Goodbye Solo - Sunday 31st January 5pm

Goodbye Solo is our only American film of the spring season, so we picked the best, naturally (if you listen to the most eminent critics, like Roger Ebert and A.O.Scott of the NY Times). Winner of many prizes on the international film festival circuit, the film attracts extraordinary tributes: Scott ends his review by describing the 'exquisite attention, wry humor and wide-awake intelligence that informs every frame of this almost perfect film.' Add in the Peter Bradshaw and Roger Ebert quotes in your brochure, and you won't be able to resist turning out on a cold Sunday evening

Birdwatchers - Sunday 24th January 5pm

This Sunday we have something entirely different for you: moving away from French beaches we find ourselves in BirdWatchers transported to Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul. The rainforest - or what is supposed to be the rainforest. Here, the farmers lead a wealthy and leisurely existence: they own huge fields with transgenic plantations and they spend their nights with tourists who come bird watching. Meanwhile, at the borders of their lands, the restlessness of the natives, who were the legitimate inhabitants of those lands, is rapidly growing. A group of indigenous Gurani-Kaiowam are tired of being penned into tribal reservations and decide to take back their ancestral land.

The Beaches of Agnès - Sunday 17th January 5pm

Some of you might be wondering about the pros and cons of The Beaches of Agnès, an autobiographical documentary about a filmmaker you may seldom have encountered. If you need some convincing it scores 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, and that weight of critical opinion seldom runs counter to our audiences’ opinions. You’ll find a plethora of adjectives describing Varda’s work: ‘puckish, moving and wonderfully eccentric; deftly assembled, wry and touching, an endearing, indomitable spirit; witty and engaging; touching, highly whimsical; touching, eloquent reflections on life in general; poignant and illuminating; delightful, charming, idiosyncratic, wonderful, warm, witty and insightful’

KFC 2010. Happy New Year!

I guess you won’t need a reminder that your midwinter film fast is almost at an end, and that we start again for the spring (!) on Sunday with Bright Star. And before the film, from 4.15pm, there will be the now-traditional drinks to start off our journey into cinematic heaven. If you like the look of the programme, and can get to most of the films, you can save yourself lots of course by buying a spring pass.

If for some reason you don’t like it, never mind, you won’t have wasted your money because we’re handing over all the proceeds for this screening to the Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund – something you might like to mention to your friends who don’t usually come to our shows.