Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan's (Timothée Chalamet) meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Eriko Hatsune, Edward Norton, Joe Tippett

Director(s): James Mangold

Runtime:141 mins

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Award winning, top animation comes to Hitchin Film.

An inventive, dialogue-free animated adventure innovatively produced by state-of-the-art gaming technology. A cat, a capybara, some dogs and other animals find themselves caught in the middle of a natural disaster and have no choice but to band together. They work together against staggering obstacles in the hope of survival. This low budget, animated tour-de-force has already attracted major international awards.

Produced by a small team, the powerful narrative carries an all-too-timely environmental warning. Building on the promise of his impressive feature debut Away, Zilbalodis cements his position as a visionary director with this captivating, dialogue-free escapade, whose ambition and scope is nothing short of breathtaking

Director: Gints Zilbalodis

Runtime: 84 mins

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a new play by Suzie Miller

Oscar-nominated Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, Saltburn) is Jessica in the much-anticipated next play from the team behind Prima Facie.

Jessica Parks is a smart Crown Court Judge at the top of her career. Behind the robe, she is a karaoke fiend, a loving wife and a supportive parent. When an event threatens to throw her life completely off balance, can she hold her family upright?

Writer Suzie Miller and director Justin Martin reunite following their global phenomenon Prima Facie, with this searing examination of modern motherhood and masculinity.

When acclaimed orchestra conductor Thibaut (Lavernhe) is diagnosed with leukemia, a DNA test to find a bone marrow donor reveals that he is adopted. Thibaut meets his biological brother Jimmy (Lottin), a cook in a school canteen who plays trombone of a local marching band in Lille. When the band loses its conductor, Thibaut steps in as replacement, and the brothers learn more about the circumstances that shaped each other's lives.

The Marching Band is a 2024 French drama film directed by Emmanuel Courcol from a screenplay by Courcol, Irène Muscari, Oriane Bonduel and Marianne Tomersy.

The film stars Benjamin Lavernhe and Pierre Lottin as long-lost brothers.

Cast: Jacques Bonnaffe, Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Lottin, Sarah Suco

Director(s): Emmanuel Courcol

Runtime: 103 mins.  

French with sub-titles

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Legendary filmmaker Mike Leigh returns to the contemporary world with a fierce, compassionate, and often darkly humorous study of family and the thorny ties that bind us.

Reunited with Leigh for the first time since multiple Oscar-nominated Secrets and Lies, the astonishing Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman wracked by fear, tormented by afflictions, and prone to raging tirades against her husband, son, and anyone who looks her way. Meanwhile, her easygoing younger sister, played by Michele Austin (Another Year), is a single mother with a life as different from Pansy’s as their clashing temperaments - brimming with communal warmth from her salon clients and daughters alike.

This expansive film from a master dramatist takes us into the intensities of kinship, duty, and the most enduring of human mysteries: that even through lifetimes of hurt and hardship, we still find ways to love those we call family.

Cast: Michele Austin, Tuwaine Barrett, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, David Webber

Director(s): Mike Leigh

Runtime: 97 mins

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by Bernard Shaw

directed by Dominic Cooke

Five-time Olivier Award winner Imelda Staunton (The Crown) joins forces with her real-life daughter Bessie Carter (Bridgerton) for the very first time, playing mother and daughter in Bernard Shaw’s incendiary moral classic.

Vivie Warren is a woman ahead of her time. Her mother, however, is a product of that old patriarchal order. Exploiting it has earned Mrs. Warren a fortune – but at what cost?

Filmed live from the West End, this new production reunites Staunton with director Dominic Cooke (Follies, Good), exploring the clash between morality and independence, traditions and progress.

BRAZIL, 1971. Brazil faces the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. Eunice Paiva, a mother of five children, is forced to reinvent herself after her family suffers a violent and arbitrary act by the government.

I'm Still Here is based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva's biographical book and tells the true story that helped reconstruct an important part of Brazil’s hidden history.

Nominated for 3 Academy Awards®,  Best Picture, Best Actress – Fernanda Torres, Best International Feature Film.

Starring: Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello, Fernanda Montenegro

Director: Walter Salles

Runtime: 138 mins.

Portuguese with sub-titles

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The Ballad of Wallis Island follows Charles (Tim Key), an eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island and dreams of getting his favorite musicians, Mortimer-McGwyer (Carey Mulligan and Tom Basden) back together.

His fantasy quickly turns into reality when the bandmates and former lovers accept his invitation to play a private show at his home on Wallis Island.

Old tensions resurface as Charles tries desperately to salvage his dream gig.

Cast: Tom Basden, Sian Clifford, Tim Key, Carey Mulligan

Director(s): James Griffiths

Runtime: 99 mins

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by David Ireland

directed by Finn den Hertog

Olivier Award-winner Jack Lowden (Slow Horses, Dunkirk) is joined by Emmy and BAFTA-winner Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, The Responder) in the critically acclaimed and subversively funny new play by David Ireland.

After years in the 12-step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous, James becomes a sponsor to newcomer Luka. The pair bond over black coffee, trade stories and build a fragile friendship out of their shared experiences. But as Luka approaches step five – the moment of confession – dangerous truths emerge, threatening the trust on which both of their recoveries depend.

Finn den Hertog directs the provocative and entertaining production filmed live from @sohoplace on London’s West End.

Dircted by Claire Adams & Claudia O'Connell
Book by Debbie Isitt

Music by Debbie Isitt and Nicky Ager

Christmas chaos? Check.

Singing children? Check.

A donkey in a tutu? Absolutely! (well, maybe not!)

Get ready for glitter, giggles and goodwill in Nativity! The Musical - a festive treat for the whole family!

Based on the smash-hit film, it’s the story of a down-on-his-luck teacher, a class full of dreamers, and a Nativity play that just might become a star-studded sensation. Whether you’re 4 or 94, this is one Christmas production you don’t want to miss!

With songs like Nazareth, Sparkle and Shine, and One Night One Moment, this joyful celebration of childhood dreams, festive spirit, and a bit of organised chaos is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Lights, camera… Christmas!

by William Shakespeare

directed by Robert Hastie

Olivier Award-winner Hiran Abeysekera (Life of Pi) is Hamlet in this fearless, contemporary take on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.

Trapped between duty and doubt, surrounded by power and privilege, young Prince Hamlet dares to ask the ultimate question – you know the one.

National Theatre Deputy Artistic Director, Robert Hastie (Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Operation Mincemeat) directs this sharp, stylish and darkly funny reimagining.