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Mustang
In a remote Turkish village five teenage sisters react to the growing constraints placed upon them by their guardians. Villagers gossip, marriages are arranged and the sisters’ voices remain unheard. Poignant examination of the place of young women in rural Turkish society, the strength of sisterly love and what it takes to rebel. Oscar nomination,…
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Love & Friendship
In association with Wimbledon Bookfest Lady Susan, recently widowed and the subject of a scandal, looks for a husband for her daughter and herself. Based on an early Jane Austen novella, the story transfers to the screen as the wittiest of romps, meticulously realised and acted with relish. Beckinsale and Samuel stand out from a…
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Imitation of Life
Douglas Sirk’s iconic masterpiece about race, class and gender in the 1950s. An aspiring actress with a 6 year old daughter arranges to live with a black widow and her 8 year old light-skinned daughter. Voted 37th best US movie in 2015 survey of film critics, received 2 Oscar nominations in 1960. Among the most…
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Embrace of the Serpent
The film delivers a spellbinding vision of the Amazon which focuses on a shaman – the last of his people – and his relationship with two scientists who journey to the rainforest 40 years apart to find the sacred healing plant, the Yakruna. Based on a true story, the film depicts the ravages of colonialism…
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Le Week-End
A couple spend a weekend in Paris to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. Their relationship is flagging and they hope to rekindle it. Will the Parisian experience have the desired effect? ‘This is a beautifully executed, fearlessly truthful and droll film on the emotional politics of reinvention.’ The Telegraph
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Maggie’s Plan
Maggie plans her life meticulously, manipulating others to get what she wants. She’s determined to have a baby engaging the services of a surrogate mother. Her plans go awry when she falls in love with a married man and wrecks his marriage. Julianne Moore steals the show as the eccentric wife – Moore as brilliant…
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Young Frankenstein
Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder’s loving pastiche of the old Universal Studios series of monster movies, some of which was shot using the original Hollywood props from the 1930s. While the critics were often sniffy on its release, the film has gone on to be considered a classic in its own right, being recognised by…
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Twenty Twenty-Four
Gripping sci-fi thriller winning acclaim on the indie film circuit. A scientist anticipates nuclear disaster and holes up in a bunker. With just an intelligent computer for company, he begins to question his self-imposed isolation and whether he is really alone. Shot on location in Portsmouth, the cinematography and central performance are truly distinctive. 3…
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Son of Saul
At several camps the Nazis established units of Jewish male prisoners (sonderkommandos) picked for their youth and relative health. Those at Auschwitz-Birkenau lived in better physical conditions than other inmates and were divided into different groups, each with specialised functions including greeting new arrivals to the camp; sorting their suitcases and packages for shipping to…
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A United Kingdom
In this romantic drama set in post-war Britain and Bechuanaland (now Botswana), writer-director Amma Asante revives a long-forgotten chapter of Britain’s imperial history which still has resonance today. British-Nigerian actor David Oyelowo (whose stand-out performance as Martin Luther King in Selma was seen as having been undeservedly snubbed by the Academy in the ‘Oscars so…