Past Events

Like films but fancy breaking away from the mainstream from time to time? On the first Sunday of every month we will be screening a different cinematic rarity from the collection of the British Film Institute.

Sunday 6 May

THE ROUND-UP directed by Miklós Jancsó (Hungary, 1966), 90 minutes subtitled

Doors open at 7:30pm A remarkable re-enactment of an event from 19th-century Hungarian history - the determined and ruthless purge of a group of "criminals" and rebels who were cast as a threat to the oppressive monarchy - is the basis for the debut film of one of the great directors of Eastern Europe (now in his 92nd year and still an active film-maker). Made in his distinctive style which uses landscape, folk culture and music as dominant Narrative elements, the film is pitched "half-way between between reality and abstraction” (as the director himself puts it) and projects the characters of the story from an unusual but affecting angle.

Sunday 3 June

CYRANO DE BERGERAC Jean-Paul Rappeneau (France, 1990), 137 minutes subtitled

Doors open at 7:30pm The film role which fitted Gerard Depardieu like a glove! The wonderful play, written 115 years ago, works wonderfully on film too and this version more than does it justice; the vitality and warmth of the characters leap out from the screen (without the aid of 3D) and it's impossible not to be drawn into the story right from the first scene. Visually stunning, beautifully photographed, with an admirably fitting musical score and with Anthony Burgess' splendidly witty and poetic English translation, this is a real cinematic treat.