Have A Great Summer!

Another Film Season ends after another great Film Festival. We hope you enjoyed the films; it was certainly a good season wasn't it?! One of the strongest we have had for some time, with several Oscar nominations, two of which were up for Best Film. You obviously appreciated them, with our best audiences since the pandemic, and some pretty high scoring ones too. 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' came out on top for the club...and even rated higher than any other Festival film. A great film with an horrific outcome, leaving us all in silence when it ended...

The Film Festival too was a success once again, with a new team in charge under the guidance of Festival Director Julia Vickers - We are sure you would join us in thanking Julia and all of them. The amazing 'Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk' came out on top with 90.91% rating; if you want to see all the scores take a look at the festival website .

So that's it for this season. Thank you for your support this year; without you there would be no Film Club! We hope you all have a great summer and will join us again for more world films in September. Watch this space for news as we start to think about films for next season.

Nouvelle Vague Sunday - 15th March 5pm

Out season of films comes to and end this Sunday but don't worry there's still more than 30 films to choose from at Keswick Film Festival next week. NOUVELLE VAGUE takes us to Paris, 1959 where Jean-Luc Godard is angry because all his buddies from the magazine 'Cahiers du Cinéma' they work for seem to have given up criticising films in favour of making them. "The best way to criticize a film is to make one" he quips to a friend. So, he turns round, bullies a producer Georges de Beauregard into backing a low-budget movie, hires a few unknowns and sets out to make the film that will change film history forever - 'A Bout de Souffle (Breathless)'.

Ever wondered what Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Jean-Paul Belmondo or Jean Seberg were really like? Come along to 'Nouvelle Vague' and see for yourself.

"Film history is rarely this charming." - Ian Freer, Empire

No Other Choice Sunday - 8th March 5pm

Park Chan-wook's latest is the South Korean entry for the Oscars this year. He has brought us some great thrillers - 'The Handmaiden', 'Decision To Leave' - and this is no exception, but this one is charged with comedy as well.

"With humour blacker than black bean noodles, the film is a masterful work of cinema which might well be Chan-wook’s masterpiece. And given this is the man who directed The Handmaiden that’s saying a lot." - John Bleasdale, Time Out

The Voice Of Hind Rajab - Sunday 1st March 5pm

Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, Oscar nominated for her 'Four Daughters' that we had at the 2024 Festival, and produced by Brad Pitt, Jonathan Glazer, Joaquin Phoenix and many others: The Voice Of Hind Rajab has massive backing, and received a 23 minute standing ovation at Venice Film Festival. 

"As cinema, 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' is formally extraordinary, superbly acted, beautifully shot, and shaped and edited with rare urgency" - Leila Latif, Little White Lies. 

Sentimental Value - Sunday 22nd February 5pm

Another Cannes prize winner for you, the Grand Prize went to Sentimental Value and the film also has 8 BAFTA and 9 Oscar nominations. The BAFTA Awards are taking place the same evening as our screening so you'll be able to find out what it won after the film.

It's a movie that sneaks up on you like great fiction, blending theme and character in a way that allows it to live in your mind after you see it, rolling around what it means to both the people in it and your own life" - Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com.

Spring Programme 2026

Tickets are now available to book via the Alhambra website for our Spring Programme starting on January 4th. Once again it looks like an exciting mix. Full of stars - from Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Bean, through Brenda Blethyn, Andrea Riseborough and Brendan Fraser to Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson plus many others, brought to us by great directors such as Lynne Ramsay, Park Chan-wook and Jafar Panahi. And, of course, we have the 26th Keswick Film Festival, our finishing weekend this year, with it's usual amazing array of great films. 

• 4th Jan: Anemone - Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Bean, brothers at war
• 11th Jan: Souleyman’s Story - ...trying to survive whilst his asylum is considered
• 18th Jan: Die My Love - Jennifer Lawrence’s world falls apart
• 25th Jan: Dragonfly - Is Elsie’s neighbour Colleen really trying to help..?
• 1st Feb: Palestine 36 - Was this the start of the Middle East problems?
• 8th Feb: It Was Just an Accident - What to do with a man who tortured you... or did he?
• 15th Feb: Rental Family - Brendan Fraser pretends to be a father for a job
• 22nd Feb: Sentimental Value - Is fame worth losing your family over?
• 1st Mar: Voice of Hind Rajab - A little girl calls for help, but can anyone get to her?
• 8th Mar: No Other Choice - The best way to get a job with lots of opposition...
• 15th Mar: Nouvelle Vague - Jean-Luc Godard lives again!
• 19 - 22 Mar: 26th Keswick Film Festival

Little Trouble Girls - Sunday 23rd November 5pm

In Little Trouble Girls we meet shy, introverted,16 year-old Lucija as she joins a Catholic choir where she is befriended by Ana-Marija. Lucija's over-protected life (she has not even been allowed to wear lipstick) is faced by the challenge of growing up like everyone, especially the sexual awakening she is feeling.

"Djukic’s feature debut echoes the sensitivities of Céline Sciamma’s early coming-of-age stories but with a bold, cinematic bent." - Tara Brady, Irish Times

Dying - Sunday 9th November 5pm

We thought we may need to sell Dying as a film worth your while watching - why should you invest three hours of your life watching a miserable film about dying? Well the critics agree that "this is a film that justifies every second" and "has your undivided attention throughout the vividly composed, brilliantly acted chapters of its three-hour runtime. A miracle."

"Matthias Glasner’s Dying might sound like an ordeal, but this rich, novelistic and mordantly funny Berlin film festival prize winner wears its themes and running time lightly.” - Wendy Ide, Observer

Summer comes to Keswick!

It seems very appropriate that the weather is so lovely at the moment; we can all go outside and enjoy it while there are no club movies to see! We hope you have enjoyed the year; we feel that it was a good one with some great films, and certainly a fantastic 25th Film Festival last month. 

Many of the films went on to win BAFTAs or even Oscars and many more appeared in the BFI's best films of the year list. It is also a good sign that so many club-type films are now winning awards worldwide.

Thanks to everyone who has helped keep the show running over the year, whether you were on the committee, running front of house, running the Festival or helping on it. An especial thanks to Ian Payne for directing all the great festivals we have had in his time and to Julia Vickers for stepping forward to run the next ones! A special thanks should go the Rennie family for all their years giving the club a home, and to Jonathan and Graham for taking on the responsibility for our future. Thanks all!

So that is it from us. The emails will be back in mid summer with a list of films for next season for members to choose from, and the Sunday night shows will start again in September.  If you are looking for something to see meantime, keep your eye on the Alhambra website - they  will keep showing films for you every week. 

Have a great summer, everyone! 

The Last Dance - Sunday 23rd March 5pm

The Last Dance is another Members' Choice; Hong Kong wedding planner Dominic loses his business due to Covid and switches to running a funeral business. It is actually going quite well except that his business partner is an old-school Taoist priest Master Man, who has no time for his new commercially oriented youngster.

“Starts out as an odd couple story but evolves into something more complex and satisfying: a film about tradition, gender roles and family tensions.” - Wendy Ide, Observer

In The Mood For Love - Sunday 23rd February 5pm

 

In this beautiful film chosen by the Alhambra's Carol Rennie to fit in the Mint Chinese Film Festival weekend, we return to one of the first films ever shown by the club in 2001. Winner of more than 40 awards when it was released, including best actor and cinematography at Cannes, and rave reviews such as "probably the most breathtakingly gorgeous film of the year, dizzy with a nose-against-the-glass romantic spirit that has been missing from the cinema forever" – Elvis Mitchell, New York Times - whether you saw it then or not, this is a great chance to see this classic film.

The Crime Is Mine - Sunday 16th February 5pm

Our members's picked François Ozon's The Crime Is Mine which takes a stage play from the 1930s and produces a frothy, beautiful, #MeToo film for the 2020s full of twists and turns, comedy and drama; what more could we ask for?

"Writer-director Francois Ozon creates a wonderfully engaging vibe that mixes in little jolts of realism amid the generally breezy, gleefully camp thrills." - Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

The Universal Theory - Sunday 2nd February 5pm

 

The Universal Theory is set in 1962 where we join Johannes, a student, off to a conference in Switzerland with his amazingly grumpy tutor Dr Julius Strahten. They are joined by Professor Henry Blomberg, who helped the Nazis in the war. 

Before you think this is a German scientific documentary, Jessica Kiang's review in Variety is entitled "A sumptuous homage to Hitchcock packaged as a Metaphysical Noir"; all is not what it seems!

"It is entirely its own exotically original thing. Catch it while it is on the big screen, where its widescreen brilliance truly flourishes." - Jonathan Romney, Financial Times (£)

Green Border - Sunday 1st December 5pm

This thriller-cum-political drama takes place in the Green Border - the space between Belarus and Poland where hopeful refugees wait the next stage of their journey into Europe…

"'Green Border' strikes me as the best and most important film to be released in the U.S. so far this year." - Godfrey Cheshire, RogerEbert.com

Your Programme for Autumn 2024

We are getting close to the start of our 25th year which starts on Sunday 15th September. The autumn season is booked, including 9 films voted for by the members. You can now read about all of the films in the PDF of the brochure which is also available around town.

If you join the club for £10 you get to see any of the club films for only £6 but everybody is welcome at all of the films.

We hope that you will want to see many of the films here and that our 25th year turns out to be a memorable one for us all!

The End We Start From - Sunday 24th March 5pm

In The End We Start From Jodie Comer stars as a woman who gives birth just as terrible floods hit London; new life begins as the old life ends. The film continues to emphasise the individuals' problems rather than the bigger picture, focusing on our unnamed hero trying to survive as food gets harder to find. She first escapes from London up North with her partner, then tries to reach a commune with a new-found friend, all the while having to fend for her baby.

"Comer’s vulnerability and idealism are authentic as are her determination and a dash of real ruthlessness... She carries everything with unselfconscious strength and style." - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

AGM - Sunday 18th February 4:30pm

We are having our normal very brief AGM before Love Life, please come for 4.30 onwards to enjoy a free drink while we make decisions for the coming year.

We have moved our AGM back in the calendar to allow time for the accounts to be audited, so this meeting will cover 18 months (but will still not take long as all the info you need is on our website, please try to read it before the meeting). The election of officers and Trustees is essential so do please come along or we will not be able to continue.

The Peasants - Sunday 11th February 5pm

For The Peasants the makes of 'Loving Vincent' have taken a Polish classic novel as a basis and produced a "ravishingly beautiful visual triumph". The story is of Jamila, a striking blonde beauty who is admired by every male in the village, including both the rich Maciej and his eldest son Antek, who Jamila loves. When Maciej arranges a marriage for himself with Jamila, the affair with his son continues, with disastrous results.

“A disconcertingly beautiful picture about the ugliness of humanity.” - Wendy Ide, The Observer

 

20,000 Species of Bees - Sunday 21st January 5pm

 

A beautiful, gentle film about family, identity and so much more, which won its star, Sofia Otero the Best Actress award at the Berlin Festival… not bad for an 8 year old. Sofia plays Cocó, the youngest son of Ane, who is having problems with her marriage. When Ane takes her family to visit her own mother Lita in Spain, her own identity as a sculptor is thrown into doubt by Lita. Coco meanwhile is more and more sure he is a girl in a boy's body; the only person to accept this is her great aunt Lordes, who is happy with her bees, and with calling her Lucía. So...Pretty well the whole family have identity problems of their own.

With this gentle, empathic picture, [director] Urresola joins a conversation that usually plays out as a screaming match, and tones it down to a murmur. It turns out that you hear a lot more that way" - Wendy Ide, Guardian.

Nobody Has To Know - Sunday 17th December 5pm

We finish this season with an unusual love story, both in characters and place, whilst the twists and turns will keep you guessing along the way. Set in the beautiful but barren Outer Hebrides, with the lovers in their autumn years, will it all turn out for good… or will it go sour?

"This wistful, island-set melodrama has strong performances and the sly hypnotic power of a high-end meditation app." - Kevin Maher, The Times