Top films to be shown at Errol Flynn Filmhouse

The cinema continues to present the best new releases, including the highly acclaimed drama Moonlight, the heart-warming Hidden Figures and the multiple award-winning Fences.

The cinema’s Under the Radar series presents brilliant new independent films from around the world, including the psychological drama The Fits and the shocking biographical movie Christine.

The classic selection includes a one-off screening of the 1961 Oscar-nominated film, The Children’s Hour, starring Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn. Special events include more live and encore screenings of performances from the Metropolitan Opera, National Theatre and Bolshoi Ballet, and the documentary concert film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

One of the highlights of the cinema’s selection of top independent movies is the absorbing drama The Fits, following an eleven-year- old American tomboy who becomes enamoured by the dancing troupe at the gym where she boxes.

The eloquent biographical drama Christine tells the true story of a Florida news reporter Christine Chubbuck (played by Rebecca Hall) who shocked the world by committing suicide during a live broadcast in 1974.

Continuing the Screen Anime season, A Silent Voice is an award-winning Japanese animated drama based on the Manga series of the same name, following a young man who tries to redeem himself when he meets up with the deaf girl he used to bully at school.

With the support of the BFI Film Audience Network, the Errol Flynn Filmhouse is screening three iconic films that depict the Black British youth experience from the ‘80s through to the present day. Franco Rosso’s 1980 drama Babylon was the first major British feature film to take Reggae music as its central theme, following the trials and tribulations of a young car mechanic and aspiring musician in South London, played by Brinsley Forde.

The 1998 musical drama Babymother sees a young single mother trying to balance her personal responsibilities with her budding career as a musician, as she tries to form an all-girl Reggae group. Destiny Ekaragha’s 2013 comedy, Gone Too Far, follows a Peckham teenager who finds his street-cred threatened when his long-lost brother arrives from Nigeria, with questionable fashion sense and a broad accent. Forced to spend the day together, the pair deal with local bullies, girl trouble and their African heritage.

The latest big releases coming up at the Errol Flynn Filmhouse include the highly acclaimed drama Moonlight, which has already scooped the Golden Globe for Best Film (Drama). This stunning film about a young, black gay kid growing up in a poor district of Miami has been a hit on this year’s film festival circuit and is nominated for eight Academy Awards.

Nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture, the moving drama Lion stars Dev Patel in a BAFTA-winning performance, as a young man, adopted by an Australian couple as a small child, who returns to India in search of his long-lost family.

To mark Disability Access Day, the screening of Lion on Sunday 12 March will be subtitled for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, the heart-warming drama Hidden Figures tells the untold true story of a group of black women mathematicians who played a vital role for NASA in the 1960s.

Danny Boyle’s long-awaited sequel, T2: Trainspotting, reunites the original cast of Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller and Ewen Bremner in a continuation of the Trainspotting saga.

Directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham), the historical drama Viceroy’s House follows the true story of the final months of British rule in India in 1947. Hugh Bonneville plays Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy charged with handing India back to its people, in a cast that also includes Gillian Anderson, Michael Gambon, Simon Callow and Om Puri.

Having won Tony Awards for their performances in the 2010 Broadway revival of August Wilson’s play Fences, Denzel Washington and Viola Davis reprise their roles in the film adaptation of this drama about a working class African-American father trying to raise his family in the 1950s.

It has been nominated for four Academy Awards, with Davis winning Best Supporting Actress at both the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs. Set in the summer of 1979, 20th Century Women stars Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning as three women, each from a different era of the century, coming together to help teach a teenage boy about life and love.

As ever, the Errol Flynn Filmhouse will be bringing back some of the most popular films from recent months, including further chances to see the romantic musical La La Land, which has won seven Golden Globe Awards and six BAFTAs. March also sees the return of the searing biopic Jackie about the aftermath of the assassination of John F Kennedy.

The thrilling drama Sully about the airline pilot who successfully crash-landed on the Hudson River, and the affecting movie Manchester by the Sea which has already won Casey Affleck the Best Actor BAFTA.

The next Dementia-Friendly screening at the Errol Flynn Filmhouse will be the well-loved 1964 musical Mary Poppins, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. These screenings are open to all, but the cinema extends an especially warm welcome to those living with dementia, their carers and their families.

Other classics include The University of Northampton’s Cult Film Club screening of the 1999 sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest, following the cast of a cult ‘70s TV space series who have to save the universe when an alien race needs their help. The cast includes Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman.

This month’s Q-Film screening is William Wyler’s 1961 Oscar-nominated film, The Children’s Hour, starring Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn. This adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s classic playfollows the devastating consequences of a lie told by a spiteful child in an exclusive girls’ school.

A highlight of the Event Cinema programme for March is the documentary and concert film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, capturing David Bowie and his band performing at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973. This exclusive screening on Tuesday 7 March includes a new film featuring Editor-in- Chief of MOJO Phil Alexander in conversation with drummer Woody Woodmansey.

Exhibition on Screen also presents An Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism, based on the hugely popular exhibition from the Florence Griswold Museum in Connecticut, widely considered a home of American impressionism.

As part of the popular programme of live broadcasts, Met Opera Live presents La Traviata, screened live from New York, with Sonya Yoncheva playing one of opera’s most tragic heroines, Violetta.

NT Live presents Tony Award-winning director Ivo van Hove’s modern production of Ibsen’s masterpiece Hedda Gabler. The live screening is already sold out but an encore screening is now scheduled for 1 April.

Bolshoi Live presents A Contemporary Evening, bringing together some of the best dancers in the world with the masters of contemporary choreography. Broadcast live from Moscow, the performance features music by Benjamin Britten, Max Richter, Beethoven and Leonid Desyatnikov.

All tickets can be booked in advance by calling the box office on 01604 624811 or online at www.errolflynnfilmhouse.com.