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Ten Empty (MA15+)
now showing | session times
Exclusive to Cinema Nova
Director: Anthony Hayes
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A decade ago, following his mother's tragic death, Elliot Christie left home. In the ten years gone, his father (Ross) has re-married his late wife's sister (Diane) and his younger brother (Brett) has fallen silent. This weekend, 29-year-old Elliot is to be godfather to his new half-brother. Over the course of the weekend, emotions run high as family secrets are exposed. |
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Standard Operating Procedure (MA15+)
now showing | session times
Exclusive to Cinema Nova
Director: Errol Morris (THE FOG OF WAR)
126 minutes
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Formidable filmmaker Errol Morris repeatedly and boldly redefines and expands the notion of documentary filmmaking. An seen in his explosively memorable and award winning films THE THIN BLUE LINE and the 2004 Oscar winning best documentary THE FOG OF WAR, STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE will continue Morris’ willingness to push boundaries and explore the fundamental questions his audience want to know.
Winner of the silver bear at the Berlin International Film Festival STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE takes an unflinching look at the Abu Ghraib prison scandal while meditating on the frightening side effects of the War on Terror in a thought-provoking documentary from the production company behind An Inconvenient Truth. |
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Happy Go Lucky (M)
now showing | session times
Director: Mike Leigh (SECRETS AND LIES)
128 minutes
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Poppy (Sally Hawkins, THE PAINTED VEIL) is an irrepressibly cheerful primary school teacher who won’t let anyone or anything get her down. Even when her bicycle, which she so happily rides through the busy streets of London is stolen, her first thought is only: “I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.”
Living with her flatmate Zoe, Poppy has a gift for making the most of life. Determined to learn to drive, she finds herself matched with Scott (Eddie Marsan, THE ILLUSIONIST), an uptight driving instructor who is everything she is not. From Director Mike Leigh (VERA DRAKE), HAPPY GO LUCKY is a laugh-out-loud comedy about having fun, looking for love and getting on with life. |
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The Band's Visit (M)
now showing | session times
Director: Eran Kolirin
English, Arabic and Hebrew dialogue with English subtitles
100mins
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The two awards won at the 2007 European Film Awards, brought THE BAND'S VISIT total tally of international film awards to an impressive twenty. The film has garnered rave reviews from critics and audiences alike from around the world with Variety calling it 'warm and delightful', The Hollywood Reporter hailing it as 'radiant and wise' and Time Out declaring it 'immensely charming'.
Eran Kolirin's charismatic debut feature film, which premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film festival and received the prestigious Un Certain Regard award, tells the story of an Egyptian police band that gets lost on its way to a music festival in Israel and end up stranded in a remote village.
Once, not long ago, a small Egyptian police band arrived in Israel. They came to play at an initiation ceremony but, due to bureaucracy, bad luck, or for whatever reason, they were left stranded at the airport. They tried to manage on their own, only to find themselves in a desolate, almost forgotten, small Israeli town, somewhere in the heart of the desert. A lost band in a lost town. Not many people remember this. It wasn't that important. |
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My Brother Is An Only Child (M)
now showing | session times
110 minutes
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Already a smash hit in its native Italy, MY BROTHER IS AN ONLY CHILD, was presented at the Cannes and Toronto film festivals in 2007.
Accio (Elio Germano) is irritable, explosive and a trouble maker. He fights every battle like a war and his parents despair. His brother Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) is handsome, charismatic and loved by all, although underneath he is equally as dangerous.
MY BROTHER IS AN ONLY CHILD follows the adventures of these two passionate brothers in small town Italy in 1960s and 70s as they fight over politics and over the same woman. It is about escaping and returning and knowing when to fight and when to grow up. Fifteen years of Italian history pass by as these brothers realise that despite their differences, they’re really alike.
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Unfinished Sky (M)
now showing | session times
Director: Peter Duncan (CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION)
100 minutes
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When Tahmeena (Monic Henrickx) stumbles onto John’s (William McInnes, LOOK BOTH WAYS) isolated farm, he has no choice but to take her in. An illegal refugee, she’s been badly beaten and speaks no English. While John’s not inclined to welcome visitors, he’s even less inclined to involve the police.
As they communicate through signs, pictures and a gradual understanding of each other’s language, John and Tahmeena both begin to recover their faith in themselves and their trust in humanity. Tahmeena brings the homestead back to life, reopening John’s eyes to the beauty of his land. In return, John tries to track down the daughter Tahmeena sent ahead from war-ravaged Afghanistan. With renewed confidence, they step out of the sanctuary of the farm, but in doing so, reveal themselves to the violent criminals who’ve been looking for Tahmneena.
UNFINISHED SKY is a powerful, poetic and sensual love story that peels away layers of hurt and mistrust to reveal the beauty of freedom, hope and choice. |
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Amal Basry watched Titanic at a cinema in Baghdad the night before she fled Iraq. 18 months later the people smuggling boat she was on sank between Indonesia and Australia. 353 people drowned. Amal survived by clinging to the floating body of a dead woman for 22 hours. Now Amal fights to ensure that the disaster is not forgotten, reunite her family and 'find what it was I lost in the ocean'.
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Mongol (MA15+)
now showing | session times
Mongolian dialogue with English subtitles
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Award-winning Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov illuminates the life and legend of Genghis Khan in his stunning historical epic, MONGOL. Based on leading historical accounts and a nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2008 Academy Awards, MONGOL delves into the dramatic and harrowing early years of the ruler who was born as Temudgin in 1162. As it follows Temudgin from his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his destiny, the film paints a multidimensional portrait of the future conqueror, revealing him not as the evil brute of legend, but as an inspiring, fearless and visionary leader. MONGOL shows us the making of an extraordinary man, and the foundation on which so much of his greatness rested: his relationship with his wife, Borte, his lifelong love and most trusted advisor.
Filmed in the very lands that gave birth to Genghis Khan, MONGOL transports us back to a distant and exotic period in world history; to a nomad's landscape of endless space, climatic extremes and ever-present danger. In a performance of powerful stillness and subtlety, celebrated young Japanese actor Asano Tadanobu (ZATOICHI) captures the inner fire that enabled a hunted boy to become a legendary conqueror. Masterfully blending action and emotion against some of the most arresting terrain on earth, Bodrov delivers an exciting and awe-inspiring tale of survival and triumph, and a love story for the ages. |
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Sex And The City: The Movie (MA15+)
now showing | session times
Director: Michael Patrick King
145mins
website
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Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) successful author and everyone’s favourite fashion icon-next-door, is back, her famously sardonic wit intact and sharper than ever, as she continues to narrate her own story about sex, love and the fashion obsessed single woman in New York City. Sex and the City finds Carrie, Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) four years after the hit HBO series ended, as our favourite friends continue to juggle jobs and relationships while navigating motherhood, marriage and Manhattan real estate.
Chris Noth reprises his iconic role of Carrie’s handsome yet elusive Mr. Big; David Eigenberg as Miranda’s down-to-earth husband Steve Brady; Evan Handler as Harry, Charlotte’s despendable and loving husband; and Jason Lewis as Smith Jerrod, an actor client and devoted lover of Samantha’s.
Also co-starring are Candice Bergen as preeminent Vogue Magazine editor Enid Frick and Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson (DREAMGIRLS) as Carrie’s young and inexperienced but still label-savvy assistant, Louise, a character new to New York and introduced in the film. Also returning are Mario Cantone as Anthony Marentino, Charlotte’s opinionated wedding planner, and Willie Garson as Carrie’s sartorially splendid pal Standford Blatch. |
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Narnia: Prince Caspian (M)
now showing | session times
Director: Andrew Adamson
154 minutes
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The second epic instalment in the Chronicles Of Narnia finds the Pevensie children returning to the land of Aslan, only to find it far different than they left it. Since their last visit, many hundreds of years have passed in Narnia and the land is divided. The magical creatures who fought in the battle against the White Witch have all but disappeared from view and the kingdom is now ruled by the Telmarines, a race bent on domination. When heir to the throne Prince Caspian discovers a plot to usurp him, he forms an unsteady alliance with the old Kings and Queens of Narnia to try and reclaim the Kingdom for all of Narnia’s inhabitants. |
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Earth (G)
now showing | session times
Opens May 29
Directors: Alastair Fothergill & Mark Linfield
109mins
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See EARTH and receive a complimentary copy of “G”
The Green Lifestyle Magazine.
While stocks last. |
Five billion years ago an asteroid crashed into the Earth, The impact tilted the planet at the angle of 231/2 degrees. This cosmic accident created the world we know today. Using the Sun as a guide, we set out on an epic global journey. In the Arctic, a polar bear family wakes to the first sunlight of spring. Will they find food before the ice melts? Half a world away, an elephant and her calf share precious water with a pride of lions. Will their uneasy truce last? For the final leg of the journey, we follow a humpback whale mother. She must keep her calf safe on their 6000 km migration to Antarctica.
This breath-taking story is narrated by Patrick Stewart and filmed with high definition cameras to create an unforgettable journey through the changing seasons and daily struggle for life across our planet, from rarely seen stunning landscapes to the smallest details in the lives of our best loved, wildest and most elusive creates.
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The Orphanage (MA15+)
now showing | session times
Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Spanish dialogue with English subtitles
115mins
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A superbly atmospheric and emotionally powerful tale of love, loss and guilt, THE ORPHANAGE (PAN’S LABYRINTH) is the first film ever to be presented by Oscar nominated filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. An elegant, shivery ghost story in the tradition of such classics as THE INNOCENTS, THE HAUNTING and THE OTHERS Bayona explores the shadowy places where human longing meets the unknown and unknowable.
Laura (Belen Rueda) spent the happiest years of her childhood growing up in an orphanage by the seaside, cared for by the staff and fellow orphans whom she loved as brothers and sisters. Now, thirty years later, she returns with her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) and Simon (Roger Princep), their 7-year-old son, with a dream of restoring and reopening the long abandoned orphanage as a home for disabled children. The new home and mysterious surroundings awaken Simon's imagination and the boy starts to spin a web of fantastic tales and not-so-innocent games. As the opening day draws near, tension builds within the family. Carlos remains sceptical, believing that Simon is making everything up in a desperate bid for attention. But Laura slowly becomes convinced that something long-hidden and terrible is lurking in the old house, something waiting to emerge and inflict appalling damage on her family.
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The Flight Of The Red Balloon (PG)
now showing | session times
Director: Hsiao-hsien Hou (FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI)
French dialogue with English subtitles
120mins
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A highlight at the 2007 Cannes, New York and Toronto film festivals, FLIGHT ON THE RED BALLOON is the latest tour de force from director Hou Hsiao Hsien. Inspired by Albert Lamorisse's 1956 Academy Award-winning and timeless classic, FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON follows Suzanne (Juliette Binoche, CHOCOLAT) a charming woman and mother snowed under by obligations.
Between her career as a puppeteer, the classes she teaches and the two children, Simon and Louise, she has been raising alone since their father left, Suzanne hasn't got a minute to herself. Frustrated and struggling she takes in a young Taiwanese babysitter, Song Fang, who is a student at Paris University.
On his way home from school, Suzanne’s seven year old son Simon leads Song Fang through the streets and cafés of his Parisian neighbourhood. Soon the two share an imaginary world: a strange red balloon follows them, even in the exhibition space of the Musée d'Orsay. While Suzanne is caught up in a court case involving her tenant downstairs, who refuses to leave, every day, Son Fang becomes more important in her life. In the end, it is Song Fang's insightful and philosophical perspective and her insistence to see beauty in the everyday that helps Suzanne get to grips with her life. |
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Shine A Light (M)
now showing | session times
Director: Martin Scorsese (THE DEPARTED)
132mins
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It was Martin Scorsese who brought the concert picture alive with THE LAST WALTZ (1978) which documented the final performance of The Band. Since then many directors have attempted to match both his formula and concept however few have come close. With Scorsese’s latest concert film SHINE A LIGHT he remains the undisputed master.
Filmed at the famed Beacon Theatre in New York City in Fall 2006, Scorsese assembled a legendary team of cinematographers to capture the raw energy of the legendary band to name a few. Regardless of whether you are a Rolling Stones fan or not, the undeniable talent, energy and unbeatable combination of The Stones and Scorsese in SHINE A LIGHT will have you dancing in the isles and wanting more. |
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The Secret (M)
now showing | session times
Director: Claude Miller (UNDER SUSPICION)
French dialogue with English subtitles
112mins
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Adapted by Claude Miller and based on a true story, this is the splendid and moving saga of a Jewish family in post-war Paris, told through the eyes of a frail & intelligent young boy who senses something is amiss with his beautiful parents (Cécile De France & Patrick Bruel).
On his fifteenth birthday a family friend tells him a shattering truth — tying his family's past to the Holocaust — that may enable him to develop his own sense of self.
This wholly absorbing tale is a superbly drawn study of human behaviour, featuring excellent supporting performances by Julie Depardieu, Ludivine Sagnier, Mathieu Amalric and Yves Jacques.
UN SECRET was a huge critical and box office success in France last year and was nominated for 11 Cesar Awards. |
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The Counterfeiters (MA15+)
now showing | session times
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky (TEMPO)
German with English subtitles
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Winner of the 2008 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film THE COUNTERFEITERS is based upon the book THE DEVIL’S WORKSHOP. The film follows the true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, counterfeiter extraordinaire and bohemian, who after getting arrested in a German concentration camp in 1944 agrees to help the Nazis in an organized counterfeit operation set up to help finance the war effort.
It was the biggest counterfeit money scam of all times. Over 130 million pound sterling were printed, under conditions that couldn't have been more tragic or spectacular. During the last years of the war, as the German Reich saw that the end was near, the authorities decided to produce their own banknotes in the currencies of their major war enemies. They hoped to use the duds to flood the enemy economy and fill the empty war coffers. At the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, two barracks were separated from the rest of the camp and the outside world, and transformed into a fully equipped counterfeiter's workshop. "Operation Bernhard" was born. Prisoners were brought to Sachsenhausen from other camps to implement the plan: professional printers, fastidious bank officials and simple craftsmen all became members of the top-secret counterfeiter commando. They had the choice: if they cooperated with the enemy, they had a chance to survive, as first-class prisoners in a "golden cage" with enough to eat and a bed to sleep in. If they sabotaged the operation, a sure death awaited them. For THE COUNTERFEITERS, it was not only a question of saving their own lives, but also about saving their conscience as well... |
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The Edge Of Heaven (MA15+)
now showing | session times
Director: Fatih Akin
English, German and Turkish dialogue with English subtitles
132mins
website
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THE EDGE OF HEAVEN marks director Faith Akin's fifth feature film, criss-crossing between Germany and Turkey around 6 characters. The characters are entwined through a chain of events, including activism, old age and lust.
A College professor, Nejat, travels from Hamburg to Istanbul to find Ayten, the Turkish daughter of his father’s friend who he wants to help financially. He learns later that she was deported from Germany for her activism and has since become a political prisoner. Ayten’s German friend Lotte and her mother Susanne become entangled in the consequences.
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Lars And The Real Girl (PG)
now showing | session times
Director: Craig Gillespie (MR. WOODCOCK)
116mins
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LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is an emotional, comical, transformative journey written by Six Feet Under scribe, 2008 Oscar-Nominee Nancy Oliver.
When Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling, HALF NELSON) introduces his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer, PARIS J’ TAIME) to his new friend Bianca, who he met on the internet, their immediate response is shock and disbelief. Has Lars, the sweet, socially challenged introvert gone completely mad— they meet Bianca and see a doll, but Lars sees a friend. Bianca isn’t a real woman at all but a Real Doll, how will they explain this to the residents of the sleepy Midwestern town they’ve grown up in and currently reside? Karin and Gus consult the town’s family physician, Dr. Dagmar Berman (Patricia Clarkson), who advises them to go along with it. Lars is experiencing a delusion and in order to help him through this crisis, they and the townsfolk need to get onboard. After some persuasion and appeal to their love and concern for Lars, Gus and Karin enlist their cooperation. Soon Bianca is attending church, modeling at the local dress shop, volunteering at the hospital and accompanying Lars to his first ever social events. Surprisingly to those around her, Bianca weaves her way into the hearts of everyone she meets, filling voids they didn’t know they had.
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