Life, Above All - Sunday 27th November 5pm

This week's film is Life, Above All. Based on the novel 'Chanda's Secret', this puts 12 year old Chanda in the hot seat, trying to hold her family together in an AIDS afflicted township in South Africa. We are showing this film just in time for World AIDS Day (1st December), and it comes as a timely reminder that this is still devastating communities in Africa. One of the main reasons it is still so bad there is the African's refusal to recognise it as a disease, preferring to blame witchcraft, poison or, simply each other. It is the death of Chanda's sister here that gets the family ostracised by their community, and Chanda's attempts to deal with it that are the central points of the film.Expect to be deeply moved (especially by the performance of Khomotso Manyaka as Chanda), but also expect humour and a sense of hope for the future. 'A very rewarding watch' - Anna Smith, Empire

Patagonia - Sunday 20th November 5pm

Our world tour takes us from the Middle East to South America and South Wales this week, with Patagonia. It looks like an intriguing offering as described by 'The Arts Desk':

To anyone less than familiar with a transatlantic migration of 150 souls which took place in 1865, a bilingual film with dialogue in Spanish and Welsh may look like a subtitled bridge too far. Any such prejudgement would be a mistake. Patagonia is a film rich in cinematic textures which visits not one but two ravishing parts of the world rarely celebrated in widescreen................If you squint hard at Patagonia in Patagonia, and pretend the grass isn’t yellow, some of its lumps and humps do look a bit like the steep green hills of home. On the deepest level of all, though, Evans’s affecting film asks what ties continue to link these two remarkably dissimilar places from opposite hemispheres, one baked by sun, the other washed by rain. There is no answer beyond memory, and the enchantment lent by distance.

KFC Gala Night, Sunday 13th November

Our next Special Night is coming up this Sunday 13th November. We are showing TWO FILMS for the PRICE OF ONE...PLUS there will be some FREE snacks between the films to keep you sustained!

The evening is our GALA NIGHT which is to thank Rod Evans for all he did for the club since it began in 1998. Rod has chosen both of the films and will be introducing them too, so I am sure a lot of you will want to come along!

The films are The Tree of Life - the winner of this year's 'Palme d'Or' at Cannes, starring Brad Pitt and directed by Terrence Malick which we will be showing at 4.00pm. At 7.30pm, we have Incendies - a mystery thriller based in the Middle East and itself nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film...a veritable feast of movies!

Between the two movies, there will be some snacks served in the Freemason's Hall over the road from the Alhambra. These will be free to anyone buying a ticket for the films, but we would like to get a rough count of those people who will be there, so please let us know if you plan on coming along.

Confessions - Sunday 6th November 5pm

This weekend we have very different film for you - 'Confessions', another entry for this year's Foreign Language Oscar, this time from Japan. A chilling tale of murder and revenge, we see  a school teacher, Yuko Moriguchi, dealing with the death of her own child which, she believes, was at the hands of the school pupils she teaches, not the accident the police believe. Her 'proof' and revenge are shown in a series of flashbacks, twists and turns.

The director, Tetsuya Nakashima, wraps the story up with 'his signature stylistic inventiveness', making him 'one of the few directors currently working who has intelligence enough to ensure that his films aren't just eye-poppingly stylish but loaded with emotional substance' -  Tom Huddleston, Time Out. A bit different to last week's film, you will agree!