Programme (click on the image to be taken to a short YouTube trailer)
April 24th:
Defiance - Edward Zwick
Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell
Run time: 2hr 17min Cert: 15
Inspired by a true story this WWII drama tells the tale of three Jewish brothers who narrowly escape certain death at the hands of the Nazis, subsequently vowing to avenge the deaths of their loved ones by launching a desperate battle against the forces that seek to exterminate their entire race. The year is 1941, and the setting is Nazi-occupied Belarus. Is it possible to keep faith alive when the world seems devoid of humanity and survival becomes a way of life?
May 22nd:
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen
Cast: Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams
Run time: 1hr 34min Cert: 12A
This delightful fantasy won an Oscar for Best screenplay. A young American couple are visiting Paris where Gil hopes to finish his novel. One night Gil joins a happy crowd on their way to a party. There he finds famous writers and artists of the 1920’s being entertained by Cole Porter. Next night, Gil returns to the meeting point again… A simple, amusing moral yarn with a hint of Allen’s comic anarchism of old … an adorable bagatelle soft as a daydream, happy to wear its intellectual hat at a cocked angle.
June 26th:
The Angel’s Share - Ken Loach
Cast: Paul Brannigan, John Henshaw, Gary Maitland
Run time: 1hr 41min Cert: 15
The background is widespread, youth unemployment and the despair and communal erosion it engenders but the realistic and humanistic tone is bracingly optimistic, A group of criminals brought together by chance gradually modulates into a heist comedy that combines two classic Scottish films, from different eras, Whisky Galore and That Sinking Feeling. There is politics underlying every aspect of this funny, warm-hearted, deftly plotted film, and we fervently wish for the caper planned by this endearing quartet to succeed.
July 24th:
The Whistleblower - Larysa Kondracki
Cast: Rachel Weisz, Monica Bellucci, Vanessa Redgrave
Run time: 1hr 52min Cert: 15
Inspired by actual events, Kathy is an American police officer who takes a job working as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. Her expectations of helping to rebuild a devastated country are dashed when she uncovers a dangerous reality of corruption, cover-up and intrigue amid a world of private contractors and multinational diplomatic doubletalk. It's a tough watch, though the director is careful not to sensationalize the often harrowing subject matter.
August 28th:
The Woman in Black - James Watkins
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Janet McTear, Ciaran Hinds
Run time: 1hr 35min Cert: 12A
Dispatched to sort the papers of the deceased owner of a decrepit mansion on a causeway that’s frequently drowned by the tide a young solicitor is an unwelcome interloper: the villagers don’t want him, the house doesn’t want him, and its ghostly inhabitant is only interested in using him . Just an old-school ghost movie about things that go bump in the night and where the skill lies in showing less than more.