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.

It's 1944 in Vermiglio, a high mountain village of the Italian Alps where war looms as a distant but constant threat. The arrival of Pietro, a refugee soldier, disrupts the dynamics of the local teacher’s family, changing them forever. During the four seasons marking the end of World War II, Pietro and Lucia, the eldest daughter of the teacher, instantly drawn to each other, led to marriage and an unexpected fate. As the world emerges from its tragedy, the family will face its own.

KSc50 launches with the opening of our new Overlook Bar & Lounge and a screening of Chantal Akerman’s opus, also celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year. Tickets are on-sale now to KSc Members and include a complimentary Prosecco on arrival. The event will be attended by industry and local press, and guests will include arts leaders from around Suffolk.

Part of The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025.

Just after the Second World War, the arrival of a city girl (Takamine Hideko) and her friend (Kobayashi Toshiko) attracts curiosity from the residents of a rural mountain village. The girl’s name is Okin, and although she once called this very village home, she now claims to have become an artistic dancer in Tokyo under the stage name of Carmen. The principal of the village school (Ryu Chishu), a self-professed champion of the arts, is overjoyed to learn that his tiny village has produced such an esteemed artist, but when he witnesses Carmen and her friend’s dress sense and behaviour, he and the other villagers are confused and even upset. One day, determined to decorate her hometown with the brocade she prides herself on, Carmen agrees to showcase her dancing skills for the villagers… An iconic light-hearted comedy, Carmen Comes Home remains one of master filmmaker Kinoshita Keisuke’s (The Snow Flurry, JFTFP24) most beloved films, exploring the shifts and disparities in post-war Japanese moral standards. It also bears great historic significance as the first ever Japanese feature film produced in full colour.

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025 

Am I Right? Justice, Justification and Judgement in Japanese Cinema

The UK’s biggest festival of Japanese cinema, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (JFTFP), is back for its latest and greatest instalment! Featuring everything from thought-provoking hidden gems to laugh-a-minute entertainment, UK audiences are invited to join us in questioning the very concepts of justice, justification, and judgement against today’s backdrop of ever-changing values and perspectives.

© 1951/2012 Shochiku Co., Ltd.

Struggling to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen, a newly unemployed and pregnant young woman is taken in by a charismatic elder to help run an underground adoption agency. The two form an unexpected bond, until a sudden discovery changes everything.

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.

This beautifully captured time capsule of 1970s New York City is Akerman’s most elegantly minimalist and profoundly affecting meditation on dislocation and estrangement. Over a series of exactingly composed shots of Manhattan, the filmmaker reads letters sent by her mother years earlier. A tender meditation on urban alienation and personal disconnection.

The Impressionists are the most popular group in art history - millions flock every year to marvel at their masterpieces. But, to begin with, they were scorned, penniless outsiders. 1874 was the year that changed everything; the first Impressionists, “hungry for independence”, broke the mould by holding their own exhibition outside official channels. Impressionism was born and the art world was changed forever. What led to that first groundbreaking show 150 years ago? Who were the maverick personalities that wielded their brushes in such a radical and provocative way? The spectacular Musée d’Orsay exhibition brings fresh eyes to this extraordinary tale of passion and rebellion. The story is told not by historians and curators but in the words of those who witnessed the dawn of Impressionism: the artists, press and people of Paris, 1874. Made in close collaboration with the Musee d’Orsay and National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Part of The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025.

Kawabe Ichiko (Sugisaki Hana) happily accepts when her boyfriend Hasegawa (Wakaba Ryuya) asks her to marry him. But the very next day, she’s vanished without a trace, and Hasegawa contacts the police only to find out that there is no record of Kawabe Ichiko ever existing. Who is Ichiko, and where has she gone? Determined to find her, Hasegawa tracks down people from her past, listening to their stories and piecing together fragments of the woman he knew. Little by little, the truth of Ichiko’s life emerges… and the shocking, heart-wrenching extent of her suffering is brought to light.

Adapted from director Toda Akihiro’s own critically acclaimed stage play, Ichiko is an arresting and powerfully human exploration of many important social issues, including poverty, abuse and the holes in the Japanese family register system.

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025 

Am I Right? Justice, Justification and Judgement in Japanese Cinema

The UK’s biggest festival of Japanese cinema, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (JFTFP), is back for its latest and greatest instalment! Featuring everything from thought-provoking hidden gems to laugh-a-minute entertainment, UK audiences are invited to join us in questioning the very concepts of justice, justification, and judgement against today’s backdrop of ever-changing values and perspectives.

© 2023 "Ichiko" Film Partners.

Seven-time BAFTA Award-winner Steve Coogan plays four roles in the world premiere stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s comedy masterpiece Dr. Strangelove.

This explosively funny satire, about a rogue U.S General who triggers a nuclear attack, is led by a world-renowned creative team including Emmy Award-winner Armando Iannucci and Olivier Award-winner Sean Foley.

When the glittering Las Vegas revue she has headlined for decades announces it will soon close, glamorous showgirl Shelly (Pamela Anderson) must reconcile with the decisions she’s made and the life she has built as she plans her next act whilst also striving to repair the relationship with her daughter (Billie Lourd). With an outstanding ensemble cast that includes Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song and Kiernan Shipka, THE LAST SHOWGIRL is a joyous tribute to a long-gone Las Vegas – and all the women who made it glitter. Directed by Gia Coppola and featuring a Golden Globe-nominated performance from Pamela Anderson, who dazzles in the role of a lifetime, this poignant film of resilience, rhinestones and feathers is simply unmissable.

Based on the Academy Award® nominated film, Billy Elliot the Musical has won the hearts of millions since it opened in London’s West End in 2005. Set in a northern mining town, against the background of the 1984/85 miners’ strike, Billy’s journey takes him out of the boxing ring and into a ballet class where he discovers a passion for dance that inspires his family and whole community and changes his life forever. The original creative team behind the film, including writer Lee Hall (book & lyrics), director Stephen Daldry, and choreographer, Peter Darling, is joined by music legend Elton John (music) to produce a funny, uplifting and spectacular theatrical experience that will stay with you forever.

Includes one interval.

Grace Pudel is a lonely misfit with an affinity for collecting ornamental snails and an intense love for books. At a young age, when Grace is separated from her fire-breathing twin brother Gilbert, she falls into a spiral of anxiety and angst. Despite a continued series of hardships, inspiration and hope emerge when she strikes up an enduring friendship with an elderly eccentric woman named Pinky, who is full of grit and lust for life. From Academy Award-winning® animation writer and director Adam Elliot (Mary and Max), Memoir of a Snail is a poignant, heartfelt, hilarious chronicle of the life of an outsider finding her confidence and silver linings amongst the clutter of everyday life.

Screening in tribute to Gene Hackman, who passed away this year at the age of 95, and won his first Oscar as Best Actor for his role as "Popeye" Doyle. William Friedkin’s gritty 1971 classic is the paradigmatic rip-roaring chase film, complete with New York City street and subway pursuits, drug smugglers, corrupt cops, and one good guy, Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle (Hackman) – based on true-life detective Eddie Egan – who makes his own rules. Realistic, fast-paced and uncommonly smart, THE FRENCH CONNECTION is bolstered by stellar performances by Hackman and Roy Scheider.

Cult hit event Solve-Along-A Murder She Wrote returns to KSc following 2024’s near sell-out show with an interactive screening of a classic Murder, She Wrote episode. Watch as Cabot Cove gets caught up in a murder mystery only JB Fletcher (or you!) can solve!

Solve-Along-A Murder She Wrote is a unique and hilarious night featuring games, prizes and audience participation, with special permission from NBC Universal Television. See the show Time Out rated one of 2019’s 50 Great Nights Out in London that has played to sell-out audiences across the UK and Australia.

Hosted by super-fan Tim Benzie, Solve-Along-A Murder She Wrote features:

* A race to solve the crime, via the Fameometer and the Suspiciometer!

* A Cabot Cove quiz and raffle!

* Clips and biogs of the campy guest stars!

Please Note: This screening may contain sudden loud noises.

Schedule: Episode TBC.

THE CRITICS SPEAK!

“You’ll be swept away with Jessica Fletcher feels … it has the BEST HOST.” - Time Out London

4 stars **** “I’d challenge anyone to sit through this show and not get utterly invested in figuring out whodunit, whilst smiling at the comfort that this 80’s drama brings.” - West End Wilma

“It didn’t take long for Benzie to have the audience in stitches and he had the whole crowd in the palm of his hand the entire evening.” - Bristol 24/7

“A unique and thoroughly enjoyable theatre experience” - Blue Curtains Brisbane

Tim Benzie is obsessed with Murder, She Wrote, having watched the original series when it was first broadcast, and now relishing the repeats on television everywhere. An award-winning playwright and co-writer of the Royal Vauxhall Tavern’s 2017, 2018 and 2019 pantos (‘Goosed’, ‘Rubbed’ and ‘Slipped). He is the co-producer of the camp club night PopHorror.

Returning to the big screen to celebrate its 50th anniversary, Peter Weir’s adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s novel has lost none of its mystique or mesmerising power. On Valentine’s Day 1900, students from Appleyard College, a girls’ private school in Victoria, Australia, embark on a field trip to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite rules against it, several of the girls wander off. It’s not until the end of the day that the group realise that some of their party have mysteriously disappeared. Weir’s wonderfully enigmatic film, with its ethereal cinematography, is possessed of a ghostly, foreboding atmosphere. A significant influence on the work of Sofia Coppola, Picnic at Hanging Rock has become a landmark for its dreamlike exploration of the intensely romantic, yet profoundly unsettling, experience of girlhood and burgeoning sexuality.

After the death of his wife, Kenzaburo and his son Toshi receive an unexpected letter from beyond the grave. Akiko, their wife and mother, asks them to scatter her ashes at the place she loved most as a child – Lake Windermere in England. The two men, along with Toshi’s wife and daughter, travel to England from Tokyo to fulfil her final wish. But the father and son’s fraught relationship threatens to upend their journey.

Cat is a solitary animal, but as its home is devastated by a great flood, he finds refuge on a boat populated by various species, and will have to team up with them despite their differences.

Edward (James McArdle), a talented novelist on the cusp of literary success, is juggling his work with the responsibility of caring for his elderly mother, Alma (Fionnula Flanagan). As the excitement of a US book tour builds, he is suddenly faced with an unexpected twist—his three friends decide to take an impromptu Pride getaway to Spain, leaving their mothers in his care. Over a lively and chaotic weekend, Edward must navigate the balance between his rising career and caring for four eccentric, combative, and wildly different ladies. Winner of the BFI London Film Festival Audience Award, this uplifting comedy-drama follows an unlikely found family on an emotionally charged journey of self-discovery and acceptance.

The local Nursing Home is falling to pieces, but five crazy nuns have taken it upon themselves to do absolutely anything to save it. This includes entering a bicycle race in the hope of winning the prize money. The only drawback: they are terrible cyclists. And to make matters worse, they're not the only ones after the money...

Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern play a pair of lovers on the run in David Lynch's surrealist road movie. Cage's Sailor Ripley is a violent ex-con with an Elvis Presley fixation who falls in love with Dern's Lula Pace Fortune, the daughter of a rich, mentally unstable Southern belle named Marietta (Diane Ladd, Dern's real-life mother). Just after Sailor is released from prison, where he was jailed for brutally killing one of Marietta's thugs, he and Lula take off on a wild cross-country trip, pursued by his parole officer, her mother, criminals, bounty hunters, and detectives.