Event Categories: Film

An unconventional romantic comedy about a young American photographer and a French woman with a taste for the macabre.

Paul & Paulette’s chance encounter on a Parisian boulevard sparks an unusual relationship that grows around a dark game; reenacting scenes of notorious crimes from bygone eras at the sites they occurred. For Paul, the game is a way of getting closer to Paulette. For Paulette, it’s a way of escaping a painful break-up. As their road trip approaches the more recent past it becomes more uncomfortable, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, but finding a surprising joy in the darker corners of humanity.

Running Time: 1 hour 49 mins  Language: English  Genre: Comedy  Content Warnings: TBC

2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA is the second feature film from the Oscar®-winning team behind 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL — Ukrainian filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov, producer and editor Michelle Mizner and producer Raney Aronson-Rath.

In 2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA, Chernov turns his lens towards Ukrainian soldiers — who they are, where they came from, and the impossible decisions they face in the trenches as they fight for every inch of land.

Amid a failing counteroffensive in 2023, Chernov and his AP colleague Alex Babenko follow a Ukrainian platoon traversing through one mile of a heavily fortified forest on their mission to liberate the small, Russian-occupied village of Andriivka. But as 2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA reveals with haunting intimacy, the farther the soldiers advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that, for them, this war may never end.

Weaving together intensive Ukrainian Army bodycam footage and powerful moments of reflection, Chernov captures the war in his own country from a personal and devastating vantage point. This new film documents a battle emblematic of the broader Russian-Ukraine war — the largest military operation in Europe since World War II — and presents a view of modern warfare reminiscent of battles fought nearly a century ago.

Running Time: 1 hour 46 mins  Language: English  Genre: Documentary  Content Warnings: strong threat, violence, language, images of real dead bodies, flashing images

Director Xiaorui convinces his cast and crew to resume the shooting of a film halted ten years earlier. In January 2020, with the shoot almost complete, rumours regarding an illness begin to circulate. A hairdresser from Wuhan is sent home, while the crew follows the news on their phones.

The director has to decide whether to halt the filming once again. Some of the crew and actors manage to leave before the hotel is locked down by security guards and everyone left on set is confined to their hotel rooms. As all communication is reduced to phone screens, Wuhan is locked down. The crew continues to communicate via video calls, whilst the quarantined main actor Jiang Cheng struggles to
support his wife who is now locked-down with their month-old baby in Beijing.

This screening is part of Mint on Tour, a women-led Chinese cinema touring programme presented by the MINT Chinese Film Festival and funded by Film Hub North, bringing the best of Chinese film and women’s cinema from Asia across Northern England this Autumn.

Running Time: 1 hour 45 mins  Language: Mandarin with English subtitles  Genre: Docufiction  Content Warnings: moderate threat, violence, upsetting scenes, sex reference, strong language, flashing images

This film screening includes descriptive captions, intended for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. They are also known as HOH (Hard of Hearing) subtitles or SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing).

An entirely ordinary day on the beds ward of a surgical department. The nursing team is understaffed due to a shortage of personnel. Despite the hectic environment, Floria cares for her patients with expertise and full dedication. Although she gives her all, the shift gradually spirals out of control – until it eventually leads to a dramatic outburst.

Awards & Festivals
Official Selection: Berlin Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, New Zealand Film Festival

“Occasionally schematic, albeit only in the service of pricking our consciences, Petra Volpe’s tense drama is a shot in the arm of undiluted empathy for the over-stretched, under-valued nursing profession.” – Screen International

“The wiry and intense physicality that Benesch brought to her role as a newbie schoolteacher in The Teachers’ Lounge finds new depths in her Late Shift performance… Floria is a full-blooded and beautifully etched character and, yes, a heroine.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“Benesch brings a tough, smart, credible presence.” – The Guardian

Running Time: 1 hour 32 mins  Language: German, Turkish, French with English subtitles  Genre: Drama  Content Warnings: infrequent strong language, upsetting scenes

Molly is a young woman released from prison struggles to regain custody of her children. When she bumps into her childhood friend Amina the two women soon realize their only chance is to join forces and take destiny into their own hands.

Awards & Festivals
Official Selection: Edinburgh Film Festival

“★★★★ “Powerful…an impassioned, humane and urgently performed drama.” — The Guardian

“A rousing, emotional wrecking ball in the very best way possible, boasting star-making turns across the board and a story that is guaranteed to stay with you.” – Empire

“Although the emotions in this story are raw, Daisy May-Hudson approaches them with sensitivity and a strong respect for people who are trying hard even if they don’t always succeed.” – Eye For Film

Running Time: 1 hour 40 mins  Language: English  Genre: Drama  Content Warnings: very strong language

Leni Riefenstahl is considered one of the most controversial women of the 20th century as an artist and a Nazi propagandist. Her films TRIUMPH OF THE WILL and OLYMPIA stand for perfectly staged body worship and the celebration of the superior and victorious. At the same time, these images project contempt for the imperfect and weak. Riefenstahl’s aesthetics are more present than ever today – but is that also true for their implied message?

The film examines this question using documents from Riefenstahl’s estate, including private films, photos, recordings and letters. It uncovers fragments of her biography and places them in an extended historical context. How could Riefenstahl become the Reich’s preeminent filmmaker and keep denying any closer ties to Hitler and Goebbels? During her long life after the fall of Nazism, she remained unapologetic, managing to control and shape her legacy. In personal documents, she mourns her “”murdered ideals””. Riefenstahl represents many postwar Germans who, in letters and recorded telephone calls from her estate, dream of an organizing hand that will finally clean up the “”shit-hole state””. Then, her work would also experience a renaissance, in a generation or two this time could come – what if they are right?

Running Time: 1 hour 56 mins  Language: German with English subtitles  Genre: Documentary  Content Warnings: strong real violence, discrimination, sexual violence references

From Director Andrew Ahn comes a joyful comedy of errors about a chosen family navigating the disasters and delights of family expectations, queerness, and cultural identity.

Angela and her partner Lee have been unlucky with their IVF treatments, but can’t afford to pay for another round. Meanwhile, their friend Min, the closeted scion of a multinational corporate empire, has plenty of family money but a soon-to-expire student visa. When his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris rejects his proposal, Min makes the offer to Angela instead: a green card marriage in exchange for funding Lee’s IVF. But their plans to quietly elope are upended when Min’s sceptical grandmother flies in from Korea unannounced, insisting on an all-out wedding extravaganza.

With a pitch-perfect cast of multigenerational talent that includes Bowen Yang, Academy Award nominee Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-chan, Joan Chen, and Academy Award winner Youn Yuh-jung, this fresh reimagining of Ang Lee’s beloved, Award-winning rom-com teems with humour and heart in a poignant reminder that being part of a family means learning to both accept and forgive.

Running Time: 1 hour 43 mins Language: English Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance Content Warnings: strong language and flashing images

Please note this is a recording and not a live, on stage performance.

Love Never Dies continues the story of The Phantom of the Opera. Featuring one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s finest musical scores performed by a 21 piece orchestra, a stunning cast of 36 including Ben Lewis and Anna O’Byrne, over 300 incredible costumes and a magnificent set illuminated by over 5000 dazzling light bulbs.

The year is 1907. It is 10 years after his disappearance from the Paris Opera House and the Phantom has escaped to a new life in New York where he lives amongst the screaming joy rides and freak-shows of Coney Island. In this new electrically-charged world, he has finally found a place for his music to soar. All that is missing is his love – Christine Daaé.

Priority booking until 01/08.

Please note this is a recording and not a live, on stage performance.

Five-time Olivier Award winner Imelda Staunton (The Crown) joins forces with her real-life daughter Bessie Carter (Bridgerton) for the very first time, playing mother and daughter in Bernard Shaw’s incendiary moral classic.

Vivie Warren is a woman ahead of her time. Her mother, however, is a product of that old patriarchal order. Exploiting it has earned Mrs. Warren a fortune – but at what cost?
Filmed live from the West End, this new production reunites Staunton with director Dominic Cooke (Follies, Good), exploring the clash between morality and independence, traditions and progress.

Get ready for the ultimate rock experience as Bat Out of Hell roars onto the big screen this Halloween!

The cast of the West End production will bring Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf’s iconic anthems to life, including I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That), Paradise By The Dashboard Light, Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad, Dead Ringer For Love, and, of course, Bat Out of Hell.

Bat out of Hell -The Musical promises a spectacle that will leave you breathless! This heart-pounding experience, with a powerhouse eight-piece live band on stage, delivers a new production with sprawling multi-level platforms to transport you from Raven’s bedroom to the underground world of the Lost in a visual feast that pushes the boundaries of live theatre.

Priority booking until 01/08.

Please note that this is a recording and not a live, on stage performance.

Olivier Award-winner Jack Lowden (Slow Horses, Dunkirk) is joined by Emmy and BAFTA-winner Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, The Responder) in the critically acclaimed and subversively funny new play by David Ireland.

After years in the 12-step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous, James becomes a sponsor to newcomer Luka. The pair bond over black coffee, trade stories and build a fragile friendship out of their shared experiences. But as Luka approaches step five – the moment of confession – dangerous truths emerge, threatening the trust on which both of their recoveries depend.

Finn den Hertog directs the provocative and entertaining production filmed live from @sohoplace on London’s West End.

Priority booking until 01/08.