Thu 4 May // Thu 4 May // 11:00 /20:00 /

Flicker and Pulse - plus Q&A with director

Hastings Folk Festival 2017

U / 50mins / Brian McClave & Tom Wichelow / 2016 / UK

A striking and poignant portrayal of time passing in a beautiful Sussex walled garden. Using real-time and timelapse footage, the film explores the relationship between the seasons and the plants and people who work within the walls of the garden. Locked into the clock of the solar system, the garden performs its annual display, guided by the ritualistic human intervention of those passionately engaged with its soil. The film takes the form of a contemplative visual poem with a stunning soundtrack by Wendy Rae Fowler.

Fri 5 May // 20:00 /

Blackbird

Hastings Folk Festival 2017

15 / 90mins / Jamie Chambers / 2013 / UK

The film follows the efforts of a passionate young man, Ruadhan, to keep alive the traditions in his sleepy village, where the singing is scarce and the jobs are scarcer. Seeing new businesses arrive, and elderly bards and songsmiths die out or give up the ghost, Ruadhan takes it upon himself to fi ght back and prove that his past has a place in the future. Featuring legendary performers Norman Maclean and Sheila Stewart, Blackbird brings Scotland's most loved folk music and storytelling heroes to the big screen.

Sat 6 May // 16:00 /

Electric Shakespeare - Murder and Magic

Following on from last month's Electric Shakespeare exploring Shakespeare's language around Love and Beauty, this workshop turns its attentions to his electrifying wordsmithery connected with Murder and Magic.

Royal Shakespeare Company actors Julian Curry and Mary Chater will lead the work on scenes, and Glenys Jacques will facilitate the session. She trained as a teacher and psychotherapist and has worked extensively in schools and community centres developing programmes in personal expression, creativity and language.

ALL WELCOME - wear loose clothing.  All tickets £5.

Sat 6 May // 20:00 /

Burroughs: The Movie

Hastings Folk Festival 2017

15 / 90mins / Howard Brookner / 1983 / USA

With intimate, revelatory footage of the singular author and poet filmed over the course of five years, Brookner’s documentary about William S. Burroughs was for decades mainly the stuff of legend; that changed in 2011 when the late director’s nephew, discovered a print and spearheaded a restoration. This invigorating portrait was brought to life with the help of a remarkable crew of friends, including Jim Jarmusch and Tom DiCillo and features on-screen appearances by Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Huncke, Patti Smith, and Terry Southern.

Sun 7 May // 15:30 /

High in the Old Oak Tree - Ed Boxall hosts Celtic folk tales

Hastings Folk Festival

Ed Boxall and Tim Hoyte share a love of Celtic myths - stories where otherworlds are hidden inside hills, across the sea or in the leaves of old trees.

Join us for stories and songs inspired by Celtic folk tales, performed by artist and musician Ed Boxall and musician Tim Hoyte. Projections, spoken word, song and music will transfix you in this magical afternoon for adults and children 5+ years old. All tickets £5.

Ed will be performing a selection of his Celtic-inspired stories, along with excerpts from the myths themselves. There will be the first performance of his most recent book 'High in The Old Oak Tree'. There's also a brand new story for Hastings: “The Ruddy Useless Fisherman”, about a Hastings fisherman with a mysterious connection to the Celtic sea god Manannan. Tim will be performing his own songs and instrumental pieces that evoke the mythic storyland of childhood. The show will finish with a rousing new song based on an ancient welsh poem celebrating the month of May.

Sun 7 May // 20:00 /

Blackbird

Hastings Folk Festival 2017

15 / 90mins / Jamie Chambers / 2013 / UK

The film follows the efforts of a passionate young man, Ruadhan, to keep alive the traditions in his sleepy village, where the singing is scarce and the jobs are scarcer. Seeing new businesses arrive, and elderly bards and songsmiths die out or give up the ghost, Ruadhan takes it upon himself to fi ght back and prove that his past has a place in the future. Featuring legendary performers Norman Maclean and Sheila Stewart, Blackbird brings Scotland's most loved folk music and storytelling heroes to the big screen.

Thu 11 May // Thu 11 May // 11:00 /20:00 /

It's Only the End of the World

15 / 97mins / Xavier Dolan / 2016 / France, Subtitles

After 12 years of estrangement a writer returns to his hometown, planning on announcing his impending death to his family. However, his mother, tempestuous siblings and beleaguered sister-in-law (Marion Cotillard) have their own personal grievances to air. As buried resentments threaten to surface, all attempts at empathy are sabotaged by the family’s inability to listen and love. Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes 2016, this is a bold and stylistically daring melodrama performed with thunderous emotion.

Fri 12 May // 19:30 /

Frank

Hosted by The Cinematologists podcast

15 / 95mins / Lenny Abrahamson / 2014 / UK / Ireland / USA

Written by Jon Ronson (The Men Who Stare At Goats) and Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), ‘Frank’ is loosely inspired by Frank Sidebottom, the persona of cult musician and comedy legend Chris Sievey. The mysterious and enigmatic musical genius Frank (Michael Fassbender) hides himself inside a large fake head, and along with his terrifying bandmate Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal), leads a young wannabe musician out of his depth when he joins their avant-garde pop band.

See news for details.

Sat 13 May // 20:00 /

Land of Songs

With introduction

Unrated / 60mins / Aldona Watts / 2015 / Lithuania, Subtitles

In a region of Lithuania known as the 'Land of Songs,' five sprightly elderly women have kept their village’s ancient folk-singing tradition alive through decades of war, occupation, and desertion. Aldona Watts’ debut feature is a tender, poetic record of the lives of these remarkable women and an eloquent testament to heritage and the universal language of folk music.

Sun 14 May // 19:30 /

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

18 / 128mins / Milos Forman / 1975 / USA

Q&A with 1066 Country Crafts for Mental Health Awareness Week

Nicholson’s unforgettable performance as the ingenious, heroic free spirit RP ‘Mac’ McMurphy, who leads an uprising in the men’s ward of a mental hospital run by callous Nurse Rached, won him his fi rst best actor Oscar. Join us to remember why this was considered to be one of the greatest American films of all time.

Wed 17 May // 19:30 /

First Heard Theatre: Girl in Bed

Live Theatre: reading with professional actors

First Heard is a monthly play reading event featuring new works by local playwrights, performed by professional actors.

Girl in Bed, by Patrick Kealey, grew out of a story told to Kealey of a young girl who chose not to speak and had been sectioned in a mental institution, but produced powerful disturbing art as part of an art therapy treatment.

"As somebody who works with words professionally I wanted to understand how and why somebody, in particular in this instance a young woman, might choose to make such a radical statement. And I liked the challenge of trying to dramatise the story of a lead character who is apparently saying nothing," says Kealey.

Cast includes Jonny Magnanti, Rachel McCarron, Maia Tym, Harry Leigh, Kate Tym, Daisy Estall, Gareth Wildig, John Knowles, Megan Barham.

At the end of every play there is an honest Q&A with the writer and all money raised from ticket sales, go towards the actors’ time. All tickets £5.

If you are a playwright or actor looking to get involved with First Heard, contact John on 07813 035514.

Thu 18 May // Thu 18 May // Fri 19 May // Sat 20 May // 11:00 /20:00 /

A Monster Calls

PG-13 / 108mins / JA Bayona / 2016 / USA / Spain

12-year-old Conor is bullied because he sees the world differently. His mother is suffering from a terminal illness, his grandmother has become increasingly controlling and his father is perpetually absent. Suddenly, a wizened and mysterious yew tree materialises to provide Conor with some much-needed guidance. Shooting from the spectacular heights of fantasy, straight to the beating heart of reality, Bayona’s visually inventive fi lm gives glorious form to this deeply moving story about a boy who draws on his expansive imagination to come to terms with impending loss.

Sun 21 May // 20:00 /

The Creature Walks Among Us

B Movie Fan Club

12 / 78mins / John Sherwood / 1956 / USA

The ''creature'' is captured, again, but this time scientists turn him into an air breather, thus allowing him to go on the rampaging on land! Didn't think that one through there did we? All tickets £5.

Thu 25 May // Thu 25 May // Fri 26 May // Sat 27 May // 11:00 /20:00 /

Manchester By The Sea

15 / 137mins / Kenneth Lonergan / 2016 / USA

Tender, brutal and utterly mesmerizing, this is a visually eloquent and emotionally devastating exploration of grief and redemption. Casey Affleck gives a careerdefi ning performance as the laconic, calcified Lee, a man whose spare existence is suddenly ruptured when the death of his brother Joe forces him to return to the hometown he abandoned years before.

See this film as part of our  Thursday night special dinner and film offer: Enjoy delicious Moroccan cuisine at Café Maroc, followed by a movie treat. Book early to avoid disappointment.

Book now

Sun 28 May // 20:00 /

Little Buddha

Hosted by Hastings Triratna Buddhist Group

PG / 118mins / Bernardo Bertolucci / 1993 / Italy | France | Liechtenstein | UK

This modern day re-telling of Siddhartha's story and the founding of Buddhism, stars Keanu Reeves as the Prince who undergoes the Five Ascetic principles to achieve Nirvana. Bertolucci presents the 2500-year old story of Siddhartha's path to enlightenment with a view to saying something contemporary and relevant about the possibilities of metaphysical truth.

Book now