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The Past

21 Feb 2018 Director: Asghar Farhadi Iran, France, Italy 2013 130 min In this intricate drama, Marie attempts to resolve difficulties with her estranged husband. Following a four year separation, Ahmad returns to Paris from Tehran, upon his French wife’s request, in order to finalise their divorce procedure. During his brief stay, Ahmad discovers the… Continue reading The Past

I Am Not Your Negro

7 Mar 2018 Director: Raoul Peck USA, France, Belgium, Switzerland 2016 93 min Fifty years after the Civil Rights movement, race remains a defining issue in the United States of America. James Baldwin’s final book, Remember This House, was due to address the lives and assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin… Continue reading I Am Not Your Negro

The Other Side of Hope

1 Nov 2017 Director: Aki Kaurismäki Finland 2016 98 min Six years after the sublime, award-winning Le Havre, director Kaurismäki returns with his second film in a planned trilogy focusing on port cities. In this eccentric and cuttingly poignant comedy-drama, Wikstrom, a poker-playing restaurateur and former travelling salesman, crosses paths with Syrian stowaway Khaled who… Continue reading The Other Side of Hope

Frantz

24 Jan 2018 Director: François Ozon France, Germany 2016 114 min François Ozon breaks fresh ground with this touching, beautifully crafted period drama set in the aftermath of World War One. In a small German town, Anna mourns her fiancé, Frantz, who was killed in combat. She finds comfort in the arrival of a charming… Continue reading Frantz

My Life as a Courgette

13 Dec 2017 Director: Claude Barras Switzerland, France 2016 66 min Claude Barras brings us a little miracle of gentleness, tenderness and intense, traditional Frenchness in this beguiling story about Icare, a little boy fond of kites and nicknamed Courgette. A terrible accident means that he is taken to a care home in the country… Continue reading My Life as a Courgette

La Strada

29 Nov 2017 Director: Federico Fellini Italy 1954 108 min Winner of the first Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1957, Federico Fellini’s heartbreaking tale of broken outsiders has lost none of its power to move audiences. Giulietta Masina plays Gelsomina, a naïve young woman sold, by her poverty-stricken and desperate mother, to boorish… Continue reading La Strada

Graduation

4 Oct 2017 Director: Cristian Mungiu Romania 2016 128 min The latest work from Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) deservedly won him Best Director at Cannes. Masterful in its construction, this is a gripping drama in which good intentions and guilty secrets gradually erode the moral certainties of a middle-class family.… Continue reading Graduation

Under the Shadow

15 Nov 2017 Director: Babak Anvari UK/Jordan/Qatar 2016 84 min Focusing on a mother and daughter besieged by forces both worldly and otherwise in a Tehran apartment block, Under the Shadow presents a gripping portrait of an independently spirited woman shackled by sharia law. She becomes more scared of the demonic forces tormenting her daughter… Continue reading Under the Shadow

Letters from Baghdad

18 Oct 2017 Directors: Sabine Krayenbühl & Zeva Oelbaum USA, UK, France 2016 95 min Voiced by Tilda Swinton, this fascinating documentary explores the remarkable life of English writer, archaeologist, diplomat and spy, Gertrude Bell. As a young woman, Bell travelled extensively throughout the Middle East producing maps and scholarly works. Eventually, her extraordinary talents… Continue reading Letters from Baghdad