Friday 24 October 2025
Green Border
15 | Poland | 2023 | Polish, subtitled | 152 mins
Director: Agnieszka Holland
This gripping drama explores the harrowing plight of refugees stranded between Belarus and Poland. Through interwoven stories of migrants, border guards, and aid workers, “Green Border” offers a searing look at human rights, compassion, and geopolitical cruelty. A film that confronts conscience and challenges indifference.
A tense, nuanced, and morally ambiguous film. - IndieWire
A punch to the solar plexus… a vital cinematic witness. - The Guardian
Friday 7 November 2025
Perfect Days
PG | Germany | 2023 | Japanese, subtitled | 119 mins
Director: Wim Wenders
Hirayama cleans Tokyo’s toilets with serene joy. His minimalist life hides a rich inner world shaped by music, books, and fleeting encounters. Wim Wenders’ meditative film celebrates the poetry of the mundane, revealing the quiet dignity of a man who finds wonder in every day.
Subtle, charming, and unexpectedly moving. - Sight & Sound (BFI)
A poetic tribute to solitude and ritual. - Variety
Friday 21 November 2025
The Promised Land
15 | Denmark | 2023 | Danish, subtitled | 122 mins
Director: Nikolaj Arcel
In 18th-century Denmark, a poor soldier embarks on an ambitious quest to cultivate unclaimed land. Battling harsh nature and class prejudice, “The Promised Land” is an epic tale of endurance, obsession, and the cost of ambition. Based on a true story, it’s a stirring historical drama.
Enjoyable Nordic western with compelling characters. - The Guardian
A morally complex frontier film. - Variety
Friday 5 December 2025
La Chimera
15 | Italy | 2023 | Italian, subtitled | 126 mins
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
A young archaeologist joins tomb raiders in 1980s Italy while haunted by the memory of a lost lover. “La Chimera” blends magical realism and romance with a critique of greed and longing, exploring what we dig up—literally and emotionally—in pursuit of what we’ve lost.
An intoxicating blend of myth and longing. - Empire
A beautifully elusive fable. - Time
Friday 19 December 2025
The Apartment
PG | USA | 1960 | English | 125 mins
Director: Billy Wilder
In 1960s New York, an insurance clerk lends his apartment to company execs for their affairs—until love and ethics collide. Billy Wilder’s sharp romantic comedy blends satire and heart in a story of loneliness, compromise, and quiet heroism in the corporate world.
A masterfully balanced romantic comedy noir. - Sight & Sound (BFI)
A perfect blend of cynicism and sentiment. - Empire
Friday 9 January 2026
Monster
12 | Japan | 2023 | Japanese, subtitled | 125 mins
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
After a school incident, a mother demands answers—but the truth morphs with each perspective. Hirokazu Kore-eda crafts a multi-layered narrative exploring bullying, misunderstanding, and identity, unraveling a tale where nothing is as it seems, and the real “monster” might surprise you.
A moral labyrinth rendered with emotional immediacy. - The New Yorker
Shifting viewpoints build a deeply humane story. - RogerEbert.com
Friday 23 January 2026
The Red Shoes
PG | UK | 1948 | English | 133 mins
Director: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
A young ballerina is torn between love and career when she’s cast in a groundbreaking ballet. “The Red Shoes” dazzles with vivid visuals and timeless themes of artistic passion, control, and self-destruction, marking a pinnacle in classic British cinema.
Cinema hath bubbles—rare, refined beauty that should vanish before your eyes. - Slant Magazine
Friday 6 February 2026
Ceddo
12 | Senegal | 1977 | Wolof, subtitled | 116 mins
Director: Ousmane Sembène
This Senegalese classic depicts resistance against forced religious conversion and European colonisation. Through the eyes of the Ceddo people, Ousmane Sembène weaves a powerful tale of identity, sovereignty, and cultural erosion, offering bold political commentary wrapped in rich historical drama.
A multilayered epic exploring tensions between tradition, religion, and freedom. - Criterion Collection summary
A courageous decolonial masterpiece. - Sight & Sound (BFI)
Friday 20 February 2026
Joyland
15 | Pakistan | 2022 | Urdu, subtitled | 126 mins
Director: Saim Sadiq
In Lahore, a man secretly joins an erotic dance troupe and falls for a transgender performer. “Joyland” explores gender, tradition, and desire with tenderness and tension, breaking cinematic ground while portraying the cost of defiance in a repressive society.
A bold, tender rendering of forbidden love. - Variety
Weaves humor, politics, and emotional depth fluidly. - The New Yorker
Friday 6 March 2026
The Measure of a Man
PG | France | 2015 | French, subtitled | 91 mins
Director: Stéphane Brizé
After losing his job, a middle-aged man takes a soul-crushing role as a supermarket security guard. This French drama exposes the quiet tragedy of economic survival, as personal integrity clashes with institutional exploitation. A quietly devastating look at modern precarity.
A low-key, spellbinding moral drama. - RogerEbert.com
A dignified performance in a deeply felt drama. - Sight & Sound (BFI)
Friday 20 March 2026
Return to Seoul
15 | Korea | 2022 | Korean, French, English, subtitled | 119 mins
Director: Davy Chou
Freddie, a French woman adopted from South Korea, returns to Seoul to find her birth parents. Her journey unfolds with spontaneity and emotional turbulence in this nuanced exploration of identity, belonging, and the complexity of family across cultures.
Mesmerising tale of identity and alienation. - The Guardian
A delicate exploration of belonging. - Sight & Sound (BFI)
Friday 10 April 2026
The 400 Blows
PG | France | 1959 | French, subtitled | 95 mins
Director: François Truffaut
François Truffaut’s seminal film follows a Parisian boy navigating neglect, misunderstanding, and juvenile justice. A landmark in French New Wave cinema, it offers a deeply personal and poetic view of adolescence and alienation, still resonant decades later.
A coming-of-age masterpiece. - Sight & Sound (BFI)
One of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. - Kurosawa
Friday 24 April 2026
Summer 1993
12 | Spain | 2017 | Catalan, subtitled | 98 mins
Director: Carla Simón
After her mother’s death, six-year-old Frida moves to the countryside to live with relatives. Seen through her eyes, “Summer 1993” tenderly captures the confusion, resilience, and quiet moments of a child coping with loss and redefining family in a new world.
Intimate, affecting, and beautifully understated. - RogerEbert.com
A stunning drama of a childhood ripped apart. - The Guardian
Friday 8 May 2026
My Favourite Cake
12 | Iran | 2024 | Persian, subtitled | 94 mins
Director: Maryam Moghaddam & Behtash Sanaeeha
A widowed woman defies social norms when she invites a charming stranger into her home for cake—and more. This warm Iranian film is a gentle yet subversive ode to companionship, joy, and the quiet rebellion of living fully, at any age.
A delightful and subversive late-life Iranian romance. - The Guardian
Quietly revolutionary film about 70-year-olds finding love again. - WritersMosaic (UK)
