New ticket prices and categories, and Watch at Home titles from Finland and Italy View in browser
The David Lean Cinema The official home of the cinema in the Croydon Clocktower. We are a non-profit, Community Interest Company presenting regular film screenings.

More news about the cinema reopening – some important information here, so please read this carefully. We also have two more titles to Watch at Home virtually.

For the best viewing experience, try connecting your computer or mobile device to your television. Go here for full details of how to do this.

MORE REOPENING NEWS

As promised, more on our reopening plans. Firstly, I can confirm that the screenings of Summer of Soul on Tuesday 2 November at 2.30pm and The French Dispatch on Thursday 9 December at 2.30pm will be subtitled for those with hearing loss. Our two foreign language films, Another Round and Never Gonna Snow Again, have English subtitles, and Sound of Metal also has subtitles throughout, as it is about deafness, and has sequences where American Sign Language is used by the characters.

We have changed the ticket prices and policy – standard tickets are £8.50, those aged 65 and over pay £7.50, but concessions – at £5 – are for those in receipt of Pension Credit, Universal Credit, Income Support or Job Seekers allowance, students, those under 25 and people with disabilities. For the moment, you can only book tickets online via our website or via the TicketSource booking line 0333 666 3366, which is available 09.00-17.00 Monday to Saturday. There is a £1.80 charge for any number of tickets. We cannot currently provide personal or cash bookings at the cinema. Tickets will go on sale online on Thursday 14 October at 9am.

Obviously, things will be a little different due to the continuing presence of the Covid virus. So here are some guidance points to take into account when booking tickets and attending the cinema:

  • Some films will be socially distanced, and some will not.  Please check carefully when booking to be sure you book the films – and status – you want!
  • Cinema entrance will be via the main library entrance as before, but please arrive between half an hour and 5 mins before the film start time – no earlier or later.
  • You are welcome to bring in drinks and snacks from outside.
  • Please follow social distancing guidelines – we strongly recommended you wear masks for the protection of yourself and your fellow patrons.
  • For these first screenings there will be no Arts Bar, and no Box Office (though we hope they will recommence soon) – and the stewards will not be able to sell tickets. So you must buy tickets before you come to the cinema. TicketSource will continue to sell tickets until 5 mins before the film starts – either on line or by phone.
  • There will be no cloakroom, so you will have to place your  belongings on your lap or  underneath your seat – you may want to bring a bag for them.
  • Please try to avoid leaving the cinema during the screening, if this will mean moving past other seated customers, as we may have to evacuate the row. This also means we will not be able to seat latecomers after the trailers start.
  • At the end of the film, please remain seated until the film credits have finished and the lights have gone up, and then leave row by row, rather than move past other patrons.

If you have any questions about any aspects of our reopening, do contact us via the Contact Form. We hope you will enjoy your return to the David Lean Cinema.

GAMES PEOPLE PLAY (15) £7.49

2020 Finland 117 MINS
DIRECTOR: Jenni Toivoniemi
STARS: Eero Milonoff, Emmi Parviainen, Laura Birn

A group of thirty-somethings, who have known each other since they were adolescents, meet every year for a summer weekend on an island. During the long hot days, they try to relax and let their hair down, but past tensions soon rise to the surface, and the adults revert to acting like the teenagers thet were when they first met. 

Writer/director Jenni Toivoniemi has created "a raw and honest film that fills you with laughter, discomfort and anguish all at once – particularly if you’ve ever felt the bitter sting of unrequited love, or tried to maintain a friendship with someone who’s broken your heart. Yet even when you want to look away, you can’t help but keep your eyes glued to the screen just to see what mess the next character will get themselves into" (Westender). In this interview, Toivoniemi talks about how long-lasting group friendships manage to ensure despite their members' changing attitudes, as well as her path to becoming a director and why we are still talking about female directors as something unusual.

The David Lean Cinema receives a proportion of the ticket price.

Book GAMES PEOPLE PLAY here
NEVIA (15) £7.49

2019 Italy 86 MINS
DIRECTOR: Nunzia De Stefano
STARS:
Virginia Apicella, Pietra Montecorvino, Rosy Franzese

This is director Nunzia De Stefano's first feature – she had previously worked with Italian director Matteo Garrone (Tale of Tales (2015), Dogman (2018)), who acted as her producer on Nevia – and is partly based on her own experiences of living in a container park outside Naples, where her family were forced to live while awaiting rehousing after 1980's violent earthquake. The title character, played by acrobat-turned-actor Virginia Apicella, is a 17-year old living with her grandmother and little sister, scabbling to make ends meet while attempting to escape the attentions of predatory males. Then a travelling circus arrives, and takes Nevia under its wing... 

Nevia is "striking for the quiet tenacity of the lead character, who is the camera’s constant focus as she moves around in surroundings which, whilst dilapidated, are also full of dignity " (Cineuropa). Director and star took part in a Q&A after the film's screening at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2019, where both revealed their assocaition with the circus life.

The David Lean Cinema receives a proportion of the ticket price.

Book NEVIA here

If you no longer wish to receive emails from us, please use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email you receive on Sunday.

Facebook Twitter Instagram
The David Lean Cinema
Katharine St, Croydon, CR9 1ET