Joyeux Noel - Sunday 20th December 5pm

We picked Joyeux Noel out for our Christmas spot from the most likely ‘not-overdone-on-TV’ contenders, as being a film with some suitably uplifting content for the time of year (but some grimness too, as you’d expect on the front line in 1914) and a good story based on what actually happened almost exactly 95 years ago. It’s not a brand-new film (made in 2005) but a good one, which didn’t deserve to be overlooked back then. It was nominated for the Oscar for Best Film in a Foreign Language but it was beaten to the award by Tsotsi. When it came out, Joyeux Noel was called by the Time Out critic of the day: ‘a respectful, sobering tribute to the flickering of humanitarian spirit amid the darkest days of conflict and, as such, surely a Christmas film for the ages.’ Come and see what you think, if you’re not too busy on Sunday…