonist, Hen follows a chicken who escapes an industrial farm only to find herself navigating the pecking order of a crumbling seaside restaurant in Greece. The Garden Cinema View: A thrilling oddity, a wonderful anomaly - Hen is the most surprising film of the year and half of our programming team's favourite of 2026. An anarchic smorgasbord of genres ranging from slapstick to drama to thriller, it combines the hilarious with the gut-wrenching, often - remarkably - within the very same scene. Beneath its faux-naïf facade lies an incisive commentary on humanity's innate malice, power dynamics and greed - a searing metaphor drawing the line between our mistreatment of animals and of each other.   The story is so engaging that the genius work of cinematographer Giorgos Karavelas and editor Réka Lemhényi only becomes apparent on a second viewing. This is cinema at its purest - screenplay, music, acting, and editing as a single instrument, perfectly tuned. Featuring an all-Greek cast (and eight real-life Hungarian chickens) and featuring Greek music throughout, this is a Hungarian-Greek co-production born our of necessity. Enfant terrible György Pálfi (Hukkle, Taxidermia) has said that Viktor Orbán's production restrictions forced him to leave Hungary and think outside the box in order to continue creating. We couldn't be happier that he did.…

With Iran and the world once again on the brink, Coup 53 feels less like history and more like a warning. In 1953, a military coup led by British MI6 backed by the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. His crime: nationalising the country's oil. The truth behind that original regime change for oil was buried for decades. Iranian director Taghi Amirani spent ten years uncovering what really happened. Working with legendary editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Conversation) and a gripping performance by Ralph Fiennes, the film unfolds like a John le Carré spy thriller - except every word is true. Coup 53 exposes the roots of today's tensions with rare clarity and urgency. A documentary. A detective story. A reckoning. The film is showing at the Garden Cinema in collaboration with the Iranian Film Club. The screening on 31 July was followed by a Q&A with director Taghi Amirani and Academy Award-winning editor Walter Murch, hosted by the Iranian Film Club's Zhaleh Bahraini.…

Why cry in the sun when you can sulk in the pool? For the second year running, Zodiac Film Club brings you a programme of summer-set films with a dark side. Escape 2026’s spate of increasingly alarming heatwaves and dive with us into the blue, melancholy depths of sad swimming pool cinema. In a well-off suburb in Connecticut, New York advertising executive Ned Merrill arrives at a pool party wearing just a bathing suit and a strange demeanor of desperation. Noticing the series of backyard swimming pools that lead to his own house, he decides to swim his way home, a proposal that seems to fill his neighbours with unease… A shady person undertakes a sunny journey in Frank and Eleanor Perry's cult odyssey - a film whose production was as troubled as its lead character. So strange and surreal is The Swimmer that audiences have been arguing about it ever since its release. Take your own journey and see for yourself.…

Our screening on Friday 7 August will be followed by a Q&A with director Charlie McDowell. The Summer Book follows an intergenerational family spending a transformative summer at their rustic vacation home on an unspoiled, remote island in the Gulf of Finland. Adapted from Tove Jansson’s beloved novel, the film explores grief, nature, and the delicate bonds between a young girl, her wise grandmother (Glenn Close), and her grieving father (Anders Danielsen Lie). The Garden Cinema View: This suitably languorous adaptation of Tove Jansson’sclassic novel is an invitation to immerse yourself on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. Director Charlie McDowell adheres to the episodic structure of the book, allowing the loose plot to spool out in a series of charming vignettes. The film is more explicitly weighted with a grief that Jansson only hints at, and Hania Rani’s score, whilst sensitive and calming, feels emotionally leading at times. And perhaps unnecessary, as the sounds of the island – the tide, the breeze, the birds, and the occasional boat – combine with Sturla Brandth Grøvlen’s textured 16mm cinematography to transportive effect. Admittedly, the choice to film in English is a little distancing. Glenn Close is nonetheless reliably superb as Grandma, and the experience is somewhat akin to watching a Ghibli (Jansson was an undeniable influence on Hayao Miyazaki) film dubbed. A film in a minor key, but a nourishing watch.…

The classic cartoon version of the children's story by Dodie Smith. Pongo and Perdita are two dogs leading a happy life in London together- they have successfully paired up their owners, and have recently become the proud parents of 15 adorable puppies. But danger comes from when scary fashion victim Cruella De Vil pays a visit to their owners and is charmed by the pups - she has wicked designs to turn their lovely offspring into a luxurious white-and-black coat! Can Pongo and Perdy save their puppies - plus another 84 little dalmatians that Cruella and her sidekicks have dognapped? Into Film age recommendation: 5+ On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children. The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you.…

Our screening on Friday 7 August will be followed by a Q&A with director Charlie McDowell. The Summer Book follows an intergenerational family spending a transformative summer at their rustic vacation home on an unspoiled, remote island in the Gulf of Finland. Adapted from Tove Jansson’s beloved novel, the film explores grief, nature, and the delicate bonds between a young girl, her wise grandmother (Glenn Close), and her grieving father (Anders Danielsen Lie). The Garden Cinema View: This suitably languorous adaptation of Tove Jansson’sclassic novel is an invitation to immerse yourself on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. Director Charlie McDowell adheres to the episodic structure of the book, allowing the loose plot to spool out in a series of charming vignettes. The film is more explicitly weighted with a grief that Jansson only hints at, and Hania Rani’s score, whilst sensitive and calming, feels emotionally leading at times. And perhaps unnecessary, as the sounds of the island – the tide, the breeze, the birds, and the occasional boat – combine with Sturla Brandth Grøvlen’s textured 16mm cinematography to transportive effect. Admittedly, the choice to film in English is a little distancing. Glenn Close is nonetheless reliably superb as Grandma, and the experience is somewhat akin to watching a Ghibli (Jansson was an undeniable influence on Hayao Miyazaki) film dubbed. A film in a minor key, but a nourishing watch.…

In memory of the beloved New Zealand actor Sam Neill (1947-2026) Taika Waititi’s iconic film is back in a new restoration to celebrate its 10 year anniversary. Ricky (Julian Dennison) is a defiant young city kid who finds himself on the run in the wild New Zealand bush with his cantankerous foster uncle (Sam Neill). A national manhunt ensues, and the two are forced to put aside their differences and work together to survive.…

The Day She Returns follows actress Bae Jeongsu (Song Sunmi), who, having stepped back from acting after marriage and a subsequent divorce, returns to the profession with a role in an independent film. As the film’s release approaches, she takes part in a series of press interviews. A subtle meditation on memory and performance, Hong Sangsoo's latest film unfolds through a series of increasingly intimate conversations, as he continues his exploration of the boundaries between lived experience and artistic creation. The Garden Cinema View: Hong Sangsoo’s latest provides a particularly distilled (although surprisingly sober) essence of his signature style. Regular viewers will be entirely used the Hong’s penchant for structural repetition, revision, thematic mirrors, and blending identities. The Day She Returns (the title itself alluding to 2011’s The Day He Arrives) has a setup that naturally plays into these motifs: a middle-aged actress on a small press junket giving three similar interviews to three similar young female journalists. As ever with Hong, what seems simplistic and restrained gives way surprising complexity. As these conversations play out, so does our sense of grounding begin to shift. And whilst the boundary between reality and performance blurs, a powerful sense of a woman reclaiming her life and belief in herself begins to emerge. Yet another small miracle from this most singular of filmmakers.  …

Talk to Her was suggested by our member Sarah Halim, who writes: 'It’s a masterpiece & would be an excellent film to screen ahead of his new film, Bitter Christmas. This is the third time I’ve proposed the film, and third time’s the charm!' One of the most profoundly moving films in Almodóvar’s oeuvre, Talk to Her centres on the developing friendship between two strangers standing vigil over comatose women. Finding rapport in their shared loneliness, the two men establish an unlikely intimacy. Even given its most audacious stylistic gambit, the film of considerable restraint and delicate, beautifully wrought emotion; now viewed as one of the director’s finest achievements, it won Almodóvar the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.…

Satoshi's Kon's visionary and mind-melting anime Paprika returns for its 20th anniversary. Prepare to enter the realm of fantasy and imagination - where reality and dreams collide in a kaleidoscopic mindscape of sheer visual genius. The film centres on a revolutionary machine that allows scientists to enter and record a subject's dream - (the inspiration for Christopher Nolan's Inception). After being stolen, a fearless detective and brilliant therapist join forces to recover the device - before it falls into the hands of a 'dream terrorist' in this gripping anime thriller from acclaimed director Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers). All screenings are in Japanese with English subtitles.…

New digital restoration. A Russian poet, Andrei, conducts research in Italy on a composer from his homeland. There, he meets old Domenico, a man many consider insane. Domenico entrusts him with a highly original mission: to cross the Bagno Vignoni thermal bath with a lighted candle.…

For years, Grandma Shurou from Chaoshan has lived on the letters and remittances from her husband who left for Nanyang to survive the war and never returned. When her debt-ridden grandson Xiaowei secretly travels to Thailand to find his rumoured 'millionaire' grandpa, he returns with shocking news: his grandpa is long gone, and the person Grandma has exchanged letters with for years is a stranger. As Xiaowei digs deeper, a long-buried misunderstanding spanning three generations begins to unravel, revealing a truth that binds two families across borders and time. The Garden Cinema View: Continuing writer-director Lan Hongchun's long-standing exploration of Teochew culture, Dear You brings to the screen the rarely explored history of Chaoshanese migration to Southeast Asia after the Chinese Civil War. This regional specificity, however, becomes the source of its emotional universality. Produced on a modest budget with a largely non-professional cast, the film became an unexpected box-office phenomenon in China, the latest addition to the recent trend of low-budget, word-of-mouth hits such as Backrooms and Obsession. This appeal here lies not in spectacle but in its almost religious faith in love, loyalty, and human connection. Although the film occasionally veers towards the theatrical, its sincerity remains disarming, and its emotional centre ultimately belongs to the female protagonists and to the handwritten qiaopi letters. In an age of instant communication, Dear You quietly restores the beauty of slow correspondence and the enduring bonds that transcend time and distance. In Teochew with English and simplified Chinese subtitles.…

On Wednesday 12 August 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.…

The screening on Wednesday 12 August will be introduced by Garden Cinema team member, writer and filmmaker Sarah Grice. No synopsis can do it justice: Cary Grant plays a stuffy palaeontologist who meets the anarchically free-spirited Katharine Hepburn. She has a pet leopard (the titular Baby, seamlessly inserted into scenes where one swipe of claws could have ended a Hollywood heart-throb's career). It also involves a missing dinosaur bone, a million-dollar donation and perhaps the most competitive game of golf ever. Hawks powers through all of this, keeping his performers busy with a torrent of one-liners and physical comedy moves that only the extremely talented could even hope to grapple with. It's perfect. - The Guardian…

With Iran and the world once again on the brink, Coup 53 feels less like history and more like a warning. In 1953, a military coup led by British MI6 backed by the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. His crime: nationalising the country's oil. The truth behind that original regime change for oil was buried for decades. Iranian director Taghi Amirani spent ten years uncovering what really happened. Working with legendary editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Conversation) and a gripping performance by Ralph Fiennes, the film unfolds like a John le Carré spy thriller - except every word is true. Coup 53 exposes the roots of today's tensions with rare clarity and urgency. A documentary. A detective story. A reckoning. The film is showing at the Garden Cinema in collaboration with the Iranian Film Club. The screening on 31 July was followed by a Q&A with director Taghi Amirani and Academy Award-winning editor Walter Murch, hosted by the Iranian Film Club's Zhaleh Bahraini.…

Bouchra, a 35-year-old Moroccan coyote in New York documents her long-distance relationship with her mother in Casablanca, as they explore together the love, pain and secrets that unite them through calls and intimate conversations. The Garden Cinema View: It's remarkable how successfully this anthropomorphic animation manages to capture the nuances of the strained relationship between a conservative Moroccan mother and her lesbian daughter. Coyotes, cows, and bears are enlisted to convey the push and pull between tradition and modernity, local community and diasporic life, contemporary queer dating and friendship. Although the animal faces can often obstruct the emotionality of a scene, the directors' decision to employ as voice actors themselves and their own mothers, counterbalances this issue and the result is remarkably human. Mysterious and sensual, with a distinct noir feel, Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani's debut feature is creatively brave and emotionally resonant.…

Joe and Angela's marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places. Have they reignited the spark or lit the match that burns it all down? The Garden Cinema View: If, like us, the sight of an all celebrity cast raises an eyebrow of cinephile suspicion, think again. Olivia Wilde amazes with her third feature, a taut, hyperintense chamber piece about sex, stale marriages, foursomes, and the quiet ways we let ourselves go. A perfect storm of happy occasions, it's built on the airtight script by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (based on the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs), which is by turns hilarious, unpredictable, and emotionally raw. This script is matched by an exceptional ensemble; their rare chemistry is galvanised by improvisation and uproarious levity (although Penelope Cruz and Seth Rogan clearly steal the show). As Yorgos Mavropsaridis (Lanthimos' permanent collaborator) edits, the mix shifts from a high-paced sitcom style in the first part to a moving finale with real pathos in the second. A comedy thriller with a streak of Bergman at its heart, while channelling Esther Perel along the way - this is your essential warm summer night watch. Whether you bring your neighbours along is up to you.…

New digital restoration. Alexander is an old writer living in seclusion on a Swedish island. During an evening with friends, he learns that a global nuclear war has broken out, which means the end of the world is coming. Alexander is ready to sacrifice everything to get things back to the way they were, and is told that the local witch might be able to grant his wish.…

Our screening on Friday 7 August will be followed by a Q&A with director Charlie McDowell. The Summer Book follows an intergenerational family spending a transformative summer at their rustic vacation home on an unspoiled, remote island in the Gulf of Finland. Adapted from Tove Jansson’s beloved novel, the film explores grief, nature, and the delicate bonds between a young girl, her wise grandmother (Glenn Close), and her grieving father (Anders Danielsen Lie). The Garden Cinema View: This suitably languorous adaptation of Tove Jansson’sclassic novel is an invitation to immerse yourself on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. Director Charlie McDowell adheres to the episodic structure of the book, allowing the loose plot to spool out in a series of charming vignettes. The film is more explicitly weighted with a grief that Jansson only hints at, and Hania Rani’s score, whilst sensitive and calming, feels emotionally leading at times. And perhaps unnecessary, as the sounds of the island – the tide, the breeze, the birds, and the occasional boat – combine with Sturla Brandth Grøvlen’s textured 16mm cinematography to transportive effect. Admittedly, the choice to film in English is a little distancing. Glenn Close is nonetheless reliably superb as Grandma, and the experience is somewhat akin to watching a Ghibli (Jansson was an undeniable influence on Hayao Miyazaki) film dubbed. A film in a minor key, but a nourishing watch.…

With Iran and the world once again on the brink, Coup 53 feels less like history and more like a warning. In 1953, a military coup led by British MI6 backed by the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. His crime: nationalising the country's oil. The truth behind that original regime change for oil was buried for decades. Iranian director Taghi Amirani spent ten years uncovering what really happened. Working with legendary editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Conversation) and a gripping performance by Ralph Fiennes, the film unfolds like a John le Carré spy thriller - except every word is true. Coup 53 exposes the roots of today's tensions with rare clarity and urgency. A documentary. A detective story. A reckoning. The film is showing at the Garden Cinema in collaboration with the Iranian Film Club. The screening on 31 July was followed by a Q&A with director Taghi Amirani and Academy Award-winning editor Walter Murch, hosted by the Iranian Film Club's Zhaleh Bahraini.…

Picnic at Hanging Rock was suggested by our member Molly Thomas, who writes: 'This is one of my favourite films of all time and widely considered to be one of the truly great examples of the Australian New Wave. Its dream logic has had a huge impact on the cinematic canon (like the work of Sofia Coppola) and it’s odd and wonderful.' On Valentine’s Day 1900, students from Appleyard College, a girls’ private school in Victoria, Australia, embark on a field trip to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite rules against it, several of the girls wander off. It’s not until the end of the day that the group realise that some of their party have mysteriously disappeared. Returning to the big screen to celebrate its 50th anniversary in a dazzling restoration, Peter Weir’s adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s novel has lost none of its mystique or mesmerising power. A significant influence on the work of Sofia Coppola, Picnic at Hanging Rock has become a landmark for its dreamlike exploration of the intensely romantic, yet profoundly unsettling, experience of girlhood and burgeoning sexuality. It’s a wonderful, haunting treat. Please note, the screening on Thursday 13 August is our free members' screening, whilst Tuesday 18 August is a regular screening, which is open to the general public.…

Our preview screening on Thursday 13 August will be followed by a Q&A with Sian Clifford. Lady is an off-beat comedy about a lonely, narcissistic aristocrat who dupes a struggling, opportunistic director into filming her every move. But her obsession with the spotlight takes a surreal turn when she starts becoming… invisible. Blending mockumentary and magical realism, Lady satirises our desperate need to feel seen. The Garden Cinema View: What initially manifests as slightly mean-spirited satire of upper class pomposity and eccentricity morphs into moving rebuke of exploitative filmmaking and media (Netflix). Lady is propelled by a ferocious and precocious performance by Sian Clifford as the titular aristocrat dealing with delusions of grandeur, her own self-esteem, and some unexpected body horror. Much of your enjoyment will ride or die on Clifford’s scenery chewing. Whilst the film is ostensibly in a comic register, it is often more disturbing than actually funny. Lady shares some of the fascinatingly peculiar sadness found in Grey Gardens, or at least the Documentary Now! spoof version: ‘Sandy Passage’.…

Set on Vancouver Island in the late 1990s, Blue Heron follows eight-year-old Sasha and her Hungarian immigrant family as they attempt to build a new life, only to be destabilised by the increasingly dangerous behaviour of her older brother, Jeremy. Drawing on her own memories, filmmaker Sophy Romvari shapes a deeply personal portrait of childhood, family fractures, and the fragility of recollection. The Garden Cinema View: Sophy Romvari’s feature debut should strike a chord with anyone who grew up, or raised children, during the 1990s. She evokes such an authentic sense of family dynamics, and time and place, that as the temporality and narrative starts to shift, the viewer begins to feel they are moving through lived memories. Blue Heron presents us with an idyllic Vancouver Island setting. But this is also an isolated location, and one which sets the loneliness of living with a difficult child/sibling into relief. The strain of home life, and the worrying lack of support available, are juxtaposed against this stunning coastal environment which, in such circumstances, feels like the edge of the world. Romvari’s unusual and exciting directorial choices in the latter stage of the film move Blue Heron into a study of the representation of memory itself, evoking but never forcing strong emotions. Not only is this an impressive debut, but it’s one of the year’s best films.     Our 15:00 screening on Saturday 27 June was followed by an in-person Q&A with director Sophy Romvari.…

The screening on 25 July will be introduced by Andrew Heskins, film critic and founder of easternKicks.com, who will also lead a post-screening film discussion group. Presented in a newly restored version. Once a Thief stands as one of John Woo’s final Hong Kong productions before his move to Hollywood in 1993, and a delightful departure from his signature heroic bloodshed films. Inspired in part by François Truffaut’s Jules and Jim, the film reworks the emotional dynamics of the French classic into a breezy, globe-trotting adventure, blending action, romance, comedy, and suspense with Woo’s hallmark fascination with friendship and loyalty. Shot across Hong Kong and France, it brings together three superstars - Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, and Cherie Chung -at the height of their fame, whose sparkling on-screen chemistry lies at the heart of the film’s enduring appeal. Joe (Chow Yun-fat), James (Leslie Cheung), and Cherie (Cherie Chung) are three orphans raised by a criminal mentor and groomed to become master jewel thieves. Bound by a lifelong friendship that gradually gives way to more complicated feelings, the trio navigate a world of deception, danger, and divided loyalties……

This version adds 15 minutes of brand-new material after the end credits, created by director Kane Parsons. A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom in this adaptation of the global phenomenon from Kane Parsons. The Garden Cinema View: The liminal space may well come to be seen as a defining aesthetic of early 21st Century American media. Lorcan Finnegan’s Vivarium (2019), Lynch’s Inland Empire (2006), Genki Kawamura’s recent J-horror Exit 8, Kyle Edward Ball’s Skinamarink (2022), and Apple TV’s hit series Severance have all drawn from this uncanny and bland visual form that frequently refers to Mark Z. Danielewski’s novel House of Leaves (2000). Despite its relative freshness, then-16 year old YouTuber Kane Parsons’ Backrooms web series has quickly become one of touchstones of the form. Parsons is now a (still) very young (20) feature filmmaker with this big screen translation featuring Oscar-nominated lead actors and horror-royalty producers (Osgood Perkins, James Wan). There’s a degree of psychological shallowness and missed symbolism given the professions (therapist and architect) of his protagonists, but Parsons is seemingly more interested in the atmosphere and the appearance of the backrooms themselves. For a film that shares DNA with Charlie Kaufman’s Being John Malkovich and Synecdoche New York, its perhaps fitting to learn that over 30,000 square feet of actual backrooms were built as a set. And although Backrooms settles down into a fun thrill ride rather than a truly unsettling exploration of liminality, moving through these spaces is always a strangely alluring and disconcerting experience.  …

For this film, Anuparna Roy was the winner of the Best Director award in the Horrizonti section, Venice Film Festival 2025. Thooya (Naaz Shaikh), a migrant and aspiring actress, spends her days moonlighting as a sex worker in her apartment, attending virtual therapy, and shedding her inhibitions in acting class. New to Mumbai, Thooya rents out her spare room to the quiet Shweta (Sumi Baghel), who works in a call centre and is also new to Mumbai. Taking a little time to warm up, they soon start to build a connection, one in which they rely on each other, building their own cocoon far away from the noise and challenges of the oppressive city. But as the realities of how the two women live their lives begin to clash, the fragile bond is tested.   The Garden Cinema View: There’s a singular trace of DNA that links Anuparna Roy’s film to the clear-eyed depictions of sex work in Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls, as well as the rhythms of the unusual apartment shares in Tsai Ming-liang’s slow cinema classics Vive L’amour or The Hole. Songs of Forgotten Trees is a quiet film, clear sighted about life and survival in thrumming Mumbai, and (mainly) unmelodramatic. What arises out of moments of dead time and work is a deep sense of female friendship; a bond that helps two different migrants find support and understanding, despite difficult circumstances. An intriguing and poetic debut feature that marks Roy as a filmmaker to watch.…

Our preview screening on Thursday 13 August will be followed by a Q&A with Sian Clifford. Lady is an off-beat comedy about a lonely, narcissistic aristocrat who dupes a struggling, opportunistic director into filming her every move. But her obsession with the spotlight takes a surreal turn when she starts becoming… invisible. Blending mockumentary and magical realism, Lady satirises our desperate need to feel seen. The Garden Cinema View: What initially manifests as slightly mean-spirited satire of upper class pomposity and eccentricity morphs into moving rebuke of exploitative filmmaking and media (Netflix). Lady is propelled by a ferocious and precocious performance by Sian Clifford as the titular aristocrat dealing with delusions of grandeur, her own self-esteem, and some unexpected body horror. Much of your enjoyment will ride or die on Clifford’s scenery chewing. Whilst the film is ostensibly in a comic register, it is often more disturbing than actually funny. Lady shares some of the fascinatingly peculiar sadness found in Grey Gardens, or at least the Documentary Now! spoof version: ‘Sandy Passage’.…

Due to high demand, we've increased the capacity of this event. The cocktail hour will still happen in the Atrium Bar, but after this the audience will be split across Screens 2 and Screen 3 for the film. Seating will be allocated as usual, so please check your booking to see which screen and seat you will be in. This event was suggested by member Mark Brisenden, who writes: 'Loved The Great Beauty party, the martinis were lovely. In the event of another martini evening - which would be most welcome - the opening of a movie that contains my favourite martini/cocktail moment is The Thin Man starring William Powell and Myrna Loy.' On Friday 14 August, as we near the end of our Screwball Summer, join us for a martini cocktail hour in the Atrium Bar, followed by a screening of The Thin Man. The cocktails will be stirred up (in perfect waltz time) with our bar manager's preferred MARTINI Riserva Speciale Ambrato - a premium vermouth that effortlessly blends traditional craftsmanship with modern flair. A swell playlist of our favourite big band tunes from the height of Hollywood's Golden Age will be playing, and you'll have plenty of time to hobnob with chums & fellow members alike, prior to the film. Event timings: 19:00  Doors open for martini cocktail hour in the Atrium Bar 20:50  Screen doors open 21:00  Screenings of The Thin Man in Screen 2 and Screen 3 22:45  Expected finish Tickets for this event are £17.50 each, and include a complimentary gin martini and an allocated seat for the film. They are restricted to 2 per member, so you can bring a fellow martini-lover along, even if they're not a member. About the film: The Thin Man (1934) is the first instalment of a popular series of six films casting a sophisticated, glamorous, pleasure-seeking, and urbane husband-wife detective team (William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles). It became one of the defining films of the classic era in the comedy-detective subgenre. The film's murder mystery story took a back seat to the romantic screwball comedy, featuring the splendid, snappy and flirty banter between the rich, carefree married couple. They were known for sleuthing, solving murders, wisecracking one-liners, affectionate witticisms, delightful teasing and one-upmanship, alcoholic fun with plenty of martinis (two years after the end of Prohibition), a wire-haired terrier named Asta (actually named Skippy), and a loving relationship - often punctuated with quick kisses and slight hiccups. About MARTINI Riserva Speciale Ambrato: Made from Moscato Bianco wines and infused with a carefully selected mix of rare botanicals, MARTINI Riserva Speciale Ambrato boasts a medium-bodied profile with floral and honeyed notes, complemented by a subtle sherry-like richness. The addition of yellow cinchona bark introduces a delicate bitterness, adding complexity and depth to its taste. This refined vermouth is perfect for those who appreciate life’s finer moments and the art of good company. Website | Instagram…

The screening on 16 August will be followed by a Q&A with director Robin Mahoney, hosted by Sam Tyler, creator of the Sonic Fields Podcast. The year is 1993. The BBC cameras haven’t arrived yet. A hundred thousand people are in a Somerset field, completely unobserved, completely themselves. Shot in Panavision CinemaScope, Glastonbury The Movie captured the real festival, not the headline acts, but the stone circle at sunrise, the rave tents, the wandering poets, The Verve at their very first festival appearance. No voiceover. No presenter. Just Glastonbury, as it was. Now digitally restored for the big screen, thirty years on.…

The classic muppet adventure becomes a comedy treat: a big-budget pirate musical with lashings of trademark Muppet lunacy. Young Jim Hawkins is given a map to buried treasure and sets sail with Rizzo the rat, Gonzo and Kermit to claim the loot. The voyage is anything but smooth sailing when the conniving crew, headed by dastardly Long John Silver, turn against them. Chaos, celebrity cameos and song-and-dance numbers ensue. 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.…

For this film, Anuparna Roy was the winner of the Best Director award in the Horrizonti section, Venice Film Festival 2025. Thooya (Naaz Shaikh), a migrant and aspiring actress, spends her days moonlighting as a sex worker in her apartment, attending virtual therapy, and shedding her inhibitions in acting class. New to Mumbai, Thooya rents out her spare room to the quiet Shweta (Sumi Baghel), who works in a call centre and is also new to Mumbai. Taking a little time to warm up, they soon start to build a connection, one in which they rely on each other, building their own cocoon far away from the noise and challenges of the oppressive city. But as the realities of how the two women live their lives begin to clash, the fragile bond is tested.   The Garden Cinema View: There’s a singular trace of DNA that links Anuparna Roy’s film to the clear-eyed depictions of sex work in Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls, as well as the rhythms of the unusual apartment shares in Tsai Ming-liang’s slow cinema classics Vive L’amour or The Hole. Songs of Forgotten Trees is a quiet film, clear sighted about life and survival in thrumming Mumbai, and (mainly) unmelodramatic. What arises out of moments of dead time and work is a deep sense of female friendship; a bond that helps two different migrants find support and understanding, despite difficult circumstances. An intriguing and poetic debut feature that marks Roy as a filmmaker to watch.…

Select Japan invites you to the perfect summer afternoon screening, Katsuhito Ishii's warm and wonderfully surreal The Taste of Tea. The screening will be introduced by independent programmer and Garden Cinema team member Ronja Blight. Filmmaker Katsuhito Ishii takes a break from the post-Tarantino excess of such highly-stylised outings as Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl for this low-key look at an eccentric family residing in a quiet countryside town just north of Tokyo. The Haruno family is a five-piece clan living the simple life in Japan. The summer sun shining gently down, this quiet quintet is transformed into a six-piece when urban-dwelling uncle Ayano (Tadanobu Asano), a successful music producer, arrives to visit his family and confront his feelings for the ex-girlfriend who married another man after Ayano moved to the city. As the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.…

The screening on 15 August will be introduced by Ching Wong, co-curator of Forever Foreigner: The Films of Clara Law film series and Programme Director of Hong Kong Festival UK.  Autumn Moon, winner of the Golden Leopard at the 1992 Locarno Film Festival, is the fourth film in Clara Law’s loose 'emigration series,' following They Say the Moon is Fuller Here (1985), The Other Half and the Other Half (1988), and Farewell China (1990). Written by Law’s longtime collaborator and partner Eddie Fong, the film is a poetic meditation on identity, belonging, and the elusive idea of home, while reflecting Law’s distinctive transnational sensibility through its interplay of languages, cultures, and perspectives. Set in a city marked by departure and transition, Autumn Moon centres on Pui-wai, a 15-year-old girl awaiting emigration to Canada, and Tokio, a drifting Japanese tourist. Through a series of shared meals and conversations, the two develop a quiet bond that eases their mutual sense of loneliness and displacement. Capturing the uncertainty and emotional dislocation of Hong Kong’s emigration wave before 1997, the film also foreshadows Law and Fong’s own move to Australia just two years later. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London.…

Award-winning auteur Carol Morley hit the bottle so hard in the eighties, she couldn’t remember much about it. Returning to Manchester after years in London, she filmed personal friends (and enemies) as they tried to fill her alcohol-induced memory gaps. Morley takes a daring approach to give us a snapshot of a city on the brink of cultural explosion. As usual, the cinemaobsessive will deliver what it's famous for: tantalising and unique prizes! TheCinemaObsessive is a project founded by Ennis Barnett. It celebrates and platforms cinema culture in London, exploring how cinemas spaces can create and foster communities, while encouraging debate and discourse. The project is focused on screening films around the cinema experience. We will be handing out a complimentary pale ale courtesy of the wonderful Lost and Grounded Brewers.…

Join Fruits on Film for the launch event and screening of our exciting new strand on Queer Cinema. The evening will include badge making, cocktails, and karaoke. Tickets for this event are £15 for members (restricted to 2 per member, so you can bring a guest for the same price), and £18 to non-members. Tickets include access to the strand launch after party which will include the complimentary badge making and access to karaoke in our Atrium Bar after the film. Event timings: 18:30  Door open & pre-screening drinks 19:00  Screening starts 20:30  Screening finishes 20:30  Karaoke, badge making and drinks in the Atrium Bar 22:30  Event ends About Totally F***ed Up: A delirious mix of punk nihilism and deadpan irony, the first film in Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy puts an audaciously queer spin on Jean-Luc Godard’s classic Masculin Féminin. Across fifteen jagged episodes, Totally F***ed Up plunges headlong into the lives of a group of queer, disaffected Los Angeles teenagers who form a kind of makeshift family as they navigate desire and heartbreak, societal and familial rejection, and the alienation of growing up gay in an era of relentless moralising. Content warning: Contains depictions and references to drug use, explicit sexual content, suicide, homophobia, and violence. A note from the Fruits on Film curators: Made with a small crew and shot on 16mm film by Araki himself, Totally F**cked Up is an intimate glimpse into the world of queer teen angst, lust, love, and the experiences of youth at the time. Araki did not shy away from the reality that there was a significant rise of suicide rates among LGBTQ+ youth during the time he made this film in the 1990s. With the AIDS crisis in full swing, and a socio-political climate in the US that encouraged LGBTQ+ discrimination, it was no wonder that so many queer youth were suffering relentlessly. Araki offers a window onto that suffering, and the vital importance of community and found family when everything feels like it's falling apart.…

Our preview screening on Thursday 13 August will be followed by a Q&A with Sian Clifford. Lady is an off-beat comedy about a lonely, narcissistic aristocrat who dupes a struggling, opportunistic director into filming her every move. But her obsession with the spotlight takes a surreal turn when she starts becoming… invisible. Blending mockumentary and magical realism, Lady satirises our desperate need to feel seen. The Garden Cinema View: What initially manifests as slightly mean-spirited satire of upper class pomposity and eccentricity morphs into moving rebuke of exploitative filmmaking and media (Netflix). Lady is propelled by a ferocious and precocious performance by Sian Clifford as the titular aristocrat dealing with delusions of grandeur, her own self-esteem, and some unexpected body horror. Much of your enjoyment will ride or die on Clifford’s scenery chewing. Whilst the film is ostensibly in a comic register, it is often more disturbing than actually funny. Lady shares some of the fascinatingly peculiar sadness found in Grey Gardens, or at least the Documentary Now! spoof version: ‘Sandy Passage’.…

The classic muppet adventure becomes a comedy treat: a big-budget pirate musical with lashings of trademark Muppet lunacy. Young Jim Hawkins is given a map to buried treasure and sets sail with Rizzo the rat, Gonzo and Kermit to claim the loot. The voyage is anything but smooth sailing when the conniving crew, headed by dastardly Long John Silver, turn against them. Chaos, celebrity cameos and song-and-dance numbers ensue. 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 Green Ray was suggested by our member Joni Tyler, who writes: 'Help us believe summer is coming by screening Rohmer’s The Green Ray for its 40th anniversary. So evocative, and such a great central character in the exasperating, indecisive Delphine (Marie Riviere.).' Eric Rohmer captures the ache of summertime sadness with exquisite poignancy in this luminous tale of self-exploration. The Jules Verne novel of the same name provides the loose inspiration for the story of Delphine (Marie Rivière), a dreamy, introverted young secretary who, reeling from a breakup with her boyfriend, faces the anxiety-inducing prospect of spending her summer vacation alone. As she bounces from a getaway in Cherbourg to the tourist-choked Alps to the sunny beaches of Biarritz, Delphine passes through a whirl of social activity—but through it all remains profoundly alone, searching for the true human connection that seems to perpetually elude her. As honest a portrait of loneliness, depression, and the longing for understanding as has ever been committed to film, The Green Ray stands as one of the most piercingly perceptive works by the French cinema’s keenest observer of human relationships. - The Criterion Collection…

The screening on 24 July will be introduced by Andrew Henskins, film critic and founder of easternKicks.com. Presented in a newly restored version. A Chinese Ghost Story is the landmark collaboration between director Ching Siu-tung and producer Tsui Hark, whose creative partnership would continue with two sequels. Loosely adapted from Pu Songling’s Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, the film reimagines a classic ghost story through an exhilarating blend of romance, horror, fantasy, action, and comedy. Its dreamlike visual style, innovative special effects, and haunting atmosphere remain as captivating today as ever. Leslie Cheung’s unforgettable theme song and Joey Wang’s enchanting performance as the ghost Nie Xiaoqian helped cement the film’s enduring legacy.  When the timid scholar Ning Choi-san (Leslie Cheung) seeks refuge in a deserted temple, he encounters the mysterious and beautiful Nie Xiaoqian (Joey Wang) and quickly falls in love. Unbeknownst to him, she is a ghost enslaved by a sinister tree demon and forced to lure men to their deaths. With the help of a wandering Taoist swordsman (Wu Ma), Ning sets out to free her from her supernatural fate, giving rise to a poignant love story suspended between the worlds of the living and the dead.…

Our preview screening on Thursday 13 August will be followed by a Q&A with Sian Clifford. Lady is an off-beat comedy about a lonely, narcissistic aristocrat who dupes a struggling, opportunistic director into filming her every move. But her obsession with the spotlight takes a surreal turn when she starts becoming… invisible. Blending mockumentary and magical realism, Lady satirises our desperate need to feel seen. The Garden Cinema View: What initially manifests as slightly mean-spirited satire of upper class pomposity and eccentricity morphs into moving rebuke of exploitative filmmaking and media (Netflix). Lady is propelled by a ferocious and precocious performance by Sian Clifford as the titular aristocrat dealing with delusions of grandeur, her own self-esteem, and some unexpected body horror. Much of your enjoyment will ride or die on Clifford’s scenery chewing. Whilst the film is ostensibly in a comic register, it is often more disturbing than actually funny. Lady shares some of the fascinatingly peculiar sadness found in Grey Gardens, or at least the Documentary Now! spoof version: ‘Sandy Passage’.…

The screening on 16 August will be followed by a Q&A with director Robin Mahoney, hosted by Sam Tyler, creator of the Sonic Fields Podcast. The year is 1993. The BBC cameras haven’t arrived yet. A hundred thousand people are in a Somerset field, completely unobserved, completely themselves. Shot in Panavision CinemaScope, Glastonbury The Movie captured the real festival, not the headline acts, but the stone circle at sunrise, the rave tents, the wandering poets, The Verve at their very first festival appearance. No voiceover. No presenter. Just Glastonbury, as it was. Now digitally restored for the big screen, thirty years on.…

Our preview screening on Thursday 13 August will be followed by a Q&A with Sian Clifford. Lady is an off-beat comedy about a lonely, narcissistic aristocrat who dupes a struggling, opportunistic director into filming her every move. But her obsession with the spotlight takes a surreal turn when she starts becoming… invisible. Blending mockumentary and magical realism, Lady satirises our desperate need to feel seen. The Garden Cinema View: What initially manifests as slightly mean-spirited satire of upper class pomposity and eccentricity morphs into moving rebuke of exploitative filmmaking and media (Netflix). Lady is propelled by a ferocious and precocious performance by Sian Clifford as the titular aristocrat dealing with delusions of grandeur, her own self-esteem, and some unexpected body horror. Much of your enjoyment will ride or die on Clifford’s scenery chewing. Whilst the film is ostensibly in a comic register, it is often more disturbing than actually funny. Lady shares some of the fascinatingly peculiar sadness found in Grey Gardens, or at least the Documentary Now! spoof version: ‘Sandy Passage’.…

The first Czech-Vietnamese feature film, Summer School, 2001 is a tender and deeply personal coming-of-age story exploring family, identity and belonging across cultures. Seventeen-year-old Kien returns to the Czech Republic after spending ten years in Vietnam. Reunited with a mother he barely remembers and a younger brother who isn't ready to forgive or forget, Kien must navigate family expectations, first love and the complexities of growing up between two worlds. Drawing on director Dužan Duong's own experiences, Summer School, 2001 offers a rare and authentic portrait of the first Vietnamese generation to grow up in the Czech Republic. Both intimate and universal, the film explores migration, adolescence, family relationships and the search for identity with warmth, humour and emotional honesty. Following acclaimed festival screenings and its UK premiere at Raindance Film Festival, Star Nhà Ease, in association with the Czech Centre, is proud to present this special screening as part of the film's UK theatrical rollout. The screening will include a special recorded introduction from director Dužan Duong. Czech & Vietnamese with English & Vietnamese subtitles ★★★★★ "A coming-of-age story, an immigrant story, a queer love story." – Letterboxd Review ★★★★★ "A beautiful debut. Tender and sensitive." – Audience Review About Star Nhà Ease Star Nhà Ease is an award-winning UK-based film and contemporary arts platform dedicated to championing Vietnamese and Vietnamese diaspora stories through cinema, visual arts and cultural programming. In 2025, co-founder Tuyet Van Huynh received the Excellence in Arts, Media and Entertainment Award at the Vietnam International Awards in recognition of her work promoting Vietnamese culture internationally.…

For this film, Anuparna Roy was the winner of the Best Director award in the Horrizonti section, Venice Film Festival 2025. Thooya (Naaz Shaikh), a migrant and aspiring actress, spends her days moonlighting as a sex worker in her apartment, attending virtual therapy, and shedding her inhibitions in acting class. New to Mumbai, Thooya rents out her spare room to the quiet Shweta (Sumi Baghel), who works in a call centre and is also new to Mumbai. Taking a little time to warm up, they soon start to build a connection, one in which they rely on each other, building their own cocoon far away from the noise and challenges of the oppressive city. But as the realities of how the two women live their lives begin to clash, the fragile bond is tested.   The Garden Cinema View: There’s a singular trace of DNA that links Anuparna Roy’s film to the clear-eyed depictions of sex work in Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls, as well as the rhythms of the unusual apartment shares in Tsai Ming-liang’s slow cinema classics Vive L’amour or The Hole. Songs of Forgotten Trees is a quiet film, clear sighted about life and survival in thrumming Mumbai, and (mainly) unmelodramatic. What arises out of moments of dead time and work is a deep sense of female friendship; a bond that helps two different migrants find support and understanding, despite difficult circumstances. An intriguing and poetic debut feature that marks Roy as a filmmaker to watch.…

The evening screening on Tuesday 18 August will be introduced by Professor Lucy Bolton. This wild tale of wacky wedlock from Preston Sturges takes off like a rocket and never lets up. Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert play Tom and Gerry, a married New York couple on the skids, financially and romantically. With Tom hot on her trail, Gerry takes off for Florida on a mission to solve the pair’s money troubles, which she accomplishes in a highly unorthodox manner. A mix of the witty and the utterly absurd, The Palm Beach Story is a high watermark of Sturges’s brand of physical comedy and verbal repartee, featuring sparkling performances from its leads as well as hilarious supporting turns from Rudy Vallee and Mary Astor as a brother and a sister ensnared in Tom and Gerry’s high jinks. - The Criterion Collection Lucy Bolton is Professor of Film Philosophy at Queen Mary University of London where she specialises in feminist film philosophy and film stardom. Her most recent book is The Feminist Film Philosophy Reader - out in March 2026 - and she is currently writing a book on ‘Philosophies of Film Stardom’.…

Picnic at Hanging Rock was suggested by our member Molly Thomas, who writes: 'This is one of my favourite films of all time and widely considered to be one of the truly great examples of the Australian New Wave. Its dream logic has had a huge impact on the cinematic canon (like the work of Sofia Coppola) and it’s odd and wonderful.' On Valentine’s Day 1900, students from Appleyard College, a girls’ private school in Victoria, Australia, embark on a field trip to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite rules against it, several of the girls wander off. It’s not until the end of the day that the group realise that some of their party have mysteriously disappeared. Returning to the big screen to celebrate its 50th anniversary in a dazzling restoration, Peter Weir’s adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s novel has lost none of its mystique or mesmerising power. A significant influence on the work of Sofia Coppola, Picnic at Hanging Rock has become a landmark for its dreamlike exploration of the intensely romantic, yet profoundly unsettling, experience of girlhood and burgeoning sexuality. It’s a wonderful, haunting treat. Please note, the screening on Thursday 13 August is our free members' screening, whilst Tuesday 18 August is a regular screening, which is open to the general public.…

Our preview screening on Thursday 13 August will be followed by a Q&A with Sian Clifford. Lady is an off-beat comedy about a lonely, narcissistic aristocrat who dupes a struggling, opportunistic director into filming her every move. But her obsession with the spotlight takes a surreal turn when she starts becoming… invisible. Blending mockumentary and magical realism, Lady satirises our desperate need to feel seen. The Garden Cinema View: What initially manifests as slightly mean-spirited satire of upper class pomposity and eccentricity morphs into moving rebuke of exploitative filmmaking and media (Netflix). Lady is propelled by a ferocious and precocious performance by Sian Clifford as the titular aristocrat dealing with delusions of grandeur, her own self-esteem, and some unexpected body horror. Much of your enjoyment will ride or die on Clifford’s scenery chewing. Whilst the film is ostensibly in a comic register, it is often more disturbing than actually funny. Lady shares some of the fascinatingly peculiar sadness found in Grey Gardens, or at least the Documentary Now! spoof version: ‘Sandy Passage’.…

The classic muppet adventure becomes a comedy treat: a big-budget pirate musical with lashings of trademark Muppet lunacy. Young Jim Hawkins is given a map to buried treasure and sets sail with Rizzo the rat, Gonzo and Kermit to claim the loot. The voyage is anything but smooth sailing when the conniving crew, headed by dastardly Long John Silver, turn against them. Chaos, celebrity cameos and song-and-dance numbers ensue. 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.…

For this film, Anuparna Roy was the winner of the Best Director award in the Horrizonti section, Venice Film Festival 2025. Thooya (Naaz Shaikh), a migrant and aspiring actress, spends her days moonlighting as a sex worker in her apartment, attending virtual therapy, and shedding her inhibitions in acting class. New to Mumbai, Thooya rents out her spare room to the quiet Shweta (Sumi Baghel), who works in a call centre and is also new to Mumbai. Taking a little time to warm up, they soon start to build a connection, one in which they rely on each other, building their own cocoon far away from the noise and challenges of the oppressive city. But as the realities of how the two women live their lives begin to clash, the fragile bond is tested.   The Garden Cinema View: There’s a singular trace of DNA that links Anuparna Roy’s film to the clear-eyed depictions of sex work in Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls, as well as the rhythms of the unusual apartment shares in Tsai Ming-liang’s slow cinema classics Vive L’amour or The Hole. Songs of Forgotten Trees is a quiet film, clear sighted about life and survival in thrumming Mumbai, and (mainly) unmelodramatic. What arises out of moments of dead time and work is a deep sense of female friendship; a bond that helps two different migrants find support and understanding, despite difficult circumstances. An intriguing and poetic debut feature that marks Roy as a filmmaker to watch.…

Hong Kong cinema’s Golden Age was a remarkable period spanning the late 1970s to the 1990s, during which the territory emerged as one of the world’s most prolific, dynamic and influential filmmaking centres. At its peak, Hong Kong produced hundreds of films annually and became the world’s second-largest film exporter after Hollywood. Yet its significance extended far beyond industrial output. The era was marked by an extraordinary convergence of creative talent, star power and genre innovation, generating films that captivated audiences across Asia and left a lasting impact on global cinema. This panel discussion draws on the perspectives and expertise of speakers from academic, and film industry backgrounds, who work closely with Hong Kong cinema. It will examine the historical, economic and cultural conditions that gave rise to Hong Kong cinema’s Golden Age; its relationship to the Hong Kong New Wave; and key filmmakers, stars, and landmark works that defined the era. It will also consider the role played by major studios and production companies, Hong Kong cinema’s exchanges with Hollywood, and other regional industries such as Taiwan, the factors behind its eventual decline, and the enduring legacy it continues to hold within world cinema today. Moderator: Millie Zhou is East Asia Film Programmer at Garden Cinema and the season curator of Hong Kong Golden Age 1985 – 1997. Speakers: James Mudge is the Festival Director of Focus Hong Kong and Chinese Visual Festival, and has been screening and releasing Hong Kong films around the UK for over 15 years, working with the British Film Institute, the Glasgow Film Theatre, and other organisations. He is a well-known international film critic and the Head Writer for the popular Asian cinema website easternKicks.com, specialising in Hong Kong cinema, and regularly gives talks at industry events around the world. James is also a film producer and writer working between the east and west, and is the owner of The Next Day, a UK-based film production, sales, communications and exhibition company. Prof Victor Fan is Professor of Film and Media Philosophy, King’s College London and a film festival consultant and moderator. He is also co-founder of ReMind Film Festival. He is the author of Cinema Approaching Reality: Locating Chinese Film Theory (University of Minnesota Press, 2015), Extraterritoriality: Locating Hong Kong Cinema and Media (Edinburg University Press, 2019), and Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy through Buddhism (University of Minnesota Press, 2022). This event is supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London.…

Rocco and His Brothers was suggested by our member Odette Bibb, who writes: 'Please can you screen Rocco and His Brothers, Visconti, 1960. It’s on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage 100 films that changed the collective memory of the country and is superb..' Italian maestro Luchino Visconti’s epic drama follows a mother and her five sons who move from a small town to Milan, changing their lives forever. This hypnotically beautiful tale of relocation, loss and sacrifice became a huge influence on the work of Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Starring the legendary Alain Delon in one of his most iconic roles, Rocco and His Brothers is considered one of the last neo-realist films and bridges the gap wonderfully between the old and the new in terms of both story and artistry…

Our preview screening on Thursday 13 August will be followed by a Q&A with Sian Clifford. Lady is an off-beat comedy about a lonely, narcissistic aristocrat who dupes a struggling, opportunistic director into filming her every move. But her obsession with the spotlight takes a surreal turn when she starts becoming… invisible. Blending mockumentary and magical realism, Lady satirises our desperate need to feel seen. The Garden Cinema View: What initially manifests as slightly mean-spirited satire of upper class pomposity and eccentricity morphs into moving rebuke of exploitative filmmaking and media (Netflix). Lady is propelled by a ferocious and precocious performance by Sian Clifford as the titular aristocrat dealing with delusions of grandeur, her own self-esteem, and some unexpected body horror. Much of your enjoyment will ride or die on Clifford’s scenery chewing. Whilst the film is ostensibly in a comic register, it is often more disturbing than actually funny. Lady shares some of the fascinatingly peculiar sadness found in Grey Gardens, or at least the Documentary Now! spoof version: ‘Sandy Passage’.…

The screening on 19 August will be introduced by James Mudge, the Festival Director of Focus Hong Kong. Presented in the restored version. Made in Hong Kong is the breakthrough work of Hong Kong auteur Fruit Chan and the first instalment of his celebrated '1997 Trilogy,' followed by The Longest Summer (1998) and Little Cheung (1999). Casting largely non-professional performers, the film marked the screen debut of Sam Lee, who would go on to become one of Hong Kong cinema’s most distinctive and prolific actors. Shot on a shoestring budget using leftover film, it nevertheless is a powerful and stylish portrait of youthful despair and urban alienation in Handover-era Hong Kong and attained classic status ever since. Set in a working-class housing estate, the film follows Autumn Moon, a teenage triad errand boy drifting through a cycle of petty crime and violence. After a schoolgirl’s suicide leaves behind two undelivered letters, Moon and his friends embark on a journey that intersects with the life of Ping, a young woman suffering from a terminal illness. As friendship, love, and loss converge, Moon is forced to confront the limits of his future in a world that offers few opportunities and little hope of escape.…

The screening on 20 August will be introduced by James Mudge, the Festival Director of Focus Hong Kong. Arrow Films, who released the film on the Blu-ray, will set up a pop-up stall at the screening. All About Ah-Long was one of the biggest box-office successes of its year and remains one of the most beloved films in Johnnie To’s filmography. Made well before the founding of Milkyway Image in 1996, it belongs to his commercial period while already revealing qualities that would later define his work: emotional restraint, a deep interest in male relationships, and an underlying sense of fate. Former motorcycle racer Ah-Long (Chow Yun-fat) raises his young son Porky on his own after a troubled past separates him from the boy’s mother, Por Por (Sylvia Chang). Living modestly but happily together, father and son share an unbreakable bond until Por Por unexpectedly re-enters their lives after a decade away. As old wounds resurface and difficult choices loom, Ah-Long is forced to confront what it truly means to love and let go.…

For this film, Anuparna Roy was the winner of the Best Director award in the Horrizonti section, Venice Film Festival 2025. Thooya (Naaz Shaikh), a migrant and aspiring actress, spends her days moonlighting as a sex worker in her apartment, attending virtual therapy, and shedding her inhibitions in acting class. New to Mumbai, Thooya rents out her spare room to the quiet Shweta (Sumi Baghel), who works in a call centre and is also new to Mumbai. Taking a little time to warm up, they soon start to build a connection, one in which they rely on each other, building their own cocoon far away from the noise and challenges of the oppressive city. But as the realities of how the two women live their lives begin to clash, the fragile bond is tested.   The Garden Cinema View: There’s a singular trace of DNA that links Anuparna Roy’s film to the clear-eyed depictions of sex work in Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls, as well as the rhythms of the unusual apartment shares in Tsai Ming-liang’s slow cinema classics Vive L’amour or The Hole. Songs of Forgotten Trees is a quiet film, clear sighted about life and survival in thrumming Mumbai, and (mainly) unmelodramatic. What arises out of moments of dead time and work is a deep sense of female friendship; a bond that helps two different migrants find support and understanding, despite difficult circumstances. An intriguing and poetic debut feature that marks Roy as a filmmaker to watch.…

Our preview screening on Thursday 13 August will be followed by a Q&A with Sian Clifford. Lady is an off-beat comedy about a lonely, narcissistic aristocrat who dupes a struggling, opportunistic director into filming her every move. But her obsession with the spotlight takes a surreal turn when she starts becoming… invisible. Blending mockumentary and magical realism, Lady satirises our desperate need to feel seen. The Garden Cinema View: What initially manifests as slightly mean-spirited satire of upper class pomposity and eccentricity morphs into moving rebuke of exploitative filmmaking and media (Netflix). Lady is propelled by a ferocious and precocious performance by Sian Clifford as the titular aristocrat dealing with delusions of grandeur, her own self-esteem, and some unexpected body horror. Much of your enjoyment will ride or die on Clifford’s scenery chewing. Whilst the film is ostensibly in a comic register, it is often more disturbing than actually funny. Lady shares some of the fascinatingly peculiar sadness found in Grey Gardens, or at least the Documentary Now! spoof version: ‘Sandy Passage’.…

Join Fruits on Film for the second film in its August launch series, with an introduction by Cine Brazil’s Annaís Berlim. Produced the year Brazil legalised women’s football, Onda Nova (New Wave) follows the shambolic ‘Gayvotas’ women’s team prepare for a symbolic match against Italy. Entwined with the film’s heady eroticism and comic, chaotic plot, directors Martins and Garcia include comic critiques and outright satire of life under military dictatorship. Banned on its first cinematic release in Brazil, this is a rare screening in the film’s recently restored glory – prepare to be swept up in a wild ride of footie, genderplay and spicy queer defiance! A note from the Fruits on Film curators: You could be forgiven for thinking that Martins and Garcia created Onda Nova with the prohibitions of the Brazilian censorship board as their checklist; the film runs the gamut of erotic scenes, unabashed queerness and undoubtedly scandalous subversions of gender. In one scene a character (called Potato) casually decides to get an abortion, a choice still heavily criminalised in Brazil today. These characters are so free, and act with such gay abandon, that we’re left both with hopefulness for future liberation and rage at what persists in reality. Content warnings: Explicit sexual content, strong language, homophobia, violence. About Annaís Berlim: Currently the VAWG Advice Centre Coordinator & LBTQ Specialist at Latin American Women's Aid (LAWA), a leading organisation providing vital support for Latin American women experiencing violence in England and Wales. LAWA runs the only refuges by and for Latin Americans in all Europe and the only by and for support for LGBTQ Latin She has been involved in Social Movements both locally and internationally and is a founder member of the Feminist Assembly of Latin Americans, where she co-lead community and cultural events, direct actions and many other activities plotting feminist futures and bringing the migrant perspective to feminist spaces in the city. Her Academic background in Social Sciences with focus on Cultural Policies and Management, her expertise coordinating a leading frontline service for the community and her involvement in grassroots collectives combined with her knowledge and experience on arts and culture production and management, brings a powerful understanding of how art is one of the most powerful tool to create social change and social impact. All her work is community-driven and focused on social transformation. About Cine Brazil:  Cine Brazil is a London-based organisation dedicated to bringing the diversity and creativity of Brazilian cinema to audiences in the UK and Europe. Through our programme, Cine Brazil aims to broaden the representation of Brazilian culture abroad, create space for meaningful connection through film, and support social impact initiatives in Brazil. Website…

Burning was suggested by our member Edmund Barns, who writes: 'I think this Korean psychological thriller is one of the best films of the last decade. When I saw it a few years ago it spoke profoundly to the malaise of my own generation; the rootless unease, disaffection and widening social inequity.' Burning (2018) is a South Korean psychological thriller about an aspiring writer named Jong-su who becomes consumed with obsession and paranoia after his childhood friend, Hae-mi, vanishes following a trip. Her disappearance centers around her wealthy, enigmatic new boyfriend, Ben, who harbors a dark, destructive hobby.…

A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life. The Garden Cinema View: Hot on the heels of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Matt Johnson brings us the unglamourous origin story of Anthony Bourdain. Although Tony adheres to a fairly formulaic 'early years' biopic structure there are pleasures to be had in what is also a vacation film (sitting somewhere between Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale and American Pie 2). The Cape Cod setting - charming-chintzy Provincetown and beautiful Upper Cape beaches – lends a sense of summer drift. Well-chosen music cues and excellent casting strongly evoke the period setting. Dominic Sessa, picking up where we left him in The Holdovers, seems destined to play pretentious young 1970s men in need of a few hard lessons. He’s joined by Leo Wodall as a perpetually hungover ‘Masshole’ Oyster shucker, and a wonderful Antonio Banderas as the mysterious Portuguese ‘Chef’, dressed like a sea captain and taking a guarded shine to the young Bourdain.…

Due to high demand, we've increased the capacity of this event. The drinks and cake will still be served in the Atrium Bar, but afterwards the audience will be split across Screens 2 and Screen 3 for the film. Seating will be allocated as usual, so please check your booking to see which screen and seat you will be in. To celebrate the start of our retrospective of Polish filmmaker Andrzej Żuławski, members are invited to join us on Friday 21 August for a special launch event. For the occasion, our Atrium Bar team will be serving up slices of traditional Polish cake, accompanied by a shot of the country's iconic hazelnut vodka, to sip alongside. Following these sweet treats, we'll head into the screens for Possession, arguably the director's most well-known film, starring none other than Isabelle Adjani and the late Sam Neill. The screening will be introduced by Daniel Bird, who will provide a bit more context about the film, as well as the season as a whole. Tickets for this event are £17 each, which includes a complimentary serving of cake and hazelnut vodka, as well as an allocated seat for the screening. They are restricted to 2 per member, so you can bring a guest, even if they're not a member of the cinema. * Please note, a coffee or tea alternative will be available to replace the vodka. We will have a vegetarian cake option available, but our supplier sadly cannot provide a vegan alternative for this event.   Event timings: 19:00-20:30  Cake and hazelnut vodka in the Atrium Bar 20:30-20:45  Introduction + screening of Possession in Screen 3 20:45-23:05  Introduction + screening of Possession in Screen 2 About the film: After returning home to West Berlin, international spy Mark is blindsided when his wife, Anna, abruptly requests a divorce without explanation. As he attempts to uncover the cause of her sudden detachment, he begins to monitor her, eventually discovering that she is hiding a series of complex and unsettling secrets. As Mark digs deeper, he is confronted with a progression of inexplicable and increasingly volatile events. His investigation descends into a psychological downward spiral, forcing him to navigate the blurring lines between his crumbling personal life and a reality that begins to defy logical explanation. Set in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, infused with Cold War-era paranoia and tension, Possession is a film that defies classification. One of the most tortured portraits of a disintegrating marriage ever presented on screen, visionary director Andrzej Żuławski masterfully blends horror and thriller conventions into an utterly unique cinema experience, drawing on his own traumatic divorce and creative blacklisting in his native Poland. About Daniel Bird: Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

Summer holidays at The Garden Cinema would not be complete without Monsieur Hulot. Jacques Tati’s endearing clown, takes a holiday at a seaside resort, where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another. Tati’s masterpiece of gentle slapstick is a series of effortlessly well-choreographed sight gags involving dogs, boats, and firecrackers; it was the first entry in the Hulot series and the film that launched its maker to international stardom. 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  …

Irene Dunne shines as a screwy heiress out of her inheritance in Gregory La Cava’s final screwball comedy. Lady in a Jam follows a psychiatrist (Patric Knowles) who is instructed by a guardian of heiress Jane Palmer (Dunne) to treat her after her irrational high spending leaves her broke, and in denial. Dr. Enright (Knowles) reluctantly joins his patient out west to search for gold in her grandfather’s mines, to which her pursuit is misconstrued as a return home by grandmother (Queenie Vassar) and childhood sweetheart (Ralph Bellamy). Lady in a Jam contains most of La Cava’s sensibilities and interests, from psychiatry to the social class system, and acts as a quite wonderful farewell to the screwball comedies of the 1930s. Presented and introduced by Gregory La Cava researcher Annabel Jessica Goldsmith.…

The screening on August 22nd will feature an introduction by writer Daniel Bird. Subsequent screenings of On the Silver Globe will feature a video introduction by writer Adam Żuławski. A small group of cosmic explorers, including a woman, leaves Earth to find freedom and start a new civilization. They do not realise that within themselves they carry the end of their own dream. They eventually die one by one, while their children revert to a primitive native culture, creating new myths and a new god. Some time later, a space bureaucrat, running from a broken heart, arrives and finds the colonizer's descendants enslaved by bird-monsters called Cherns. Society is divided into numerous classes, and everyone is waiting for the arrival of a messiah. The newcomer is considered a suitable candidate, and for some time he lives as a god. In 1977, as the film was approaching completion, the Polish government ordered the production to be shut down and all the negatives be destroyed. Miraculously, the original film reels were preserved and ten years later the film was presented at the Cannes Film Festival to great acclaim. On the Silver Globe stands as a testament to Żuławski’s cinematic genius and his daring approach to storytelling. Its surreal narrative, profound themes, and historical context make it a fascinating piece of cinematic history. Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life. The Garden Cinema View: Hot on the heels of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Matt Johnson brings us the unglamourous origin story of Anthony Bourdain. Although Tony adheres to a fairly formulaic 'early years' biopic structure there are pleasures to be had in what is also a vacation film (sitting somewhere between Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale and American Pie 2). The Cape Cod setting - charming-chintzy Provincetown and beautiful Upper Cape beaches – lends a sense of summer drift. Well-chosen music cues and excellent casting strongly evoke the period setting. Dominic Sessa, picking up where we left him in The Holdovers, seems destined to play pretentious young 1970s men in need of a few hard lessons. He’s joined by Leo Wodall as a perpetually hungover ‘Masshole’ Oyster shucker, and a wonderful Antonio Banderas as the mysterious Portuguese ‘Chef’, dressed like a sea captain and taking a guarded shine to the young Bourdain.…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

The screening on 22 August will be introduced by Prof Chris Berry (KCL). Presented in the restored Director's Cut version. Center Stage marks the fourth collaboration between Stanley Kwan and renowned screenwriter Chiu Kang-chien, following Love Unto Waste (1986), Rouge (1987), and Full Moon in New York (1989). Far from a conventional biopic, the film reimagines the life of silent-screen icon Ruan Lingyu - often dubbed the 'Chinese Garbo' - through a layered blend of period reconstruction, archival footage and documentary-style interviews, constantly shifting between history and its representation. Maggie Cheung’s extraordinary performance captures both Ruan’s vulnerability and star charisma, earning her the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival. Set in 1930s Shanghai, then the center of Chinese cinema, the film traces Ruan Lingyu’s rise to fame and the personal scandals that made her a target of the city’s tabloid press. As her private life becomes increasingly entangled with public scrutiny, tragedy looms. Interweaving past and present, screen and reality, Center Stage vividly recreates Old Shanghai while serving both as a homage to a legendary star and a reflection on stardom and the pressures faced by women in the public eye. © 2010 Fortune Star Media Limited. All Rights Reserved. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London.…

Summer holidays at The Garden Cinema would not be complete without Monsieur Hulot. Jacques Tati’s endearing clown, takes a holiday at a seaside resort, where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another. Tati’s masterpiece of gentle slapstick is a series of effortlessly well-choreographed sight gags involving dogs, boats, and firecrackers; it was the first entry in the Hulot series and the film that launched its maker to international stardom. On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children. The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you  …

This screening is presented in partnership with the Fashion Film Club and will be followed by a Q&A with Andrew Wilson author of I Wanna He Loved By You - Marilyn Monroe, A Life in 100 Takes, hosted by Fashion Film Club founder Sarah Bailey. Andrew will be signing copies of his book after the film. In one of her very best dramatic performances, Monroe is the sultry wife of Cotten’s unstable army veteran, whose presence and troubled relationship unsettles the honeymoon of another couple at Niagara Falls. Sensual, dazzling and conniving, Monroe’s femme fatale drives this thrilling noir. A famous sequence in which Monroe deploys a now iconic hip-swinging walk, demonstrates her skilful ability to use her body as an instrument to express character. (BFI)…

A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life. The Garden Cinema View: Hot on the heels of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Matt Johnson brings us the unglamourous origin story of Anthony Bourdain. Although Tony adheres to a fairly formulaic 'early years' biopic structure there are pleasures to be had in what is also a vacation film (sitting somewhere between Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale and American Pie 2). The Cape Cod setting - charming-chintzy Provincetown and beautiful Upper Cape beaches – lends a sense of summer drift. Well-chosen music cues and excellent casting strongly evoke the period setting. Dominic Sessa, picking up where we left him in The Holdovers, seems destined to play pretentious young 1970s men in need of a few hard lessons. He’s joined by Leo Wodall as a perpetually hungover ‘Masshole’ Oyster shucker, and a wonderful Antonio Banderas as the mysterious Portuguese ‘Chef’, dressed like a sea captain and taking a guarded shine to the young Bourdain.…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

The screening on August 23rd will be introduced by writer Daniel Bird. The screening on October 1st will be introduced by filmmaker Craig Williams. An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into committing a political assassination. Never shown theatrically in the UK upon it's original release and long available on DVD only, La Femme Publique will be screened during the season from the 2025 restoration by LCJ Editions. Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

Joint Security Area was suggested by our member Yaqi Gao, who writes: 'Joint Security Area (JSA) is not only a gripping mystery thriller, but also an emotional and human story. Directed by Park Chan-wook, the film explores the relationships between North and South Korean soldiers in the DMZ, balancing tension, humour, and heartfelt moments really well. The cinematography is also fantastic, with beautifully composed shots and a tense atmosphere that really draws you into the setting. Even though it deals with serious political themes, it’s very accessible and engaging, making it a film that’s easy to get absorbed in.' Before Oldboy and The Handmaiden, visionary filmmaker Park Chan-wook helmed this gripping tale of deceit, misunderstanding, and the senselessness of war. Gunfire breaks out in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea, leaving two North Korean soldiers dead while a wounded South Korean soldier (Lee Byung-hun, No Other Choice) flees to safety. With the tenuous peace between the two warring nations on a knife-edge, a neutral team of investigators, headed by Swiss Army Major Sophie Jean (Lee Young-ae, Lady Vengeance), is dispatched to question both sides to determine what really happened under cover of darkness out in no-man's land. The recipient of multiple accolades, including Best Film at South Korea's 2001 Grand Bell Awards, Joint Security Area showcases Park's iconic style in an embryonic form, and demonstrates that humanity and common purpose can be found in the most unlikely places.…

A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life. The Garden Cinema View: Hot on the heels of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Matt Johnson brings us the unglamourous origin story of Anthony Bourdain. Although Tony adheres to a fairly formulaic 'early years' biopic structure there are pleasures to be had in what is also a vacation film (sitting somewhere between Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale and American Pie 2). The Cape Cod setting - charming-chintzy Provincetown and beautiful Upper Cape beaches – lends a sense of summer drift. Well-chosen music cues and excellent casting strongly evoke the period setting. Dominic Sessa, picking up where we left him in The Holdovers, seems destined to play pretentious young 1970s men in need of a few hard lessons. He’s joined by Leo Wodall as a perpetually hungover ‘Masshole’ Oyster shucker, and a wonderful Antonio Banderas as the mysterious Portuguese ‘Chef’, dressed like a sea captain and taking a guarded shine to the young Bourdain.…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

Fruits on Film, our new Queer cinema strand launching earlier this month with Gregg Araki's Totally F**ed Up, are proud to present a special preview of the director's highly anticipated film, I Want Your Sex, ahead of its UK release. This screening will feature an introduction by the strand's head programmer Jaison Washington. The latest from New Queer Cinema pioneer Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin, The Doom Generation, White Bird In a Blizzard), I Want Your Sex tells the story of Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), a kind-hearted if unmotivated twentysomething whose fantasies quickly come true when he lands a job with renowned artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). When Erika breaks down office boundaries and takes Elliot on as her sexual muse and subordinate, their sexually charged relationship makes him question his own desires, boundaries, and relationships with his uptight girlfriend (Charli XCX) and repressed roommate (Chase Sui Wonders). As the stakes heighten and power dynamics shift, the film mixes satire, romantic comedy, mystery, and murder through the colourful and edgy visual language for which Araki is best known.…

Persepolis was suggested by our member Sarah Halim, who writes: ‘I’m proposing that we screen Persepolis as a tribute to the wonderfully talented Marjane Satrapi, following her recent untimely death of a broken heart'. Based on Satrapi's graphic novel about her life in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran and then in Europe. The film traces Satrapi's growth from child to rebellious, punk-loving teenager in Iran. In the background are the growing tensions of the political climate in Iran in the 70s and 80s, with members of her liberal-leaning family detained and then executed, and the background of the disastrous Iran/Iraq war. Please note, the screening on Monday 28 August is our free members' screening, whilst Thursday 3 September is a regular screening, which is open to the general public.…

Summer holidays at The Garden Cinema would not be complete without Monsieur Hulot. Jacques Tati’s endearing clown, takes a holiday at a seaside resort, where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another. Tati’s masterpiece of gentle slapstick is a series of effortlessly well-choreographed sight gags involving dogs, boats, and firecrackers; it was the first entry in the Hulot series and the film that launched its maker to international stardom. 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 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life. The Garden Cinema View: Hot on the heels of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Matt Johnson brings us the unglamourous origin story of Anthony Bourdain. Although Tony adheres to a fairly formulaic 'early years' biopic structure there are pleasures to be had in what is also a vacation film (sitting somewhere between Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale and American Pie 2). The Cape Cod setting - charming-chintzy Provincetown and beautiful Upper Cape beaches – lends a sense of summer drift. Well-chosen music cues and excellent casting strongly evoke the period setting. Dominic Sessa, picking up where we left him in The Holdovers, seems destined to play pretentious young 1970s men in need of a few hard lessons. He’s joined by Leo Wodall as a perpetually hungover ‘Masshole’ Oyster shucker, and a wonderful Antonio Banderas as the mysterious Portuguese ‘Chef’, dressed like a sea captain and taking a guarded shine to the young Bourdain.…

*Please note that whilst tickets for the Q&A screening of Full Moon in New York are currently sold out, Stanley Kwan will attend an in-person masterclass on 26 August and free registration is available here. The screening on 25 August will be followed by an in-person Q&A with the director Stanley Kwan, moderated by Prof Victor Fan (KCL). Full Moon in New York is a unique work within Stanley Kwan’s filmography and remains his only feature set primarily in an overseas city. Set against the growing tide of Chinese migration in the late twentieth century, Kwan offers a poignant reflection on displacement, belonging, and identity. The film also stands as one of his most accomplished explorations of female subjectivity, bringing together three richly drawn women portrayed by Maggie Cheung, Sylvia Chang, and Siqin Gaowa. Set in New York, the film follows three Chinese-speaking women from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China whose paths unexpectedly converge in a foreign land. A successful restaurateur, an aspiring actress, and a newly arrived immigrant bride each struggle with loneliness, cultural dislocation, and disappointments in love. Despite their differing backgrounds and experiences, they forge a profound bond through their shared sense of exile, making the film both a moving portrait of female friendship and a timeless story of immigrant life. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London.…

Our regular Members' Mingle returns on Tuesday 25 August! Join us in the Atrium Bar from 19:00 onwards to meet fellow members - think film chat with cinema enthusiasts, drinks, and a playlist of iconic songs from favourite features, curated by you! You can add your song suggestions for the evening's soundtrack here. Concerned the conversation might run dry? Fear not, as our bar team have you covered! Not only will your ticket include a complimentary drink in case you are in need of a bit of Dutch courage, but it will also come with a film-based prompt to serve as an icebreaker to introduce yourself to fellow members. Who knows, you might meet a like-minded cinephile to attend future screenings with! Tickets for the event are just £5, restricted to 1 per member, and include a token for your first drink on the house.…

Why cry in the sun when you can sulk in the pool? For the second year running, Zodiac Film Club brings you a programme of summer-set films with a dark side. Escape 2026’s spate of increasingly alarming heatwaves and dive with us into the blue, melancholy depths of sad swimming pool cinema. Crime writer Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) has grown bored of her fictional detective but is struggling to find new inspiration. Accepting her publisher’s offer of his country house in the South of France, she finds her creative process disrupted by the arrival of his hedonistic daughter, Julie, whose late nights and string of lovers disturb the repressed, introverted Sarah. François Ozon's Swimming Pool is the ultimate film about a writer in desperate need of a room of one's own… and what happens when that room comes with an uninvited guest. Nodding to iconic pool movies while diving deep into the dark discipline of creativity, it’s one of cinema’s most exquisite ruined vacations.…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life. The Garden Cinema View: Hot on the heels of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Matt Johnson brings us the unglamourous origin story of Anthony Bourdain. Although Tony adheres to a fairly formulaic 'early years' biopic structure there are pleasures to be had in what is also a vacation film (sitting somewhere between Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale and American Pie 2). The Cape Cod setting - charming-chintzy Provincetown and beautiful Upper Cape beaches – lends a sense of summer drift. Well-chosen music cues and excellent casting strongly evoke the period setting. Dominic Sessa, picking up where we left him in The Holdovers, seems destined to play pretentious young 1970s men in need of a few hard lessons. He’s joined by Leo Wodall as a perpetually hungover ‘Masshole’ Oyster shucker, and a wonderful Antonio Banderas as the mysterious Portuguese ‘Chef’, dressed like a sea captain and taking a guarded shine to the young Bourdain.…

The screening on the 26th of August will be introduced by writer Michael Brooke. The screenings on September the 11th and 27th will feature a video introduction by Andrzej Jaroszewicz, camera operator on The Devil and frequent collaborator of Andrzej Żuławski. During the Prussian army's invasion of Poland in 1793, a young Polish nobleman, Jakub, is saved from imprisonment by a stranger, who in return wants to obtain a list of his fellow conspirators. Following his mysterious savior across the country, Jakub sees the overall chaos and moral corruption, including his father's death and the betrayal of his friend who stole his fiancee. Becoming apparently demented by what he has seen, he commits a number of seemingly motiveless and gory killings. An allegory for the political crisis in Poland during 1968, when communist leaders created riots to punish student, the film was shelved upon completion by the government. It was accused of excess of violence and erotic scenes, but the political undertones of Żuławski’s film were more objectionable to the government. The film had to wait 16 years for its cinema premiere and was not released to the public until 1988. Before this happened, however, Żuławski was forced to leave Poland, deprived of the chance to make films in his country, he left for France to continue his career there.…

A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life. The Garden Cinema View: Hot on the heels of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Matt Johnson brings us the unglamourous origin story of Anthony Bourdain. Although Tony adheres to a fairly formulaic 'early years' biopic structure there are pleasures to be had in what is also a vacation film (sitting somewhere between Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale and American Pie 2). The Cape Cod setting - charming-chintzy Provincetown and beautiful Upper Cape beaches – lends a sense of summer drift. Well-chosen music cues and excellent casting strongly evoke the period setting. Dominic Sessa, picking up where we left him in The Holdovers, seems destined to play pretentious young 1970s men in need of a few hard lessons. He’s joined by Leo Wodall as a perpetually hungover ‘Masshole’ Oyster shucker, and a wonderful Antonio Banderas as the mysterious Portuguese ‘Chef’, dressed like a sea captain and taking a guarded shine to the young Bourdain.…

*Please note that whilst tickets for the Q&A screening of Red Rose White Rose are currently sold out, Stanley Kwan will attend an in-person masterclass on 26 August and free registration is available here. The screening on 27 August will be followed by an in-person Q&A with the director Stanley Kwan. Red Rose White Rose is adapted from one of Eileen Chang’s most celebrated novels of the same name. Renowned for his nuanced portrayals of women, Stanley Kwan creates two unforgettable female characters while also crafting a complex portrait of the conflicted male protagonist, in this sumptuous period melodrama. Through Kwan’s precise mise-en-scène, Christopher Doyle’s evocative cinematography, and Pan Lai’s elaborate production design, the glamorous yet melancholic world of old Shanghai is brought vividly to life. Set in 1930s and 1940s Shanghai, the story follows Tong Zhenbao, a young man recently returned from studying abroad. In his life, there are two women: the 'Red Rose,' Wang Jiaorui, the passionate and seductive wife of his friend, and the 'White Rose,' Meng Yanli, a respectable and proper woman whom he eventually marries. After an affair with the former gives way to marriage with the latter, Zhenbao finds himself caught between desire and convention, as lingering doubts, regrets, and unfulfilled longings haunt all three lives. Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London.…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl's alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can't help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories.…

Celebrate this beloved coming-of-age story from the legendary Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki, with this new restoration.   It is a tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and fly off into the wide world to learn their craft. When that night comes for Kiki, she embarks on her new journey with her sarcastic black cat, Jiji, landing the next morning in a seaside town, where her unique skills make her an instant sensation. Don’t miss this delightfully imaginative and timeless story of a young girl finding her way in the world. These screenings will play in the original Japanese version.…

I Want Your Sex tells the story of Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), a kind-hearted if unmotivated twentysomething whose fantasies quickly come true when he lands a job with renowned artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). When Erika breaks down office boundaries and takes Elliot on as her sexual muse and subordinate, their sexually charged relationship makes him question his own desires, boundaries, and relationships with his uptight girlfriend (Charli XCX) and repressed roommate (Chase Sui Wonders). As the stakes heighten and power dynamics shift, the film mixes satire, romantic comedy, mystery, and murder through the colourful and edgy visual language for which Araki is best known…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

Join us for the UK premiere of By Hook or By Crook’s restoration, introduced by Emily Simmons from Crip Cinema Archive. This is the last August screening in the cinema’s new strand, Fruits on Film. After his father’s death, and down to his last dollar, trans man Shy leaves his small town for the big city, hoping crime will earn him some cash. There he enlists Valentine, a quirky adoptee, into planning a bank heist. Amid their chaotic capers and close scrapes with the law, the two form a deep and loyal friendship, as Valentine repeatedly tries to contact his birth mother and avoid being committed to a mental asylum. A note from the Fruits on Film curators: Groundbreaking by the standards of any time period, By Hook or By Crook is a true hidden gem from the turn of the millennium for most. But in the trans community, the film has earned its reputation as a cult classic in the 25 years since it was made. The brilliance of director/co-stars Dodge and Howard is in their handling of intense subjects, done with care as well as levity. There is a hilarious and ongoing self-satire at play, told with the boldness borne out of experience; meanwhile, on-screen stories are dignified with individuality and specificity, a foil to Hollywood stereotypes and transphobic clichés. What shines most is the bond between the central characters Shy and Valentine, their commitment to each other’s humanity, and how they strive to co-create a world in which they can be safe. Their co-writer Stanya Kahn also stars as Val’s partner Billie, a relationship which models, with granular imperfections, how care and queerness interweave with disability allyship and solidarity. Content warnings: Substance abuse & addiction, mild violence & crime, coarse language. About Emily Simmons: Emily Simmons is a programmer and researcher based in London. They are the creator and curator of Crip Cinema Archive, documenting disability on screen. About Crip Cinema Archive: Crip Cinema Archive is documenting disability on screen. The archive defines ‘crip cinema’ as films that speak to something about the crip experience, speak to crip audiences, or that have a crip writer, director, or lead actor. Crip cinema has a fraught history - one of stereotypes, omissions, and repression. This project intends to create a resource for disabled filmmakers and film lovers seeking out crip cinema; to be a launching pad for further discussions about how to define crip cinema; what it is, what it isn’t, and what it could be; and to imagine better crip film futures - in front of and behind the lens - and make them a reality. Follow their work on Instagram or by subscribing to their newsletter. Accessibility: Please see our accessibility page here for more information. This screening will have 2 wheelchair spaces available. To reserve these please contact us at info@draft-garden2026.superwire.co.uk or call us on 020 3369 5000.…

The screening on October 4th will be introduced by writer Daniel Bird. The screening on October 15th will be introduced by filmmaker Craig Williams. Michał, a reserved anthropology professor, uncovers the perfectly preserved remains of a 3,000-year-old shaman during an excavation in a marsh. Around the same time, he meets a mysterious, impulsive young woman known only as 'the Italian.' Drawn to her raw, untamed energy, Michał begins a feverish and increasingly destructive affair with her. As their relationship spirals into obsession, he becomes haunted by visions connected to the ancient shaman. The boundaries between science and mysticism, reason and primal instinct, begin to dissolve, pulling Michał into a world where erotic desire and death become inseparably intertwined. Iwona Petry, who played the mysterious 'Italian,' had no prior acting experience. Żuławski reportedly discovered her in a Warsaw café and offered her the lead role on the spot. Due to its graphic sexuality and critiques of religious and social norms, the film caused major controversy in Poland. Some nicknamed it 'Last Tango in Warsaw,' and screenings were limited in certain areas. Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

Truth or Consequence is a concert film in which Amyl and the Sniffers perform country-influenced versions of their songs, two unreleased tracks, and a cover of the Slim Dusty classic 'Lights On The Hill'. It was recorded and filmed in front of an intimate and increasingly rowdy audience at El Coyote in Los Angeles, by the band's long-time collaborator, John Angus Stewart. Screening alongside Amyl and The Sniffers 2025 concert film Live at Ally Pally. About Amyl and the Sniffers: Australia's most explosive rock export, four wins at Australia's top music awards in 2025 including Best Group and Best Album, a GRAMMY nomination, and strong album chart positions worldwide. Raw, chaotic, and often very funny live, their punchy lyrics take on everything from climate crisis to modern dystopia. They've played Coachella, Glastonbury and Primavera, supported Foo Fighters and Green Day, and sold-out headline shows across Europe, the UK, Japan, and beyond, most recently a 2026 US arena tour.…

Like childhood, animation is full of wonder and simple pleasures. This carefully chosen programme for our littlest and most special audience contains 8 of the best, wonderful short animated films, full of joy, from all around the world. There’ll be talking animals, seriously fun adventures and wondrous tales to spark those little imaginations. This delightful selection of films includes Matilda, a very brave pig, a little hamster who befriends a giant plant creature, some delightful, singing, fluorescent critters and several other charming creatures, characters and stories. For more information about the London International Animation Festival and our programmes please check out our website at https://liaf.org.uk/ Matilda and the Brave Escape Narrated by Bella Ramsey. After being raised on a pig farm in the UK, Matilda the pig decides to undergo a brave and daring escape in order to save herself and her piglets. However, the farmers have a different plan for Matilda and set out to bring her back. UK 2024 Dir: Ash Reed 7 mins Buckshot Tension boils over when a neighbour goes next door to borrow a saucepan. UK 2024 Dir: Trevor Hardy 8 mins Passing By A girl unexpectedly bumps into her childhood best friend and finds herself torn between rekindling their lost connection or letting the moment slip away forever. South Korea 2025 Dir: Hanna Kang 9 mins The Little One and the Giant In a world recovering from a disaster, a little hamster meets a giant plant creature afraid to go outside. Together they face new challenges, and make a plan to re-flourish the land. Brazil, France 2025 Dir: Isabela Costa 9 mins The Night Tunnel After digging a tunnel on the beach two kids from different sides of the world meet each other. Together, they dig their way to the North Pole where they discover a magical way to go back home. Belgium, France 2024 Dir: Annechien Strouven 9 mins Freak of Nature A shy and lonely creature is too scared to leave the old circus cage it once was trapped in until it finds a little seedling to care for. A story about personal growth and the process of overcoming fear. Germany 2024 Dir: Alexandra Lermer 8 mins Lulina And The Moon Lulina draws her greatest fears on the infinite white ground of the Moon. Magically, her illustrations come to life and teach her that her problems are not as monstrous as what her imagination depicted. Brazil 2023 Dir: Marcus Vinicius Vasconcelos, Alois Di Leo 14 mins Rise Age Fluorescent critters groove through a coastal world, led by a superior choir. Their carefree crawl, however, is increasingly disturbed by the rising seas. Germany 2024 Dir: Tatjana Theuer 5 mins 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.…

Celebrate this beloved coming-of-age story from the legendary Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki, with this new restoration.   It is a tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and fly off into the wide world to learn their craft. When that night comes for Kiki, she embarks on her new journey with her sarcastic black cat, Jiji, landing the next morning in a seaside town, where her unique skills make her an instant sensation. Don’t miss this delightfully imaginative and timeless story of a young girl finding her way in the world. These screenings will play in the original Japanese version.…

Indy Film Library presents: UK Short Film Showcase II The screening will be preceded by an introduction from the filmmakers and followed by a chance to mingle in the bar. Based in the Netherlands and the UK, Indy Film Library (IFL) grew out of the need of independent filmmakers to receive impartial feedback on their work. Since 2019, IFL has provided a hybrid service to artists who submit their work. Unlike a traditional film festival, IFL assesses every single film received. Meanwhile, it also hosts an annual screening selection of the very best films it receives. Two years after our first ever event bringing a showcase of UK-based filmmakers to a cinema in London, we're returning to the Garden Cinema! IFL's UK Short Film Showcase invites audiences in the UK to discover a world of independent art on their own doorstep. With screenings of films across the cinematic spectrum, and discussions with the artists behind them, the event offers viewers an introduction to a series of diverse and innovative films, showing life in the UK in a whole new light. Films screening: Hunger (9mins) Dir. Natalie Spencer How Fast Can You Eat a Pickled Egg? (14mins) Dir. Daniel England Magid/Zafar (18mins) Dir. Luís Hindman Framing New Brighton (33mins) Dir. Dylan Cubbin The Impostor (25mins) Dir. Will Priddis Hi from a mayfly (11mins) Dir. Myles Wheeler The Last Rehearsal (19mins) Dir. Carling Ernstzen Dial (15mins) Dir. Joshua Trett…

Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl's alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can't help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories.…

This edition of Composing Cinema examines the work of Clifton Parker, and his score for one of finest achievements of the Crown Film Unit, Western Approaches. The screening will be introduced by Oscar-nominated composer Gary Yershon. Regarded as one of the best British documentaries of the Second World War, Western Approaches pays tribute to the bravery of the Merchant Navy and the perils they faced during the Atlantic Convoys. Directed by Pat Jackson and brilliantly shot in Technicolor by acclaimed cinematographer Jack Cardiff (The Red Shoes, The African Queen), this dramatised Crown Film Unit retelling of an attempted U-Boat attack uses real merchant seamen to re-enact their roles. Both realistic and dramatic, the film carries a powerful authenticity, which is reinforced by its stunning colour imagery. A crowning example of the British Documentary Movement that flourished in the 1930s and 40s, this landmark film is presented in a new 2K restoration by Imperial War Museums.…

Broadcast News was suggested by our member John Atkinson, who writes: 'Broadcast News is the sort of nuanced comedy drama that studios run a mile from these days. It’s wonderfully written, full of great dialogue delivered by a perfect cast. It’s one of my wife’s favourite films, but we’ve never seen it together on a big screen.' Since the 1970s, the name James L. Brooks has been synonymous with intelligent television comedy - his shows are insightful about work and love and always plugged in to the zeitgeist. He is also a master storyteller of the big screen, and none of his films was more quintessentially Brooks than Broadcast News. This caustic look inside the Washington news media stars Holly Hunter, in her breakout role, as a feisty television producer torn between an ambitious yet dim anchorman (William Hurt) and her closest confidant, a cynical veteran reporter (Albert Brooks). Brooks’s witty, gently prophetic film is a captivating transmission from an era in which ideas on relationships and the media were rapidly changing. -The Criterion Collection…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

I Want Your Sex tells the story of Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), a kind-hearted if unmotivated twentysomething whose fantasies quickly come true when he lands a job with renowned artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). When Erika breaks down office boundaries and takes Elliot on as her sexual muse and subordinate, their sexually charged relationship makes him question his own desires, boundaries, and relationships with his uptight girlfriend (Charli XCX) and repressed roommate (Chase Sui Wonders). As the stakes heighten and power dynamics shift, the film mixes satire, romantic comedy, mystery, and murder through the colourful and edgy visual language for which Araki is best known…

Like childhood, animation is full of wonder and simple pleasures. This carefully chosen programme for our littlest and most special audience contains 8 of the best, wonderful short animated films, full of joy, from all around the world. There’ll be talking animals, seriously fun adventures and wondrous tales to spark those little imaginations. This delightful selection of films includes Matilda, a very brave pig, a little hamster who befriends a giant plant creature, some delightful, singing, fluorescent critters and several other charming creatures, characters and stories. For more information about the London International Animation Festival and our programmes please check out our website at https://liaf.org.uk/ Matilda and the Brave Escape Narrated by Bella Ramsey. After being raised on a pig farm in the UK, Matilda the pig decides to undergo a brave and daring escape in order to save herself and her piglets. However, the farmers have a different plan for Matilda and set out to bring her back. UK 2024 Dir: Ash Reed 7 mins Buckshot Tension boils over when a neighbour goes next door to borrow a saucepan. UK 2024 Dir: Trevor Hardy 8 mins Passing By A girl unexpectedly bumps into her childhood best friend and finds herself torn between rekindling their lost connection or letting the moment slip away forever. South Korea 2025 Dir: Hanna Kang 9 mins The Little One and the Giant In a world recovering from a disaster, a little hamster meets a giant plant creature afraid to go outside. Together they face new challenges, and make a plan to re-flourish the land. Brazil, France 2025 Dir: Isabela Costa 9 mins The Night Tunnel After digging a tunnel on the beach two kids from different sides of the world meet each other. Together, they dig their way to the North Pole where they discover a magical way to go back home. Belgium, France 2024 Dir: Annechien Strouven 9 mins Freak of Nature A shy and lonely creature is too scared to leave the old circus cage it once was trapped in until it finds a little seedling to care for. A story about personal growth and the process of overcoming fear. Germany 2024 Dir: Alexandra Lermer 8 mins Lulina And The Moon Lulina draws her greatest fears on the infinite white ground of the Moon. Magically, her illustrations come to life and teach her that her problems are not as monstrous as what her imagination depicted. Brazil 2023 Dir: Marcus Vinicius Vasconcelos, Alois Di Leo 14 mins Rise Age Fluorescent critters groove through a coastal world, led by a superior choir. Their carefree crawl, however, is increasingly disturbed by the rising seas. Germany 2024 Dir: Tatjana Theuer 5 mins 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.…

Celebrate this beloved coming-of-age story from the legendary Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki, with this new restoration.   It is a tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and fly off into the wide world to learn their craft. When that night comes for Kiki, she embarks on her new journey with her sarcastic black cat, Jiji, landing the next morning in a seaside town, where her unique skills make her an instant sensation. Don’t miss this delightfully imaginative and timeless story of a young girl finding her way in the world. These screenings will play in the English language version.…

Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl's alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can't help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories.…

Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) infamously said “Screenplays are not works of art. They are invitations to collaborate on a work of art.” In partnership with Unrestricted View, we’re excited to announce the development of our unique approach to a Kino feature-length shorts anthology. This session will be lead by Felicity Wren (co-founder of Unrestricted View & VP of the International Screenwriter’s Association) and Dustin Curtis Murphy (Kino CEO). It’s specifically aimed at screenwriters interested in collaborating on weaving together a collection of character driven shorts. Kino Short Film connects emerging filmmakers with audiences who crave something outside the mainstream. From first time filmmakers to Oscar winners, Kino supports indie and emerging talent at every stage of their journey - with funding, on set, in the festival circuit, and beyond.…

Exploring the realities of life’s challenges, quirks, and defining moments, these emerging documentarians deliver a powerful genuineness to their subjects as part of the Kino London Short Film Festival. Not Yet (Souvid "JIJO" Datta) The day after they finish high-school, three teenagers in Sheffield spend one summer day chasing joy, dodging doubt, and dreaming out loud. Swim Sistas (Catherine Joy White) From a young girl diving into joy, to Great Britain’s first and only Black female Olympic swimmer breaking historic barriers, to a woman learning to swim at 54, defying a legacy of inherited fear. How Fast Can You Eat A Pickled Egg? (Daniel England) The Cock Tavern is no ordinary East London pub - it plays host to one of the capital’s quirkiest underground traditions: the pickled egg eating competition. Voice Shift (Roberto Duque) Guided by a transgender vocal coach, this short doc weaves together stories from trans femme individuals at different stages of ’s journeys as they seek a voice that reflects their gender identity. A Film About Dad (Joe Murphy) A personal account of the filmmaker’s parents as they face the challenges of Parkinson’s and dementia through an intimate lens. New Ground (Louisa Rechenbach) A pioneering community where 26 women over 50 are rewriting the script on ageing in the UK’s first co-housing project of its kind. A King Comes To Town (Joseff Morgan)  A security guard by day, and an Elvis tribute artist by night, for Jeff 'Pacer' Herman, the act has become entangled with his reality.…

The screening on the 12th of October will feature an introduction by writer Michael Brooke. The first feature by Andrzej Żuławski immediately established his emotionally charged, fast-and-furious style. Drawing from the biography of his father, particularly his experiences in Nazi German-occupied Poland, the film follows a fugitive whose reality implodes when he witnesses the murders of his family, propelling him into a nightmarish world filled with doppelgängers, fluid identities, pervasive dread, and an enigmatic Nazi vaccine laboratory. In all its fantastic and macabre glory, The Third Part of the Night is a delirious portrayal of the chaos wrought upon the psyche by the horrors of war, and one of the most remarkable directorial debuts of all time.…

Filmmaker and curator Nia Childs speaks with BIFA Springboard/Kino alumni Alix Austin, Michelle Brøndum & Keir Siewert. They’ll chat about their careers in short form, their journey into features, and opportunities/initiatives that exist (like BIFA and Kino) that other emerging filmmakers can leverage to support the early stages of a career in film. - Alix Austin is a London-based British Director with an obsession for genre filmmaking and lethal sound design, having grown up bilingually (English/German) in Basel, Switzerland. She directed and sold her first feature film Kill Your Lover in 2024 with directing partner Keir Siewert (now available on SHUDDER and Amazon Prime). She is a BIFA Springboard Alum mentored by Ed King (Producer: His House), a recipient of the Raimi Productions Scholarship with Rogue Studios and a Directors UK Inspire mentee (by Loki’s Kate Herron). Alix’s solo directing work spans award-winning short films, interactive gaming and specialises in Performance Capture. - Michelle Brøndum is an indepdent producer whose work spans animation, documentary, and narrative film. Founder of the London-based production company Jante Films, she has over a decade of experience in production and holds an MA in Producing from the National Film and Television School. Her films have been nominated at leading international festivals including Cannes, Tribeca, Annecy and Sitges, and her work as a producer has been recognised with the Producer Network Award at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (selected by representatives from the Marché du Film at Cannes) and the Sony Futures Filmmakers Award in 2026. Most recently, she produced the stop-motion animation Ovary-Acting, which was longlisted for a BAFTA and nominated for an Annie Award. - Nia Childs is a filmmaker and curator based in London. Her films have screened at a number of BIFA and BAFTA qualifying festivals such as the BFI London Film Festival, Aesthetica, The London Short Film Festival and BFI Flare. She is also a curator specialising in contemporary British cinema, and regularly hosts Q&As and interviews with filmmakers. Nia is a BIFA voter and previously sat on the nomination committee for four years. - Keir Siewert is a Scottish/American filmmaker and photographer based in London and specialising in genre cinema. His feature film debut Kill Your Lover, which he made with his directing/producing partner Alix Austin, premiered at Brooklyn Horror in 2023 and is now currently available on SHUDDER. He was selected as in 2025 to be part of BIFA Springboards new genre program and currently has several projects in development. Kino Short Film connects emerging filmmakers with audiences who crave something outside the mainstream. From first time filmmakers to Oscar winners, Kino supports indie and emerging talent at every stage of their journey - with funding, on set, in the festival circuit, and beyond.…

Endless screen time, online hatred, pandemics, racial divisions, escalating violence, failing healthcare systems, impending climate disaster… oh the joys of modern dystopia! This collection of shorts takes both comedic and dramatic takes on some of our most current crises. Is this just the way things are? Or can we reverse course for a better future? Your Email Has Not Found Me Well (Karolina Papp) A freelance artist desperately clings to the belief that her work is meaningful - despite her empty bank account and constant reminders that everyone else is younger, more talented, and emotionally stable. Admin (Shannon Sullivan) The relationship between a female casting director and her assistant unravels after a powerful auteur crosses a line during a meeting. Handle with Care (Dylan Blore)  Struggling with his mental health and trapped in a broken healthcare system, Josh seeks help from an under-resourced Doctor struggling with empathy fatigue. Twenty Twenty (Alex A. Salam) Called back to the hospital frontline during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, retired veteran doctor Ruth faces a brutal night shift Sage (Max Blustin) As a traumatic incident befalls a community meeting, help comes by unexpected means. If Now Now, When? (Eliot Gelberg-Wilson) In the aftermath of October 7th and the ensuing escalation of violence in Gaza, British Jew Tali navigates the growing tension between her family and her pro-Palestinian activism. Far From The Plains (Luigi Sibona) As great storms loom and his mother fades into depression, 14-year-old Frankie finds refuge in a South London stable, but when the storm breaks, he must confront the reality of loss and find hope in unlikely places. Plastic Surgery (Guy Trevellyan) A doctor on her last day before maternity leave is thrown into chaos when a hidden threat emerges. This Conversation Has Been Removed (Andrew Nolan) When Peter and Jill engage in an online flame war, they learn just how wrong "making it personal" can go.…

Discover how short films can generate more than festival laurels. In this talk ZB Siwek will share his practical strategy for packaging shorts into commercially viable feature-length anthologies. He will reveal how he distributed and marketed his past anthologies which allowed them to consistently hit the Top 10 Prime Video charts, reach global audiences, generate revenue and create long-term opportunities for filmmakers. Some of his short film anthologies include: - Afterlight (#4 on the Prime Video UK Top 10 Movies) - Merge (#6 on the Prime Video UK Top 10 Movies):  - Insidious Tales (#7 on the Prime Video UK Top 10 Horror Movies) ZB Siwek is a producer, distributor and founder of Cine Circle with over 15 years of experience working across film development, funding, production and distribution. He has produced, executive produced, financed and advised on more than 100 short films, feature films and series through the Cine Circle Film Fund, his short-film distribution work and his wider experience supporting independent productions from development through to release. Kino Short Film connects emerging filmmakers with audiences who crave something outside the mainstream. From first time filmmakers to Oscar winners, Kino supports indie and emerging talent at every stage of their journey - with funding, on set, in the festival circuit, and beyond.…

She Shoots is a curated collection of short films from emerging female filmmakers, each bringing a distinctive creative voice to the screen through bold storytelling. Whether exploring women's relationships with friends, their bodies, loved ones or the expectations society places upon them, this must-see collection offers stories that are insightful, compelling and poignant. I Hate Helen (Katie Lambert) A snapshot of teenage life, as Priya is overcome by a tidal wave of gay lust. Truckload (Aella Jordan-Edge) Newly disabled, and having spent a year at her Mum’s house, Lizzie is finally moving back in with her best friends. Although Lizzie wants her independence back, easy tasks have become physical feats: every molehill is a mountain. Heat Haze (Margarita Milne)  A teenager, desperate to gain approval from a religious group, sells all of her belongings at a car boot. When a stranger lures her away for a slush puppy, what at first seems like an innocent drink ends up perverting her whole worldview. The Removed (Rebecca Rose) Thinking she is alone, a woman desperately searches the woods for a hidden secret. Tell Your Face (Jill Worsley) Haunted by her late mother's praise of her smooth skin, Chikana hits 30 and begins to obsess over her developing wrinkles. Without the money or motivation for Botox, she concocts an absurd and extreme way to stop them in their tracks. For Better (Kitty Percy) Jeanine (40) attempts to fix her loneliness by standing beside an A-road in a wedding dress, with a sign saying MARRY ME, but finds a better solution in an unexpected place... Ovary-Acting (Ida Melum) A harried thirty-something woman is forced to decide whether she wants to be a mother after unexpectedly giving birth to her reproductive organs at her sister’s baby shower. Me to you (Frøydis Fossli Moe) When Linnea leaves Birk in Oslo to chase her dreams abroad, the distance slowly unravels their relationship. A long-awaited visit reveals that their love has faded, leaving them more as strangers instead of lovers.…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

With income inequality soaring, AI starting to overtake human jobs, and calloused governments acting in the best interests of corporations vs their citizens, no wonder emerging artists are using their voices to ring the warning bell. This selection of shorts will leave you pondering possible futures. Broadcast (Ewan Pollitt) Amid the housing crisis of near-future London, a struggling young woman pursues a controversial deal for a home of her own. Behind (Alessio Avezzano) A global butt-dial outbreak sweeps the planet, but the real nightmare is only just beginning. Tapeworm (Daniel Rands) Trapped in a cycle of debt, a final gamble for freedom allows Worm a chance to regain her humanity and autonomy over her final fate. We Dream In Colour (Kane Wilson)  In a sleepless city addicted to artificial dreams, Lola enters a lucid simulation and forms a dangerous bond with an artificial companion. The Algorithm of Loss (Levi Eddie Aluede) After a failed blind date, Kazuyo is inspired to upgrade the AI programme of her late partner, Adam. But his sensory limitations force her to confront the reality of grief, memory, loneliness and mortality. Indignitas (Darcia Martin)  A government-sanctioned program offers a grim choice for financial stability. One father grapples with an irreversible decision to secure his children's future.…

I Want Your Sex tells the story of Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), a kind-hearted if unmotivated twentysomething whose fantasies quickly come true when he lands a job with renowned artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). When Erika breaks down office boundaries and takes Elliot on as her sexual muse and subordinate, their sexually charged relationship makes him question his own desires, boundaries, and relationships with his uptight girlfriend (Charli XCX) and repressed roommate (Chase Sui Wonders). As the stakes heighten and power dynamics shift, the film mixes satire, romantic comedy, mystery, and murder through the colourful and edgy visual language for which Araki is best known…

Like childhood, animation is full of wonder and simple pleasures. This carefully chosen programme for our littlest and most special audience contains 8 of the best, wonderful short animated films, full of joy, from all around the world. There’ll be talking animals, seriously fun adventures and wondrous tales to spark those little imaginations. This delightful selection of films includes Matilda, a very brave pig, a little hamster who befriends a giant plant creature, some delightful, singing, fluorescent critters and several other charming creatures, characters and stories. For more information about the London International Animation Festival and our programmes please check out our website at https://liaf.org.uk/ Matilda and the Brave Escape Narrated by Bella Ramsey. After being raised on a pig farm in the UK, Matilda the pig decides to undergo a brave and daring escape in order to save herself and her piglets. However, the farmers have a different plan for Matilda and set out to bring her back. UK 2024 Dir: Ash Reed 7 mins Buckshot Tension boils over when a neighbour goes next door to borrow a saucepan. UK 2024 Dir: Trevor Hardy 8 mins Passing By A girl unexpectedly bumps into her childhood best friend and finds herself torn between rekindling their lost connection or letting the moment slip away forever. South Korea 2025 Dir: Hanna Kang 9 mins The Little One and the Giant In a world recovering from a disaster, a little hamster meets a giant plant creature afraid to go outside. Together they face new challenges, and make a plan to re-flourish the land. Brazil, France 2025 Dir: Isabela Costa 9 mins The Night Tunnel After digging a tunnel on the beach two kids from different sides of the world meet each other. Together, they dig their way to the North Pole where they discover a magical way to go back home. Belgium, France 2024 Dir: Annechien Strouven 9 mins Freak of Nature A shy and lonely creature is too scared to leave the old circus cage it once was trapped in until it finds a little seedling to care for. A story about personal growth and the process of overcoming fear. Germany 2024 Dir: Alexandra Lermer 8 mins Lulina And The Moon Lulina draws her greatest fears on the infinite white ground of the Moon. Magically, her illustrations come to life and teach her that her problems are not as monstrous as what her imagination depicted. Brazil 2023 Dir: Marcus Vinicius Vasconcelos, Alois Di Leo 14 mins Rise Age Fluorescent critters groove through a coastal world, led by a superior choir. Their carefree crawl, however, is increasingly disturbed by the rising seas. Germany 2024 Dir: Tatjana Theuer 5 mins 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.…

Klute was suggested by our member Colin Marsh, who writes: 'Alan J Pakula’s memorably atmospheric 1971 thriller starring Donald Sutherland and a stunning Best Actress Oscar performance from the wonderful Jane Fonda in the unforgettable role of Bree Daniels..' With her Oscar-winning turn in Klute, Jane Fonda reinvented herself as a new kind of movie star. Bringing nervy audacity and counterculture style to the role of Bree Daniels—a call girl and aspiring actor who becomes the focal point of a missing-person investigation when detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) turns up at her door—Fonda made the film her own, putting an independent woman and escort on-screen with a frankness that had not yet been attempted in Hollywood. Suffused with paranoia by the conspiracy-thriller specialist Alan J. Pakula, and lensed by master cinematographer Gordon Willis, Klute is a character study thick with dread, capturing the mood of early-1970s New York and the predicament of a woman trying to find her own way on the fringes of society. - The Criterion Collection…

Celebrate this beloved coming-of-age story from the legendary Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki, with this new restoration.   It is a tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and fly off into the wide world to learn their craft. When that night comes for Kiki, she embarks on her new journey with her sarcastic black cat, Jiji, landing the next morning in a seaside town, where her unique skills make her an instant sensation. Don’t miss this delightfully imaginative and timeless story of a young girl finding her way in the world. These screenings will play in the original Japanese version.…

Truth or Consequence is a concert film in which Amyl and the Sniffers perform country-influenced versions of their songs, two unreleased tracks, and a cover of the Slim Dusty classic 'Lights On The Hill'. It was recorded and filmed in front of an intimate and increasingly rowdy audience at El Coyote in Los Angeles, by the band's long-time collaborator, John Angus Stewart. Screening alongside Amyl and The Sniffers 2025 concert film Live at Ally Pally. About Amyl and the Sniffers: Australia's most explosive rock export, four wins at Australia's top music awards in 2025 including Best Group and Best Album, a GRAMMY nomination, and strong album chart positions worldwide. Raw, chaotic, and often very funny live, their punchy lyrics take on everything from climate crisis to modern dystopia. They've played Coachella, Glastonbury and Primavera, supported Foo Fighters and Green Day, and sold-out headline shows across Europe, the UK, Japan, and beyond, most recently a 2026 US arena tour.…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl's alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can't help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories.…

I Want Your Sex tells the story of Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), a kind-hearted if unmotivated twentysomething whose fantasies quickly come true when he lands a job with renowned artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). When Erika breaks down office boundaries and takes Elliot on as her sexual muse and subordinate, their sexually charged relationship makes him question his own desires, boundaries, and relationships with his uptight girlfriend (Charli XCX) and repressed roommate (Chase Sui Wonders). As the stakes heighten and power dynamics shift, the film mixes satire, romantic comedy, mystery, and murder through the colourful and edgy visual language for which Araki is best known…

Celebrate this beloved coming-of-age story from the legendary Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki, with this new restoration.   It is a tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and fly off into the wide world to learn their craft. When that night comes for Kiki, she embarks on her new journey with her sarcastic black cat, Jiji, landing the next morning in a seaside town, where her unique skills make her an instant sensation. Don’t miss this delightfully imaginative and timeless story of a young girl finding her way in the world. These screenings will play in the English language version.…

Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl's alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can't help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories.…

The screening on the September 1st will be introduced by Garden Cinema team member, writer, and filmmaker Sarah Grice. Subsequent screenings will include a video introduction by writer and film historian, Samm Deighan. Servais, a photographer burdened with debt, crosses paths with Nadine Chevalier, a talented actress forced to appear in low-budget exploitation films to make ends meet. Moved by her vulnerability and her dignity despite the humiliations she faces, Servais decides to help her by financing an ambitious theatrical production that could revive her career. But this act of support gradually turns into a passionate and painful love. Nadine, who is married to Jacques - a fragile and depressive man - becomes torn between her sense of duty, her guilt, and the overwhelming pull of this new love. Caught between drama, sacrifice, and obsession, each character struggles with their own inner wounds while desperately seeking some form of redemption through love. Żuławski's first film produced after his complicated exile from Poland, That Most Important Thing: Love was adapted from the novel by Christopher Frank La Nuit Américaine. Featuring French singer Jacques Dutronc and Romy Schneider, who won the inaugural César Award for Best Actress, the film was successful enough in France that it allowed Żuławski to return to Poland to make his next feature, On the Silver Globe.…

I Want Your Sex tells the story of Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), a kind-hearted if unmotivated twentysomething whose fantasies quickly come true when he lands a job with renowned artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). When Erika breaks down office boundaries and takes Elliot on as her sexual muse and subordinate, their sexually charged relationship makes him question his own desires, boundaries, and relationships with his uptight girlfriend (Charli XCX) and repressed roommate (Chase Sui Wonders). As the stakes heighten and power dynamics shift, the film mixes satire, romantic comedy, mystery, and murder through the colourful and edgy visual language for which Araki is best known…

Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl's alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can't help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories.…

Celebrate this beloved coming-of-age story from the legendary Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki, with this new restoration.   It is a tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and fly off into the wide world to learn their craft. When that night comes for Kiki, she embarks on her new journey with her sarcastic black cat, Jiji, landing the next morning in a seaside town, where her unique skills make her an instant sensation. Don’t miss this delightfully imaginative and timeless story of a young girl finding her way in the world. These screenings will play in the English language version.…

I Want Your Sex tells the story of Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), a kind-hearted if unmotivated twentysomething whose fantasies quickly come true when he lands a job with renowned artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). When Erika breaks down office boundaries and takes Elliot on as her sexual muse and subordinate, their sexually charged relationship makes him question his own desires, boundaries, and relationships with his uptight girlfriend (Charli XCX) and repressed roommate (Chase Sui Wonders). As the stakes heighten and power dynamics shift, the film mixes satire, romantic comedy, mystery, and murder through the colourful and edgy visual language for which Araki is best known…

Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl's alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can't help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories.…

I Want Your Sex tells the story of Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), a kind-hearted if unmotivated twentysomething whose fantasies quickly come true when he lands a job with renowned artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). When Erika breaks down office boundaries and takes Elliot on as her sexual muse and subordinate, their sexually charged relationship makes him question his own desires, boundaries, and relationships with his uptight girlfriend (Charli XCX) and repressed roommate (Chase Sui Wonders). As the stakes heighten and power dynamics shift, the film mixes satire, romantic comedy, mystery, and murder through the colourful and edgy visual language for which Araki is best known…

Persepolis was suggested by our member Sarah Halim, who writes: ‘I’m proposing that we screen Persepolis as a tribute to the wonderfully talented Marjane Satrapi, following her recent untimely death of a broken heart'. Based on Satrapi's graphic novel about her life in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran and then in Europe. The film traces Satrapi's growth from child to rebellious, punk-loving teenager in Iran. In the background are the growing tensions of the political climate in Iran in the 70s and 80s, with members of her liberal-leaning family detained and then executed, and the background of the disastrous Iran/Iraq war. Please note, the screening on Monday 28 August is our free members' screening, whilst Thursday 3 September is a regular screening, which is open to the general public.…

Celebrate this beloved coming-of-age story from the legendary Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki, with this new restoration.   It is a tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and fly off into the wide world to learn their craft. When that night comes for Kiki, she embarks on her new journey with her sarcastic black cat, Jiji, landing the next morning in a seaside town, where her unique skills make her an instant sensation. Don’t miss this delightfully imaginative and timeless story of a young girl finding her way in the world. These screenings will play in the original Japanese version.…

After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium. The Garden Cinema View: Across her three feature films to date Jane Schoenbrun has established an innate grasp of the ways in which people engage with media, and a remarkable ability to translate these experiences into cinema. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was coming-of-age for the terminally online, whilst I Saw the TV Glow explored the role of nostalgia and television in identity formation for misfit 90s kids. With Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Schoenbrun sets their sights on how 80s slasher fandom and filmmaking has impacted upon film studies, cultural theory, and gender politics. But whilst this is a film full of complex ideas, Camp Miasma never feels over-intellectualised. Schoenbrun instead enjoyably and lightly parodies many of these positions, understanding that the enjoyment of horror film, and indeed the self-identification found within, arises from an tangibly emotional place. As with their earlier films, this is an felt experience and a sensory rabbit hole which often defies conventional narrative logic.   Beyond and besides this, Camp Miasma is also a meta-textual-horror love letter in the mode of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (amusingly referenced at one point), and also an erotic psychodrama which quotes Sunset Boulevard (directly) and Persona (visually). All of which wouldn’t work without the very funny and sensual chemistry of the central performances from Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. This is a film to indulge in. An invigorating and inspiring experience, and a fitting close to Schoenbrun’s impressive ‘Screen Trilogy’.…

Screenings of L'Amour Braque will feature a video introduction from writer and film historian, Samm Deighan. Intended as a homage to Fyodor Dostoyevsky and loosely based on his novel The Idiot, Żuławski’s L’Amour Braque is the story of a bloody vendetta, of bonds between two men from opposite backgrounds, and a violent love triangle. After a successful bank robbery, Micky hopes to take back his girlfriend Marie from rival gangsters. On the way to Paris he meets Leon, a neurotic dreamer whom he considers an idiot. Leon can hardly understand what Micky is up to but he follows him everywhere and soon falls in love with Marie. Żuławski’s postmodern adaptation is presented with an intense sense of visual style suggestive of the hyper-realistic and chaotic world of bande dessinée. Abundant with images of hysteria from start to finish, the screen is filled with outbursts of energy and violence whereby performances are choreographed into a perverse, bloody ballet.…

The screening will be followed by an online Q&A with the director Cho Hyun-chul, moderated by Dr. Hyunseon Lee (Professorial Research Associate at SOAS), interpreted by Emily Jisoo Bowles (British-Korean film critic and film programmer at Queer East Festival). On the day before the school trip, Sam dreams an ominous dream of her best friend Ha-eun dying. Filled with fear, Sam runs to Ha-eun, who’s in the hospital because of the recent bicycle accident, and asks her to come for the school trip with her. Two girls decide to sell Ha-eun’s camcorder to make money for the trip. On their way to sell the camcorder, Sam realizes her deepest concern that Ha-eun might not feel the same as how she feels about Ha-eun. She shows jealousy towards people around Ha-eun and it eventually tires her. After a big fight, Ha-eun disappears and Sam wanders around looking for her This is the first screening of Bun Bites Screening's 2026 new programme. Programme supported by Film Hub London, managed by Film London. Proud to be a partner of the BFI Film Audience Network, funded by the National Lottery. www.filmlondon.org.uk/film-hub-london Bun Bites Screening is a London-based emerging film club dedicated to spotlighting the voices of the younger generation in Asia, while fostering an inclusive community for film lovers. We curate and screen films made by young people, about young people, and in support of young visions.…

The great Willem Dafoe lends his delicate gravitas to the role of Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet who works in the post office. After an eager and flattering young admirer (Edmund Donovan) appears on his doorstep, Saxberger is beckoned into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius. Intoxicated by the attention - and by the alluring presence of Gloria, the group’s 'tragic heroine' (a sinuous, Kurt Weill-crooning Greta Lee) - Saxberger gradually reckons with the authenticity of his newfound poetic circle. The Garden Cinema View: Much like Willem Dafoe’s one-time West Village poet Saxberger, Late Fame has the feel of something from an earlier NYC art scene. This loose, hangdog-hangout film might isn’t as mannered as Jim Jarmusch, but has something of Tom DiCillo or Hal Hartley. Saxberger, a would be Frank O’Hara or Charles Bukowski (he works at the post office), finds himself ‘re-discovered’ by a precocious group of Soho rich kids: picture Whit Stillman’s ‘haut bourgeoisie’ if they read more William Carlos Williams. Director Kent Jones teases some questions about authenticity (performative masculinity perhaps) and creativity out of this generation and wealth gap. But the key pleasures of Late Fame are found in the autumnal evocation of Lower Manhattan, and the performance from a perfectly cast Dafoe alongside a flamboyantly theatrical and melancholic Greta Lee .…

Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other. The Garden Cinema View: Adrian Chiarella’s feature debut slots into a demonic legacy of modern Australian horror that includes the Philippou brothers (Talk To Me, Bring Her Back), Relic, and The Babadook. Leviticus makes explicit the queer undertones of the genre, turning homophobia into an intense, emotional, and violent haunting. Riffing on It Follows and The Terminator (with perhaps a nod to Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing) Chiarella presents ideas of identity crisis, religious oppression, and domestic abuse. But such is the films tremendous momentum – and lean running time – that there isn’t too much space to indulge these deeper themes. Instead we’re left with this exponentially terrifying and paranoid ordeal amongst the deserted suburbs and towering industrial sites of Victoria state.…

This comedy-adventure centers on Blu, a flightless rare macaw who acts more human than bird. His world is turned upside down when he discovers he must travel all the way to Rio to save his species. There, he meets the wildly independent Jewel and a menagerie of vivid characters who all embark on a journey and help Blu fulfill his destiny and learn to fly. Into Film recommends this for ages 5+ On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children. The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you.…

The great Willem Dafoe lends his delicate gravitas to the role of Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet who works in the post office. After an eager and flattering young admirer (Edmund Donovan) appears on his doorstep, Saxberger is beckoned into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius. Intoxicated by the attention - and by the alluring presence of Gloria, the group’s 'tragic heroine' (a sinuous, Kurt Weill-crooning Greta Lee) - Saxberger gradually reckons with the authenticity of his newfound poetic circle. The Garden Cinema View: Much like Willem Dafoe’s one-time West Village poet Saxberger, Late Fame has the feel of something from an earlier NYC art scene. This loose, hangdog-hangout film might isn’t as mannered as Jim Jarmusch, but has something of Tom DiCillo or Hal Hartley. Saxberger, a would be Frank O’Hara or Charles Bukowski (he works at the post office), finds himself ‘re-discovered’ by a precocious group of Soho rich kids: picture Whit Stillman’s ‘haut bourgeoisie’ if they read more William Carlos Williams. Director Kent Jones teases some questions about authenticity (performative masculinity perhaps) and creativity out of this generation and wealth gap. But the key pleasures of Late Fame are found in the autumnal evocation of Lower Manhattan, and the performance from a perfectly cast Dafoe alongside a flamboyantly theatrical and melancholic Greta Lee .…

Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other. The Garden Cinema View: Adrian Chiarella’s feature debut slots into a demonic legacy of modern Australian horror that includes the Philippou brothers (Talk To Me, Bring Her Back), Relic, and The Babadook. Leviticus makes explicit the queer undertones of the genre, turning homophobia into an intense, emotional, and violent haunting. Riffing on It Follows and The Terminator (with perhaps a nod to Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing) Chiarella presents ideas of identity crisis, religious oppression, and domestic abuse. But such is the films tremendous momentum – and lean running time – that there isn’t too much space to indulge these deeper themes. Instead we’re left with this exponentially terrifying and paranoid ordeal amongst the deserted suburbs and towering industrial sites of Victoria state.…

To celebrate the start of our new season of Czechoslovak New Wave cinema, members are invited to join us on Saturday 5 September to sample a taste of Czech culture. From 19:00, we'll be serving up traditional tipples (the first of which will be included in your ticket), turning the Atrium Bar into a local hospoda - the Czech equivalent of a pub, often regarded as a community living room for conversation and beer. To add to the festivities and general merriment, thanks to the support of the Czech Centre London, we'll be joined by a line-up of folk musicians, who will perform an acoustic selection of Czech music from the 1950s and 1960s. Rather than performing concert style, you'll find them nestled at one of the tables. You'll be able to sip your drinks, catch up with friends and fellow members, and enjoy the performance by: • Nela Greisslerová – Flute & vocals • Milan Novotný– Ukulele & vocals • Ladislav Prokop – Violin At 20:30, we'll head into the screens for an introduction to the season by its curator George Crosthwait, followed by a screening of the fantastical feline feature The Cassandra Cat - the perfect starting place for the range of Czechoslovak New Wave films to come! Tickets for the event are £17.50 each, and include a complimentary serving of Czech liquor or beer, access to the pre-screening event with live music, and an unallocated seat for the film (please note, the audience will be split across Screen 2 and Screen 3 for the film). Event timings: 19:00  Drinks & folk music sessions in the Atrium Bar 20:30  Season intro by head curator George Crosthwait 20:45  Screening of The Cassandra Cat 22:30  Expected finish About The Cassandra Cat: Vojtěch Jasný's sumptuous, surreal satire is one of the most visually inventive and uninhibited films of the Czechoslovak New Wave. A travelling circus and its magical feline mascot arrive in a provincial Czech town, unleashing mayhem as they expose the virtues, vices and desires of its unruly inhabitants. Part modern fairy tale, part colourful political metaphor, The Cassandra Cat (also known as When the Cat Comes) is a unique, glorious comic fantasy.…

This comedy-adventure centers on Blu, a flightless rare macaw who acts more human than bird. His world is turned upside down when he discovers he must travel all the way to Rio to save his species. There, he meets the wildly independent Jewel and a menagerie of vivid characters who all embark on a journey and help Blu fulfill his destiny and learn to fly. Into Film recommends this for ages 5+ On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children. The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you.…

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director Ed Sayers. Super Nature celebrates our universal connection to nature, with an intimate gaze, creating a visceral, poetic, personal meditation on the natural world. A global co-creation project, Ed Sayer’s debut feature saw him collaborating with 40 people on 80 different antique Super 8 cameras across land, in the air, and underwater. They would all decide together the stories of nature close to them and their hearts that they would tell, all with as little travel as possible. Filmed exclusively on the original home movie format, Super 8, Super Nature proposes a new way of seeing. A celebration of all we have and reflecting on all we have to lose, audiences are invited on a journey across 25 different countries, with people embracing both abundance and loss, to feel a sense of togetherness with our fellow dwellers on earth, human and non-human. Captured by a combination of professional filmmakers and local enthusiasts alike, scored with diverse music and accompanied with 11 different languages, Super Nature sees a growing network of makers take to this antique format, to share images, thoughts and philosophies in a gentle, beguiling way. The result is a fresh perspective on the most pressing subject of our times.…

After reinventing martial arts cinema and choreography at the Shaw Brothers in the 1970s, Lau Kar-Leung turned his hand to contemporary action in the late 80s with the hugely popular Tiger on the Beat. Boosted by the star power of Chow Yun-Fat and featuring a cast of famous kung fu genre faces including Ti Lung, David Chiang and Gordon Liu, the film mixes Lethal Weapon-style cop thrills with Hong Kong genre madness to hugely entertaining effect. Chow Yun-Fat is at his best as a streetwise veteran cop whose comfortable life is turned upside down when he finds himself partnered with Conan Lee’s overly-enthusiastic rookie. With the two already at each other’s throats things erupt into chaos when they’re charged with solving the murder of a drug dealer, leading to shootouts, car chases, over the top stunts and a wild chainsaw duel that needs to be seen to be believed. In Cantonese with English subtitles Supported by The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London…

The great Willem Dafoe lends his delicate gravitas to the role of Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet who works in the post office. After an eager and flattering young admirer (Edmund Donovan) appears on his doorstep, Saxberger is beckoned into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius. Intoxicated by the attention - and by the alluring presence of Gloria, the group’s 'tragic heroine' (a sinuous, Kurt Weill-crooning Greta Lee) - Saxberger gradually reckons with the authenticity of his newfound poetic circle. The Garden Cinema View: Much like Willem Dafoe’s one-time West Village poet Saxberger, Late Fame has the feel of something from an earlier NYC art scene. This loose, hangdog-hangout film might isn’t as mannered as Jim Jarmusch, but has something of Tom DiCillo or Hal Hartley. Saxberger, a would be Frank O’Hara or Charles Bukowski (he works at the post office), finds himself ‘re-discovered’ by a precocious group of Soho rich kids: picture Whit Stillman’s ‘haut bourgeoisie’ if they read more William Carlos Williams. Director Kent Jones teases some questions about authenticity (performative masculinity perhaps) and creativity out of this generation and wealth gap. But the key pleasures of Late Fame are found in the autumnal evocation of Lower Manhattan, and the performance from a perfectly cast Dafoe alongside a flamboyantly theatrical and melancholic Greta Lee .…

The screening on the 12th of October will feature an introduction by writer Michael Brooke. The first feature by Andrzej Żuławski immediately established his emotionally charged, fast-and-furious style. Drawing from the biography of his father, particularly his experiences in Nazi German-occupied Poland, the film follows a fugitive whose reality implodes when he witnesses the murders of his family, propelling him into a nightmarish world filled with doppelgängers, fluid identities, pervasive dread, and an enigmatic Nazi vaccine laboratory. In all its fantastic and macabre glory, The Third Part of the Night is a delirious portrayal of the chaos wrought upon the psyche by the horrors of war, and one of the most remarkable directorial debuts of all time.…

A key early work from acclaimed Hong Kong New Wave director Patrick Tam after he made the move from TV to film, Love Massacre is a delightfully subversive and experimental whirlwind which shifts gears and genres throughout as it plays upon the screen image of star Brigitte Lin. Long-unavailable, the film has been stunningly restored in 4K by M+ from a preserved 35mm print, and screens in the original director’s cut and in Tam’s intended aspect ratio, bringing to life its incredibly creative visuals and bold use of colour. Shot in the US, the film follows college student Ivy (Brigitte Lin) as she tries to help her friend Joy (Tina Liu), who’s depressed and delirious after a breakup, inadvertently becoming involved with her married brother Chu Chung (Chang Kuo-Chu). Suffering from a hereditary mental illness, Chung eventually spirals into violence as he breaks into Ivy’s dormitory and goes on a killing spree. Supported by The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London Restored in 4K by M+, Hong Kong, in 2025 In Cantonese with English and Chinese subtitles…

Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other. The Garden Cinema View: Adrian Chiarella’s feature debut slots into a demonic legacy of modern Australian horror that includes the Philippou brothers (Talk To Me, Bring Her Back), Relic, and The Babadook. Leviticus makes explicit the queer undertones of the genre, turning homophobia into an intense, emotional, and violent haunting. Riffing on It Follows and The Terminator (with perhaps a nod to Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing) Chiarella presents ideas of identity crisis, religious oppression, and domestic abuse. But such is the films tremendous momentum – and lean running time – that there isn’t too much space to indulge these deeper themes. Instead we’re left with this exponentially terrifying and paranoid ordeal amongst the deserted suburbs and towering industrial sites of Victoria state.…

The great Willem Dafoe lends his delicate gravitas to the role of Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet who works in the post office. After an eager and flattering young admirer (Edmund Donovan) appears on his doorstep, Saxberger is beckoned into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius. Intoxicated by the attention - and by the alluring presence of Gloria, the group’s 'tragic heroine' (a sinuous, Kurt Weill-crooning Greta Lee) - Saxberger gradually reckons with the authenticity of his newfound poetic circle. The Garden Cinema View: Much like Willem Dafoe’s one-time West Village poet Saxberger, Late Fame has the feel of something from an earlier NYC art scene. This loose, hangdog-hangout film might isn’t as mannered as Jim Jarmusch, but has something of Tom DiCillo or Hal Hartley. Saxberger, a would be Frank O’Hara or Charles Bukowski (he works at the post office), finds himself ‘re-discovered’ by a precocious group of Soho rich kids: picture Whit Stillman’s ‘haut bourgeoisie’ if they read more William Carlos Williams. Director Kent Jones teases some questions about authenticity (performative masculinity perhaps) and creativity out of this generation and wealth gap. But the key pleasures of Late Fame are found in the autumnal evocation of Lower Manhattan, and the performance from a perfectly cast Dafoe alongside a flamboyantly theatrical and melancholic Greta Lee .…

Our screening on Monday 7 September will be introduced by writer, editor, and multimedia producer Michael Brooke. Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Feature in 1965, Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos’ The Shop on the High Street is one of the cornerstones of World Cinema, and perhaps the most internationally renowned film in all Czechoslovak cinema. ‘Tóno’ Brtko, a poor carpenter, is appointed by his despised Nazi brother-in-law to be 'Aryan controller' of an old Jewish widow’s sewing shop in a Nazi-occupied Slovakia in 1942. The widow, Rozalia (Yiddish theatre legend Ida Kamińska, nominated here for a Best Actress Oscar for her performance) is near deaf, isolated and partially sighted, barely even aware of the war or able to comprehend the danger in which she lives. Believing Tóno is simply her new assistant, the two develop a friendship that sees him maintaining that fiction as he attempts to protect her from the encroaching Nazi horror. The Shop on the High Street is a complex tale of common lives disturbed and destroyed by war. Wonderfully written and performed, and with an extraordinary Zdenek Liška score, the film becomes a devastating examination of how minor compromises can finally lead to complicity in the horrors of tyranny.…

Join the Liszt Institute for a very special screening of Ildikó Enyedi’s 2025 masterpiece, Silent Friend, followed by a live Q&A with the director. It is a rare chance to hear Enyedi discuss her work in person, ahead of the film's UK distribution. About the film: Silent Friend is set in the botanical garden of a university town in Germany and unfolds across three time periods, 1908, 1972 and 2020, each centred on a different attempt to understand or communicate with plant life. A ginkgo tree, present throughout, links the three stories: a photography student in 1908 who finds in nature the patterns she is denied in her scientific studies; a young student in 1972 changed by his observation of a geranium; and, in 2020, a neuroscientist, played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai, who turns his research toward the tree itself. Enyedi shot each period in a different format, moving between digital, 16mm and 35mm, so the texture of the image shifts with the era. The film premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival in September 2025 and also screened at Toronto. Content Warning: The film contains scenes of suicide The film will be screened in the original language (English and German), with English subtitles. About the director: Enyedi is one of the defining figures of contemporary Hungarian cinema. Her 1989 debut, My Twentieth Century, won the Caméra d'Or at Cannes. After an eighteen-year gap from feature filmmaking, during which she worked in television and raised her family, she returned in 2017 with On Body and Soul, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Silent Friend follows The Story of My Wife (2021) as her third feature since that return, and continues her longstanding interest in the boundaries between science, perception and feeling. Event schedule: Doors: 17:50 Introduction: 18:00 Silent Friend screening: 18:10 Film ends: 20:35 Q&A with Ildikó Enyedi: 20:40 Event ends: 21:10…

Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other. The Garden Cinema View: Adrian Chiarella’s feature debut slots into a demonic legacy of modern Australian horror that includes the Philippou brothers (Talk To Me, Bring Her Back), Relic, and The Babadook. Leviticus makes explicit the queer undertones of the genre, turning homophobia into an intense, emotional, and violent haunting. Riffing on It Follows and The Terminator (with perhaps a nod to Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing) Chiarella presents ideas of identity crisis, religious oppression, and domestic abuse. But such is the films tremendous momentum – and lean running time – that there isn’t too much space to indulge these deeper themes. Instead we’re left with this exponentially terrifying and paranoid ordeal amongst the deserted suburbs and towering industrial sites of Victoria state.…

Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other. The Garden Cinema View: Adrian Chiarella’s feature debut slots into a demonic legacy of modern Australian horror that includes the Philippou brothers (Talk To Me, Bring Her Back), Relic, and The Babadook. Leviticus makes explicit the queer undertones of the genre, turning homophobia into an intense, emotional, and violent haunting. Riffing on It Follows and The Terminator (with perhaps a nod to Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing) Chiarella presents ideas of identity crisis, religious oppression, and domestic abuse. But such is the films tremendous momentum – and lean running time – that there isn’t too much space to indulge these deeper themes. Instead we’re left with this exponentially terrifying and paranoid ordeal amongst the deserted suburbs and towering industrial sites of Victoria state.…

When two young men arrive at a family-run guesthouse in rural France, their anticipation of a few days' peace and quiet is undermined by a variety of sinister occurrences. A small bird is found murdered, its neck in a tiny noose, a strangely sexualised stain appears on a wall, and a slug crawls across the breakfast tray. Are these all signs comprising a portent of truly cosmic significance, or merely bizarre coincidences? And is it any wonder that one of the visitors, Witold has such difficulty writing his novel, or that his companion Fuchs prefers to find solace in earthier pleasures? The final film by Andrzej Żuławski, Cosmos adapts Witold Gombrowicz's legendarily challenging novel into a beguilingly witty combination of lighthearted French farce and a complex, knowing reflection on the absurdities both of humanity itself and the way that we define our notion of the universe according to our individual hang-ups.…

The great Willem Dafoe lends his delicate gravitas to the role of Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet who works in the post office. After an eager and flattering young admirer (Edmund Donovan) appears on his doorstep, Saxberger is beckoned into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius. Intoxicated by the attention - and by the alluring presence of Gloria, the group’s 'tragic heroine' (a sinuous, Kurt Weill-crooning Greta Lee) - Saxberger gradually reckons with the authenticity of his newfound poetic circle. The Garden Cinema View: Much like Willem Dafoe’s one-time West Village poet Saxberger, Late Fame has the feel of something from an earlier NYC art scene. This loose, hangdog-hangout film might isn’t as mannered as Jim Jarmusch, but has something of Tom DiCillo or Hal Hartley. Saxberger, a would be Frank O’Hara or Charles Bukowski (he works at the post office), finds himself ‘re-discovered’ by a precocious group of Soho rich kids: picture Whit Stillman’s ‘haut bourgeoisie’ if they read more William Carlos Williams. Director Kent Jones teases some questions about authenticity (performative masculinity perhaps) and creativity out of this generation and wealth gap. But the key pleasures of Late Fame are found in the autumnal evocation of Lower Manhattan, and the performance from a perfectly cast Dafoe alongside a flamboyantly theatrical and melancholic Greta Lee .…

The great Willem Dafoe lends his delicate gravitas to the role of Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet who works in the post office. After an eager and flattering young admirer (Edmund Donovan) appears on his doorstep, Saxberger is beckoned into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius. Intoxicated by the attention - and by the alluring presence of Gloria, the group’s 'tragic heroine' (a sinuous, Kurt Weill-crooning Greta Lee) - Saxberger gradually reckons with the authenticity of his newfound poetic circle. The Garden Cinema View: Much like Willem Dafoe’s one-time West Village poet Saxberger, Late Fame has the feel of something from an earlier NYC art scene. This loose, hangdog-hangout film might isn’t as mannered as Jim Jarmusch, but has something of Tom DiCillo or Hal Hartley. Saxberger, a would be Frank O’Hara or Charles Bukowski (he works at the post office), finds himself ‘re-discovered’ by a precocious group of Soho rich kids: picture Whit Stillman’s ‘haut bourgeoisie’ if they read more William Carlos Williams. Director Kent Jones teases some questions about authenticity (performative masculinity perhaps) and creativity out of this generation and wealth gap. But the key pleasures of Late Fame are found in the autumnal evocation of Lower Manhattan, and the performance from a perfectly cast Dafoe alongside a flamboyantly theatrical and melancholic Greta Lee .…

I Want Your Sex tells the story of Elliot (Cooper Hoffman), a kind-hearted if unmotivated twentysomething whose fantasies quickly come true when he lands a job with renowned artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). When Erika breaks down office boundaries and takes Elliot on as her sexual muse and subordinate, their sexually charged relationship makes him question his own desires, boundaries, and relationships with his uptight girlfriend (Charli XCX) and repressed roommate (Chase Sui Wonders). As the stakes heighten and power dynamics shift, the film mixes satire, romantic comedy, mystery, and murder through the colourful and edgy visual language for which Araki is best known…

Our screening on Wednesday 9 September will be introduced by the close friend of Jiří Menzel: film critic, broadcaster, and lecturer Phillip Bergson. At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot. Wry and tender, Academy Award-winning Closely Observed Trains is a masterpiece of human observation and one of the best-loved films of the Czechoslovak New Wave.…

Site&Sound is an event series that explores the relationship between architecture and film. Each session will feature curated clips and short films around a chosen theme, inviting discussion around particular elements of representation and the different techniques employed by filmmakers. Themes will examine a multitude of perspectives on architecture, as we explore a world through the lens of the built environment. Diners, bars and kitchens are spaces where narratives can slow down and action can explode outwards. Eating a meal or having a drink is a ritual that cinema exploits for developing characters and building plots. When we see people on screen sharing a table, we know that a scene can contain an entire relationship or represent the end of one. Social structures and power dynamics are revealed in the places where food is prepared, whether it’s family constructs or chefs exerting control in their particular fiefdoms. In contrast, the bar operates as neutral territory where strangers can become intimate, and even a little confessional, through alcohol and conversation. This edition of Site&Sound examines how cinema transforms spaces of production and consumption into stages for character and conflict. How cooking, serving, eating and drinking all generate momentum while also revealing who people are when they're sitting still. Speakers include:  Alpa Depani Anissa Colaco Souza Derin Fadina…

Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other. The Garden Cinema View: Adrian Chiarella’s feature debut slots into a demonic legacy of modern Australian horror that includes the Philippou brothers (Talk To Me, Bring Her Back), Relic, and The Babadook. Leviticus makes explicit the queer undertones of the genre, turning homophobia into an intense, emotional, and violent haunting. Riffing on It Follows and The Terminator (with perhaps a nod to Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing) Chiarella presents ideas of identity crisis, religious oppression, and domestic abuse. But such is the films tremendous momentum – and lean running time – that there isn’t too much space to indulge these deeper themes. Instead we’re left with this exponentially terrifying and paranoid ordeal amongst the deserted suburbs and towering industrial sites of Victoria state.…

Join Fruits on Film and Reclaim The Frame for a special 30th anniversary screening of Beautiful Thing. This screening have Descriptive subtitles (DS). A tender story of first love, belonging and growing up, Beautiful Thing follows neighbours Jamie and Ste as their friendship deepens into romance over the course of one long, hot summer. Alongside them are Jamie's mum Sandra and friend Leah, two women with humour, struggles and stories of their own. Directed by Hettie Macdonald and adapted for the screen by Jonathan Harvey from his acclaimed play, Beautiful Thing transforms the familiar landscape of a council housing estate into a world alive with warmth, wit and bold primary colours, casting everyday life in a new light. Thirty years on, it's a joy to discover, or rediscover, this much-loved but underseen film, with the music of Mama Cass beating at its heart. Content Warning: Physical and domestic abuse, homophobia, strong language, and mild sexual content/nudity. Presented by Reclaim The Frame. Part of BFI Film Audience Network's Rip It Up season. Supported by BFI Film Audience Network, awarding National Lottery funding, and Film4.…

Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other. The Garden Cinema View: Adrian Chiarella’s feature debut slots into a demonic legacy of modern Australian horror that includes the Philippou brothers (Talk To Me, Bring Her Back), Relic, and The Babadook. Leviticus makes explicit the queer undertones of the genre, turning homophobia into an intense, emotional, and violent haunting. Riffing on It Follows and The Terminator (with perhaps a nod to Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing) Chiarella presents ideas of identity crisis, religious oppression, and domestic abuse. But such is the films tremendous momentum – and lean running time – that there isn’t too much space to indulge these deeper themes. Instead we’re left with this exponentially terrifying and paranoid ordeal amongst the deserted suburbs and towering industrial sites of Victoria state.…

The screening on August 23rd will be introduced by writer Daniel Bird. The screening on October 1st will be introduced by filmmaker Craig Williams. An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into committing a political assassination. Never shown theatrically in the UK upon it's original release and long available on DVD only, La Femme Publique will be screened during the season from the 2025 restoration by LCJ Editions. Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

The great Willem Dafoe lends his delicate gravitas to the role of Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet who works in the post office. After an eager and flattering young admirer (Edmund Donovan) appears on his doorstep, Saxberger is beckoned into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius. Intoxicated by the attention - and by the alluring presence of Gloria, the group’s 'tragic heroine' (a sinuous, Kurt Weill-crooning Greta Lee) - Saxberger gradually reckons with the authenticity of his newfound poetic circle. The Garden Cinema View: Much like Willem Dafoe’s one-time West Village poet Saxberger, Late Fame has the feel of something from an earlier NYC art scene. This loose, hangdog-hangout film might isn’t as mannered as Jim Jarmusch, but has something of Tom DiCillo or Hal Hartley. Saxberger, a would be Frank O’Hara or Charles Bukowski (he works at the post office), finds himself ‘re-discovered’ by a precocious group of Soho rich kids: picture Whit Stillman’s ‘haut bourgeoisie’ if they read more William Carlos Williams. Director Kent Jones teases some questions about authenticity (performative masculinity perhaps) and creativity out of this generation and wealth gap. But the key pleasures of Late Fame are found in the autumnal evocation of Lower Manhattan, and the performance from a perfectly cast Dafoe alongside a flamboyantly theatrical and melancholic Greta Lee .…

Our screening on Thursday 10 September will be introduced by Second Run DVD founder Mehelli Modi. Němec’s debut feature is one of the most thrilling and startlingly original works of cinema. Told almost without dialogue, it chronicles the tense and desperate journey of two teenage boys who are trying to stay alive after escaping from a German train bound for a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Adaptated from Darkness Casts No Shadow by Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night is one of the earliest key early works of the Czechoslovak New Wave.…

The screening on Thursday 10 September will be introduced by former Judge and human rights advocate, Betty Iliadou.  Synopsis: Stella is an Athens night club singer who refuses to conform to the harsh moral standards of Greek society during the 1950s. She has a student lover (Alekos Alexandrakis) and is happy to spend her life singing, falling in love and breaking men’s hearts. She begins an affair with a local football champion, Miltos (George Foundas), but finds that he refuses to grant her the freedom she has worked so hard to gain. When she decides to leave Mitsos, she finds that her transgression of feminine propriety leads to danger and violence.  Curator's note: Stella (1955) - a retelling of Carmen - is widely regarded as one of the defining works of Greek cinema.It brought together three of the most exceptional Greek artists of the 20th century: director Michalis Cacoyannis, actress Melina Mercouri and composer Manos Hatzidakis. For Mercouri -  an internationally renowned film star, singer, activist, and later politician - it marked her screen debut. For Cacoyannis, later celebrated for Zorba the Greek (1964), it was an early film in a career that would bring five Academy Award nominations and six Palme d’Or nominations at Cannes. And for Hatzidakis, it foreshadowed the score that would make him world-famous: Never on Sunday (1960). The film’s portrayal of female desire and defiance of misogynist convention was strikingly progressive for its time, even if still shaped by the limitations of the male gaze. Betty Iliadou is a former Judge, author, and advocate for human rights and women’s empowerment. A graduate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a postgraduate degree in Criminal Law and Criminology, she served in the Greek Judiciary for more than three decades. Now based in London, she is actively engaged in writing, social initiatives, and community leadership. Her academic and professional development includes studies in child protection, human trafficking, data protection, and human rights through programmes affiliated with Harvard University, UCL, and Amnesty International. She is also the founder of the Greek Female Society and author of The Vagina Chronicles.…

Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. 1961. Bill Evans is playing with what he considers the perfect musical trio until tragedy strikes in the premature death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro - his musical soulmate. Traumatised by grief, Evans stops playing for the first time since his childhood. A tug-of-war between personal torment and the seemingly safer haven of familial love will see Evans oscillate between New York and suburbia, his genius always bubbling beneath the surface.…

The screening on the 26th of August will be introduced by writer Michael Brooke. The screenings on September the 11th and 27th will feature a video introduction by Andrzej Jaroszewicz, camera operator on The Devil and frequent collaborator of Andrzej Żuławski. During the Prussian army's invasion of Poland in 1793, a young Polish nobleman, Jakub, is saved from imprisonment by a stranger, who in return wants to obtain a list of his fellow conspirators. Following his mysterious savior across the country, Jakub sees the overall chaos and moral corruption, including his father's death and the betrayal of his friend who stole his fiancee. Becoming apparently demented by what he has seen, he commits a number of seemingly motiveless and gory killings. An allegory for the political crisis in Poland during 1968, when communist leaders created riots to punish student, the film was shelved upon completion by the government. It was accused of excess of violence and erotic scenes, but the political undertones of Żuławski’s film were more objectionable to the government. The film had to wait 16 years for its cinema premiere and was not released to the public until 1988. Before this happened, however, Żuławski was forced to leave Poland, deprived of the chance to make films in his country, he left for France to continue his career there.…

Reverie Cineclub is delighted to present a special selection of six animated shorts from the DEFA Studio for Animation Film in Dresden, Germany, in celebration of its 80th anniversary this year. Founded in 1946, DEFA became East Germany’s state film studio, while its Dresden animation division, established in 1955, went on to become the leading producer of animated films in the GDR, creating more than 750 works across a wide range of techniques, from hand-drawn cartoons to puppet and silhouette stop-motion. Endearingly referred to in Germany as ‘Trickfilme’ –  as in a magic trick or illusion created through animation –  these children’s films often followed the whimsical adventures of little animals and toys brought to life through tales of slapstick mischief, curiosity and friendship. This joyful selection includes the story of a little frog who longs to explore the world; a cheeky green devil who steals one too many Berliner Pfannkuchen; and Sergei Prokofiev's beloved symphonic fairy tale for children, Peter and the Wolf. This screening is presented by Reverie Cineclub, dedicated to bringing the spellbinding hidden gems of cinema history to family audiences at The Garden Cinema. For more information about Reverie Cineclub and our upcoming events, please check out our website at reveriecineclub.com Films courtesy of Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen. Film Descriptions: A Peaceful Day / Ein friedlicher Tag A beetle flees from a bird. There is no hiding place where it is safe from its pursuer. It hides in a dark crevice where the bird’s beak cannot reach. The beetle laughs at the bird. It has not yet realized that it is sitting in the space between the earth and the sole of a man’s shoe. East Germany 1985, Dir: Sieglinde Hamacher 5 min *No dialogue Everyone Helps Teddy / Alle helfen Teddy Nighttime in the kindergarten and the toys are all asleep. Only the little bunny is on night watch. There’s a bad storm outside, but the bunny is brave and gets over its fear. Suddenly, a gust of wind pushes the window open. The bunny panics, and now the teddy bear is in danger! The little bunny, the monkey and the elephant start a rescue operation. East Germany 1960, Dir: Monika Anderson 13 min *No dialogue The Little Frog and His Tire / Vom Fröschlein und seinem Reifen A little frog jumps out of the pond and wants to see the world. He is excited about all his new discoveries… until he meets the dangerous stork, who almost eats him. Luckily, he manages to escape at the last minute. East Germany 1964, Dir: Heinz Nagel 4 min *No dialogue The Race / Der Wettlauf The wire men Kurz (Short) and Lang (Long) want to race each other. They choose a tree on the horizon as their destination. While Kurz prepares for the race, Lang measures the course. Unnoticed, he draws a moat across the track. The start takes place. Initially, Kurz and Lang are tied, but Lang jumps over at the ditch and Kurz remains sadly on the sidelines. The beaming winner is Lang. Kurz calls on the unfair Lang to run a second race. East Germany 1963, Dir: Günter Rätz 6 min *No dialogue Alarm at the Puppet Theater / Alarm im Kasperletheater Funny things happen at night at the puppet theater – especially today, since there were jelly donuts for Grandma’s birthday! When the little green devil decides to run away and take the whole bowl for himself, a grand chase ensues – through the village, over water, and into the sky – as the other puppets try to reclaim their stolen treats. Although the devil eats all the treats, he is rightly punished with a terrible stomachache! This East German animation classic is based on a picture book written by Nils Werner. East Germany 1960, Dir: Lothar Barke 16 min *In German with English subtitles Peter and the Wolf / Peter und der Wolf Peter and the little bird outwit the dangerous wolf. They catch him and bring him to a zoo in a parade. This puppet animation film is based on Sergei Prokofiev’s symphonic fairy tale for children, Peter and the Wolf. Each character in the tale is represented by a corresponding orchestral instrument, helping children learn to distinguish the sound of each instrument. East Germany 1974, Dir: Günter Rätz 14 min *No dialogue 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. About Reverie Cineclub: Founded by National Film and Television School MA graduate Nathasha Orlando Kappler in 2024, Reverie Cineclub specialises in presenting the spellbinding hidden gems of cinema history for the whole family to enjoy. From classic world cinema and early independent animation to experimental shorts, our aim is to introduce young audiences to a range of films that are diverse in language, culture, and form.…

Writer, editor, and expert in central/Eastern European film, Michael Brooke, will introduce the film, its themes, and place in the Czech New Wave. Miloš Forman' classic of the Czech New Wave is a beautifully observed exploration of love, youth, optimism, and disappointment. Two thousand young girls and two hundred men are employed at a shoe factory not far from Prague. One day, to the delight of the girls, it is announced that a battalion of troops will be stationed in the town. When they arrive, the girls frustratingly find that they are veterans. One of the girls, Andula, meets a pianist playing with a band from Prague. As in Peter and Pavla, Forman’s skill lies not so much in the plot but rather in the exquisite and precise interpretation of the varied aspects of the human personality. He combines love and understanding of his adolescent characters with an ability to extract the maximum amount of humour from each situation. Michael Brooke is a writer, editor, and multimedia producer. A specialist in British and central/eastern European cinema, he is a regular contributor to Sight & Sound and the Journal of Film Preservation and more occasionally elsewhere. He is also a prolific contributor to various Blu-ray labels, including Indicator (where he’s the in-house Technical Producer), Arrow, Eureka, Radiance, Second Run and many others as booklet essayist, featurette creator, and audio commentator. Celebrating 75 Years of Contemporary Films. Bringing bold cinema that inspired generations of British audiences and filmmakers — a festival of screening events with special guests across London this September and October…

Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. 1961. Bill Evans is playing with what he considers the perfect musical trio until tragedy strikes in the premature death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro - his musical soulmate. Traumatised by grief, Evans stops playing for the first time since his childhood. A tug-of-war between personal torment and the seemingly safer haven of familial love will see Evans oscillate between New York and suburbia, his genius always bubbling beneath the surface.…

Reverie Cineclub is delighted to present a special selection of six animated shorts from the DEFA Studio for Animation Film in Dresden, Germany, in celebration of its 80th anniversary this year. Founded in 1946, DEFA became East Germany’s state film studio, while its Dresden animation division, established in 1955, went on to become the leading producer of animated films in the GDR, creating more than 750 works across a wide range of techniques, from hand-drawn cartoons to puppet and silhouette stop-motion. Endearingly referred to in Germany as ‘Trickfilme’ –  as in a magic trick or illusion created through animation –  these children’s films often followed the whimsical adventures of little animals and toys brought to life through tales of slapstick mischief, curiosity and friendship. This joyful selection includes the story of a little frog who longs to explore the world; a cheeky green devil who steals one too many Berliner Pfannkuchen; and Sergei Prokofiev's beloved symphonic fairy tale for children, Peter and the Wolf. This screening is presented by Reverie Cineclub, dedicated to bringing the spellbinding hidden gems of cinema history to family audiences at The Garden Cinema. For more information about Reverie Cineclub and our upcoming events, please check out our website at reveriecineclub.com Films courtesy of Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen. Film Descriptions: A Peaceful Day / Ein friedlicher Tag A beetle flees from a bird. There is no hiding place where it is safe from its pursuer. It hides in a dark crevice where the bird’s beak cannot reach. The beetle laughs at the bird. It has not yet realized that it is sitting in the space between the earth and the sole of a man’s shoe. East Germany 1985, Dir: Sieglinde Hamacher 5 min *No dialogue Everyone Helps Teddy / Alle helfen Teddy Nighttime in the kindergarten and the toys are all asleep. Only the little bunny is on night watch. There’s a bad storm outside, but the bunny is brave and gets over its fear. Suddenly, a gust of wind pushes the window open. The bunny panics, and now the teddy bear is in danger! The little bunny, the monkey and the elephant start a rescue operation. East Germany 1960, Dir: Monika Anderson 13 min *No dialogue The Little Frog and His Tire / Vom Fröschlein und seinem Reifen A little frog jumps out of the pond and wants to see the world. He is excited about all his new discoveries… until he meets the dangerous stork, who almost eats him. Luckily, he manages to escape at the last minute. East Germany 1964, Dir: Heinz Nagel 4 min *No dialogue The Race / Der Wettlauf The wire men Kurz (Short) and Lang (Long) want to race each other. They choose a tree on the horizon as their destination. While Kurz prepares for the race, Lang measures the course. Unnoticed, he draws a moat across the track. The start takes place. Initially, Kurz and Lang are tied, but Lang jumps over at the ditch and Kurz remains sadly on the sidelines. The beaming winner is Lang. Kurz calls on the unfair Lang to run a second race. East Germany 1963, Dir: Günter Rätz 6 min *No dialogue Alarm at the Puppet Theater / Alarm im Kasperletheater Funny things happen at night at the puppet theater – especially today, since there were jelly donuts for Grandma’s birthday! When the little green devil decides to run away and take the whole bowl for himself, a grand chase ensues – through the village, over water, and into the sky – as the other puppets try to reclaim their stolen treats. Although the devil eats all the treats, he is rightly punished with a terrible stomachache! This East German animation classic is based on a picture book written by Nils Werner. East Germany 1960, Dir: Lothar Barke 16 min *In German with English subtitles Peter and the Wolf / Peter und der Wolf Peter and the little bird outwit the dangerous wolf. They catch him and bring him to a zoo in a parade. This puppet animation film is based on Sergei Prokofiev’s symphonic fairy tale for children, Peter and the Wolf. Each character in the tale is represented by a corresponding orchestral instrument, helping children learn to distinguish the sound of each instrument. East Germany 1974, Dir: Günter Rätz 14 min *No dialogue 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. About Reverie Cineclub: Founded by National Film and Television School MA graduate Nathasha Orlando Kappler in 2024, Reverie Cineclub specialises in presenting the spellbinding hidden gems of cinema history for the whole family to enjoy. From classic world cinema and early independent animation to experimental shorts, our aim is to introduce young audiences to a range of films that are diverse in language, culture, and form.…

Vojtěch Jasný's sumptuous, surreal satire is one of the most visually inventive and uninhibited films of the Czechoslovak New Wave. A travelling circus and its magical feline mascot arrive in a provincial Czech town, unleashing mayhem as they expose the virtues, vices and desires of its unruly inhabitants.Part modern fairy tale, part colourful political metaphor, The Cassandra Cat (also known as When the Cat Comes) is a unique, glorious comic fantasy.…

This screening will be followed by a discussion with Royal Opera team members Dan Dooner, who worked as assistant director on their recent revival of Richard Jones' production of Boris Godunov, and Patrick Milne, who works as a répétiteur at The Royal Opera and previously worked on a production of Boris Godunov in Munich. Based on the musical recording of the famous opera by Modest Mussorgsky, whereby a possible impostor torments a newly crowned medieval czar who may have ordered the real successor’s death. Never before screened theatrically in the UK, Andrzej Żuławski's adaptation of Boris Godunov is about the tragic events surrounding the ruling of the Russian tsar in the early 17th century. The recording itself was made two years before the filming with the participation of the Washington Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, and several opera stars including Ruggero Raimondi. Żuławski's film situates the viewer inside the metafictional space of the opera house, just as if the audience were watching the performance live. Highly controversial at the time of release, the director deliberately fills the picture with a plenty of anachronisms, commenting on Soviet history and other dictatorships of the 20th century. About the speakers: Canadian Dan Dooner is a Staff Director (stage director on staff) at Covent Garden. For The Royal Opera he has directed many revivals (La Fille du régiment, Carmen, Don Carlo, Les Vêpres siciliennes, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Macbeth, Fidelio, Un ballo in maschera, Die Zauberflöte, L’elisir d’amore, Rigoletto, Cosí fan tutte, La traviata, Simon Boccanegra, Don Pasquale, Der fliegende Holländer, Falstaff, La Bohème and Madama Butterfly). He has also directed revivals for major opera houses such as La Scala in Milan, Glyndebourne, ENO, Opera Australia, and Teatro Massimo in Palermo. He co-directed Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s production of Elektra for the Salzburg Festival. Patrick Milne is a pianist and conductor, currently on the music staff at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he was previously a Jette Parker Young Artist. He has conducted operas and concerts with the Royal Opera, London Handel Festival, Opera North and Scottish Opera orchestras among others. As a pianist, Patrick has performed across Europe and the UK, including on BBC Radio 3 with Ermonela Jaho. In 2022-23 he worked at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich as staff pianist and coach on several different opera productions. You can find our other (regular) screenings of Boris Godunov here.…

Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. 1961. Bill Evans is playing with what he considers the perfect musical trio until tragedy strikes in the premature death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro - his musical soulmate. Traumatised by grief, Evans stops playing for the first time since his childhood. A tug-of-war between personal torment and the seemingly safer haven of familial love will see Evans oscillate between New York and suburbia, his genius always bubbling beneath the surface.…

Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. 1961. Bill Evans is playing with what he considers the perfect musical trio until tragedy strikes in the premature death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro - his musical soulmate. Traumatised by grief, Evans stops playing for the first time since his childhood. A tug-of-war between personal torment and the seemingly safer haven of familial love will see Evans oscillate between New York and suburbia, his genius always bubbling beneath the surface.…

This screening will be introduced by The Cinema Obsessive. Tom Ripley tells lies as casually as breathing. Forging signatures, changing accents, smashing skulls, there’s nothing he won’t do to get what he wants. And what he wants is to be Dickie Greenleaf, a self-indulgent, carefree, and very wealthy young man he ‘befriends’ in Italy. Patricia Highsmith’s timeless text is adapted masterfully by director Anthony Minghella, who takes us into a luscious yet lurid psychological thriller where obsession, lust, and betrayal take centre stage.…

Our screening on Monday 7 September will be introduced by writer, editor, and multimedia producer Michael Brooke. Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Feature in 1965, Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos’ The Shop on the High Street is one of the cornerstones of World Cinema, and perhaps the most internationally renowned film in all Czechoslovak cinema. ‘Tóno’ Brtko, a poor carpenter, is appointed by his despised Nazi brother-in-law to be 'Aryan controller' of an old Jewish widow’s sewing shop in a Nazi-occupied Slovakia in 1942. The widow, Rozalia (Yiddish theatre legend Ida Kamińska, nominated here for a Best Actress Oscar for her performance) is near deaf, isolated and partially sighted, barely even aware of the war or able to comprehend the danger in which she lives. Believing Tóno is simply her new assistant, the two develop a friendship that sees him maintaining that fiction as he attempts to protect her from the encroaching Nazi horror. The Shop on the High Street is a complex tale of common lives disturbed and destroyed by war. Wonderfully written and performed, and with an extraordinary Zdenek Liška score, the film becomes a devastating examination of how minor compromises can finally lead to complicity in the horrors of tyranny.…

Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. 1961. Bill Evans is playing with what he considers the perfect musical trio until tragedy strikes in the premature death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro - his musical soulmate. Traumatised by grief, Evans stops playing for the first time since his childhood. A tug-of-war between personal torment and the seemingly safer haven of familial love will see Evans oscillate between New York and suburbia, his genius always bubbling beneath the surface.…

The screening on the September 1st will be introduced by Garden Cinema team member, writer, and filmmaker Sarah Grice. Subsequent screenings will include a video introduction by writer and film historian, Samm Deighan. Servais, a photographer burdened with debt, crosses paths with Nadine Chevalier, a talented actress forced to appear in low-budget exploitation films to make ends meet. Moved by her vulnerability and her dignity despite the humiliations she faces, Servais decides to help her by financing an ambitious theatrical production that could revive her career. But this act of support gradually turns into a passionate and painful love. Nadine, who is married to Jacques - a fragile and depressive man - becomes torn between her sense of duty, her guilt, and the overwhelming pull of this new love. Caught between drama, sacrifice, and obsession, each character struggles with their own inner wounds while desperately seeking some form of redemption through love. Żuławski's first film produced after his complicated exile from Poland, That Most Important Thing: Love was adapted from the novel by Christopher Frank La Nuit Américaine. Featuring French singer Jacques Dutronc and Romy Schneider, who won the inaugural César Award for Best Actress, the film was successful enough in France that it allowed Żuławski to return to Poland to make his next feature, On the Silver Globe.…

Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. 1961. Bill Evans is playing with what he considers the perfect musical trio until tragedy strikes in the premature death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro - his musical soulmate. Traumatised by grief, Evans stops playing for the first time since his childhood. A tug-of-war between personal torment and the seemingly safer haven of familial love will see Evans oscillate between New York and suburbia, his genius always bubbling beneath the surface.…

Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. 1961. Bill Evans is playing with what he considers the perfect musical trio until tragedy strikes in the premature death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro - his musical soulmate. Traumatised by grief, Evans stops playing for the first time since his childhood. A tug-of-war between personal torment and the seemingly safer haven of familial love will see Evans oscillate between New York and suburbia, his genius always bubbling beneath the surface.…

Our screening on Thursday 8 October will be introduced by art historian and Fashion in Film Festival director Marketa Uhlirova. A satirical, wild and irreverent story of rebellion, Věra Chytilová’s classic of surrealist cinema is perhaps also the most adventurous and anarchic Czech movie of the 1960s. Two young women, both named Marie, revolt against a degenerate, decayed and oppressive society, attacking symbols of wealth and bourgeois culture. Defiant feminist statement? Nihilistic, avant-garde comedy? It remains a cinematic enigma and its influence is still felt today - from the extreme Baise-Moi to the mainstream Thelma & Louise and in the films of (amongst others) Jacques Rivette, Bertrand Blier, Catherine Breillat, and Gregg Araki. A riotous, punk-rock poem of a film that is both hilarious and mind-warpingly innovative, Daisies continues to provoke, stimulate and entertain.…

Our screening on Wednesday 9 September will be introduced by the close friend of Jiří Menzel: film critic, broadcaster, and lecturer Phillip Bergson. At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot. Wry and tender, Academy Award-winning Closely Observed Trains is a masterpiece of human observation and one of the best-loved films of the Czechoslovak New Wave.…

Maria (Saoirse Ronan), a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 10-year-olds, is stifled by one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child's behaviour spiralling, she makes a series of bad decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this 'bad apple' in her home. Maria tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament.…

The film will be introduced by writer and historian Susan Jonusas on the 18th of September and by writer Stephen Thrower on the 10th of October. After returning home to West Berlin, international spy Mark is blindsided when his wife, Anna, abruptly requests a divorce without explanation. As he attempts to uncover the cause of her sudden detachment, he begins to monitor her, eventually discovering that she is hiding a series of complex and unsettling secrets. As Mark digs deeper, he is confronted with a progression of inexplicable and increasingly volatile events. His investigation descends into a psychological downward spiral, forcing him to navigate the blurring lines between his crumbling personal life and a reality that begins to defy logical explanation. Set in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, infused with Cold War-era paranoia and tension, Possession is a film that defies classification. One of the most tortured portraits of a disintegrating marriage ever presented on screen, visionary director Andrzej Żuławski masterfully blends horror and thriller conventions into an utterly unique cinema experience, drawing on his own traumatic divorce and creative blacklisting in his native Poland.…

In this much-loved family classic, a 12-year-old orphaned boy named Jesse befriends a captive orca, Willy, at an ailing amusement park. When he discovers that the park owner has been planning to dispose of Willy, he hatches a scheme to break Willy out of captivity. Into Film recommends this for ages 8+ 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.…

After the screening the director’s son, filmmaker Harrod Blank, will discuss the relationship between his father and Herzog and the two films they made together (via live Zoom from California). Les Blank’s classic documentary on Werner Herzog’s constant challenges making Fitzcarraldo in the Peruvian jungle. Shooting miles from anywhere, disaster after disaster befell Herzog during the production of his ambitious South American tale of one man’s obsession with bringing opera to the Amazon. Like his protagonist (played by Klaus Kinski) Blank’s film grows into a fascinating record of an obsessed genius and his desperate battle to finish his work against all odds. Along the way Herzog tells us about border skirmishes, the threats of the jungle environment and potentially disastrous cast changes during filming (the loss of Jason Robards to illness and Mick Jagger to scheduling). Bad luck continues when a supply plane crashes and local Indians attack some of the workers. And at the centre of it all is the moving of a ship, on a pulley system over a hillside, that doesn’t want to budge. Herzog laments: 'One starts to question the profession itself … I should not make movies anymore, I should go to a lunatic asylum right away.' No mere ‘making of’, Burden of Dreams is a standalone work, preferred by some to the finished Herzog film, with many of Blank’s (and his co-creator Maureen Gosling’s) characteristic touches, and is here presented in a stunning new restoration. The film will be preceeded by Blank’s wonderful Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe; Herzog’s fulfilment of a promise he made to a young Errol Morris that, should Morris actually make his long discussed film on pet cemeteries (Gates of Heaven), he would consume his own footwear. Celebrating 75 Years of Contemporary Films. Bringing bold cinema that inspired generations of British audiences and filmmakers — a festival of screening events with special guests across London this September and October…

Maria (Saoirse Ronan), a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 10-year-olds, is stifled by one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child's behaviour spiralling, she makes a series of bad decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this 'bad apple' in her home. Maria tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament.…

In this much-loved family classic, a 12-year-old orphaned boy named Jesse befriends a captive orca, Willy, at an ailing amusement park. When he discovers that the park owner has been planning to dispose of Willy, he hatches a scheme to break Willy out of captivity. Into Film recommends this for ages 8+ 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 9 October will be introduced by Czech film expert Peter Hames. Voted the best Czech film ever made, Marketa Lazarová is a powerful and passionate medieval epic set in the mid-13th Century. Based on avant-garde writer Vladislav Vancura's novel, it follows the rivalry between two warring clans, the Kozlíks and the Lazars, and the doomed love affair of Mikolás Kozlík and Marketa Lazarová. Re-creating an authentic world and as reminiscent of Tarkovsky and Kurosawa as it is of the rich tapestry of Czech fiction, this ambitious and multi-layered film is the crowning achievement of Frantisek Vlácil's career and one of the undiscovered cornerstones of world cinema.…

The screening will be introduced by Zodiac Film Club. They say looking for a roommate can be murder. This classic film puts that cliché to the test. Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh deliver iconic performances in this deceitful, erotic thriller. When Allison splits up from her boyfriend, she needs a roommate to share her Manhattan aparment. She meets Hedy and they hit it off. What follows is a wickedly chaotic journey where trust and friendship are constantly challenged.  …

Maria (Saoirse Ronan), a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 10-year-olds, is stifled by one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child's behaviour spiralling, she makes a series of bad decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this 'bad apple' in her home. Maria tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament.…

The screening on August 22nd will feature an introduction by writer Daniel Bird. Subsequent screenings of On the Silver Globe will feature a video introduction by writer Adam Żuławski. A small group of cosmic explorers, including a woman, leaves Earth to find freedom and start a new civilization. They do not realise that within themselves they carry the end of their own dream. They eventually die one by one, while their children revert to a primitive native culture, creating new myths and a new god. Some time later, a space bureaucrat, running from a broken heart, arrives and finds the colonizer's descendants enslaved by bird-monsters called Cherns. Society is divided into numerous classes, and everyone is waiting for the arrival of a messiah. The newcomer is considered a suitable candidate, and for some time he lives as a god. In 1977, as the film was approaching completion, the Polish government ordered the production to be shut down and all the negatives be destroyed. Miraculously, the original film reels were preserved and ten years later the film was presented at the Cannes Film Festival to great acclaim. On the Silver Globe stands as a testament to Żuławski’s cinematic genius and his daring approach to storytelling. Its surreal narrative, profound themes, and historical context make it a fascinating piece of cinematic history. Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

Maria (Saoirse Ronan), a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 10-year-olds, is stifled by one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child's behaviour spiralling, she makes a series of bad decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this 'bad apple' in her home. Maria tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament.…

Our screening on Thursday 8 October will be introduced by art historian and Fashion in Film Festival director Marketa Uhlirova. A satirical, wild and irreverent story of rebellion, Věra Chytilová’s classic of surrealist cinema is perhaps also the most adventurous and anarchic Czech movie of the 1960s. Two young women, both named Marie, revolt against a degenerate, decayed and oppressive society, attacking symbols of wealth and bourgeois culture. Defiant feminist statement? Nihilistic, avant-garde comedy? It remains a cinematic enigma and its influence is still felt today - from the extreme Baise-Moi to the mainstream Thelma & Louise and in the films of (amongst others) Jacques Rivette, Bertrand Blier, Catherine Breillat, and Gregg Araki. A riotous, punk-rock poem of a film that is both hilarious and mind-warpingly innovative, Daisies continues to provoke, stimulate and entertain.…

Maria (Saoirse Ronan), a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 10-year-olds, is stifled by one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child's behaviour spiralling, she makes a series of bad decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this 'bad apple' in her home. Maria tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament.…

Screenings of L'Amour Braque will feature a video introduction from writer and film historian, Samm Deighan. Intended as a homage to Fyodor Dostoyevsky and loosely based on his novel The Idiot, Żuławski’s L’Amour Braque is the story of a bloody vendetta, of bonds between two men from opposite backgrounds, and a violent love triangle. After a successful bank robbery, Micky hopes to take back his girlfriend Marie from rival gangsters. On the way to Paris he meets Leon, a neurotic dreamer whom he considers an idiot. Leon can hardly understand what Micky is up to but he follows him everywhere and soon falls in love with Marie. Żuławski’s postmodern adaptation is presented with an intense sense of visual style suggestive of the hyper-realistic and chaotic world of bande dessinée. Abundant with images of hysteria from start to finish, the screen is filled with outbursts of energy and violence whereby performances are choreographed into a perverse, bloody ballet.…

Our screening on Thursday 10 September will be introduced by Second Run DVD founder Mehelli Modi. Němec’s debut feature is one of the most thrilling and startlingly original works of cinema. Told almost without dialogue, it chronicles the tense and desperate journey of two teenage boys who are trying to stay alive after escaping from a German train bound for a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Adaptated from Darkness Casts No Shadow by Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night is one of the earliest key early works of the Czechoslovak New Wave.…

Maria (Saoirse Ronan), a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 10-year-olds, is stifled by one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child's behaviour spiralling, she makes a series of bad decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this 'bad apple' in her home. Maria tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament.…

Maria (Saoirse Ronan), a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 10-year-olds, is stifled by one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child's behaviour spiralling, she makes a series of bad decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this 'bad apple' in her home. Maria tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament.…

Our screening on Saturday 10 October will be introduced by Czech film expert Peter Hames and followed by a discussion group in The Atrium Bar. A milestone of the Czechoslovak New Wave, Miloš Forman’s first colour film The Firemen’s Ball is both a dazzling comedy and a provocative political satire. A hilarious saga of good intentions confounded, the story chronicles a firemen’s ball where nothing goes right - from a beauty pageant whose reluctant participants embarrass the organisers to a lottery from which nearly all the prizes are pilfered. Presumed to be a commentary on the floundering Czech leadership, the film was 'banned forever' in Czechoslovakia following the Russian invasion and prompted Forman’s move to America.…

When two young men arrive at a family-run guesthouse in rural France, their anticipation of a few days' peace and quiet is undermined by a variety of sinister occurrences. A small bird is found murdered, its neck in a tiny noose, a strangely sexualised stain appears on a wall, and a slug crawls across the breakfast tray. Are these all signs comprising a portent of truly cosmic significance, or merely bizarre coincidences? And is it any wonder that one of the visitors, Witold has such difficulty writing his novel, or that his companion Fuchs prefers to find solace in earthier pleasures? The final film by Andrzej Żuławski, Cosmos adapts Witold Gombrowicz's legendarily challenging novel into a beguilingly witty combination of lighthearted French farce and a complex, knowing reflection on the absurdities both of humanity itself and the way that we define our notion of the universe according to our individual hang-ups.…

Academy Award nominee John Lithgow stars in this big-hearted, big-footed family comedy. While returning from a trip to the woods, George Henderson and his family accidentally run over a friendly Bigfoot-like beast.  "Harry" soon awakens and despite their initial fears, Harry turns out to be a kind and sensitive being. When authorities set out to capture him, The Hendersons comes together to in a race against the clock to return the Sasquatch to it's natural habitiat. Into Film age recommendation: 8+ 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 film critic, lecturer, and programmer Geoff Andrew. Victor Erice’s beautiful Spanish masterpiece, revered for its tender evocation of childhood imagination and astonishing performance by Ana Torrent. Two young sisters watch Frankenstein in the village cinema while their father immerses himself in bee-keeping and their mother dreams about and writes to an unseen lover. The youngest of the girls becomes obsessed with the presence of the monster. She discovers a fugitive from the army hiding in a secret place which she associates with her ‘monster’. Utilising the country’s barren exteriors and the burnished browns and yellows of the girls’ shadowy village home with a painter’s eye, Victor Erice combines a marvellous vision of childhood discoveries with a visualisation of a dream world where, even in the darkness outside, strangers and monsters can take on a benevolent aspect and respond with love. The film has been hugely influential, as both a yardstick of child performances on film, and for it’s sophisticated, sensitive window into the imaginations of children, traceable directly to films such as Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). Spirit of the Beehive was also a favourite of Contemporary’s founder Charles Cooper. Celebrating 75 Years of Contemporary Films. Bringing bold cinema that inspired generations of British audiences and filmmakers — a festival of screening events with special guests across London this September and October Geoff Andrew has worked in film as a critic, lecturer and programmer for half a century. He was editor and chief critic of the film pages of Time Out for many years and head of programming for a decade and a half at BFI Southbank, formerly the National Film Theatre; he then continued as a senior member of the programming team until 2024. For much of the last decade he has been teaching and lecturing at the London Film School. He’s also written, edited and contributed to many books on the cinema.…

Academy Award nominee John Lithgow stars in this big-hearted, big-footed family comedy. While returning from a trip to the woods, George Henderson and his family accidentally run over a friendly Bigfoot-like beast.  "Harry" soon awakens and despite their initial fears, Harry turns out to be a kind and sensitive being. When authorities set out to capture him, The Hendersons comes together to in a race against the clock to return the Sasquatch to it's natural habitiat. Into Film age recommendation: 8+ On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children. The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you.…

The screening on the 26th of August will be introduced by writer Michael Brooke. The screenings on September the 11th and 27th will feature a video introduction by Andrzej Jaroszewicz, camera operator on The Devil and frequent collaborator of Andrzej Żuławski. During the Prussian army's invasion of Poland in 1793, a young Polish nobleman, Jakub, is saved from imprisonment by a stranger, who in return wants to obtain a list of his fellow conspirators. Following his mysterious savior across the country, Jakub sees the overall chaos and moral corruption, including his father's death and the betrayal of his friend who stole his fiancee. Becoming apparently demented by what he has seen, he commits a number of seemingly motiveless and gory killings. An allegory for the political crisis in Poland during 1968, when communist leaders created riots to punish student, the film was shelved upon completion by the government. It was accused of excess of violence and erotic scenes, but the political undertones of Żuławski’s film were more objectionable to the government. The film had to wait 16 years for its cinema premiere and was not released to the public until 1988. Before this happened, however, Żuławski was forced to leave Poland, deprived of the chance to make films in his country, he left for France to continue his career there.…

Our screening on Friday 9 October will be introduced by Czech film expert Peter Hames. Voted the best Czech film ever made, Marketa Lazarová is a powerful and passionate medieval epic set in the mid-13th Century. Based on avant-garde writer Vladislav Vancura's novel, it follows the rivalry between two warring clans, the Kozlíks and the Lazars, and the doomed love affair of Mikolás Kozlík and Marketa Lazarová. Re-creating an authentic world and as reminiscent of Tarkovsky and Kurosawa as it is of the rich tapestry of Czech fiction, this ambitious and multi-layered film is the crowning achievement of Frantisek Vlácil's career and one of the undiscovered cornerstones of world cinema.…

The screening on October 5th will be introduced by writer Daniel Bird. Based on the musical recording of the famous opera by Modest Mussorgsky, whereby a possible impostor torments a newly crowned medieval czar who may have ordered the real successor’s death. Never before screened theatrically in the UK, Andrzej Żuławski's adaptation of Boris Godunov is about the tragic events surrounding the ruling of the Russian tsar in the early 17th century. The recording itself was made two years before the filming with the participation of the Washington Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, and several opera stars including Ruggero Raimondi. Żuławski's film situates the viewer inside the metafictional space of the opera house, just as if the audience were watching the performance live. Highly controversial at the time of release, the director deliberately fills the picture with a plenty of anachronisms, commenting on Soviet history and other dictatorships of the 20th century. Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

The penultimate film in the current season of LRB Screen, which explores visions of London created by non-British filmmakers, is the only feature made in the UK by the celebrated, singular Finnish writer/director, Aki Kaurismäki. I Hired a Contract Killer is a brilliantly downbeat, witty and moving comedy of errors, which also serves as a vivid document of the city at a moment of transition, in the aftermath of Margaret Thatcher’s Big Bang. Henri Boulanger (Jean-Pierre Léaud), a lonely French man in a dead-end office job with the London waterworks, is made redundant with immediate effect, due to privatisation. Having nothing left to live for, he repeatedly fails to kill himself. Hearing by chance about contract killers, he arranges for a contract to be taken out on himself. However, when he meets flower seller Margaret (Margi Clark), he changes his mind, which is when his real problems start... Shot in atmospheric and unfamiliar locations (many now demolished) across Docklands and the East End, and featuring a musical cameo by the late Joe Strummer, I Hired a Contract Killer convincingly fuses the distinctive world-making of its director with a recognisably ‘English’ mood and tone. Despite premiering at the Venice Film Festival, it is one of Kaurismäki’s least well-known titles, and the only one not to appear in his collected Blu-Ray box-set. This is a rare opportunity to see it on the big screen. Introducing I Hired a Contract Killer and discussing it afterwards with regular host Gareth Evans, will be the architectural and cultural historian (and LRB regular), Owen Hatherley.  With thanks to the Finnish Film Foundation, The Match Factory and Sputnik Oy, especially Anni Asikainen, Valentina Bronzini and Haije Tulokas.…

Our screening on Sunday 11 October will be introduced by writer, lecturer, and Czech cinema expert, Peter Hames. Set in a vividly recreated 13th-century Europe, František Vláčil’s visionary medieval epic chronicles the tale of a young boy forced to join the Order of the Teutonic Knights. Years later he abandons them, only to be pursued by a fanatical comrade and made to pay a terrible price for his rejection of the Holy Order. Visually stunning, with dazzling monochrome cinematography and intense period detail, The Valley of the Bees is a raw and haunting moral fable about the conflict between human nature and dogmatism - and just as powerful and compelling a film as Vláčil’s more famous work, Marketa Lazarová.…

This screening will include an introduction from Never Watching Movies. Criminally underseen, this exceptional satire exposes the performative roles of New York’s upper class. A young Will Smith gives a stand-out performance as a charming and cultured conman. Claiming to be Sidney Poitier’s son, he tricks his way into the home and lives of two hapless socialites. A commentary on the fragile construction of the upper class, this clever film reveals the ridiculous tendencies of the status quo. A great cast includes Donald Sutherland, the inimitable Stockard Channing and even Gandalf!…

The screening on August 23rd will be introduced by writer Daniel Bird. The screening on October 1st will be introduced by filmmaker Craig Williams. An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into committing a political assassination. Never shown theatrically in the UK upon it's original release and long available on DVD only, La Femme Publique will be screened during the season from the 2025 restoration by LCJ Editions. Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

All screenings feature a recorded introduction from curator and scholar of Eastern European cult cinema Daniel Bird. Juraj Herz's film The Cremator has been described in many ways - as surrealist-inspired horror, as expressionist fantasy, as a dark and disturbing tale of terror. This brilliantly chilling film, a mix of Dr Strangelove and Repulsion, is set in Prague during the Nazi occupation. It tells the story of Karl Kopfrkingl (Rudolf Hrušínský), a professional cremator, for whom the political climate allows free rein to his increasingly deranged impulses for the 'salvation of the world'.…

The screening on August 22nd will feature an introduction by writer Daniel Bird. Subsequent screenings of On the Silver Globe will feature a video introduction by writer Adam Żuławski. A small group of cosmic explorers, including a woman, leaves Earth to find freedom and start a new civilization. They do not realise that within themselves they carry the end of their own dream. They eventually die one by one, while their children revert to a primitive native culture, creating new myths and a new god. Some time later, a space bureaucrat, running from a broken heart, arrives and finds the colonizer's descendants enslaved by bird-monsters called Cherns. Society is divided into numerous classes, and everyone is waiting for the arrival of a messiah. The newcomer is considered a suitable candidate, and for some time he lives as a god. In 1977, as the film was approaching completion, the Polish government ordered the production to be shut down and all the negatives be destroyed. Miraculously, the original film reels were preserved and ten years later the film was presented at the Cannes Film Festival to great acclaim. On the Silver Globe stands as a testament to Żuławski’s cinematic genius and his daring approach to storytelling. Its surreal narrative, profound themes, and historical context make it a fascinating piece of cinematic history. Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

The screening on October 4th will be introduced by writer Daniel Bird. The screening on October 15th will be introduced by filmmaker Craig Williams. Michał, a reserved anthropology professor, uncovers the perfectly preserved remains of a 3,000-year-old shaman during an excavation in a marsh. Around the same time, he meets a mysterious, impulsive young woman known only as 'the Italian.' Drawn to her raw, untamed energy, Michał begins a feverish and increasingly destructive affair with her. As their relationship spirals into obsession, he becomes haunted by visions connected to the ancient shaman. The boundaries between science and mysticism, reason and primal instinct, begin to dissolve, pulling Michał into a world where erotic desire and death become inseparably intertwined. Iwona Petry, who played the mysterious 'Italian,' had no prior acting experience. Żuławski reportedly discovered her in a Warsaw café and offered her the lead role on the spot. Due to its graphic sexuality and critiques of religious and social norms, the film caused major controversy in Poland. Some nicknamed it 'Last Tango in Warsaw,' and screenings were limited in certain areas. Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

The screening on October 5th will be introduced by writer Daniel Bird. Based on the musical recording of the famous opera by Modest Mussorgsky, whereby a possible impostor torments a newly crowned medieval czar who may have ordered the real successor’s death. Never before screened theatrically in the UK, Andrzej Żuławski's adaptation of Boris Godunov is about the tragic events surrounding the ruling of the Russian tsar in the early 17th century. The recording itself was made two years before the filming with the participation of the Washington Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, and several opera stars including Ruggero Raimondi. Żuławski's film situates the viewer inside the metafictional space of the opera house, just as if the audience were watching the performance live. Highly controversial at the time of release, the director deliberately fills the picture with a plenty of anachronisms, commenting on Soviet history and other dictatorships of the 20th century. Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

Our screening on Tuesday 6 October will be introduced Daniela Richterová, Senior Lecturer in Intelligence Studies at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. A high-ranking Communist official and his wife begin to suspect that their home has been put under surveillance by the Party. Over one night, the growing tension exposes a bitter fault-line in their relationship, feeding an atmosphere of paranoia and dread. Daring to address the taboos of the Stalinist era, The Ear was banned soon after completion and remained unseen until the fall of Communism twenty years later. Combining a blackly-comic portrait of a disintegrating marriage with a searing critique of totalitarianism, this landmark film is an extraordinary indictment of life under an oppressive system and remains starkly relevant today.…

Our screening on Thursday 8 October will be introduced by art historian and Fashion in Film Festival director Marketa Uhlirova. A satirical, wild and irreverent story of rebellion, Věra Chytilová’s classic of surrealist cinema is perhaps also the most adventurous and anarchic Czech movie of the 1960s. Two young women, both named Marie, revolt against a degenerate, decayed and oppressive society, attacking symbols of wealth and bourgeois culture. Defiant feminist statement? Nihilistic, avant-garde comedy? It remains a cinematic enigma and its influence is still felt today - from the extreme Baise-Moi to the mainstream Thelma & Louise and in the films of (amongst others) Jacques Rivette, Bertrand Blier, Catherine Breillat, and Gregg Araki. A riotous, punk-rock poem of a film that is both hilarious and mind-warpingly innovative, Daisies continues to provoke, stimulate and entertain.…

This screening will be introduced by Video Bazaar. In one of Cronenberg’s most renowned and psychologically intense thrillers, twin brothers switch and merge their identities into one. Dead Ringers is the story of twin gynaecologists, the Mantles. When one of them becomes obsessed with a patient, the brothers’ relationship falls apart. This melodramatic masterpiece beautifully depicts emotional and physical decay. Always visceral, and at times uncomfortable, this classic explores the devastating impact when two identities become one.…

Our screening on Friday 9 October will be introduced by Czech film expert Peter Hames. Voted the best Czech film ever made, Marketa Lazarová is a powerful and passionate medieval epic set in the mid-13th Century. Based on avant-garde writer Vladislav Vancura's novel, it follows the rivalry between two warring clans, the Kozlíks and the Lazars, and the doomed love affair of Mikolás Kozlík and Marketa Lazarová. Re-creating an authentic world and as reminiscent of Tarkovsky and Kurosawa as it is of the rich tapestry of Czech fiction, this ambitious and multi-layered film is the crowning achievement of Frantisek Vlácil's career and one of the undiscovered cornerstones of world cinema.…

Our screening on Saturday 10 October will be introduced by Czech film expert Peter Hames and followed by a discussion group in The Atrium Bar. A milestone of the Czechoslovak New Wave, Miloš Forman’s first colour film The Firemen’s Ball is both a dazzling comedy and a provocative political satire. A hilarious saga of good intentions confounded, the story chronicles a firemen’s ball where nothing goes right - from a beauty pageant whose reluctant participants embarrass the organisers to a lottery from which nearly all the prizes are pilfered. Presumed to be a commentary on the floundering Czech leadership, the film was 'banned forever' in Czechoslovakia following the Russian invasion and prompted Forman’s move to America.…

The film will be introduced by writer and historian Susan Jonusas on the 18th of September and by writer Stephen Thrower on the 10th of October. After returning home to West Berlin, international spy Mark is blindsided when his wife, Anna, abruptly requests a divorce without explanation. As he attempts to uncover the cause of her sudden detachment, he begins to monitor her, eventually discovering that she is hiding a series of complex and unsettling secrets. As Mark digs deeper, he is confronted with a progression of inexplicable and increasingly volatile events. His investigation descends into a psychological downward spiral, forcing him to navigate the blurring lines between his crumbling personal life and a reality that begins to defy logical explanation. Set in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, infused with Cold War-era paranoia and tension, Possession is a film that defies classification. One of the most tortured portraits of a disintegrating marriage ever presented on screen, visionary director Andrzej Żuławski masterfully blends horror and thriller conventions into an utterly unique cinema experience, drawing on his own traumatic divorce and creative blacklisting in his native Poland.…

Our screening on Sunday 11 October will be introduced by writer, lecturer, and Czech cinema expert, Peter Hames. Set in a vividly recreated 13th-century Europe, František Vláčil’s visionary medieval epic chronicles the tale of a young boy forced to join the Order of the Teutonic Knights. Years later he abandons them, only to be pursued by a fanatical comrade and made to pay a terrible price for his rejection of the Holy Order. Visually stunning, with dazzling monochrome cinematography and intense period detail, The Valley of the Bees is a raw and haunting moral fable about the conflict between human nature and dogmatism - and just as powerful and compelling a film as Vláčil’s more famous work, Marketa Lazarová.…

The screening on the 12th of October will feature an introduction by writer Michael Brooke. The first feature by Andrzej Żuławski immediately established his emotionally charged, fast-and-furious style. Drawing from the biography of his father, particularly his experiences in Nazi German-occupied Poland, the film follows a fugitive whose reality implodes when he witnesses the murders of his family, propelling him into a nightmarish world filled with doppelgängers, fluid identities, pervasive dread, and an enigmatic Nazi vaccine laboratory. In all its fantastic and macabre glory, The Third Part of the Night is a delirious portrayal of the chaos wrought upon the psyche by the horrors of war, and one of the most remarkable directorial debuts of all time.…

The screening on the September 1st will be introduced by Garden Cinema team member, writer, and filmmaker Sarah Grice. Subsequent screenings will include a video introduction by writer and film historian, Samm Deighan. Servais, a photographer burdened with debt, crosses paths with Nadine Chevalier, a talented actress forced to appear in low-budget exploitation films to make ends meet. Moved by her vulnerability and her dignity despite the humiliations she faces, Servais decides to help her by financing an ambitious theatrical production that could revive her career. But this act of support gradually turns into a passionate and painful love. Nadine, who is married to Jacques - a fragile and depressive man - becomes torn between her sense of duty, her guilt, and the overwhelming pull of this new love. Caught between drama, sacrifice, and obsession, each character struggles with their own inner wounds while desperately seeking some form of redemption through love. Żuławski's first film produced after his complicated exile from Poland, That Most Important Thing: Love was adapted from the novel by Christopher Frank La Nuit Américaine. Featuring French singer Jacques Dutronc and Romy Schneider, who won the inaugural César Award for Best Actress, the film was successful enough in France that it allowed Żuławski to return to Poland to make his next feature, On the Silver Globe.…

Our screening on Wednesday 9 September will be introduced by the close friend of Jiří Menzel: film critic, broadcaster, and lecturer Phillip Bergson. At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot. Wry and tender, Academy Award-winning Closely Observed Trains is a masterpiece of human observation and one of the best-loved films of the Czechoslovak New Wave.…

The screening on October 4th will be introduced by writer Daniel Bird. The screening on October 15th will be introduced by filmmaker Craig Williams. Michał, a reserved anthropology professor, uncovers the perfectly preserved remains of a 3,000-year-old shaman during an excavation in a marsh. Around the same time, he meets a mysterious, impulsive young woman known only as 'the Italian.' Drawn to her raw, untamed energy, Michał begins a feverish and increasingly destructive affair with her. As their relationship spirals into obsession, he becomes haunted by visions connected to the ancient shaman. The boundaries between science and mysticism, reason and primal instinct, begin to dissolve, pulling Michał into a world where erotic desire and death become inseparably intertwined. Iwona Petry, who played the mysterious 'Italian,' had no prior acting experience. Żuławski reportedly discovered her in a Warsaw café and offered her the lead role on the spot. Due to its graphic sexuality and critiques of religious and social norms, the film caused major controversy in Poland. Some nicknamed it 'Last Tango in Warsaw,' and screenings were limited in certain areas. Daniel Bird is a writer based in France. Since interviewing him as a student, he has worked frequently with Andrzej Żuławski, helping with the North American release of the director's cut of Possession, as well as assisting with subtitling, restorations, and script editing. Alongside curated programmes at Ciné Lumière and the Horse Hospital, Daniel has also worked with some of Żuławski’s key collaborators including composer Andrzej Korzyński, cinematographer Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz, and costume designer Magdalena Tesławska.…

Our screening on Saturday 10 October will be introduced by Czech film expert Peter Hames and followed by a discussion group in The Atrium Bar. A milestone of the Czechoslovak New Wave, Miloš Forman’s first colour film The Firemen’s Ball is both a dazzling comedy and a provocative political satire. A hilarious saga of good intentions confounded, the story chronicles a firemen’s ball where nothing goes right - from a beauty pageant whose reluctant participants embarrass the organisers to a lottery from which nearly all the prizes are pilfered. Presumed to be a commentary on the floundering Czech leadership, the film was 'banned forever' in Czechoslovakia following the Russian invasion and prompted Forman’s move to America.…

All screenings feature a recorded introduction from curator and scholar of Eastern European cult cinema Daniel Bird. Juraj Herz's film The Cremator has been described in many ways - as surrealist-inspired horror, as expressionist fantasy, as a dark and disturbing tale of terror. This brilliantly chilling film, a mix of Dr Strangelove and Repulsion, is set in Prague during the Nazi occupation. It tells the story of Karl Kopfrkingl (Rudolf Hrušínský), a professional cremator, for whom the political climate allows free rein to his increasingly deranged impulses for the 'salvation of the world'.…

Our screening on Thursday 10 September will be introduced by Second Run DVD founder Mehelli Modi. Němec’s debut feature is one of the most thrilling and startlingly original works of cinema. Told almost without dialogue, it chronicles the tense and desperate journey of two teenage boys who are trying to stay alive after escaping from a German train bound for a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Adaptated from Darkness Casts No Shadow by Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night is one of the earliest key early works of the Czechoslovak New Wave.…

Video Bazaar is thrilled to present a rare screening of the North American theatrical cut of Possession as part of our season, Devils and Shamans: the films of Andrzej Żuławski After returning home to West Berlin, international spy Mark is blindsided when his wife, Anna, abruptly requests a divorce without explanation. As he attempts to uncover the cause of her sudden detachment, he begins to monitor her, eventually discovering that she is hiding a series of complex and unsettling secrets. As Mark digs deeper, he is confronted with a progression of inexplicable and increasingly volatile events. His investigation descends into a psychological downward spiral, forcing him to navigate the blurring lines between his crumbling personal life and a reality that begins to defy logical explanation. Set in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, infused with Cold War-era paranoia and tension, Possession is a film that defies classification. One of the most tortured portraits of a disintegrating marriage ever presented on screen, visionary director Andrzej Żuławski masterfully blends horror and thriller conventions into an utterly unique cinema experience, drawing on his own traumatic divorce and creative blacklisting in his native Poland. The North American cut of Possession was heavily altered to fit a more conventional genre mold. Distributors removed over 40 minutes of the film. They also altered the original score, re-arranged scenes and added footage not present in the original edit. The 1981 director's cut by Andrzej Żuławski focuses heavily on emotional collapse and psychological turmoil. The North American version, however, attempts to make the film look like an alien or monster movie in the vein of David Cronenberg or John Carpenter. This screening is presented by the cult film club, Video Bazaar, who are proud to present this rarely screened film and are dedicated to bringing the weird, the obscure and forgotten classics to  audiences at The Garden Cinema.…

Our screening on Tuesday 6 October will be introduced Daniela Richterová, Senior Lecturer in Intelligence Studies at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. A high-ranking Communist official and his wife begin to suspect that their home has been put under surveillance by the Party. Over one night, the growing tension exposes a bitter fault-line in their relationship, feeding an atmosphere of paranoia and dread. Daring to address the taboos of the Stalinist era, The Ear was banned soon after completion and remained unseen until the fall of Communism twenty years later. Combining a blackly-comic portrait of a disintegrating marriage with a searing critique of totalitarianism, this landmark film is an extraordinary indictment of life under an oppressive system and remains starkly relevant today.…

The screening on Thursday 22 October will be introduced by Film Lecturer Tonia Kazakopoulou. Synopsis: It’s midnight on a deserted street in Athens. A young woman is stabbed to death by a stranger, who instantly slips into the shadows. Uppon his arrest, alleged perpetrator John Zachos immediately confesses to the murder but during the trial it becomes apparent that his testimony is an impression of what he has read in the press and is full of inconsistencies. The search for the truth is interrupted and the battle between society and individual rages on. Curator's note: A monumental debut only now finding its rightful place in world cinema, Tonia Marketaki's film was based on real life events that caused great controversy and mesmerised audiences at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. This labyrinthine portrait of a self-confessed murderer - shaped by toxic masculinity - is both formally and conceptually innovative. Marketaki does not focus on the crime, but uses it as a springboard for a feminist exploration light years ahead of its time, one that would have been radical anywhere in the world. John the Violent is a definitive study of ethics, and a strikingly prophetic one about how press and media narratives actively distort and shape reality.  Dr Tonia Kazakopoulou is a Lecturer in Film & Television at the University of Reading. Her research interests include women's cinema of small nations, and particularly of Greece; contemporary European and world cinemas; the politics of representation in film and television. She has been the curator of the international standing conference Contemporary Greek Film Cultures, and she has also published on women's cinema, on Greek women screenwriters, on contemporary Greek cinema and motherhood, as well as on the female characters in Yorgos Lanthimos' films.…

Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom sees the residents of Mossy Bottom Farm looking forward to Halloween – until the clumsy Farmer trashes the Flock’s beloved pumpkin patch! When Shaun turns mad scientist to fix the problem, things rapidly spiral out of control... With The Farmer missing and a wild beast roaming the woods of Mossingham, all the ingredients are in place for a monstrously fun family adventure. 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.…

Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom sees the residents of Mossy Bottom Farm looking forward to Halloween – until the clumsy Farmer trashes the Flock’s beloved pumpkin patch! When Shaun turns mad scientist to fix the problem, things rapidly spiral out of control... With The Farmer missing and a wild beast roaming the woods of Mossingham, all the ingredients are in place for a monstrously fun family adventure. 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.…

Maya and her dad, director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) live in different countries  As a way to remain close to her daughter and continue to tell her bedtime stories, her dad asks her every night: 'Maya, give me a title?' From each prompt, armed with coloured paper, scissors, sticky tape and a camera, he creates a unique cartoon in which Maya is the heroine – voiced by Gondry’s daughter Maya herself, joined by actor Pierre Niney. Gondry uses his trademark wit, whimsy, and mixed media to tell tales about mermaids, earthquakes, and anything else the two dream up. A whimsical, anarchic and sweetly lo-fi collection of fantastical tales, Maya, Give Me a Title will make children dream… and grown-ups smile. The film was awarded a Crystal Bear by the Children’s Jury at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival in 2025. The film is in French with English subtitles. Film London recommends this film for ages 5+ On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children. The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you.…

Maya and her dad, director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) live in different countries  As a way to remain close to her daughter and continue to tell her bedtime stories, her dad asks her every night: 'Maya, give me a title?' From each prompt, armed with coloured paper, scissors, sticky tape and a camera, he creates a unique cartoon in which Maya is the heroine – voiced by Gondry’s daughter Maya herself, joined by actor Pierre Niney. Gondry uses his trademark wit, whimsy, and mixed media to tell tales about mermaids, earthquakes, and anything else the two dream up. A whimsical, anarchic and sweetly lo-fi collection of fantastical tales, Maya, Give Me a Title will make children dream… and grown-ups smile. The film was awarded a Crystal Bear by the Children’s Jury at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival in 2025. The film is in French with English subtitles. Film London recommends this film for ages 5+ On Sunday mornings our Family Screenings are followed by a free activity for Children. The screening is Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford. By paying for a ticket, you will enable us to keep offering Pay What You Can screenings to families struggling with the cost of living. Thank you.…

Another gem from Aardman Productions, adapted by Gideon Defoe from his children's book. The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! follows a crew of hapless pirates in their attempt to win the much coveted Pirate of the Year Award. Hugh Grant stars in his first animated role as the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain – a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas. With a rag-tag crew at his side (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen), and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the Pirate Of The Year Award. 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.…

As the nights draw in, we're very excited to be screening one of the earliest horror masterpieces, The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Directed by Rupert Julian and starring Lon Chaney, the first film adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel ranks among the greatest horror films of the silent era. Filled with opulent costumes, extravagant sets and hundreds of extras, the film made dazzling early use of Technicolour. For this very special screening and performance, Scottish composers Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman have created a new haunting and dramatic score befitting of this silent era classic. Having released their first collaborative album, Ash Grey And The Gull Glides On, in 2024 to critical acclaim and a Scottish Album Of The Year Award nomination, the pair come together once more celebrating an iconic piece of cinema history through their new accompanying soundtrack album, House With A Curse. Expect a score with a present-day approach, navigating opera, neo-classical, acoustic, and electronic instruments with elements of sound design. Not to be missed! Andrew Wasylyk & Tommy Perman - House With A Curse, out 16/10/26 on Clay Pipe Music. Copies of the album will be available on the evening.…

Another gem from Aardman Productions, adapted by Gideon Defoe from his children's book. The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! follows a crew of hapless pirates in their attempt to win the much coveted Pirate of the Year Award. Hugh Grant stars in his first animated role as the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain – a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas. With a rag-tag crew at his side (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen), and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the Pirate Of The Year Award. 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.…

As the nights draw in we invite you to a screening of the BBC’s celebrated A Ghost Story for Christmas films from the 1970s, written by acclaimed playwright and novelist John Bowen. The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1974). Adapted from the MR James story. An academic cleric and his protégée go hunting for lost treasure. The Ice House (Derek Lister, 1978). An original tale concerning the sinister goings on at an exclusive rural health retreat. The evening will also see a Q&A with actor Paul Lavers, director Derek Lister, and designer Roger Murray-Leach. Each film will be introduced by TV historian and ghost story adaptation expert Jon Dear and journalist, writer, and John Bowen expert Simon Farquhar.…