Film Under the Stars 2019

When a twenty-nine year-old art history graduate finds herself living on her parents’ sofa, penniless, jobless and without friends, she comes to the realisation that growing up is harder than she had expected.

On 5th July 1984, Diego Maradona arrived in Naples for a world-record fee. On the pitch, Maradona was a genius. Off the pitch, he was treated like a God. The charismatic Argentine led Napoli to their first-ever title. It was the stuff of dreams. But there was a price…

Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), a bouncer from an Italian-American neighbourhood in the Bronx, is hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a world-class Black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South. Confronted with racism, danger as well as unexpected humanity and humour, they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime. Academy Awards for Best Motion Picture, Supporting Actor and Original Screenplay.

Halla is a fifty-year-old independent woman. But behind the scenes of her quiet routine, she leads a double life as a passionate environmental activist, secretly waging a one-woman war on the local aluminium industry. She is prepared to risk everything to protect her beloved Icelandic Highlands.

After marrying a successful Parisian writer, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette is transplanted from her rural childhood home to the intellectual and artistic splendour of Paris. Prompted by husband Willy, she pens a loosely autobiographical novel about a brazen country girl named Claudine. The publication sparked a cultural sensation, and triggered Colette’s battle against societal constraints.

An epic musical fantasy about the incredible story of Elton John’s breakthrough years. The film follows the fantastical journey of transformation from shy piano prodigy Reginald Dwight into an international superstar. Set to Elton John’s most beloved songs and performed by Taron Egerton, Rocketman tells the universally relatable story of how a small-town boy became one of the most iconic figures in pop culture.

A renowned filmmaker in physical decline (Antonio Banderas) experiences a series of re-encounters, some in the flesh, others remembered. His childhood in Valencia, his first adult love, the pain of the breakup, and his discovery of cinema.

The legendary Greek-American opera singer believed that two different women lived inside her: Callas, the public figure and icon, and Maria, the woman who longed for a normal life. Through performances, TV interviews, home movies, family photographs, private letters and unpublished memoirs – nearly all of which have never been shown to the public – the film weaves an intimate and loving portrait of one of history’s most extraordinarily talented women, told completely in her own words.

In the sleepy small town of Centerville, something is not quite right. The moon hangs large and low in the sky, the hours of daylight are becoming unpredictable and the animals are exhibiting unusual behaviour: no one quite knows why…

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga fuse their considerable talents to depict the raw and passionate tale of two artistic souls coming together, on stage and in life, in this new take on the iconic love story.

Laurel and Hardy set out on a variety hall tour of Britain in 1953. Diminished by age, their golden era as the kings of comedy behind them, and aware that they may be approaching their swan song, they rediscover just how much they mean to each other. A portrait of the most tender and poignant of creative marriages.

On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty and a penchant for petty theft. When their young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love and not blood that defines a family. Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes.

From the filmmaking team behind highly acclaimed documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years comes this stunningly intimate portrait of one of the most beloved opera singers of all time: Luciano Pavarotti. Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard puts the audience front row and centre for an exploration of the legendary tenor, combining Pavarotti’s history-making performances with intimate interviews and never-before-seen footage.

Laura and her children travel from Buenos Aires to the quaint Spanish village where she was born to attend her sister’s wedding. But unexpected events lead this gathering towards a crisis which exposes the family’s hidden past. 

Early 18th century. England is at war with France, yet duck racing and pineapple gorging are thriving. A frail Queen Anne occupies the throne, while her close friend Lady Sarah governs the country and tends to Anne’s mercurial temper. When new servant Abigail arrives, her burgeoning friendship with the queen gives her a chance to fulfil her ambitions and she will not let woman, man, politics or rabbit stand in her way.

An unflinching portrait of the free solo climber Alex Honnold as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the 3,000ft El Capitan in Yosemite National Park … without a rope. Free Solo is both an edge-of-your seat thriller and an inspiring portrait of an athlete who has exceeded our current understanding of human physical and mental potential. Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Featuring Robert Redford’s final performance, The Old Man & the Gun tells the story of charismatic bank robber Forrest Tucker. From his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public. Wrapped up in the pursuit are detective John Hunt, who becomes captivated with Forrest’s commitment to his craft, and a woman who loves him in spite of his profession. 

Based on the novel by James Baldwin and directed by Academy Award winner Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), this is the story of Tish, a newly engaged Harlem woman who races against the clock to prove her lover’s innocence while carrying their first child to term.

Fiona Maye is an eminent High Court judge in London presiding with wisdom and compassion over ethically complex cases of family law. But her marriage is at breaking point, and in this moment of personal crisis, she is asked to rule on the case of Adam, who is refusing the blood transfusion which will save his life. Three months from his 18th birthday, Adam is legally still a child. Should Fiona force him to live?

It is 1961. A young man in a black beret is travelling west, leaving the Soviet Union for the first time. From Rudolf Nureyev’s poverty-stricken childhood and his blossoming as a student dancer in Leningrad, to his arrival in Paris in the early 1960s and a nail-biting stand-off at the Le Bourget airport, The White Crow is the true story of an incredible journey by an artist who transformed the world of ballet forever.

Bohemian Rhapsody is an enthralling celebration of Queen, their music, and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury, who defied stereotypes and convention to become one of history’s most beloved entertainers.

A passionate love story between a man and a woman who meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatally mismatched and yet fatefully condemned to each other.

In the early 1970s, as the struggle for civil rights rages on, Ron Stallworth becomes the first African-American detective on the Colorado Springs Police Department. Resolved to make a difference in his community, he sets out on a dangerous mission to infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan.

Jack Malik is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading. But after a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed. Yesterday, everyone knew them. Today, only Jack remembers their songs.