<img src='' title='Event Category: Film' alt='' id='templ_icon_' width='' height='' /> Event Category: Film

Alice (Pugh) and Jack (Styles) are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. The 1950s societal optimism espoused by their CEO, Frank (Pine)—equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach—anchors every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia.

While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the “development of progressive materials,” their wives—including Frank’s elegant partner, Shelley (Chan)—get to spend their time enjoying the beauty, luxury and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company.

All they ask in return is discretion and unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause. But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?

“Hints of The Stepford Wives in this citrus-sharp psychological thriller” Telegraph ★★★★

Directed by Olivia Wilde
With Florence Pugh, Harry Styles
2hrs 3 mins // US 2022

From the best-selling novel comes a captivating mystery. Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya, an abandoned girl who raised herself to adulthood in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina.

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, isolating the sharp and resilient Kya from her community. Drawn to two young men from town, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world; but when one of them is found dead, she is immediately cast by the community as the main suspect.

As the case unfolds, the verdict as to what actually happened becomes increasingly unclear, threatening to reveal the many secrets that lay within the marsh.

Directed by Olivia Newman
With Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith
2hrs 5 mins // US 2022

We’re told we all have the right to roam in the countryside, but does that apply to everyone equally? Right of Way is a new feature-length programme that mixes stunning new artists’ commissions with historical archive films to examine and debate who is welcomed into the great outdoors and who is excluded.

Three new short films challenge the enduring image of the rural idyll where time stands still. How have Black, Asian and other ethnically diverse people perceived these landscapes? Who tells the stories of protest, trespassing, activism and raves that found their home in the countryside?

These new works are paired with a programme of archive films from the 1930s to the 1980s that allow us to reflect how different people and groups have always enjoyed and accessed our rural spaces in myriad and sometimes contested ways.

Archive Films

Father Thames (1935) Courtesy of BFI National Film Archive

Pilgrims Way (1956) Courtesy of BFI National Film Archive

Holiday on the North Norfolk Coast (1952) Courtesy of the East Anglian Film Archive at the University of East Anglia

Norfolk 1986 (1986) Courtesy of the East Anglian Film Archive at the University of East Anglia

Eastbourne (1958) Courtesy of Screen Archive South East at the University of Brighton

The South Downs Way (1975) Courtesy of Screen Archive South East at the University of Brighton

Country Ways: The Ridgeway in October (1988) Courtesy of the Wessex Film and Sound Archive at Hampshire County Council

Artist Films

Pastoral Malaise (2022), dir Ufuoma Essi

black strangers (2022), dir. Dan Guthrie

Syncopated Green (2022), dir. Arjuna Neuman

In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered. When world-weary Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and eager rookie Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) take on the case, the two find themselves thrown into a puzzling whodunit within the glamorously sordid theatre underground, investigating the mysterious homicide at their own peril.

Directed by Tom George
With Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson
1hr 35 mins || US 2022

“What’s a bad miracle?”

Oscar-winner Jordan Peele disrupted and redefined modern horror with Get Out and then Us. Now, he reimagines the summer movie with a new pop nightmare: the expansive horror epic, Nope. The film reunites Peele with Oscar-winner Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Judas and the Black Messiah), who is joined by Keke Palmer (Hustlers, Alice) and Oscar-nominee Steven Yeun (Minari, Okja) as residents in a lonely gulch of inland California who bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery.

Empire ★★★★★ Little White Lies ★★★★★ Telegraph ★★★★★

Directed by Jordan Peele
With Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun
2hrs 10 mins // US 2022

Fleeing from his father, Irish 12-year-old Mully steals a taxi and is shocked to find a woman, Joy, in the back seat with a baby. Joy has decided to give her child away to a friend, and Mully needs to get some distance from his debt-ridden dad, who’s after the cash Mully has with him. And so two lovable rogues, a complicated middle aged mother and a troubled adolescent, go on a journey across Ireland, gradually finding the friendship, love and learning they never knew they needed in each other.

Guardian ★★★ Times ★★★

Directed by Emer Reynolds
With Olivia Colman
1hr 34 mins // IRE/UK 2022

Elvis is an epic, big-screen spectacle from Warner Bros. Pictures and visionary, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Baz Luhrmann that explores the life and music of Elvis Presley, starring Austin Butler and Oscar-winner Tom Hanks.

A thoroughly cinematic drama, Elvis’s story is seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker.

As told by Parker, the film delves into the complex dynamic between the two spanning over 20 years, from Presley’s rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America. Central to that journey is one of the significant and influential people in Elvis’s life, Priscilla Presley.

Telegraph ★★★★ Mirror ★★★★
Independent ★★★★ Times ★★★★

Directed by Baz Luhrmann
With Austin Butler, Tom Hanks
2hrs 30 mins // US 2022

Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, Taskmaster) and John Heffernan (Dracula) lead the cast in Shakespeare’s romcom of sun, sea and mistaken identity.

The legendary hotel Messina on the Italian Riveria has been visited by artists, celebrities and royalty. But when the owner’s daughter weds a dashing young soldier, not all guests are in the mood for love.

A string of scandalous deceptions soon surround not only the young couple, but also the adamantly single Beatrice and Benedick.

Following the award-winning success of National Theatre Live’s Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night and Antony and Cleopatra, director Simon Godwin returns with this irresistible comedy, broadcast live from the National Theatre stage.

“Screwball Shakespeare goes with a swing!” Guardian ★★★★

Much Ado About Nothing
by William Shakespeare
directed by Simon Godwin

*Please note, this screening starts promptly at 7pm

Following the unexpected success of their debut album “No Hopers, Jokers and Rogues” we rejoin the world’s oldest ‘buoy band’ a year later struggling to navigate the pressures, pitfalls and temptations of their newfound fame.

Fisherman’s Friends: One & All follows the celebrated shanty singers through the highs and lows as lifelong friendships are put to the test and they battle the dreaded ‘curse of the second album’.

“This gentle, sweet-natured comedy has warmth and a certain X factor of likability” Guardian ★★★★

Directed by Meg Leonard, Nick Moorcroft
With James Purefoy, Dave Johns
1hr 54 mins // UK 2022

From the best-selling novel comes a captivating mystery. Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya, an abandoned girl who raised herself to adulthood in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina.

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, isolating the sharp and resilient Kya from her community. Drawn to two young men from town, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world; but when one of them is found dead, she is immediately cast by the community as the main suspect.

As the case unfolds, the verdict as to what actually happened becomes increasingly unclear, threatening to reveal the many secrets that lay within the marsh.

Directed by Olivia Newman
With Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith
2hrs 5 mins // US 2022