A PERFECTLY NORMAL FAMILY

A PERFECTLY NORMAL FAMILY

2020 | Dir Malou Reymann | 97min | Denmark

When Emma’s father Thomas (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) says he wants to live the rest of his life as a woman, Emma (Kaya Toft Loholt) is thrown off kilter. Thomas makes a rapid transition into Agnete: a woman in stylish dresses who suddenly has no more interest in football.

As first-time feature maker, Malou Reymann herself grew up with a father who transitioned, she knows first-hand how children can experience such a complex change. Danish with English subtitles.

“The directness and honesty of the storytelling is really affecting in places; and Loholt is so natural and touching as Emma. There’s a scene in which she sings a song at her sister’s confirmation that brought me to tears with its sheer loveliness” – Cath Clarke in The Guardian.

Film run ends on 22 November 2020

October Update

Sunday 25 October 2020

An update on David Lean screenings from the chairman of the Save the David Lean Cinema CIC, Philip Howard:

We know that many of you will have mixed feelings about cinema at present – you will miss the experience of seeing a movie on the big screen, often with friends and family, but you are concerned about the risks of an indoor shared space. Therefore, the David Lean Cinema committee has been working on a plan for reopening, when the Covid alert level falls to an acceptable level. This hasn’t been straightforward, as public access to the Croydon Clocktower will remain limited for months to come, but we’re continuing to work with the Council on getting back to the DLC when the time is right. We have spoken with the custodians of the Fairfield Halls, as cinema facilities exist there, but the barriers to using this large, complex building seem too high.
Therefore, we are exploring a new way of bringing a David Lean programme to you. While the global film giants are delaying their releases, many smaller distributors are in a situation that mirrors our own – they need to continue trading, yet the David Lean and dozens of other cinemas which are the natural home for their movies are closed. So, they are releasing these films online. We are now working with these distributors to create a programme of films that you can pay to watch, with the proceeds split between the distributors and the David Lean – we’re aiming to achieve the same cinematic quality as usual, except you’ll be watching from home.
Future bulletins in our newsletter and on our website will tell you about these films, and how to access them online. We’re likely to publicise a couple of new films each week, so that it’s similar to a DLC programme – you won’t have to watch them at 7.30 or 2.30 on a Tuesday or Thursday, although you’re welcome to do so!

On behalf of the whole DLC committee, our best wishes for a healthy and happy autumn, and thanks for your continued support.

Back to online listings.

Risk Assessments

Risk Assessments

Risk Assessments for our operation in a Covid secure way were submitted to the council during early September and can be viewed via the links below. If you do not know the password, please use the Contact Form to request access.

Risk Assessment for auditorium and other public areas – September 2021 (request password via the Contact Form)
Risk Assessment for the Projection Booth

OB Info

OB Info

The OB Info Web Servers are currently offline while refurbishment takes place. For any urgent enquiries please contact Roger Dowling. If you do not know the normal contact numbers/email then please enquire via Richard Earle in the first instance.
Apologies for any inconvenience while this work is ongoing.

2020 Film Festivals Announcement

More than 20 film festivals around the world have joined together to stream movies for free on YouTube after the coronavirus pandemic closed cinemas and forced the cancellation of annual showcases in Cannes and New York.
The 10-day We Are One: A Global Film Festival will feature content curated by the Berlin, Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca and Venice film festivals, among others, starting on 29 May, the organisers Tribeca Enterprises and YouTube said in a statement on Monday 27 April.
The festival will showcase films, documentaries, music, comedy and conversations. No details of the programming were announced and it is unlikely that major new movies that generally launch at film festivals would be included.
The cancellation of the May Cannes film festival in France and uncertainty around festivals in Venice and Toronto in September has robbed film-makers and movie studios of crucial windows to promote their new releases to the media and the public.
The organisers of the Cannes film festival said on Monday they were proud to join in the YouTube event “to spotlight truly extraordinary films and talent, allowing audiences to experience both the nuances of storytelling from around the world and the artistic personalities of each festival”.
Jane Rosenthal, a co-founder of the cancelled Tribeca film festival in New York, said the idea was to inspire and unite people across borders during the pandemic. “All of the world needs healing right now,” Rosenthal said.
Other festivals taking part include those in Jerusalem, Mumbai, Sarajevo, Sydney, Tokyo and London.
While the festival will stream for free, viewers will be asked to donate to the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 solidarity response fund.

Queen-Rock The World

Behind-the-scenes archive documentary following Queen’s Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon as they record their sixth album News of the World and embark on a groundbreaking tour of North America. 
By 1977, Queen had become a major headlining act in the UK, releasing chart-topping albums and singles as well as playing sell-out concerts in all the country’s major venues. However, they were facing an increasingly hostile music press, who had a new favourite in punk and had turned against the elaborate, multi-layered recording techniques that had become the hallmark of the band’s previous albums.<!–more–>
An unfazed Queen had their sights set on greater things. As the band announced plans to record their next album, the expectation was it would be another production extravaganza, but Freddie, Brian, Roger and John already had other ideas. News of the World showcased them at their most raw, simple and best, returning to their roots as a live act. With a self-imposed limit on studio time and produced entirely on their own for the first time, this stripped-back album took the fans and press by surprise and demonstrated Queen’s ability to transcend fashions. It was to prove a seminal moment in the band’s history. 
At the time, BBC music presenter Bob Harris was given exclusive and extensive access to the band to cover this period. Conducting insightful interviews with all four band members as well as filming them at work in the studio as they were planning and rehearsing their forthcoming North American tour, and then following them as they performed across the US, Bob captured a band attempting to replicate their huge domestic success on the global stage. Curiously, the documentary he set out to make was never completed, and the footage lay unused in the archive until now.
To mark the 40th anniversary of the release of the News of the World album, the footage has now been carefully restored and revisited to compile this hour-long portrait of a group setting out to take the next step on their remarkable journey to becoming one of the biggest bands on the planet. Armed with an array of new songs, including the monster hits We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions, Queen dazzled the American audience and laid the foundations of a relationship that endures to this very day. 
Coming full circle, this film is bookended by footage shot in the summer of 2017 as Brian May and Roger Taylor took Queen back to the US with Adam Lambert as lead singer. Revisiting many of the cities they had performed in 40 years previously and including many of the songs from that 1977 album, they prove that despite the tragic loss of Freddie Mercury over 25 years ago, Queen can still rock the world.

Other Things

And Now For Something Completely Different – check out the following links compiled by Operations Manager, Roger Dowling, to help you remain almost sane:

Do you ever wonder how I can look as young as I do at the age of 93? Check out Christine Webber’s series of short videos

 

 

 

And if you’ve reached this far down the list, you might enjoy cats watching scary films (right)…….

Eddie The Eagle (2016, UK/USA/Ger, 105 mins, PG)

Eddie The Eagle

Dir: Dexter Fletcher

Stars: Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Christopher Walken, Jo Hartley 

Michael “Eddie” Edwards is a legend of British winter sports, competing as a ski jumper in the Calgary Winter Olympics of 1988, despite little experience of this terrifying and demanding event. Fletcher adapts his life story into an engaging and uplifting comedy-drama, as the underdog (Egerton) finds a coach (Jackman) with a similar outsider spirit, to together prove the doubters wrong and fulfil Eddie’s Olympic dream. “A solid gold winner” (Empire Magazine).

Surprisingly hard to find a link to a review that will not demand that you click here or sign up to that or bring your system to a halt with unwanted ads, so lets cut to the chase with this Telegraph link to the trailer which also reviews the film (sort-of): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/eddie-the-eagle/trailer/

David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Thursday 28 April 2016
Starts at 2:30PM and 7:30PM Click on times to book relevant tickets.
Ticket Price: £6.50 – £8.00

Book now
Eddie The Eagle

The 2:30PM screening is subtitled for people with a hearing loss.

The Witch (2015, USA/UK/Brazil, Dir: Robert Eggers, 93 mins, 15)

The Witch

Stars: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie

New England, 1630. On a humble, isolated farm by a dense forest, a devout Puritan family strives to achieve self-sufficiency. The mysterious disappearance of their youngest child causes despair and escalating hysteria, as fears that dark forces are at work take hold. 

Shot in Canada, a talented British cast and “an exquisite sense of historical detail” cast “a highly atmospheric spell” (Variety). Eggers displays exceptional promise, and his visionary and unsettling film has received Sundance (Directing) and London Film Festival (First Feature) awards.

Review, with link to the official trailer: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/10/the-witch-review-a-eerie-campfire-tale-that-gets-under-your-skin

Book now
The Witch

David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Tuesday 26 April 2016
Starts at 7:30PM Click on time to book tickets.
Ticket Price: £6.50 – £8.00

The Big Short (2015, It/Fr/UK/Switz, Dir: Adam McKay, 130 mins, 15)

Big Short

Stars: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt

As the millennial boom rolled on, the housing market seemed like the best one-way bet in town – anyone could own a home (or five) and the banks made vast profits packaging and selling on mortgage debt. A few small-timers, lone wolves and oddballs – Carell’s splenetic trader and Bale’s death-metal-drumming fund manager among them – realised the foundations were rotten, and set out to profit… McKay is brilliant, telling most of this potentially complex story in outrageously entertaining style, while mindful of the human cost of the crash and furious at the amoral decadence which led to it. 

Review: watch this space

Trailer: watch this space

Book now
The Big Short

 David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Saturday 23 April 2016
From 2:30PM to 4:45PM Click on time to book relevant tickets.
Ticket Price: £6.50 – £8.00