January-February 2022 - Plymouth Arts Cinema
January-February 2022 - Plymouth Arts Cinema
Where to find us
Our venue is located inside Plymouth College of Art’s main campus at Tavistock Place. Go through Plymouth College of Art’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.
We are closed for the Christmas/ New Year break from 24th December – 4th January at 5pm. All ticket bookings and membership renewals are online only during this time. If you experience any issues with online booking, you can email us on info@plymouthartscinema.org and a member of our team will assist you.
Standard £9.00 | Matinees £7.00 | Bringing in Baby £8.50 (includes drink) | OAPs £7.75 | 25 & Under, Students, PCA Staff, Unwaged £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.
Covid-19 Precautions
In line with Plymouth College of Art’s policies we have brought an end to most social distancing measures unless needed but are retaining a few ongoing precautionary measures to keep everyone in our community as safe as possible.
- The use of face coverings is required unless eating or drinking.
- Please do not visit the cinema if you have any symptoms of Covid-19.
- Please use the NHS Covid App if you are able to and check into our venue when you arrive.
To help enable everyone to feel comfortable visiting us, we have programmed a few socially distanced screenings for the films we anticipate will be most popular. Capacity in the cinema has been reduced to 40 maximum and there will be empty seats left between groups.
For much more detailed, up to date information, please read this page on our website before your visit: https://plymouthartscinema.org/reopening
We have made some changes to the way we work, in order to keep our customers safe and confident to visit the cinema. Please see the full information here: https://plymouthartscentre.org/reopening/
Accessibility There is level access to Plymouth College of Art’s reception and accessible WC. There is an access lift from the reception area to the box office and cinema. The cinema features an infrared hearing loop system. There are two spaces for wheelchair users in the cinema.
Captioned Screenings (CS) Subtitled screenings that display the dialogue as well as additional auditory information on the screen.
Relaxed Screenings (RS) All are welcome, especially those living with Autism and Dementia. To find out more, visit the dedicated Access page on our website www.plymouthartscinema.org/access or email info@plymouthartscinema.org. Tickets £4.
Bringing in Baby Screenings (BIB) Sociable screenings for parents, grandparents and carers of babies under 12 months. Breastfeeding friendly, access to warm water and changing facilities, and no need to worry if baby makes a noise! Tickets £8.50 including a hot or cold drink.
Become a Member
Do you share our passion for independent cinema? Become a PAC Member and join our community at a level that suits you.Supporter (£15)Friends (£35/ £45)Champion (£500)For full details and to join, please visit: www.plymouthartscinema.org/support-us/members.F-Rated Special OfferGet a discount (each ticket for £7) when you book a ticket for 3 or more different F-Rated films at the same time. The F-Rating is awarded to films 1. directed by a woman and/or 2. written by a woman.
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January - February 2022
House of Gucci (15)
Tue 4 – Thu 6 January
Tue 4, 5.30pm; Wed 5, 8pm; Thu 6, 5.30pm
Dir. Ridley Scott, 2021, USA/Canada, 158 mins. Cast. Adam Driver, Lady Gaga, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons.
A brilliantly cast Lady Gaga leads an all-star cast in Ridley Scott’s sensational ‘90s-set biographical crime drama. Based on Sara Gay Forden’s 2001 book, it’s inspired by the shocking true story of murder and intrigue at the heart of Italian fashion empire Gucci, with Driver as Maurizio Gucci, Lady Gaga as his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani. Spanning three decades of tumultuous love, decadence, greed, revenge and betrayal, the sumptuously realised, opulently styled House of Gucci explores what a name means, what it’s worth, and how far a family will go for control.
C’mon C’mon (15)
Tue 4 – Thu 6 January
Tue 4, 8.30pm; Wed 5, 2.30pm (Captioned); & 5.30pmThu 6, 8.30pm
Dir. Mike Mills, 2021, USA. 108 mins. Cast. Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann, Scoot McNairy.
Johnny is a kind-hearted radio journalist deep into a project in which he interviews children across the USA about the world’s uncertain future. His sister asks him to watch her 9-year-old son while she tends to the child’s father, who is suffering from mental health issues. After agreeing, Johnny finds himself connecting with his nephew in ways he hadn’t expected, ultimately taking Jesse with him on a journey from Los Angeles to New York to New Orleans. A remarkably warm and sweet picture filmed in classy monochrome by the Oscar®-nominated cinematographer Robbie Ryan, C'mon C'mon shows that Mills is unafraid of exploring raw, honest emotions on screen.
West Side Story (12A)
Book Early
Fri 7 – Thu 13 January
Fri 7, 5.30pmSat 8, 2pm (SOCIALLY DISTANCED) & 7.45pm; Tue 11, 5.30pm (Captioned); Wed 12, 8pmThu 13, 5.30pm
Dir. Steven Spielberg, 2021, USA, 156 mins, some subtitles. Cast. Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, Rita Moreno.
Steven Spielberg, a legendary director whose awards include Oscars, Golden Globes and Emmys, directs Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner’s screenplay adaptation of the Broadway musical by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.
“This film is probably the most daunting of my career. West Side Story is arguably the greatest score ever written in the theatre, and that’s not lost on any of us. It’s very intimidating to take a masterpiece and make it through different eyes and different sensibilities without compromising the integrity of what is generally considered the greatest music ever written for the theatre. But I believe that great stories should be told over and over again, in part to reflect different perspectives and moments in time into the work.”– Steven Spielberg
Mothering Sunday (15)
Fri 7 – Thu 13 January
Fri 7, 8.30pmSat 8, 5.15pm; Tue 11, 8.30pm; Wed 12, 2.30pm & 5.30pm; Thu 13, 8.30pm
Dir. Eva Husson, 2021, UK, 104 mins. Cast. Olivia Colman, Josh O’Connor, Odessa Young.
Screenwriter Alice Birch and director Eva Husson prove the perfect creative duo to bring the rich sensuality of this story to the screen. In Henley, in the mid-1920s, young maid Jane works for the Nivens, one of several local ‘grand’ families who have been devastated by the loss of sons in the First World War. Jane sneaks away for a passionate secret relationship with Paul, the sole surviving son from a neighbouring manor house. But Paul is engaged to be married to someone else. Adapted from a Graham Swift novel, it’s a beautiful meditation on intimacy, love and loss.
Hope (15)
Fri 14 – Wed 19 January
Fri 14, 5.45pm; Sat 15, 2.30pm & 8pm; Tue 18, 5.45pm; Wed 19, 8.30pm
Dir. Maria Sødahl, 2019, Norway/Sweden, 126 mins, subtitled. Cast. Stellan Skarsgard, Andrea Braein Hovig, Elli Muller Osbourne.
The relationship between artist-partners Tomas and Anja is put to the test after Anja gets a life-threatening diagnosis in this probing and affecting film from Maria Sodahl. A clear-eyed, adult love story about the sacrifices we’re sometimes called upon to make for those closest to us, and a probing exploration of the frenzied, often obsessive, and atomised nature of contemporary life, Hope courageously asks us what we really consider important — and whether we can pursue our ambitions while living up to our ideals and obligations.
The Lost Daughter (15)
Programmer’s Pick
Fri 14 – Thu 20 January
Fri 14, 8.30pmSat 15, 5.30pm; Tue 18, 8.30pm (Reclaim The Frame Recorded Q&A with Maggie Gyllenhaal); Wed 19, 2.30pm (Captioned) & 6pm; Thu 20, 8.30pm
Dir. Maggie Gyllenhaal, 2021, USA/Greece, 121 mins. Cast. Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, Jessie Buckley.
A sensual and subversive directorial debut by Maggie Gyllenhaal adapts the 2006 novel on motherhood gone astray by Elena Ferrante. Leda is a professor on a solo summer holiday who becomes intrigued and then later oddly involved in the lives of a brash American family she meets there. Colman brilliantly embodies this quietly tempestuous character and the more obsessively she reacts to others, the more she is haunted by the ghosts of her own past as she slowly but surely loses control. A moving, sometimes unsettling inquiry into motherhood and personal freedom, it features an outstanding cast and is sure to be a contender for the upcoming awards season.
The screening on Tuesday 18th is a special Reclaim The Frame screening which includes a pre-recorded introduction with writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The mission of Reclaim the Frame is to re-tell the story of cinema by drawing ever greater audiences to films by women & non-binary creatives, re-claiming cinema as a truer reflection of the world we live in.
Anyone can join the Reclaim The Frame mission, find out more at www.birds-eye-view.co.uk.
Reclaim The Frame is run by charity Birds’ Eye View, and backed by the BFI’s Audience Fund.
Bad Luck Banging (18)*
Thu 20 – Tue 25 January
Thu 20, 6pm (Intro by Anna Navas); Tue 25, 8.30pm
Dir. Radu Jude, 2021, Romania, 106 mins, subtitled. Cast. Katia Pascariu, Claudia Ieremia, Olimpia Malai.
A respected schoolteacher finds her career and reputation under threat when her personal sex tape is leaked on the internet in this bold and uncompromising Berlinale Golden Bear-winning satire. The leaked tape results in demands for her resignation from her prestigious Bucharest school, but she refuses to surrender, facing her detractors head on at an absurdist parents’ tribunal that becomes an exercise in misogyny and racism. A darkly comic vision of modern life as unforgettable as its title and its explicit opening sequence (warning - the sex is real and graphic), this is an incendiary commentary on hypocrisy and prejudice in our societies.*A word of warning: the film begins with a very explicit sex scene. Some viewers might want to keep a mask handy while viewing - to cover your eyes for the opening three minutes.
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (PG)
Book Early
Fri 21 – Thu 27 January
Fri 21, 6pmSat 22, 8pm; Tue 25, 6pm; Wed 26, 11am (BIB), 2.30pm (SOCIALLY DISTANCED), 6pm; Thu 27, 8.30pm (CAPTIONED)
Dir. Will Sharpe, 2021, UK, 111 mins. Cast. Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough.
An eccentric artist (Cumberbatch) introduces Victorian London to the delights of cats, in Will Sharpe’s enlightening biopic of the Victorian-era artist whose widely published drawings of anthropomorphised cats transformed them from mysterious to irresistible. In a dazzling, career-best performance, Benedict Cumberbatch plays one of Britain’s most influential eccentrics as a flurry of wild ideas and prodigious artistic output. Olivia Colman narrates.
Lamb (15)
Fri 21 – Thu 27 January
Fri 21, 8.30pm; Sat 22, 5.30pm; Wed 26, 8.30pm; Thu 27, 6pm
Dir. Valdimar Johannsson, 2021, Iceland/Sweden, 106 mins, subtitled. Cast. Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snaer Guonason, Bjorn Hlynur Haraldson.
Valdimar Jóhannsson’s Cannes-winning feature delivers a genre-defying mix of folklore, horror and classic Icelandic storytelling all wrapped up in one of this year’s most-talked about films.
Positioned within the tradition of Icelandic myth, Jóhannsson director debut is set on a remote Icelandic sheep farm. María and Ingvar get along well enough, but the couple are haunted by an unspoken, ever-present sadness. The birth of a mysterious, but seemingly miraculous ‘gift’ from one of their ewes sees the couple greedily snatch at the prospect of joy and family life. Relatable in terms of what it says about human relationships and our attitude towards nature and grief, this tale is unsettling, eerie and engrossing but most of all it is unpredictable.
A Hero (tbc)
Fri 28 January – Wed 2 February
Fri 28, 5.45pm; Sat 29, 8pm; Tue 1, 5.45pm; Wed 2, 2.30pm & 8.30pm
Dir. Asghar Farhadi, 2021, Iran, 127 mins, subtitled. Cast. Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy.
Farhadi’s signature cinematic web-weaving is deployed to captivating effect in his Cannes Grand Prix-winning drama – a reflection on the grey line between right and wrong. It’s difficult not to empathise with affable, gentle-mannered Rahim, a traditional sign-maker imprisoned for an unpaid debt to his former brother-in-law. His family are delighted when he surprises them with two days of leave and have no idea that he plans to repay his debt with a bag of gold coins his girlfriend found on a bus. Yet his decision has unexpected consequences, spiralling from a moment of redemption into chaos.
Boiling Point (15)
Fri 28 January – Thu 3 February
Fri 28, 8.30pm; Sat 29, 2.30pm & 5.30pm; Tue 1, 8.30pm; Wed 2, 6pm (CAPTIONED); Thu 3, 8.30pm
Dir. Philip Barantini, 2021, UK, 95 mins. Cast. Stephen Graham, Vinette Robinson, Jason Flemyng.
An emotionally scarred London chef struggles to keep it together in this formally extraordinary and beautifully acted single-take thriller. We follow Andy, an emotionally damaged and drug addicted chef, played by an electrifying Stephen Graham, across one crazily busy night in his top London restaurant. He has to deal with acrimonious staff, difficult customers, an old adversary and the pressures of keeping a frenetic kitchen going. A smart character study, an excellent ensemble cast and terrific central performance deliver something genuinely nerve-jangling and exciting.
SONGLINES: Rabbit Proof Fence
Thu 3 Feb, 6pm
Belfast (12A)
Book Early
Fri 4 – Thu 10 February
Fri 4, 6pmSat 5, 8pm; Tue 8, 6pm; Wed 9, 2.30pm (SOCIALLY DISTANCED) 8.30pm; Thu 10, 6pm
Dir. Kenneth Branagh, 2021, UK, 98 mins. Cast. Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, Jude Hill.
It’s 1969 and the imaginative, free-spirited Buddy knows every inch of and every person in his street of Protestant and Catholic families. This blissful sense of security is about to be broken by sectarian violence and the tanks that sweep through the city. Belfast is Branagh’s most personal film to date. Shot in lustrous black and white the film sees Buddy’s child’s-eye perspective on the increasing social unrest give way to imaginings inspired by his love of movies. Branagh balances melancholy and poignancy with moments of wonder and joy. Belfast is a big-hearted ode to a city, its community and to family.
Memoria (tbc)
Fri 4 – Wed 9 February
Fri 4, 8.15pm; Sat 5, 2.15pm & 5.15pm; Tue 8, 8.15pm; Wed 9, 5.45pm
Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2021, China/Colombia/France, 136 minutes, some subtitles. Cast. Tilda Swinton, Elkin Diaz, Jeanne Balibar.
Shot and set in Colombia, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s meditative rumination on memory and the human condition is anchored by Tilda Swinton’s enigmatic, otherworldly presence. Visiting her sister in Bogota, Jessica is woken up by a loud bang, audible only to her. Restless and disoriented, she roams the city in search of an explanation for the mysterious sound, becoming immersed in the aural richness around her – whispers in a hospital room, sound effects playing in an editing studio, indiscreet noises from a city square. The film’s commitment to sound allows us to follow Jessica to the threshold of personal and collective memory and provides a rare cinematic experience that will reverberate for a long time to come.
SONGLINES: Sweet Country
Thu 10 Feb, 8.30pm
Lola and the Sea (15)
Fri 11 – Thu 17 February
Fri 11, 6pm; Thu 17, 6pm
Dir. Laurent Micheli, 2019, Belgium/France, 90 mins, subtitled. Cast. Mya Bollaers, Benoit Magimel, Sami Outalbali.
Just as Lola (Bollaers) learns that she can finally have her life-changing surgery, she receives the news that her mother has passed away. Lola travels home for the funeral and to face her estranged father, Philippe (Magimel), for the first time in two years and the pair embark on a journey together to the North Sea to scatter the deceased’s ashes. A superior road movie, and a tender exploration of family relationships and identity.
Parallel Mothers (15)Programmer’s Pick
Fri 11 – Thu 17 February
Fri 11, 8.30pm; Sat 12, 2.30pm & 5.30pm; Tue 15, 11am (BIB) & 6pm; Thu 17, 8.30pm
Dir. Pedro Almodovar, 2021, Spain, 123 minutes, subtitled. Cast. Penelope Cruz, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Milena Smit.
Pedro Almodóvar is on top form with this comedy-drama about a chance encounter leading to a lifelong connection. Janis (Cruz) and Ana (Smit) are two expectant single mothers who meet in a maternity ward as they prepare to give birth. Despite a significant age gap between them, and differing views on their impending accidental births, they bond over the experience as they move like sleepwalkers along the hospital corridors, and find their lives irrevocably connected as a result. Only Almodóvar could deliver such an accomplished and confident piece of filmmaking that doesn’t miss a beat in its writing or delivery.
Rebel Dykes (18)
Sat 12 – Tue 15 February
Sat 12, 8pm; Tue 15, 8.30pm (RECLAIM THE FRAME RECORDED INTRO)
Dir. Harri Shanahan, Siân A. Williams, 2021, UK, 89 mins.
Rebel Dykes follows a tight-knit group of friends who met at Greenham Common peace camp and went on to become artists, performers, musicians and activists in London. A heady mash-up of animation, archive footage and interviews tells the story of a radical scene: squatters, BDSM nightclubs, anti-Thatcher rallies, protests demanding action around AIDS and the fierce ties of chosen family. This is an extraordinarily privileged glimpse into a bygone world by those who not only lived out their politics with heartfelt conviction but lived to tell the tale.
Iris on the Move
Wed 16 February
6pm, Best of Iris Trans Stories + intro and Q&A
8pm, Best of Iris 21
We are absolutely delighted to welcome back highlights from the 15th Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival. The festival brought a huge variety of LGBT+ short films to our cinema in-person in 2020 and online in 2021 and now it is back with two wonderful shorts programmes. This diverse selection of outstanding short films showcases unique stories from around the world with a strong British representation.
SONGLINES: The Sapphires
Thu 24 February, 6pm
The Tragedy of Macbeth (tbc)
Fri 18 – Thu 24 February
Fri 18, 8.30pm; Sat 19, 2.30pm & 5.30pm; Tue 22, 8.30pm; Wed 23, 6pm; Thu 24, 8.30pm
Dir. Joel Coen, 2021, USA, 105 mins. Cast. Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Brendan Gleeson.
Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand star in Joel Coen’s bold and fierce adaptation of the Scottish play; a tale of murder, madness, ambition, and wrathful cunning. Shakespeare’s iconic and much adapted text gets a wonderfully fresh and singular reworking. Conjuring a beguiling nether-world between theatre and cinema, this is a stunning production, shot in silvery 4:3 monochrome, with near-expressionistic sets and a spellbinding score. Driving the action is an extraordinary cast that’s capped by British theatre legend Kathryn Hunter’s contortionist take on the Witches. Electrifying!
Never Too Late (tbc)
Fri 18 – Wed 23 February
Fri 18, 6pm; Sat 19, 8pm; Tue 22, 6pm; Wed 23, 2.30pm & 8.30pm
Dir. Mark Lamprell, 2021, Australia, 95 mins. Cast. James Cromwell, Dennis Waterman, Roy Billing, Jacki Weaver.
It has been a long time since Caine, Bronson, Angus and Wendell, AKA, ‘The Chain Breakers,’ escaped the torturous Vietnamese POW camp. They now find themselves sharing a new prison, The Hogan Hills Retirement Home for Returned Veterans. Each of the men has an unrealised dream they want to achieve. So they band together to devise a plan to escape this new hell. But the rules of engagement have changed, in fact, they can’t even remember what they were and that’s half the problem.
The Duke (12A)
Book Early
Fri 25 February – Thu 3 March
Fri 25, 8.30pm; Sat 26, 5.30pm; Tue 1, 8.30pm; Wed 2, 2.30pm (SOCIALLY DISTANCED) & 6pm; Thu 3, 8.30pm
Dir. Roger Michell, UK, 2020, 95 mins. Cast. Jim Broadbent, Hellen Mirren, Matthew Goode, Aimee Kelly.
In 1961, 60-year-old taxi driver Kempton Bunton steals Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton tries to ransom the painting, offering to return it on the condition that the government invests more in care for the elderly - he has long campaigned for pensioners to receive free television - while his downtrodden wife tries to keep up appearances. What happened next became the stuff of legend and only 50 years later did the full story emerge.
Much admired director Roger Michell’s final feature film, The Duke is a highly entertaining and uplifting true story about a good man who set out to change the world.
The Souvenir Part II (15)
Fri 25 February – Wed 2 March
Fri 25, 6pm; Sat 26, 2.30pm & 8pm; Tue 1, 6pm; Wed 2, 8.30pm
Dir. Joanna Hogg, 2021, UK, 107 mins.Cast. Honor Swinton Burne, Tilda Swinton, Joe Alwyn, Richard Ayoade, Charlie Heaton.
Picking up where the first film left off, a devastated Julie mourns the death of her lover and the discovery of his secret life. Returning to her parents’ home to grieve, she is also under pressure to start her film school graduation project, drawing on her recent grief and workshopping with actors to fully develop the story. The Souvenir was always conceived in two parts. An impeccable film from one of the UK’s finest directors – bittersweet, rich with Hogg’s typically incisive understanding of people and filled with moments of joy
Cine Sisters SW
Thu 3 March, 6pm
Join Cine Sisters SW for an evening of artists moving image by womxn artists from across the SW. Hear all about our plans for 2022 and how you can get involved. Contact us by Feb 1st if you want to see your short film on the big screen at this event.
cinesisterssw@gmail.com
SONGLINES FILM PROGRAMME
The Songlines exhibition at The Box is coming to a close at the end of February. Our short season of films explores aspects of Australian cinema which reflect on ideas and themes inspired by the exhibition. We hope it inspires you to catch it before it goes.
Rabbit-Proof Fence (PG)
Dir. Phillip Noyce, 2002, Australia, 90 mins.
Cast. Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, Everlyn Sampi, Ningali Lawford, David Gulpilil, Kenneth Branagh.
This is a hard-hitting drama based on the real-life story of three members of the stolen generations who undertook a long and perilous on-foot journey to return to their mother. In 1931, three aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff and set off on a trek across the Outback. Based on a non-fiction book by the Indigenous author Doris Pilkington (whose mother Molly is one of the three main characters), the film was shot by veteran Christopher Doyle with delicate sun-kissed cinematography that gently soaks up outback settings, belying the traumatic story at the heart of it.
Sweet Country (15)
Dir. Warwick Thornton, 2017, Australia, 109 mins.
Cast. Matt Day, Bryan Brown, Trevon Doolan, Tremayne Doolan, Natassia Gorey Furber, Anni Finsterer.
Inspired by real events, Sweet Country is set in the 1920s on the Northern Territory frontier - where justice itself is put on trial. Directed by Warwick Thornton, recipient of the Camera d’Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival for his debut feature Samson and Delilah, the period western is a stunning cinematic vision and soundscape set in the desert of the magnificent MacDonnell Ranges around Alice Springs in central Australia.
The Sapphires (12)
Dir. Wayne Blair, 2012, Australia, 99 mins.
Cast. Deborah Mailman, Tory Kittles, Eka Darville, Jessica Mauboy, Chris O'Dowd.
This lovely, warm-hearted film is set in 1968 (a year after the referendum, which symbolically expanded the rights of Aboriginal people) and tells the story of The Sapphires, a singing group of four Yorta Yorta women who tour Vietnam during the war.