Director: Emmanuel Gras
Features: Kabwita Kasongo, Lydie Kasongo
Kabwita Kasongo supports his young family in the Democratic Republic of Congo by producing charcoal (makala in Swahili) and selling it in a nearest town. We see him produce the charcoal and then make the slow and perilous journey with the ‘crop’ precariously balanced on an ancient bicycle. He plans to make enough money to buy the materials to extend his family home. Makala is the first documentary to win the Cannes Critic’s Week Grand Prize. “Emmanuel Gras’s film is beautiful and poetic, something it achieves without condescension” (The Times).
[fvplayer src=”https://youtu.be/60aln4xPpLM”]
Plus a BRIT School Showcase film, screened in partnership with the School’s Film & Media Production department. For this film we are showing Tom Horton (U) (4.15 min), directed by Lucas Aliaga-Hurt & Victoria Man. A portrait of a marine biologist based in Penzance.
David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Tuesday 19 June 2018
Show starts at 7.30 pm, ticket prices £8.50 & £7.00 (concessions).
Click on time to make a booking.
Director: Leila Sansour

Film director Leila Sansour returns to Bethlehem to make a film about her home town, soon to be encircled by a wall.
The film spans seven momentous years in the life of Bethlehem, revealing a city of astonishing beauty and political strife under occupation, and charts the creation of a campaign to compel international action to bring peace to the Middle East. “Open Bethlehem is a fierce and poignant plea against the incarceration of a city” (The Guardian). Followed by a live Q&A with Sara Apps, The Open Bethlehem Campaign’s Executive Director.
[fvplayer src=”http://videos.weebly.com/uploads/5/4/2/4/54245691/open_bethlehem_-_trailer_-_2015-11-10_-_hd_1080__512.mp4″]
Plus a BRIT School Showcase film, screened in partnership with the School’s Film & Media Production department.
For this film we are showing Storybook Ending (3.35 mins), directed by Harry Holland. A little girl must find all her childhood friends before bedtime.
David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Wednesday 06 December 2017
Show starts at 7.30 pm, ticket prices: £8.00 & £6.50 (concessions)
Click on time to make a booking (if you get Cookie Error? see here…….)

Screenings at 11AM & 7.30PM
Directors: Sabine Krayenbühl, Zeva Oelbaum
Featuring: Tilda Swinton, Rose Leslie, Paul McGann
This web-page is a work in progress. Content will be added in the next few days
The extraordinary Gertrude Bell was an English writer, linguist, archaeologist, diplomat and spy, with an unmatched first-hand knowledge of late 19th and early 20th century Arabia. This fascinating documentary reveals her power and the crucial role she played in forming British policy in what is now Iraq.
The film is based on Bell’s letters – voiced by Tilda Swinton – presented via a combination of high-quality original footage and familiar actors representing key characters.
This unmissable personal and professional story provides an acute, revealing and sometimes chilling foretaste of current Middle Eastern troubles.
Here are links to a Review from The Guardian and a brief description of the making of the film from the production company.
[fvplayer src=”https://vimeo.com/210330504″]
David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Thursday 15th June 2017
Shows start at 11.00AM, & 7.30PM, Ticket prices: £8.00 & £6.50 (concessions)
– click on the time to make a booking Cookie Error? See here…….

Director: Steven Cantor
Features: Sergei Polunin, Jade Hale-Christofi
This web-page is a work in progress. More content will be added in the next few days
The focus of his family’s ambitions from a young age, Sergei Polunin moved from Ukraine to the Royal Ballet school at 13, and became the company’s youngest-ever principal dancer at 19.
But at 22 he walked away from the company, isolated in his personal life and feeling constrained by the routine.
Through interviews with Polunin and his family, and footage from throughout his remarkable life, Dancer explores what drives this troubled and brilliantly talented young man.
At the time of first publication of this page Dancer had not been released in the UK, so here is – not so much a Review, more a discussion of the film and it’s implications – from The Guardian
That Guardian article includes a link to the “official” trailer and much, much more on Polunin and the film. That Trailer can also be seen below – [fvplayer src=”https://youtu.be/u8ZNodT9kcM”]
David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Tuesday 25th April 2017
Show starts at 7.30PM, Ticket prices: £8.00 & £6.50 (concessions)
– click on the time to make a booking Cookie Error? See here…….

Extra screening to meet demand, Tickets go on sale 9AM 2nd Feb.
Director: Otto Bell
Features: Aisholpan Nurgaiv, Rys Nurgaiv, Daisy Ridley
For centuries, the Kazakh nomads of the Altai Mountains have trained golden eagles to catch the animals they need for food and fur. It’s a tradition handed down from father to son.

But now 13-year-old Aisholpan, the daughter of national champion Rys, demands to learn the secrets of hunting with eagles for herself.

Strong, determined, devoted to her father but also one of the girls, she faces the dual challenges of coping with a wild animal and the scepticism of the older generation.

Filmed in the stunning Mongolian countryside, with an English voice-over by Daisy Ridley, this is one of the most inspirational documentaries you’ll ever see!
The Guardian’s effusive Review can be read here (with, of course, a link to a trailer), while
The US Trailer (why are almost all the trailer clips posted on the internet from the US theatrical releases?) is below: [fvplayer src=”https://youtu.be/ERFElbCBT90″]
David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Saturday 18th March 2017
Show starts at 2.30PM, Ticket prices: £8.00 & £6.50 (concessions)
– click on the time to make a booking. Cookie Error? See here…….

Director: Otto Bell
Features: Aisholpan Nurgaiv, Rys Nurgaiv, Daisy Ridley
For centuries, the Kazakh nomads of the Altai Mountains have trained golden eagles to catch the animals they need for food and fur. It’s a tradition handed down from father to son.

But now 13-year-old Aisholpan, the daughter of national champion Rys, demands to learn the secrets of hunting with eagles for herself.

Strong, determined, devoted to her father but also one of the girls, she faces the dual challenges of coping with a wild animal and the scepticism of the older generation.

Filmed in the stunning Mongolian countryside, with an English voice-over by Daisy Ridley, this is one of the most inspirational documentaries you’ll ever see!
The Guardian’s effusive Review can be read here (with, of course, a link to a trailer), while
The US Trailer (why are almost all the trailer clips posted on the internet from the US theatrical releases?) is below: [fvplayer src=”https://youtu.be/ERFElbCBT90″]
David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Thursday 16th February 2017
Show starts at 11.00AM, Ticket prices: £8.00 & £6.50 (concessions)
– click on the time to make a booking. Cookie Error? See here…….

Director: Otto Bell
Features: Aisholpan Nurgaiv, Rys Nurgaiv, Daisy Ridley
For centuries, the Kazakh nomads of the Altai Mountains have trained golden eagles to catch the animals they need for food and fur. It’s a tradition handed down from father to son.

But now 13-year-old Aisholpan, the daughter of national champion Rys, demands to learn the secrets of hunting with eagles for herself.

Strong, determined, devoted to her father but also one of the girls, she faces the dual challenges of coping with a wild animal and the scepticism of the older generation.

Filmed in the stunning Mongolian countryside, with an English voice-over by Daisy Ridley, this is one of the most inspirational documentaries you’ll ever see!
The Guardian’s effusive Review can be read here (with, of course, a link to a trailer), while
The US Trailer (why are all the trailer clips posted on the internet from the US theatrical releases?) is below: [fvplayer src=”https://youtu.be/ERFElbCBT90″]
David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Tuesday 14th February 2017
Show starts at 7.30PM, Ticket prices: £8.00 & £6.50 (concessions)
– click on the time to make a booking. Cookie Error? See here…….

Screenings at 2.30PM and 7.30pm
Director: Stig Björkman
Features: Ingrid Bergman, Roberto Rossellini, Isabella Rossellini, Alicia Vikander
A fascinating insight – using her own letters (voiced by Alicia Vikander) and home movies – into the life and times of Ingrid Bergman. Her stardom and the toll it imposed.


The film follows Bergman’s largely successful Hollywood career of the 1940s, her near ostracism after her trip to Italy with realist director Robert Rossellini, and her return to respectability in the 1950s.
It dives deep into the life of this beautiful and endlessly determined actress, indulging in a rich archive of Bergman’s life with photos, home movies and letters on display. Her allure seeps through the entire film, revealing “a woman who was able to subtly combine the noble and the carnal” (critic Roger Ebert).
An insightful Review from The Guardian is: here, including a link to the international trailer (which segways into additional extracts from the film),
while the (shorter, UK) Trailer can be seen below…..
[fvplayer src=”https://youtu.be/UKaaCCUH148″]
David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Wednesday 30th November 2016
Shows start at 2.30PM or 7.30PM, Ticket prices: £8.00 & £6.50 (concessions)
– click on the time to make a booking

Director: Jessica Edwards
Features: Mavis Staples, Bob Dylan, Steve Cropper, Prince

The Staple Singers rose through the Chicago gospel scene and the civil rights movement to become one of the key soul and R&B bands of the 60s and 70s – and lead singer Mavis is still making music today with a new generation of musicians and producers.

Mixing the band’s story with superb archive and present-day live footage, and Mavis’s tales of Bob Dylan, Prince and many others, this documentary is a warm, engaging and moving portrayal of one of popular music’s living legends.
Review (Guardian): here
and the Trailer below:
[fvplayer src=”https://youtu.be/FiPLfwi2Uqo”]
David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Tuesday 25th October 2016
Show starts at 7.30PM, Ticket prices: £8.00 & £6.50 (concessions)
– click on the time to make a booking

Director: Dave Street,
Features: Graeme Obree, Chris Hoy, Charlie Milarvie
In the early 1990s, Graeme Obree was famous for breaking cycling’s one-hour record and winning world championships, riding a home-made bike in unconventional style…..


This fascinating, moving and often very funny documentary finds Obree in his bid to break the human-powered land speed record on the isolated highway of Nevada’s Battle Mountain. At age 47 he is still innovating, while confronting a succession of physical and psychological challenges.
“A liberating film… Even the most cynical will be seduced by the combination of self-deprecation, crazed chutzpah and intuitive engineering skills that Obree displays” (Cycling Weekly).
I could have put in a link to the Cycling Weekly Review quoted above, but this one from The Guardian also includes a link to the Official UK Trailer: here
or find a word-free Trailer below:
[fvplayer src=”https://vimeo.com/130621871″]
David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Tuesday 19th July 2016
Show starts at 7.30PM, Ticket prices: £8.00 & £6.50 (concessions)
– click on the time to make a booking