Lost In The Stars - Sunday 4th February 5:00 PM

 

To go with the MINT Chinese Film Festival taking place at the Alhambra from this Thursday 1st to Sunday 4th, this week we're showing Lost In The Stars, a cracking, Hitchcockian, twisty thriller.

A Chinese couple go away to an island for a weekend to celebrate their wedding anniversary, but the wife goes missing and then the twists and turns continue; definitely a thriller 'like they used to be'...

Anatomy Of A Fall - Sunday 28th January 5:00 PM

Anatomy Of A Fall won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year and is a whodunnit, deliberately built around uncertainty, where marriage is the prime suspect.

Sandra, a German author is married to Samuel, a French aspiring author. They live in an Alpine chalet with their visually impaired son Daniel. Their marriage is argumentative, which becomes especially important when Samuel is found dead outside in the snow. Did he fall? Did he commit suicide? ...Or was he pushed? In a world where perceptions are more important than truth, the police accuse Sandra of murder. But did she do it?

“This family drama masquerading as a murder-mystery touches on universal marital tensions; it is both enigmatic and very human.” - Laura Venning, Empire Magazine

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.

20 Days In Mariupol - Sunday 14th January 5pm

We hesitated about showing this documentary, but the constantly great reviews (100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.7 on IMDb) and the number of members who voted for it, persuaded us it should be seen: An inside view of the Russian occupation of this Ukrainian city is not going to be an easy watch, but probably one we all should see.

"A brave, visceral, merciless masterpiece... Feels like a cinematic siege of the soul." - Ed Vulliamy, The Guardian

Our New Year begins with Fallen Leaves

Happy New Year everyone! We hope you have all enjoyed your Christmas, but, like us, you are looking forward to watching great World Cinema again…and We have some great films indeed lined up for 2024, with award winners and likely Oscar winners amongst films from all around the world… not to mention the Keswick Film Festival from 29 February to 3 March. 

We start on 7 January at 5.00pm at the Alhambra cinema with the latest deadpan comedy from the great Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki – ‘Fallen Leaves’: A lovely tale of ‘almost-doomed’ romance. Ansa is sacked from her shelf-filling, supermarket job for taking home out-of-date food to give to the poor. Holoppa is sacked from his job in a scrapyard for drinking at work. All looks lost for both of them until they meet at an eclectic karaoke bar (!) and love beckons… but a lost address and even a charming stray dog still stand in their way… 

We are hoping for some great evenings in a full Alhambra over the coming months.  We are looking forward to seeing films again… and to seeing you! All are welcome. We hope these films will appeal to you; see you there!