Our highlight of this season must surely be the selective retrospective on Director Tony Palmer screening over three consecutive Sundays in May. We present 12 films in total, all with musical themes, coming to a conclusion with the much revered ‘Wagner’ on 24 May.
Some new release highlights include the much awaited ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway; ‘The Christophers’ with Sir Ian McKellen as a grumpy London-based artist; ‘The Sheep Detectives’ with Hugh Jackman alongside his flock of sheep; and ‘Tuner’ with the perfect pairing of Dustin Hoffman and dreamboat Leo Woodall – yes, him from ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’.
Some wonderful world cinema is on show: ‘Colours of Time’ (France) and ‘Primavera’ (Italy) are the real standouts, but you should not ignore ‘Orphan’ (Hungary) and ‘Kokuho’ (Japan). All great films, which shouldn't fly under your film radar.
There’s a host of classic films as well. From Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’ to ‘Destry Rides Again’ starring Marlene Dietrich; comic book adaptations ‘Barbarella’ and ‘Modesty Blaise’ to Werner Herzog’s ‘The Enigma of Kasper Hausen’; and the cult classic ‘Withnail and I’ to the French favourite ‘Amélie’. And yes, we do listen to you. So many have asked to bring back the recent hits ‘H is for Hawk’, ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Mother’s Pride’… you’re welcome.
Finally, we have some exciting news. We will be replacing our cinema digital projector as well as improving the auditorium screen and masking over three days in June (Tue 16th to Fri 18th). Even though this means you will be without films for these days, the improvement of picture quality, slight increase in screen size, and most importantly, the raising of the projector so that we'll no longer get shadows on the screen, will be more than worth it. To say that we’re excited, is an understatement.
See you at the Cinema
Walter Francisco
Head of Programming