Festival Programme

The Artist (PG) 2011 110 minutes

The silent, black and white French film that surprised the world of cinema this year! Jean Dujardin plays silent movie star George Valentin, reluctant to embrace progress … ‘talkies’ … which young dancer Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) makes her own! A polished, clever reminder of Hollywood's true sparkle!

Empire Magazine: 'Simply irresistible!'

Rolling Stone: 'The Artist encapsulates everything we go to movies for; action, laughs, tears and a chance to get lost in another world.'

Mao's Last Dancer (12) 2009 117 minutes

The real events of Li Cunxin create this human drama. Taken at the age of 11 from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates to Beijing to study ballet his career as a classical dancer spins beyond his government’s control.

Urban Cinefil: 'Mao's Last Dancer is a mature work from a master film-maker relishing his work'.

Incendies (PG) 2010 130 minutes

A powerful Canadian film telling an unsettling tale. After the death of their mother, twins Jeanne and Simon journey to the Middle East in search of their tangled roots. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's acclaimed play.

Rolling Stone:  'Incendies is a devastating mystery thriller - that grabs you hard and won't let go.'

Hollywood Reporter: 'At every film festival, there's at least one movie that slips in under the radar and ends up taking the crowds by surprise.'

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (U) 2010 90 minutes

Film-maker Werner Herzog gained exclusive access to the Chauvet Caves in Southern France. His enthralling documentary reveals the wonder of artwork created by our ancestors some 32,000 years ago, linking the twenty-first century firmly to the ancient past.

The Independent: 'The spectacle is, in a very real sense, awesome.'

Time Out: 'Herzog notes, "Time and space lose their meaning." Inevitably bound by both, his film is as close to their beauty as we will ever get.'

The Guard (15) 2011 96 minutes

Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle star in this laugh-out-loud crime thriller! The unlikely pair from opposite sides of ambition and the Atlantic, team up to track down an international cocaine-smuggling ring.

The Observer:  'Great fun when taken in the right spirit, which would be Old Paddy with a Guinness chaser.'

Empire Magazine:  'Among the most purely entertaining films of the year, which cuts its laughter with a dose of Celtic melancholy.'

Hugo (U) 2012 126 minutes

A first for director, producer Martin Scorsese, who creates a magical family adventure set in ‘30s Paris. Hugo, an orphan, lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.

The Guardian: 'Scorsese has created an exquisite jewel box of a movie, polished and honed to glittering, diamond-hard brilliance.'

Rolling Stone: 'Hugo emerges as a spectacular adventure for film lovers of all ages.' 

A Separation (PG) 2011 123 minutes subtitled

In this complex Iranian drama relationships are shackled by culture, gender, class and prejudice. Key events though familiar take place in an environment that will be alien to many Western viewers.

This is London: 'This is a movie that makes you pay attention to action and consequences in a way that has more or less completely disappeared from main-stream cinema.'

Time Out: 'A Separation is lively and suspenseful, as both drama and debate.'

Road, Movie (15) 2009 95 minutes subtitled

A restless young man, a (mobile) cinema discovered in a battered truck and an eclectic mix of waifs and strays, take a magical mystery tour across a barren Indian landscape in search of ... life, love and friendship.

Eliminate: Archie Cookson (12) 2011 87 minutes

Debut feature film, Eliminate: Archie Cookson, is a dark British comedy. A washed-up British spy, mysteriously receives stolen secret tapes, and unwittingly becomes the target of an assassination by senior MI6 officials.

The Desert Sun: 'If droll, dry-as-Melba-toast British humor is your cup of tea, then you should love this quirky comedy about a burnt-out spy ...'

The Muppets (U) 2011 103 minutes

The Muppets tells the story of how The Muppets with the help of 3 of their fans, reunite to save their old theatre from a greedy oil tycoon. A great film for all the family.

U-Carmen E-Khayelitsha (12) 2005 120 minutes

Set in the sprawling South African shantytown of Khayelitsha and sung entirely in the Xhosa language. No prior knowledge of George Bizet’s 19th century opera is needed to enjoy U-Carmen; the filmmakers successfully broke free of it's stage origins to create a rousing and imaginative, contemporary adaptation.

Empire Magazine:  'Bizet's music is superb, the township setting ambitious and the performances totally brilliant.'

The New York Post:  'A vivacious film that is a treat for eyes and ears.'

The Way Cert TBA 2010 128 minutes

The true star of this sincere, old-fashioned story about grief and faith is the Spanish pilgrimage route; Camino de Santiago. En route a disparate group of modern-day pilgrims find more than friendship. Breath-taking cinematography reveals much of the spectacular 600+ miles with exclusive film inside the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela.

Empire Magazine: 'Gentle, likeable and profoundly touching, it makes you want to dig out the hiking boots and make the same journey.'

Rolling Stone:  'Open yourself to this thoughtful, moving personal adventure and you're in for a uniquely memorable experience.'