Author: David Lavelli
Dementia Friendly Screenings
Due to the coronavirus situation, the David Lean Cinema has ceased screening films for the foreseeable future. This includes the Dementia Friendly screenings.
The David Lean Cinema, in partnership with the Croydon Dementia Action Alliance, are organising another series of popular films for 2020.
These Dementia Friendly screenings aim to make cinema more accessible by providing a fun and inclusive experience to enable people living with dementia, their families and carers to attend the cinema in a safe and welcoming environment. The lights are left on low, there are no adverts or trailers and the audience is allowed to move around or even sing along to any musical numbers if they’d like to.
Admission is £1 on the door for people with dementia (their carers get free entry). Free tea, coffee and biscuits will be available before the screening, from 10.15am (except The Wizard of Oz, where refreshments will be served after the film).
The dates and titles of the films are listed below, along with reservation links. All the performances will start at 11am, except The Wizard of Oz, which will start at 2pm. Admission is £1 for people with dementia (their carers get free entry). You can reserve places in advance or pay on the door.
If you would like more information about these screenings, please use our online contact form, with Dementia Friendly Screenings in the Subject field. There are a limited number of wheelchair places.If you would like one of these, please let us know using the online contact form, with Dementia Friendly Screenings Wheelchair Request in the Subject field.
Tuesday 5 May 2020
FUNNY FACE (1957), starring Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn
Top fashion photographer Dick Avery (Astaire) discovers shy shop assistant Jo Stockton (Hepburn) in a Greenwich Village book store, and tries to turn her into a top model.
FUNNY FACE screening cancelled.
Tuesday 19 May 2020
SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959), starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon
When two male musicians (Curtis and Lemmon) witness a mob hit, they escape disguised as women, and join an all-female band featuring singer Sugar Kane (Monroe) on the way to a Miami hotel. Unfortunately the gangsters they are fleeing are heading to the same place.
SOME LIKE IT HOT screening cancelled.
Tuesday 2 June 2020
PARINEETA (2005), starring Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt
In this Bollywood musical the lifelong romance between Lolita (Balan) and Shekar (Khan) is upset by the arrival of another man.
PARINEETA screening cancelled.
Tuesday 7 July 2020
WONDERFUL LIFE (1964), starring Cliff Richard and The Shadows
A singer and his musicians find themselves high and dry in the Canary Islands, where they get involved with a film crew shooting an epic. Could it be improved with a few musical numbers… ?
WONDERFUL LIFE screening cancelled.
Tuesday 1 September 2020
PILLOW TALK (1959), starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson
Doris Day plays Jan Morrow, a single woman and independent interior decorator. Due to the demand for phone lines in the area, she is forced to share a party line with Brad Allen, who lives in an apartment nearby. The two spar on the phone, but it is only some time later that Brad learns who Jan is, and masquerades as a handsome Texan rancher – except to toy with Jan, this smooth talking Southerner is… just a touch too fruity to be true.
PILLOW TALK screening cancelled.
Tuesday 6 October 2020
STORMY WEATHER (1943), starring Lena Horne
This musical romance features a host of African-American performers – Lena Horne, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Dooley Wilson and the Nicholas Brothers.
STORMY WEATHER screening cancelled.
Tuesday 3 November 2020
BLUE HAWAII (1961), starring Elvis Presley
Returning to Hawaii after leaving the Army, Chad Gates (Presley) defies his parents’ wishes to join the family business and instead goes to work as a tour guide at his girlfriend’s agency.
BLUE HAWAII screening cancelled.
Saturday 12 December 2020 at 2pm
THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939), starring Judy Garland
In this classic Hollywood fantasy, Dorothy is transported by a tornado from Kansas to the magical world of Oz, where she joins a trio of friends on a quest to find the magical Wizard who they hope will solve their problems.
THE WIZARD OF OZ screening cancelled.
BRIT School Showcase films shown with David Lean Cinema features
FILAM INDIA – Celebrating the diversity of Indian filmmaking
India has one of the world’s richest and most prolific film industries in the world.
To mark the 70th anniversary of Indian independence, Apsara Arts are delighted to present their ‘Filam India’ programme to celebrate some rarely seen true classics of Indian cinema.
Tickets £7 (Concessions £6) + 50p online booking fees.
Bookings can be made at Apsaraarts.ticketsource.co.uk (Ticket sales close a day before the screening). Tickets can also be purchased on the day at the Clocktower Box office in the Arts Bar, adjacent to the cinema. This opens 30 minutes before every film. Cash only. Tickets are NOT available via the David Lean Cinema boxoffice.
Enquiries: info@apsaraarts.co.uk
07751 622 907
www.apsaraarts.co.uk
Wed 11 October at 7pm
Gulabi Gang (12A)
2012, India, 96 minutes. Hindi with EST
Director: Nishtha Jain
A documentary about Sampat Pal Devi and the fiery women of her Gulabi (Pink) Gang, who empower themselves and take up the fight against gender violence, caste oppression and widespread corruption. They want to change the unchangeable with an organised social action and unification.
Fri 13 October at 7.30pm
Jalsaghar (The Music Room) (U)
1958, India, 95 mins. Bengali with EST
Director: Satyajit Ray
Stars: Chhabi Biswas, Padma Devi, Pinaki Sen Gupta, Gangapada Bose, Tulsi Lahari
Jalsaghar organically integrates song and dance into an arthouse film. The story centres on the decline of an aristocrat and patron of classical music who refuses to be trumped by his younger neighbour. The film features music composed by Ustad Vilayat Khan and sung by the legendary Begum Akhtar, with Roshan Kumari’s kathak dance.
Wed 25 October at 7.30pm
Court (PG)
2014, India, 116 mins. English, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi with partial EST
Director: Chaitanya Tamhane
Stars: Vira Sathidar, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni
Court is a quietly devastating, absurdist portrait of injustice, caste prejudice, and venal politics in contemporary India. Taking a pointed look at the contradictions of the Indian legal system, the story unfolds about Mumbai’s invisible underclass in which an aging folk singer emerges as an unlikely source of socio-political resistance. Court was met with universal critical acclaim on the film festival circuit and is one of the best films to emerge from the recent wave of independent Indian films.
Fri 27 October at 7.30pm
Hotel Salvation (Mukti Bhava) (12A)
2016, India, 99min. Hindi with EST
Director: Shubhashish Bhutiani
Stars: Adil Hussain, Lalit Behl, Geetanjali Kulkarni
Hotel Salvation is a warm tale of life and relationships, embedded in Indian culture and Hindu rituals. Faced with his father’s untimely & bizarre demand to go and die in the holy city of Varanasi and attain salvation, a son is left with no choice but to embark on this journey. The simple pleasures of this timeless city are explored as father and son belatedly come to know each other in the enforced intimacy of their cramped hotel room and the teaming streets. This gentle and tender multi award-winning film will make you laugh and cry.
Sat 4 November at 5.30pm
Pyaasa (U)
1957, India, 146 minutes. Hindi with EST
Director: Guru Dutt
Stars: Guru Dutt, Mala Sinha, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman
The film will be introduced by award winning filmmaker Ahmed Jamal
An immortal classic, Guru Dutt’s soulful, romantic masterpiece Pyaasa is frequently listed as one of the greatest films of all time. Translating as ‘The Thirsty One’, Pyaasa, set in post-independence Kolkata, the film tells the story of Vijay, a struggling poet trying to make his works known in post-independence India, and Gulabo, a prostitute with a heart of gold who eventually helps him get his poems published. Dutt’s stark black and white cinematography powerfully evokes the antagonistic forces at work in this classic romantic melodrama.
Mon 13 November at 7.30pm (replaces cancelled previous screening)
Mahanagar (The Big City) (PG)
1964, India, 131 minutes. Bengali with EST
Director: Satyajit Ray
Stars: Madhabi Mukherjee, Anil Chatterjee, Haradhan Bannerjee, Jaya Bhaduri
Mahanagar documents with brilliant sensitivity a changing Calcutta of the mid-1950s. The screenplay delves into the agony and ecstasy, the turbulence and excitement of shifting social mores seen through a lower middle class Bengali family when a housewife gets a job as a saleswoman. It is a profound sociological study into men and women’s relationship, a portrayal of the world of work from the point of view of women, and an analysis of the clash of modernism and traditions in a middle-class urban family.
Fri 17 November at 7pm
Sholay (PG)
1975, India, 162 minutes. Hindi with EST
Director: Ramesh Sippy
Stars: Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Amjad Khan
Dubbed The Godfather of Bollywood films, Sholay was ranked first in the “Top 10 Indian Films” of all time by the British Film Institute 2002 poll. The film drew heavily from the conventions of Westerns, and is a defining example of the masala film, which mixes several genres in one work. A retired police chief enlists the help of two criminals, to bring down a notorious bandit who murdered his family and terrorised the region. Opening with one of the most memorable action sequences in film history, it’s clear to see why this breathless action-adventure has left an impact on Indian cinema like no other.
Sat 25 November at 6pm
Kapoor & Sons (12A)
2016, India, 140 minutes. Hindi with EST
Director: Shakun Batra
Stars: Rishi Kapoor, Fawad Khan, Ratna Pathak, Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt
Two brothers visit their dysfunctional family and discover that their parent’s marriage is on the verge of collapse, the family is undergoing financial crunch, and much more, as the drama unfolds.
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Coming Soon
Our planned screenings for April are below. Tickets on sale from Thursday 05 March at 9am:
The April programme features a look back in history and the world from a different perspective.
* HOH = Hard of Hearing. These films are shown with subtitles to assist those with hearing loss.
Wed 1st Apr, 2.30 & 7.30pm – PARASITE (15) – Members of a poor household scheme to be employed by a wealthy family, posing as unrelated, highly qualified individuals.
Thurs 2nd Apr, 2.30pm & 7.30pm and Tues 14th Apr, 11am (Babes in Arms screening) – EMMA (U) – The Jane Austen classic comes to the screen as the clever and rich Emma Woodhouse must adventure through misguided matches and romantic missteps to find the love that has been there all along.
Tues 7th Apr, 7.30pm – WAVES (15) – Following the epic journey of a suburban African-American family, navigating love, forgiveness, and coming together in the aftermath of a loss.
Thurs 9th Apr, 2.30pm & 7.30pm – PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (15) – Set in France in the late 18th century, the story of a forbidden affair between an aristocrat and a painter commissioned to paint her portrait.
Tues 14th Apr, 7.30pm – THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE (15) – Toby, a disillusioned film director, is pulled into a world of time-jumping fantasy when a Spanish cobbler believes him to be Sancho Panza. Directed by Terry Gilliam
Thurs 16th Apr, 2.30pm & 7.30pm – DARK WATERS (12A) – Based on a true story, a lawyer pursues a case against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution.
Tues 21st Apr, 7.30pm – THE LIGHTHOUSE (15) – Two lighthouse keepers start to lose their sanity when a storm strands them on the remote island where they are stationed.
Thurs 23rd Apr, 2.30pm (HOH) & 7.30pm – MILITARY WIVES (12A) – With their partners away serving in Afghanistan, a group of women on the home front form a choir, finding themselves a media sensation and global movement.
Tues 28th Apr, 7.30pm – LITTLE JOE (12A) – Single mother Alice is engaged in developing new species. Against company policy, she takes one home as a gift for her teenage son, Joe, with strange results.
Thurs 30th Apr, 2.30pm (HOH) & 7.30pm – MISBEHAVIOUR (12A) – A group of women hatch a plan to disrupt the 1970 Miss World beauty competition in London.
Our planned screenings for March are below. Tickets on sale from Thursday 6 February at 9am:
The March programme brings award nominees and classic adaptations.
* HOH = Hard of Hearing. These films are shown with subtitles to assist those with hearing loss.
Tue 3 Mar at 7.30pm – BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHE (12A) – Documentary about the woman believed to be the first female film director, forgotten by history.
Thu 5 Mar at 2.30pm and 7.30pm & Tue 10 Mar at 11am Babes in Arms screening – THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD (PG) – Armando Iannucci writes and directs Charles Dickens’ tale of the title character, moving from his youth into adulthood.
Tue 10 Mar at 7.30pm – UNCUT GEMS (15) – Adam Sandler plays a New York jeweller living on the edge as he makes a series of high-stakes gambles searching for the ultimate win.
Thu 12 Mar at 2.30pm and 7.30pm – HONEY BOY (15) – Shia LaBeouf wrote the script and plays his own father in a barely fictionalised account of his troubled childhood, rise to stardom and descent into addiction and rehab.
Tue 17 Mar at 7.30pm – WEATHERING WITH YOU (12A) – Japanese anime, the highest grossing film in Japan in 2019. A high school student runs away to Tokyo, where he falls for a girl who seems to be able to control the weather.
Thu 19 Mar at 2.30pm (HOH) and 7.30pm – BOMBSHELL (15) – Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie star as a group of women who take on the toxic boss of Fox News.
Sat 21 Mar at 1.30pm – A HIDDEN LIFE (12A) – A story of Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II..
Tue 24 Mar at 7.30pm – QUEEN & SLIM (15) – Queen and Slim’s first date doesn’t go well, but things go badly wrong when they are pulled over by a police officer.
Thu 26 Mar at 2.30pm (HOH) and 7.30pm – A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD (PG) – Tom Hanks plays children’s TV entertainer Fred Rogers, who is interviewed by a sceptical magazine journalist, who has troubles of his own.
Tue 31 Mar at 2.30pm and 7.30pm – PARASITE (15) – (Korean with English subtitles) – Award-winning dark comedy about the poor Kim family who integrate themselves into the much richer Park family home.
Thu 2 Apr at 2.30pm and 7.30pm – EMMA (PG) – Jane Austen’s meddlesome matchmaker is brought to the screen by Anya Taylor-Joy, Josh O’Connor, Bill Nighy and Miranda Hart.
Our planned screenings for February are below. Tickets on sale from Thursday 9 January at 9am:
The February programme sees marriages tested and classic stories reimagined.
* HOH = Hard of Hearing. These films are shown with subtitles to assist those with hearing loss.
Tue 4 Feb at 7.30pm – HARRIET (12A) – The story of Harriet Tubman, who escaped her own enslavement as well as helping other slaves and changing the course of history.
Thu 6 Feb at 2.30 & 7.30pm – ORDINARY LOVE (12A) – Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville star as middle-aged couple, Joan and Tom. They find their love and devotion tested when Joan is diagnosed with breast cancer.
Tue 11 Feb at 11am Babes in Arms screening Thursday 13 Feb at 2.30pm (HOH) and 7.30pm – LITTLE WOMEN (U) – Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel is brought to the big screen, as four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Tue 11 Feb at 7.30pm – MARRIAGE STORY (15) – Oscar nominated filmmaker Noah Baumbach portrays a marriage breaking up but a family staying together, with an all-star cast, including Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, and Ray Liotta.
Tue 18 Feb at 7.30pm – JOJO RABBIT (12A) – Satirical black comedy. A Hitler Youth member finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. He must then question his beliefs, while dealing with the intervention of his imaginary friend, an idiotic version of Adolf Hitler.
Thu 20 Feb at 2.30pm and 7.30pm – CATS (U) – Tom Hooper directs, as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical is remade for film. James Corden, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson and Ian McKellen play a tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer.
Sat 22 Feb at 1.30pm – SO LONG, MY SON (12A) – (Mandarin with English subtitles) – Two married couples adjust to the vast social and economic changes taking place in China from the 1980s to the present.
Tue 25 Feb at 7.30pm – BLUE STORY (15) – Shy Timmy from Deptford and charismatic Marco from Peckham become firm friends but find themselves on rival sides in a gang war in which there are no winners, only victims.
Thu 27 Feb at 2.30pm (HOH) and 7.30pm – 1917 (15) – Two young British privates in World War One are given an impossible mission: deliver a message deep in enemy territory that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.
Thu 5 Mar at 2.30pm and 7.30pm – THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD (PG) – Armando Iannucci writes and directs Charles Dickens’ tale of the title character, moving from his youth into adulthood.
Our planned screenings for January are below. Tickets on sale from Thursday 5 December at 9am:
The January programme sees sees world cinema and a trip back in time.
* HOH = Hard of Hearing. These films are shown with subtitles to assist those with hearing loss.
Thu 2 Jan at 2.30pm (HOH) and 7.30pm – THE GOOD LIAR (15) – Conman Roy Courtnay targets his latest mark: the recently widowed and rich Betty McLeish. What should have been a simple swindle, though, leads to a cat-and-mouse game.
Tue 7 Jan at 7.30pm – SORRY WE MISSED YOU (15) – Ken Loach directs the story of Ricky and his family, struggling on zero hour contracts. The family unit is strong but money brings them to breaking point.
Thu 9 Jan at 2.30 & 7.30pm – THE REPORT (15) – FBI agent Daniel Jones performs an exhaustive investigation into the CIA’s use of torture on suspected terrorists.
Tue 14 Jan at 11am – Babes in Arms screening plus Thu 16 Jan at 2.30 (HOH) & 7.30pm – THE AERONAUTS (PG) – The story of scientist James Glaisher and wealthy young widow Amelia Wren, mounting a balloon expedition to fly higher than anyone in history.
Tue 14 Jan at 7.30pm – JUDY AND PUNCH (15) – Australian drama, revising the backstory for the Punch and Judy puppet show, set in the 17th century.
Sat 18 Jan at 1.30pm – THE IRISHMAN (15) – In the 1950s, truck driver Frank Sheeran gets involved with a Pennsylvania crime family. As he becomes a top hit man, he works for Jimmy Hoffa – a powerful Teamster tied to organized crime.
Tue 21 Jan at 7.30pm – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO (15) – A young man and his best friend search for home in the changing city that seems to have left him behind.
Thu 23 Jan at 2.30 & 7.30pm – LA BELLE EPOQUE (15) – French romantic comedy. Finding his marriage on the rocks, Victor meets Antoine, the owner of a company which allows people to perform a version of “time travel”, allowing Victor to take his wife back to the start in hopes of rekindling his love for her.
Mon 27th Jan at 7.30pm (Holocaust Memorial Day) – THE BIRTHCATCHER (15) – A young woman in Norway flees the Nazi roundup and conceals her identity while working on an occupied farm.
Tue 28th Jan at 7.30pm – BY THE GRACE OF GOD (15) – Living as a family man in Lyon, Alexandre faces repressed memories as he’s confronted by the priest who abused him when he was a boy scout.
Thu 30th Jan at 2.30 (HOH) & 7.30pm – KNIVES OUT (12A) – A detective and a trooper travel to a lush estate to interview the quirky relatives of a patriarch, who died during his 85th birthday celebration.
Our planned screenings for December are below. Tickets on sale from Thursday 7 November at 9am:
The December programme sees struggles to be part of society plus big screen glamour
* HOH = Hard of Hearing. These films are shown with subtitles to assist those with hearing loss.
Tue 3 Dec at 7.30pm – 2040 (PG) – Award-winning director Damon Gameau explores what the future would look like by the year 2040 if we embraced new approaches and solutions to global warming.
Thu 5 Dec at 2.30 & 7.30pm – The Peanut Butter Falcon (12A) – A young man with Downs syndrome escapes from an assisted living facility, finding a friend in a wayward fisherman on the run.
Tue 10 Dec at 11am Babes in Arms screening – Judy (12A) – Renee Zellweger stars as legendary performer Judy Garland as she arrives in London in the winter of 1968 to perform a series of sold-out concerts.
Tue 10 Dec at 7.30pm – Chained for Life (15) – Croydon born Adam Pearson plays Rosenthal, a disfigured actor who finds his beautiful actress co-star struggles to connect with him. Adam joins us for a Q&A after the film.
Thu 12 Dec at 2.30 (HOH) & 7.30pm – Official Secrets (15) – An all-star cast of Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes and Matt Smith take part in the story of the lead up to the Iraq war of 2003 and how a British intelligence expert was forced to make a drastic decision.
Tue 17 Dec at 7.30pm and Thu 19 Dec at 2.30pm (HOH) – Last Christmas (12A) – Unlucky Kate accepts a job as a department store elf during the Christmas holidays but her luck seems to turn when she meets Tom, who also works there.
Thu 19 Dec at 7.30pm – Monos (15) – (Spanish with English subtitles) – Colombian drama about eight teenaged guerillas with guns watching over a hostage. As they run amok in the jungle, disaster strikes when the hostage tries to escape.
Mon 30 Dec at 2.30pm – Gosford Park (15) – Winning Julian Fellows the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, the film is set in the 1930’s, with a group of pretentious rich and famous together for a weekend of relaxation at a hunting resort. When a murder occurs, each one of these interesting characters becomes a suspect. 35mm screening.
Tue 31 Dec at 2.30pm – Calamity Jane (U) – Classic starring Doris Day. The story of sharpshooter Calamity Jane (Day), her saloon and her romance with Wild Bill Hickok. Singalong screening.