Plymouth Arts Cinema March Film Programme

It's going to be a busy month at Plymouth Arts Cinema, with a stellar line-up of films. Enjoy movies such as I'm Still Here, by legendary filmmaker Walter Salles, The Last Showgirl, which sees the triumphant return of Pamela Anderson, thriller Santosh, and much more. 

             

Where to find us

Our venue is located inside Arts University Plymouth’s main campus at Tavistock Place. Go through Arts University Plymouth’s main entrance and turn right, you will face our Box Office and Café-Bar.

                                        

Opening Times and How to Book
The Box Office and Café-bar open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 5-8.30pm; Wednesday: 1-8.30pm; Saturday: 1-8pm). You can call Box Office during these times: 01752 206114.

Standard £9.00 | Matinees £7.00 | Bringing in Baby £4 | Over 60s £7.75 | 25 & Under, Students, AUP Staff, Budget - Unwaged and low income £4 | Friends 10% discount and £6 on Tuesdays. Please bring relevant ID if you are eligible for a discount.

                   

To a Land Unknown (15)

• Friday 28^th February – Wednesday 5^th March

Fri 28, 6pm
Sat 1, 8pm
Tue 4, 6pm
Wed 5, 2.30pm & 8.30pm

Dir. Mahdi Fleifel, Greece/Occupied Palestinian Territory, 2024, 105 mins. In Arabic, Greek and English with English subtitles. Cast. Angeliki Papoulia, Manal Awad, Mahmoud Bakri.

A gritty, captivating drama about young Palestinians caught in an eternal state of exile. Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. But when Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his dangerous drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.

Featuring a lead performance from Mahmood Bakri which should attract international attention for both actor and director, this film is a vital watch.

                  

Bring Them Down (15)

• Friday 28^th February – Wednesday 5^th March

Fri 28, 8.30pm
Sat 1, 2.30pm (Descriptive Subtitles) & 5.30pm
Tue 4, 8.30pm
Wed 5, 6pm

Dir. Christopher Andrews, Ireland, 2024, 105 mins. Cast. Christopher Abbott, Barry Keoghan, Colm Meaney.

Starring Oscar®-nominee Barry Keoghan (Saltburn), Bring Them Down is a tense and gripping thriller about two warring families set against the harsh landscape of rural west Ireland. When the ongoing rivalry between farmers Michael and Jack suddenly escalates, it triggers a chain of events that take increasingly violent turns, leaving both families permanently altered.

From award-winning first-time filmmaker Christopher Andrews Bring Them Down is a fierce, intense debut that signals a bold new cinematic voice.

            

Iris on the Move: Heroes, Heartbeats, and Shorelines (15)

• Thursday 6^th March, 6pm

This programme, curated by the Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, is a dynamic collection of films that explores identity, transformation, and the unexpected connections that shape us, from superheroes to shorelines.

Programme Running Time: 70 mins

Tickets £5 / £4 concessions.

             

Teth (15) – 2024 Opening Night

Dir. Peter Darney, Wales, 2024, 12 mins.

Following surgery, Ioan and his father adapt to their new relationship as father and son, that is until the dog mistakes a nipple for a chew toy.

               

Where Are All the Gay Superheroes (15) – 2024 Opening Night

Dir. Tom Paul Martin, UK, 2023, 15 mins.

An LGBTQIA+ crowd-pleaser, combining elements of sci-fi, drama and comedy. Professional superheroes Sterling and Meridian have just finished saving the day (again) when suddenly, they find themselves in a rare moment alone. The suits come off, but when old tensions and old enemies return, our “heroes” learn the dark truth about who they are underneath.

                       

Façade (12A)  – Winner: 2024 Micro Short Award

Dir. Sophia Vi, UK, 2024, 2 mins.

Following gender affirming facial feminisation surgery, a transgender woman contemplates what it means to be alive using the words of William Shakespeare’s most famous speech – ‘To be or not to be…’

                                

Boys in the Water (15) – Highly Commended, 2024 Iris Prize

Dir. Pawel Thomas Larue, France, 2023, 39 mins.

End of summer on the Breton coast. Oscar invites his group of friends to spend a week’s vacation at his grandparent’s house. He hasn’t been back to his childhood home for years – not since he came out as a trans boy. On the beach, the gang meets Malo, a handsome local guy, also trans. The story is about their meeting, which will turn everything upside down.

Supported by Film Hub Wales as part of the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN), made possible by the National Lottery

               

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025: A Samurai in Time (12)

• Thursday 6 March, 8pm

Original title: 侍タイムスリッパー (Samurai Time Slipper)

Dir. YASUDA Junichi, Japan, 2024, 131 mins. In Japanese with English subtitles. Cast. YAMAGUCHI Makiya, FUKE Norimasa, SAKURA Yuno.

As the Edo period wanes in the mid-19th century, samurai KOSAKA Shinzaemon (YAMAGUCHI Makiya) draws his blade against his rival on the streets of Kyoto. But as the fight begins, sudden lightning strikes… and when Shinzaemon awakens, something is different. He’s been sent forward through time onto the set of a 21st-century period drama!

He is lost, afraid and alone in a familiar-yet-unfamiliar world, but assistant director Yuko (SAKURA Yuno) soon finds something for him to do: his skill with the sword makes him a perfect candidate for an extra in their TV show. So Shinzaemon begins a new life as a kirareyaku¬, an actor specialising in pretending to die in battle, and slowly finds his way forward in his strange new reality.

A Samurai in Time is a smart, crowd-pleasing comedy centring around a man with a great sense of obligation, and more: behind the laughs, it expertly blends thoughtful character study, sharp cultural observations and a heartfelt tribute to the declining jidaigeki (period drama) industry.

                    

I’m Still Here (15)

MUBI GO | Programmer’s Pick

• Friday 7^th – Thursday 13^th March

Fri 7, 5.45pm
Sat 8, 1.15pm & 8pm
Tue 11, 8.15pm
Wed 12, 5.45pm
Thu 13, 8.15pm

Dir. Walter Salles, Brazil, 2024, 138 mins. In Portuguese with English subtitles. Cast. Fernanda Torres, Fernanda Montenegro, Selton Mell.

Walter Salles makes a triumphant return with an emotionally layered, visually rich account of family life under an oppressive regime in 1970s Brazil. The Paiva family are shattered when Ernesto is abducted by the military junta and Eunice (renowned Brazilian actor Fernanda Torres) must lead their family and fight for justice. Salles’ adaptation of Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s 2015 memoir is a profoundly moving portrait of resistance – the intelligent and humane kind of cinema we have come to expect from the director of Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries.

Flashing/flickering lights

This work contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.

                

Becoming Led Zeppelin (12A)

• Friday 7^th – Wednesday 12th March

Fri 7, 8.30pm
Tue 11, 5.45pm (Descriptive Subtitles)
Wed 12, 8.30pm

Dir. Bernard MacMahon, UK, 2024, 122 mins. With. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John-Paul Jones, John Bonham.

Becoming Led Zeppelin explores the origins of this iconic group and their meteoric rise in just one year against all the odds. Powered by awe-inspiring, psychedelic, never-before-seen footage, performances, and music, Bernard MacMahon’s experiential cinematic odyssey explores Led Zeppelin’s creative, musical, and personal origin story.

The film is told in Led Zeppelin’s own words and is the first officially sanctioned film on the group.

Flashing/flickering lights

This work contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.

                       

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Buxelles (15)

F-rated | Re-issued Classic

• Saturday 8^th – Wednesday 12^th March

Sat 8, 4pm
Wed 12, 1.45pm

Dir. Chantal Ackerman, Belgium/France, 1975, 202 mins. In French with English subtitles. Cast. Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte, Henri Storck.

A woman cooks. A woman cleans. A woman runs errands. A woman takes care of her son. A woman sleeps. A woman wakes. Repeat the cycle. Akerman’s masterpiece turns the mundanity of life’s daily rhythms into an investigation of womanhood, stasis, tragedy and order, with Delphine Seyrig giving a performance of near-perfect stillness. Focusing almost exclusively on Jeanne’s day-to-day existence, punctuated by the visit of clients for sex work before her son returns from school, the film’s slow, methodical pacing produces a hypnotising effect that draws the viewer in.

Named by critics and scholars as the Greatest Film of All Time in the 2022 edition of Sight & Sound’s famed decennial poll, Jeanne Dielman is a modernist masterpiece.

                   

Climate Connections: Local Climate Legend 2025 – Launch and Screening

• Monday 10 March, 7pm, approx. 60 mins.

Free event

Know someone going the extra mile to help the planet?

From schools to businesses and everyone in between, Climate Connections are on a mission to find the next #LocalClimateLegend. Join them as they launch the campaign to find this year’s 6 winners, with a documentary screening of last year’s legends.

                

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025: Broken Commandment (PG)

• Thursday 13 March, 6pm

Original title: 破戒 (Hakai)

Dir. MAEDA Kazuo, Japan, 2022, 119 mins. In Japanese with English subtitles. Cast. MAMIYA Shotaro, ISHII Anna, YAMOTO Yuma, MASHIMA Hidekazu.

SEGAWA Ushimatsu (MAMIYA Shotaro) is a teacher at a rural school in early 20th-century Japan. A keen humanist passionate about his job, he also hides a dangerous secret that may never be revealed: he is a burakumin, a member of Japan’s outcaste community.

Only by hiding his roots was Ushimatsu able to become a teacher, but now he is constantly tormented by his professional duty to lead by example and tell the truth. His feelings are intensified by his admiration for INOKO Rentaro (MASHIMA Hidekazu), a writer and activist who makes no secret of his burakumin status. Though Ushimatsu continues to keep his own secret for the sake of his social survival and romantic prospects, those around him begin to question his origins, and his position within the school soon comes under threat.

Adapted from literary master SHIMAZAKI Toson’s 1906 classic, Broken Commandment is a moving deep-dive into a hidden, taboo class system that still lingers in Japan today. A contemporary successor to previous adaptations by master directors like KINOSHITA Keisuke and ICHIKAWA Kon, this new version inherits its predecessors’ opposition to injustice and discrimination while critiquing the growing militarism at the turn of the century.

                    

The Last Showgirl (15)

F-rated | MUBI GO | Programmer’s Pick

• Friday 14^th – Wednesday 19^th March

Fri 14, 6pm
Sat 15, 2.30pm & 8pm

Tue 18, 6pm
Wed 19, 8.30pm

Dir. Gia Coppola, US, 2024, 88 mins. Cast. Pamela Anderson, Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song, Jamie Lee Curtis, Billie Lourd.

The Last Showgirl sees Pamela Anderson mounting an extraordinary comeback performance as Shelly, a Las Vegas dancer who is left adrift after the revue show she has been performing in for 30 years suddenly closes. With an outstanding ensemble cast The Last Showgirl is a joyous tribute to a long-gone Las Vegas – and all the women who made it glitter.

Directed by Gia Coppola and featuring a Golden Globe-nominated performance from Anderson, who dazzles in the role of a lifetime, this poignant film of resilience, rhinestones and feathers is simply unmissable.

                 

On Falling (tbc)

F-rated

• Friday 14^th – Wednesday 19^th March

Fri 14, 8.30pm
Sat 15, 5.30pm
Tue 18, 8.30pm
Wed 19, 2.30pm

Dir. Laura Carreira, UK/Portugal, 2024, 104 mins. In English and Portuguese. Cast. Joana Santos, Inês Vaz, Piotr Sikora.

A lonely Portuguese migrant working as a picker in a Scottish warehouse struggles to forge connections in an immersive character study that shines light on the precarity of modern employment.

Writer/director Laura Carreira immerses us in the life of Aurora (Joana Santos) in this moving character study. Aurora's workdays are dictated by the bleep of a machine and her evenings are strained by loneliness in shared accommodation as she dreams of securing a better job.

On Falling is an empathetic social realist snapshot that offers a window into the financial precariousness of the gig economy, delivered with a lightness of touch that stresses the importance of everyday connection.

                            

A Witch’s Year - book launch and archive film screening.

• Wednesday 19^th March, 6pm

A Witch’s Year is a compendium of magic, lore, rituals, observances, spells, crafts, meditations, visualisations and all manner of practices. Written by Levannah Morgan, one of Britain’s most well-respected and influential witches, and superbly illustrated by artist, Nooka Shepherd, with every passing month, you will discover how the rhythms of the year work through your magical life: how the great time cycles animate life, about the goddesses and gods, the world of spirit, and how to live here in this world now.

We are delighted to welcome back the author of A Witch’s Year to read from the book and introduce a specially selected programme of films from The Box, Plymouth’s film archive.

                       

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025: Let's Go Karaoke! (PG)

• Thursday 20 March, 8.30pm

Original title: カラオケ行こ！(Karaoke iko!)

Dir. YAMASHITA Nobuhiro, Japan, 2024, 107 mins. In Japanese with English subtitles. Cast. AYANO Go, SAITO Jun.

Junior high school choir leader Satomi (SAITO Jun) has a lot on his plate, preparing for the choir’s final performance before his graduation and struggling to live up to expectations with the spectre of his changing teenage voice looming over his head. But as if that’s not enough, he is thrust into even more chaos when yakuza lieutenant Kyoji (AYANO Go) inserts himself into his life.

Kyoji is in a bind: his boss’s annual karaoke competition is coming up, and Kyoji’s hopeless voice puts him in danger of receiving the humiliating punishment endured by the loser. He desperately needs to learn how to sing, so after overhearing a performance by Satomi’s school choir, he corners Satomi and asks him for lessons. Satomi is reluctant at first, naturally afraid of getting caught up in gang affairs... but could it really be possible to give a karaoke lesson to a yakuza?

Directed by YAMASHITA Nobuhiro (Linda Linda Linda, JFTFP11) and adapted from the manga by WAYAMA Yama, Let’s Go Karaoke! is a heartfelt and hilarious comedy that explores the odd chemistry between its contrasting protagonists and breaks refreshing new ground for the “yakuza film”.

                  

Oh My Goodness! (tbc)

• Friday 21^st – Thursday 27^th March

Fri 21, 6pm
Sat 22, 5.30pm
Tue 25, 8.30pm
Wed 26, 2.30pm & 6pm
Thu 27, 8.30pm

Dir. Laurent Tirard, France, 2024, 88 mins. In French with English subtitles. Cast. Valérie Bonneton, Sidse Babett Knudsen.

When the local nursing home finds itself in dire straits and in danger of falling to pieces, it’s down to Mother Veronique and the five eccentric sisters of the convent of St. Benedict to find a way to help. Spotting a poster for a bike race with a €25,000 cash prize (and the incentive of a trip to the Vatican for the winner!), the sisters might just have their answer. The only drawbacks are that they are terrible cyclists, and their rival convent, led by Mother Veronique’s childhood nemesis Mother Josephine, have their own plans for the prize money…and just a little more experience. But God works in mysterious ways!

Joy Of Cinema is a new strand of films designed as a fun trip out for fans of world cinema.

                                 

September Says (18)

F-rated

Friday 21^st – Wednesday 26^th March

Fri 21, 8.30pm
Sat 22, 3pm & 8pm
Tue 25, 6pm
Wed 26, 8.30pm

Dir. Ariane Labed, France/Ireland/Germany/UK, 2024, 100 mins. Cast. Mia Tharia, Pascale Kann, Rakhee Thakrar.

Sisters July and September are thick as thieves, though very different. September is protective and distrustful of others, while July is open to and curious about the world. Their dynamic is a concern to their single mum, Sheela, who is unsure what to do with them. When September is suspended from their school, July is left to fend for herself and begins to assert her own independence - which does not go unnoticed by September. Tension among the three women builds when they take refuge in an old holiday home in Ireland, and a series of surreal encounters test the family to their limit.

Based upon the novel Sisters by Daisy Johnson, September Says is darkly-absorbing directorial debut by Ariane Labed.

                      

The Forgotten Temperate Rainforest – A Social Cinema Experience

• Monday 24 March, 6pm-9pm

99p Films presents an evening of short films showcasing the unique temperate rainforests of Devon and Cornwall and the stories that connect us to it. Including an audience led discussion and communal feast!

More info / book tickets: https://www.99pfilms.com/events/the-forgotten-temperate-rainforest-1

                   

Mickey 17 (15)

• Friday 28^th March – Thursday 3 April

Fri 28, 5.45pm
Tue 1, 8.15pm
Wed 2, 2.30pm (Descriptive Subtitles) & 5.30pm
Thu 3, 8.15pm

Dir. Bong Joon-ho, 2024, 137 mins. Cast. Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun, Toni Colette, Naomie Ackie.

Bong Joon Ho, the Academy Award-winning writer-director of Parasite, returns to the world of speculative science fiction, and delivers another groundbreaking film with Mickey 17. The unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living. Mickey is an “expendable” – a disposable crew member on a space mission, selected for dangerous tasks because he can be renewed if his body dies, with his memories largely intact. With one regeneration, though, things go very wrong.

                   

Santosh (15)

F-rated | Programmer’s Pick

• Friday 28^th March – Wednesday 2^nd April

Fri 28, 8.30pm
Sat 29, 2.30pm
Tue 1, 5.45pm
Wed 2, 8.15pm

Dir. Sandhya Suri, India/France/Germany/UK, 2024, 127 mins. In Hindi with English subtitles. Cast. Shahana Goswami, Sunita Rajwar, Pratibha Awasthy.

A government scheme sees newly widowed Santosh inherit her husband’s job as a police constable in a community in Northern India where casteism and misogyny are an inextricable part of life. When a teenage girl is found murdered, Santosh is pulled into the investigation under the wing of charismatic inspector Sharma. Sandhya Suri’s deft thriller is a complex character study of a female cop whose moral conflict lays bare the oppression perpetuated in the name of caste.

      

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025: All the Long Nights (12A)

• Thursday 27 March, 6pm

Original title: 夜明けのすべて (Yoake no subete)

Dir. MIYAKE Sho, Japan, 2024, 119 mins. In Japanese with English subtitles. Cast. MATSUMURA Hokuto, KAMISHIRAISHI Mone, MITSUISHI Ken, Ryo.

For years, Misa (KAMISHIRAISHI Mone) has struggled to hold down a job due to her debilitating PMS. When she quits her latest job after a shameful outburst, she finds new employment in a small, quiet company that assembles children’s science kits. There, she meets Takatoshi (MATSUMURA Hokuto), a young man in a similar situation due to a severe panic disorder that causes him to have frequent panic attacks.

They clash at first due to Takatoshi’s anti-social and standoffish nature, but soon discover that they’re better together than they are apart. Sharing in mutual understanding of their struggle to mentally and physically function “normally”, the two develop a unique and precious companionship.

Featuring an empathetic focus on PMS rarely found in film, director MIYAKE Sho (And Your Bird Can Sing, JFTFP20) constructs a detailed character study with utmost grace and humanity in this gentle, thoughtful and heartwarming drama.

In partnership with Trans Pride Plymouth, for International Trans Day of Visibility, we are delighted to  be screening a rarely seen classic documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Kim Longinotto (Shooting the Mafia) and a new cult-classic-in-the-making, The People’s Joker.

                  

Shinjuku Boys (15)

F-rated | LGBTQ+

• Saturday 29 March, 5.30pm

Dir. Kim Longinoto, UK, 1995, 53 mins. In Japanese with English subtitles.

This documentary from Kim Longinoto and Jano Williams, offers rich insight into gender and sexuality in Japan via a candid portrait of Kazuki, Tatsu, and Gaish, three trans masculine hosts working at the New Marilyn Club in Tokyo’s bustling Shinjuku district. As the film follows them at home and on the job, all three (who self-describe themselves as onabe) talk frankly about their lives, revealing their views on love, sex, sexual orientation, traditional relationships, and identity. Alternating with these illuminating interviews are fabulous sequences shot inside the club, a place patronized largely by heterosexual, cisgender women.

                 

The People’s Joker (15)

F-rated | LGBTQ+

• Saturday 29 March, 8pm (Descriptive Subtitles)

Dir. Vera Drew, US, 2023, 92 mins. Cast. Vera Drew, Lynn Downey, Kane Distler.

A law-breaking comedian who is grappling with her gender identity forms a new anti-comedy troupe and finds herself battling a fascistic caped crusader. This revolutionary DIY parody film and hilarious reimagining of the classic autobiographical coming-of-age story follows an unconfident, closeted trans girl as she moves to Gotham City to make it big as a comedian by joining the cast of a government-sanctioned late-night sketch show in a world where comedy has been outlawed.

As mainstream success eludes our heroine, leading her to unite with a ragtag team of rejects, misfits and lover Mister J, she is born again as a confident (and psychotic) joker on a collision course with the city's fascist caped crusader. Vats of feminizing chemicals, sexy cartoon interludes, scarecrow psychiatrists, CGI Lorne Michaels, and psychedelic gender dysphoria all play supporting roles.

Writer / Director / Editor / Star Vera Drew created this maximalist masterpiece using her own life experiences which was stuck in copyright hell until this year’s release. Join us for this gender joyride that is as much of a deeply felt personal journey as it is a hilarious parody.

                  

Dawn Of Impressionism: Paris 1874 (PG)

Exhibition on Screen

• Thursday 3^rd – Saturday 5^th April

Thu 3, 6pm

Sat 5, 3pm

Dir. Ali Ray, UK, 2025, 90 mins.

The Impressionists are the most popular group in art history – millions flock every year to marvel at their masterpieces. But, to begin with, they were scorned, penniless outsiders. 1874 was the year that changed everything; the first Impressionists, “hungry for independence”, broke the mould by holding their own exhibition outside official channels. Impressionism was born and the art world was changed forever.

What led to that first groundbreaking show 150 years ago? Who were the maverick personalities that wielded their brushes in such a radical and provocative way? The spectacular Musée d’Orsay exhibition brings fresh eyes to this extraordinary tale of passion and rebellion. The story is told not only by historians and curators, but in the words of those who witnessed the dawn of Impressionism: the artists, press and people of Paris, 1874.

Made in close collaboration with the Musee d’Orsay and National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

                

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