Kino-Teatr

A Christmas Gift from Bob UK 2020, 12A, 92 mins, drama/biography

A 2020 British Christmas biographical drama directed by Charles Martin Smith based on the non-fiction books A Gift from Bob and The Little Book of Bob by James Bowen. It is a sequel to the 2016 film A Street Cat Named Bob, and stars Luke Treadaway (The Crown) reprising his role as Bowen and Bob the Cat himself! It begins the Christmas after Bowen’s literary success, when he leaves a swanky publishing party and tells a young homeless kid the story of his and Bob’s grim Christmas a year earlier living in sheltered accommodation.

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Alexander Metcalfe, pianist and composer, studied at the Royal College of Music and has performed all around Europe, at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Kings Place and St. Luke’s. While specialising in works from the Classical and Romantic periods, Alex is also a keen advocate of contemporary composers.

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• 2023
• 1h 36min
• 12A

• Directed by: Oliver Parker
• Cast: Michael Caine, Glenda Jackson, Wolf Kahler

The Great Escaper Oliver Parker | UK, USA | 2023 | Cert and running time tbc

In the summer of 2014 - the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings - octogenarian Bernie Jordan made global headlines. He’d staged a “great escape” from his care home to join fellow war veterans on a beach in Normandy, commemorating their fallen comrades. It was a story that captured the imagination of the world - Bernie seemed to embody the defiant, “can-do” spirit of a generation that was fast disappearing. But of course, it wasn’t the whole story. It was the story we all tell ourselves to make war and old age bearable. The bitter-sweet script explores the reality with wit and a very big heart. Bernie’s adventure, spanning a mere 48 hours, also marked the culmination of his 60-year marriage to Rene – the story celebrates their love without sentimentality and with an eye to the lessons we can all learn from the Greatest Generation.

Free tea and coffee will be available before the film.

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The Irony of Fate Russia 1976, 12A, 180 mins, romantic comedy/drama

The Irony of Fate doubles as a screwball comedy and a love story tinged with sadness. It is one of the most famous, successful and beloved Russian films of all time, starring Andrei Myagkov and Barbara Brylska (Poland). It remains a highly popular New Year's Eve classic in Russia and Eastern Europe, not unlike It's a Wonderful Life.

After reading the script, composer Mikael Tariverdiev was puzzled by its genre diversity. As a result, he defined it for himself as a Christmas fairy tale, and for musical accompaniment he chose eight romances - "about love, about happiness, about jealousy, about kindness, about the desire to be understood".

Set in Moscow and Leningrad/St.Petersburg on a chaotic New Year's Eve, it is about our humanity, our mistakes, and how it is never too late to fall in love.

In Russian with English subtitles

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• 2023
• 1h 54min
• 15

• Directed by: DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman
• Cast: Kamila Urzedowska, Robert Gulaczyk, Miroslaw Baka

The Peasants
Poland 2023, 15, 114 mins, drama, adaptation

From the makers of Loving Vincent and using the same celebrated oil painted animation technique, The Peasants is a visually thrilling adaptation of 1924 Nobel Prize-winning novel by Wladyslaw Reymont (Poland) about a late 19th century Polish peasant woman who creates havoc by marrying an older rich man.

The visual style of The Peasants is based on Polish art from the late 19th and early 20th Century with an emphasis on works from the Young Poland movement by artists such as Josef Chelmonski, Ferdynand Ruszczyc and Leon Wyczolkowksi, most recently featured in the acclaimed exhibition at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow.

Poland’s entry into the 2024 Academy Awards, The Peasants is a rich embodiment of Polish culture at the time - the music, the dance scenes, the countryside & artistic references.

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• 2017

Live broadcast of the Royal Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. A young girl’s enchanted present leads her on a wonderful Christmas adventure in this classical ballet, danced to Tchaikovsky’s magnificent score.

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