Plymouth Arts Cinema December Film Programme

24th November 2022

Plymouth Arts Cinema have a rich and varied set of films in the cinema in the coming month - whether you feel like cosying up with heartwarming doc A Bunch of Amateurs, soaking up the creativity and romance of Emily, discovering Iranian director Jafar Pahani's powerful No Bears, or being exhilarated by Afrofuturist wonder Neptune Frost, there's something for everyone to enjoy.

They have also added a few titles in early January to tide you over into the new year.

  

Where to find Plymouth Arts Cinema

You can find Plymuth Arts Cinema inside Arts University Plymouth’s main campus at Tavistock Place. Go through Arts University Plymouth’s main entrance and turn right, you will face their 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.

The Box Office will be closed for Christmas and the New Year from Saturday 24^th December – Tuesday 3rd January and will reopen at 5pm on Tuesday 3rd January.

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

Online booking fee £1.50. Advance booking recommended.

    

Aftersun (12A)

Friday 2 – Thursday 8 December

• Fri 2, 6pm
• Sat 3, 2.30pm & 8pm
• Tue 6, 8.30pm
• Wed 7, 6pm
• Thu 8, 8.30pm
• Bringing in Baby: Wednesday 14th December

F-rated | MUBI GO | Programmer's Pick

Dir. Charlotte Wells, UK, 2022, 96 mins. Cast. Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall.

This heart-stopping coming-of-age tale focuses on the moving relationship between a young girl and her father. Looking back over old camera footage of a pivotal holiday some twenty years ago, Sophie reflects on the fragility of memory and key formative moments in her life. Aftersun is a masterful, melancholic debut, spotlighting a gorgeously observed father & daughter relationship at its beating heart, whilst grappling with the tension between the memories of loved ones we hold, and the people that they really are. After its premiere in Cannes, Aftersun quickly became one of the most talked about films of the festival - and it is easy to see why. This delicate heartbreak of a film - an intimate story of grief, mental illness, father/daughter love and self-discovery – is a small miracle.

Exhibition on Screen: Cézanne: Portraits of a Life

Tuesday 6 December

• Tue 6, 6pm

Dir. Phil Grabsky, UK, 2022, 87 mins.

To coincide with the major exhibition of Cézanne’s work at Tate Modern, this latest Exhibition on screen film goes beyond the galleries. Featuring interviews with curators and experts from the National Portrait Gallery London, MoMA New York, National Gallery of Art Washington, and Musée d’Orsay Paris, and correspondence from the artist himself, the film takes audiences beyond the exhibition to the places Cézanne lived and worked and sheds light on an artist who is perhaps the least known of all the impressionists – until now.

  

A Bunch of Amateurs, Plymouth Arts Cinema

A Bunch of Amateurs (12A)

Wednesday 7 – Saturday 10 December

• Wed 7, 2.30pm & 8.30pm
• Fri 9, 6pm
• Sat 10, 5.30pm

F-rated | Book Early

Dir. Kim Hopkins, UK, 2022, 95 mins. With. Colin Egglestone, Harry Nicholls, Joe Ogden.

This rousing, life-affirming treasure hilariously and movingly documents the 1932-founded Bradford Movie Makers film club, as they face the challenge of an uncertain future.

The most quintessentially British working-class filmmaking club, Bradford Movie Makers’ members grow old amid flickering memories and the brutal reckoning of their final years. Desperately clinging to their dreams, and to each other, fuelled by endless cups of tea, this quietly hilarious, profoundly moving portrait of shared artistic folly speaks to the delusional escapist dreamer in us all and to the need to spend time together face to face in an increasingly lonely, digital age.

An irresistible ode, not only to the power of cinema but also the vital value of an embracing community, A Bunch of Amateurs pays loving testament to a wonderfully eclectic cast of cineastes, drawn together by a shared love of the magic of the big screen. Proudly showcasing the fruits of these budding filmmakers’ decades-long filmmaking projects, this spirited, big-hearted documentary is unmissable for film lovers everywhere.

   

The Sound – Archive screening from The Box

Thursday 8 December

• Thu 8, 6pm

A collection of archive film clips celebrating Plymouth’s unique relationship with the sea. Produced in collaboration with Plymouth Sound National Marine Park and with the support of the BFI. Join Tony Davey, Engagement Officer at The Box and Tors Froud, National Marine Park Engagement and Inclusion Manager, for a journey into Plymouth Sound. Film time 60 minutes, with opportunity for Q&As at the end, 6.00pm – 7.30pm.

   

She Said (15)

Friday 9 – Wednesday 14 December

• Fri 9, 8.15pm
• Sat 10, 2.30pm & 8pm
• Tue 13, 8.15pm
• Wed 14, 5.45pm

F-rated | MUBI GO

Dir. Maria Schrader, US, 2022, 128 mins. Cast. Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Samantha Morton.

Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star as New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, whose brilliant 2017 investigation pulled back the curtain on film producer Harvey Weinstein’s serial abuse of women. When Kantor and Twohey began to dig into whispered allegations of sexual abuse in Hollywood, doors were closed and shutters came down. Even so, many of their leads pointed to Harvey Weinstein. He was the key to unlocking a system of power that protected abusers. Their work went on to propel the #MeToo movement, shattered decades of silence around assault in Hollywood, and altered American culture forever.

A thrilling investigative thriller in the vein of Spotlight and All The President's Men, She Said is testament to the power of investigative journalism, the power of individuals engaged in the pursuit of the truth, and the courage of survivors and witnesses.

   

The Justice Files

Tuesday 13 December

• Tue 13, 6pm

A Plymouth University team has joined with screenwriter and director Hugh Janes to produce a series of films entitled The Justice Files, each focusing on cases that have become enshrined in the law of more than 60 countries. Produced by Time-Lock Productions, the creator of the international award-winning documentary, ‘How Do You Fix a Town Like Plymouth?’.

The films will be introduced by Rob Giles and Hugo de Rijke with a post-screening Q&A.

Episode 1: Mrs Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co (24 mins)

This film is a dramatization of the most famous contract law case for national and international use. The Carlill case is fundamental to contract law and is studied by hundreds of thousands of law students every year. This, as well as the other films in the series, will provide invaluable visual education resources. In addition, their rich narratives and diverse histories will provide fascinating insights for members of the public and historians, and public engagement opportunities for museums.

Episode 2: The Strange Case of the Snail in a Bottle (40 mins)

The Strange Case of the Snail in a Bottle' is a short film dramatisation of Donoghue v Stevenson (1932), which established the crucial principle of the duty of care and laid the foundation of the modern law of negligence. Ever since, millions of claims around the world for injury or loss have relied upon this case.

   

BAS9 Curious: The Personal History of David Copperfield + Our Home Plymouth

Wednesday 14 December

Wed 14, 12.30pm

Programmer's Pick

Our Home Plymouth (13 mins)

This film is a collection of thoughts and feelings from women who have settled in Plymouth. They have compared life in their lands to their home in Plymouth. They have selected archive films to tell their stories and which show the similarities and the differences. “Through the film we want to celebrate what unites us. This is an opportunity to share our different voices and celebrate the diversity of life in Plymouth”.

A film made by Plymouth & Devon Racial Equality Council’s Women’s Collective with Compass Presents, The Box Plymouth and Plymouth Arts Cinema.

The Personal History of David Copperfield (120 mins)

Dir. Armando Iannucci, UK, 2019, 120 mins.  Cast. Dev Patel, Ben Whishaw, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Peter Capaldi. Age rating PG.

The group behind Our Home Plymouth also curated a special screening of The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) with Dev Patel as David Copperfield, Ranveer Jaiswal as 4-7-year-old David and Jairaj Varsani the teenage David. This film resonated with the group who wanted an uplifting film, a comedy drama which is “cast with a colour-blind inclusivity”.

Adapting one of Charles Dickens’ most beloved characters, this Victorian-set epic feels very modern, fresh and, quite frankly, hilarious. Following Copperfield from early youth through to middle age, the story traces his social awakening, charting huge personal ups and downs as he witnesses the best and worst of humanity. Dickens’ ‘favourite child’ amongst his works, the plot also tackles social injustice in many forms – a lack of protection for children, poor industrial conditions for the working class, and wealth inequality. So, who better to tackle this tale than Iannucci, the genius behind The Thick of It, In the Loop and The Death of Stalin. Humorous, busy, bustling and bursting with colour and energy, this is a Dickens reworking unlike any you’ve seen on the screen.

This project Curious About British Art Show 9 is supported by the BFI Film Audience Network with National Lottery funding as part of Changing Times programme Curious.

  

The Banshees of Inisherin (15)

Wednesday 14 – Friday 16 December

• Wed 14, 8.30pm
• Fri 16, 6pm

Back By Popular Demand

Dir. Martin McDonagh, Ireland/UK, 2022, 114 mins.

Cast. Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan

Just in case you missed out on seeing this wonderfully melancholic delight, we have brought it back for two screenings. On a small island off Ireland’s coast, life delivers few surprises. While a civil war of increasingly senseless violence rumbles on the mainland, sleepy days on Inisherin are marked by lifelong pals Padraic and Colm’s late-afternoon trips to the pub. Until one day, when it doesn’t happen. McDonagh offers an undulating wave of a story, one that moves from hoot-inducing black comedy and a tender ode to filial love, to a film about a fiery rage that’s lost sight of its original purpose. Farrell and Gleeson dazzle throughout. But the film also centres on scintillating performances by Barry Keoghan as an inchoate but harmless pest and Kerry Condon as Padraic’s sister, the Island’s sagest resident who longs for something more. As heart-breaking as it is hilarious, The Banshees of Inisherin is arguably the finest work from this major filmmaker.

   

Neptune Frost, Plymouth Arts Cinema

BAS9 Curious: Neptune Frost (15) + Our Home Plymouth

Thursday 15 December

Discovery Screening: Ticket £5/ £4 Concessions

• Thu 15, 6pm

F-rated

Dir. Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams, US, 2021, 109 mins, subtitled. Cast. Cheryl Isheja, Bertrand Ninteretse, Eliane Umuhire.

The directorial debut of multidisciplinary artists Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman is an exhilarating Afrofuturist, anti-capitalist, sci-fi-punk-musical about a cosmic romance between an intersex hacker and a coltan miner which seeds a revolution.

Neptune Frost takes place in the hilltops of Burundi, where a group of escaped coltan miners form an anti-colonialist computer hacker collective. From their camp in an otherworldly e-waste dump, they attempt a takeover of the authoritarian regime exploiting the region’s natural resources and its people. When an intersex runaway and an escaped miner find each other through cosmic forces, their connection sparks glitches within the greater divine circuitry.

Set between states of being – past and present, dream and waking life, colonised and free, male and female, memory and prescience – this is an invigorating and empowering direct download to the cerebral cortex and a call to reclaim technology for progressive political ends. It’s one of the most original and exhilarating films of the year, don’t miss it.

Our Home Plymouth (13 mins)

This film is a collection of thoughts and feelings from women who have settled in Plymouth. They have compared life in their lands to their home in Plymouth. They have selected archive films to tell their stories and which show the similarities and the differences. “Through the film we want to celebrate what unites us. This is an opportunity to share our different voices and celebrate the diversity of life in Plymouth”.

A film made by Plymouth & Devon Racial Equality Council’s Women’s Collective with Compass Presents, The Box Plymouth and Plymouth Arts Cinema.

   

Emily, Plymouth Arts Cinema

Emily (15)

Friday 16 – Thursday 22 December

• Fri 16, 8.30pm
• Sat 17, 5.15pm
• Tue 20, 8.30pm
• Wed 21, 2.30pm
• Thu 22, 5.45pm

F-rated

Dir. Frances O’Connor, UK, 2022, 125 mins. Cast. Emma Mackey, Joe Alwyn, Fionn Whitehead, Alexandra Dowling, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Adrian Dunbar.

Frances O’Connor tells an unconventional, imagined story of the life of Emily Brontë, one of the world’s most famous authors. Emily imagines the transformative, exhilarating, and uplifting journey to womanhood as she finds her voice, learns to rebel and constructs the literary classic Wuthering Heights. Exploring the relationships that inspired her, and the landscape that defined her work Emily sets this remarkable, provocative individual free. Emily is a sensitive and passionate portrait of the author. The film is a confident directorial debut for O’Connor, a veteran actor who starred in Patricia Rozema’s Mansfield Park, one of the best Austen film adaptations.

   

The Shop Around the Corner (PG)

Saturday 17 – Thursday 22 December

• Sat 17, 2.30pm (Relaxed)
• Wed 21, 6pm
• Thu 22, 8.30pm

Restored Classics

Dir. Ernst Lubitsch, US, 1940, 99 mins. Cast. James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan.

Deftly directed by Ernst Lubitsch from a smart, funny script by Samson Raphaelson, The Shop Around the Corner is a romantic comedy in the finest sense of the term. Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) are employees at Matuschek and Company, a general store in Budapest. They are constantly at odds with each other, butting heads and disagreeing on almost everything. Both are enamoured of their respective pen pals, who serve as welcome distractions in their lives. Little do they know, they are each the other's pen pal and, despite outward differences, have unwittingly fallen in love through their letters. Sound familiar? It is the film remade as You’ve Got Mail (with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan) - but the original is better! The perfect film to relax with in the hectic run-up to Christmas.

   

No Bears (12A)

Saturday 17 – Wednesday 21 December

• Sat 17, 8pm
• Tue 20, 6pm
• Wed 21, 8.30pm

MUBI GO | Programmer's Pick

Dir. Jafar Panahi, Iran, 2022, 106 mins, subtitled. Cast. Naser Hashemi, Reza Heydari, Mina Kavani.

Jafar Panahi has spent over a decade in and out of prison or under house arrest in Iran, after being banned from filmmaking by the government. His lovingly crafted latest film comes at a time when he is imprisoned again - he was sentenced this summer for his support of a fellow artist's independence. In two parallel love stories, Panahi plays a version of himself trying to remotely direct a film from an Iranian village close to the Turkish border, but soon finds himself under suspicious eyes from the local residents unnerved by his presence.

Arguably the filmmaker's richest and most complex work to date, No Bears is a powerful statement of tenacity and defiance from a director who cannot be silenced.

   

Love Actually (15)

Friday 23 December

FREE

• Fri, 7pm

Dir. Richard Curtis, UK, 2003, 135 mins. Cast. Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth, Keira Knightley.

National Lottery players will have the chance to visit the cinema for free for a special screening of the classic British Christmas movie Love Actually, with soft drinks and snacks included. Richard Curtis’s beloved rom com follows eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales, all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London.

   

Hilma (12A)

Tuesday 3 - Thursday 5 January

• Tue 3, 5.45pm
• Wed 4, 2.30pm
• Thu 5, 8.30pm

Dir. Lasse Hallstrom, Sweden, 2022, 119 mins. Cast. Lena Olin, Tom Wiaschiha, Lily Cole, Tora Hallstrom.

The film explores the enigmatic life - and loves - of af Klint (1862-1944), whose unconventional and highly spiritual art remained relatively unknown for decades.

It tells the story of an unwavering search for the truth about humanity and the universe through art, at a time when men made all the rules. Today af Klint is recognised as one of the Western world’s first abstract artists, an achievement made even more impressive by the male-dominated artistic scene that surrounded her.

   

Bones and All (18)

Tuesday 3 - Wednesday 4 January

• Tue 3, 8.15pm
• Wed 4, 5.30pm

Dir. Luca Guadagnino, US, 2022, 130 mins. Cast. Timothee Chalamet, Taylor Russell, Mark Rylance.

After his most recent remake of Suspiria in 2018, director Luca Guadagnino returns to the horror genre with a coming-of-age story that is good enough to eat. Set during the mid-80s of Reaganite USA, Bones And All tells the story of first love between Maren, a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and Lee, an intense and disenfranchised drifter, who have one key thing in common - their cannibalism. When they meet, they join together for a thousand-mile odyssey which takes them through the back roads, hidden passages, and murky undersides of outsider America. But despite their best efforts to live a life of relative normality, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and to a final stand which will determine whether their love can survive their otherness.

   

White Noise (15)

Wednesday 4 - Thursday 5 January 2023

• Wed 4, 8.15pm
• Thu 5, 5.45pm

Dir. Noah Baumbach, US, 2022, 135 mins. Cast. Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Jodie Turner-Smith.

Jack Gladney, a four-times married college professor, leads an ordinary life – or as ordinary as one’s life can be when you’re a pioneer in the field of Hitler studies but have only just started learning German. Noah Baumbach delivers a thrilling, genre bending adaptation of Don DeLillio’s novel with Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig taking the lead as a married couple attempting to deal with the mundane conflicts of everyday life while grappling with the universal mysteries of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world. Joined by an all-star cast playing family, friends and co-workers, Driver’s anti-hero finds himself on a journey to conquer his crippling fear of death, with some very unexpected results.

At once hilarious and horrifying, lyrical and absurd, ordinary and apocalyptic, White Noise dramatizes a contemporary American family’s experience in this ambitious, comic look at human relationships. It’s a film that is sure to delight Baumbach’s fans, old and new.