Sat 31 Jul // Fri 30 Jul // Thu 29 Jul // 20:00 /

A Single Man

12a / 101 mins / Tom Ford / 2009 / USA

Set in Los Angeles in 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, this is the story of a British college professor (Colin Firth) who is struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his long time partner and finds himself unable to go on. He plans to end his life and we follow him through what should be his last day, during which he rediscovers some of the things that could make life worth living again. The story is a romantic tale of love interrupted, the isolation that is an inherent part of the human condition, and ultimately the importance of the seemingly smaller moments in life. Firth won a BAFTA for best leading actor.

Wed 28 Jul // 20:00 /

Shoot the Poets

From performance poetry to digital filmmaking, for the scripted, rehearsed, improvised, choreographed, live, sampled, created – the merging of visual and textual in experimental filmmaking. Join us in this quarterly event, showcasing the work of original collaborations between filmmakers, writers and performers. The evening will be guest curated by artist and filmmaker Danny Pockets.

Sun 25 Jul // Sat 24 Jul // Fri 23 Jul // 20:00 /

The Last Station

15 / 109 mins / Michael Hoffman / 2009 / Germany/Russia/UK

Set in the last tumultuous years of famed Russian author Leo Tolstoy's life. Torn between his professed doctrine of poverty and chastity and the reality of his enormous wealth, his thirteen children and a life of hedonism, Tolstoy makes a dramatic flight from his home. Too ill to continue beyond the tiny rail station at Astapovo, he believes that he is dying alone, while over one hundred newspapermen camp outside awaiting hourly reports on his condition.

Thu 22 Jul // Wed 21 Jul // 20:00 /

Double Take

An ingenious hybrid, Double Take is part mock-documentary, part conceptual provocation, and altogether a thought-provoking, hugely entertaining piece that does for Alfred Hitchcock what Orson Welles did for himself in his myth-making F for Fake. Using a zippy assemblage of TV and newsreel material, artist/filmmaker Johan Grimonprez muses on Hitchcock's persona and humour, reading his films of the late 50s and early 60s against the climate of Bomb-era political anxiety. The film especially mulls on Hitchcock's preoccupation with doubles, a theme that recurs not just in his films but in the portly auteur's jokey intros to the vintage TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents; Grimonprez leaves viewers to draw their own conclusions about identity, filmmaking, power and paranoia, but the film's love of Hitchcock - artist, public face, TV clown - is unmistakeable and very infectious.

Sun 18 Jul // Sat 17 Jul // Fri 16 Jul // Fri 16 Jul // Thu 15 Jul // 20:00 /17:00 /20:00 /

Sex Drugs & Rock & Roll

15 / 115 mins / Mat Whitecross / 2009 / UK

Ian Dury’s punk-poet spirit infuses this exuberant biopic of the late Essex singer, who fought addiction, depression and polio en route to becoming a national treasure as gravel-voiced frontman of The Blockheads. Much of this is down to a fearless performance from Andy Serkis, who brings Ian back to life with a fiercely charismatic turn that perfectly mirrors his snarling ferocity, earthy humour and hobbling gait. Serkis is ably supported by a cast of Britain's leading acting talent which includes Naomi Harris, Ray Winstone, Olivia Williams and Noel Clarke.

Wed 14 Jul // 20:00 /

Britain at Bay: Peace & War 1937 – 1940

Britain at Bay is a programme of films from the BFI National Archive. For many, British life in the inter-war years was characterised by a forward-looking idealism, an age in which tradition was celebrated and new ideas embraced. Despite the trauma of the Great Depression, the 1930s became the era of Mass Observation, an attempt to capture the minutiae of everyday British life, and the ‘Machine Age’, enabling the population at large to enjoy improvements to every aspect of work and leisure. Yet just as progress beckoned, the government had to prepare its citizens for the worst as war with Germany shifted from distant threat to grim reality.

Sun 11 Jul // Sat 10 Jul // Fri 9 Jul // 20:00 /

A Prophet

18 / 149 mins / Jacques Audiard / 2009 / France

Nineteen year-old Malik is condemned to six years in prison. Arriving in jail friendless and alone with no-one to protect him, he soon finds himself drawn into gang warfare, part of daily prison life. Taken under the wing of a powerful boss, Malik is initiated into the criminal ranks. Once on the outside, he is entrusted with more and more important missions. But Malik is brave and a fast learner and secretly has his own plans that don’t involve taking orders from anyone else. Acclaimed director Jacques Audiard, brings us the winner of this year’s Grand Prix at Cannes. Having recently won the Best Film award at the London Film Festival, "A Prophet" instantly takes its place as a classic of the crime genre.

Thu 8 Jul // Wed 7 Jul // 20:00 /

Welcome

15 / 109 mins / Philippe Lioret / 2009 / France

Bilal, a 17-year-old Kurdish boy, has travelled through to Europe to join his girlfriend. But his journey comes to an abrupt end when he is stopped on the French side of the Channel. Having decided to swim across, Bilal goes to the local swimming pool to train. There he meets Simon, a swimming instructor in the midst of a divorce. To impress his estranged wife Simon decides to risk everything by taking Bilal under his wing. An ode to the abandoned immigrants trapped on the shores of Calais and the good Samaritans who take risks to help them.

Sun 4 Jul // Sat 3 Jul // Fri 2 Jul // Thu 1 Jul // 20:00 /

Precious

15 / 109 mins / Lee Daniels / 2009 / USA

Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, this is one of the most distinctive films of the year, and one of the most affecting too. Clareece 'Precious' Jones is an obese and impoverished African American teenager, systematically abused emotionally and physically by her mother her mother's boyfriend. Pregnant by him for a second time, she is expelled from school, and recommended to attend an alternative education centre where she meets an inspiring teacher who prods her into seeing that there could be hope for a better life.