The Farewell (12A)
2023-11-02 20:00 - 21:40 (Europe/London) | Ditchling Village Hall, 18 Lewes Road, Ditchling, Hassocks, East Sussex, BN6 8TT, United Kingdom
A Chinese-American film that captures the push and pull between the bonds of blood and the ties of culture as they are explored with a light touch and a perceptive eye in this family story. A hastily convened wedding provides the cover story to bring the extended American- living family back to China to say farewell to their elderly matriarch who is the only one not to know she is terminally ill. A film about balance, a yin and yang of roots and identities, humour and pathos that comes together in a bittersweet drama. Director Lulu Wang. (2019).

English, Japanese, Mandarin.

Doors open from 7:30pm for wine and soft drinks.

Annual membership £50 (11 films).

Licorice Pizza (15)
2023-12-07 20:00 - 22:15
With audacity and insight, the filmmaker fuses a comedic romp of romance and self-discovery with a sharp debunking of classic Hollywood myths and heroes.

Set in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970’s it is a partly autobiographical , pugnaciously romantic coming of age story for a teenage actor and a hectic trip of self-discovery for a twentysomething dreamer.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson. (2021).

English

Doors open from 7:30pm for wine and soft drinks.

Annual membership £50 (11 films).

Barbie - The Movie (12A)
2024-01-11 20:00 - 22:00
Yes! It’s about Barbie the Mattel doll! A riotously entertaining candy-coloured confection that manages simultaneously to celebrate, satirise and deconstruct its (apparently) happy-plastic subject.

Some call it a feminist fable and it definitely plays on stereotypes, both male and female. You will recognise them! It’s very pink. It’s very funny. And you know there’s some quite serious stuff in there as well.

(2023) 114 mins. English. Dir Greta Gerwig

Saint Maud (15)
2024-02-01 20:00 - 21:30
In her directorial debut Rose Glass has created a very well-crafted horror film; a psychodrama with astute character observation and strong performances by Morfydd Clark and Jennifer Anne Ehle. The film earned a record seventeen nominations at the British Independent Film Awards 2020. Film critic Mark Kermode listed it as his favourite film of 2020, calling it an “electrifying debut”.

At its centre is a troubled young woman, Katie. She is a palliative nurse. We learn something of her own past trauma and find a woman who believes she is guided by God to save her clients’ soul.

(2019) 84 mins. Horror, This film contains sexual and violent scenes. English. Director Rose Glass.

Return to Seoul (15)
2024-03-07 20:00 - 22:00
An absorbing and emotional film about adoption, loneliness, a search for identity and the meaning of existence. A 25 year-old French woman returns to Korea, where she was born before being adopted by a French couple, to try to track down her biological parents. During the search, set over an 8 year period, she meets her birth father, moves to Korea, emotionally misuses those who want to get close and begins to discover some aspects of her birth mother, which lead her to question where some of her own cruel behaviours come from. The film explores what makes us who we are, how much is upbringing, how much is genetic? It is sad and yet gripping storytelling.

(2022). 119 mins. English subtitles. Director David Chou. Korean

The Banshees of Inisherin (15)
2024-04-04 20:00 - 22:00
Tragedy and comedy are paired in this end-of-friendship movie which is at times funny, horrifying and heartbreaking. Two men meet every lunchtime for a drink on this small remote Irish village in the 1920s – Padraic, a simple soul and dairy farmer, and his best friend Colm, a thinker and a fiddle-player. They lead uneventful lives until one day Colm no longer wants to see Padraic. Padraic asks his sister why Colm wouldn’t open the door to him and gets the reply ‘Perhaps he just doesn’t like you no more’ – a joke that soon turns out to be horribly true. This film reunites Brian Gleeson and Colin Farrell of In Bruges fame.

(2022) 114 mins. Golden globe winner. Drama some violence, strong language. English Director Martin McDonagh (of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri fame).

Bergman Island (15)
2024-05-09 20:00 - 22:00
A gentle, deep drama about two filmmakers, Chris, who is in a relationship with an older man, and Tony, well-known with a big fan base. They go on a working retreat to the island that inspired Ingmar Bergman. While there, Chris wonders whether society would ever allow her to have 9 children from 6 different partners, as Bergman had and shares it as a film idea with Tony.

We begin to see her film as she sees it, with her imaginary actors playing out her script. A film within a film emerges. Tony just wants to go on a Bergman “safari” and be feted by adoring younger fans. Reality and fiction start to blur as tensions increase in the relationship between them. It is a film that gently pokes fun at the great film director, while allowing women to drive the story.

(2021). 112 mins. Swedish (English subtitles). Director Mia Hansen-Love

Past Lives (12A)
2024-06-06 20:00 - 22:00
A spine-tingling romance of lost chances.

Two childhood sweethearts are wrested apart when Nora is uprooted from Korea to America. Two decades later they are united for one fateful week as they confront destiny , love and the choices that make a life. An achingly effective love story and rare emotionally mature adult film.

(2023).106 mins. Drama. English/Korean subtitles. Dir Celine Song.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (12A)
2024-07-11 20:00 - 21:30
This is a simple but heartwarming story of an ordinary and unassuming elderly man who walks to his local postbox to post a letter to his old friend Queenie, who is dying. But instead he walks the length of Britain to deliver the letter to her in person before she dies. It is a lovely exploration of an ordinary man who passes life on the sidelines until he decides to do something extraordinary. On the way he encounters many people from all backgrounds and walks of life who encourage him in his unlikely pilgrimage.

Starring Jim Broadbent as Harold Fry. Based on the novel by Rachel Joyce.

(2023). 93 mins. English. Director Hettie Macdonald

The Eight Mountains (12A)
2024-09-05 20:00 - 22:30
This rich, beautiful, and inexpressibly sad film is about the friendship between two men who were best childhood friends growing up in the Italian mountains. They now unite as grown men to build a shack in the valley which will be their special place. It is set in the Italian alpine valley of Aosta with breathtaking photography as the two men try to talk about their feelings, rekindle their friendship and deal with the difficult past.

“A movie with air in its lungs and love in its heart”.

(2022). 147mins. Italian, English subtitles. Directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch.

Anatomy of a Fall (12A)
2024-10-03 20:00 - 22:20
Sandra, a writer and her husband Samuel and their eleven-year-old son live a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps. Samuel is found dead in the snow and the police question whether this is a suicide or a murder with Sandra being the main suspect and her son the only witness. The trial becomes an unsettling journey into the depths of Sandra and Samuel’s conflicted relationship.

(2023). 140 mins Palme d’or winner. Drama. French, English subtitles.Director Justine Triet

One Life (12A)
2024-11-07 20:00 - 22:00
Based on the true story of British humanitarian Nicholas Winton. The film alternates between following Anthony Hopkins as a 79-year old Winton reminiscing on his past, and Johnny Flynn as a 29-year old Winton who successfully helps 669 predominantly Jewish children in German-occupied Czechoslovakia to hide and flee in 1938–39, just before the beginning of World War II.

Directed by James Hawes.

1h49m, English

Rye Lane (15)
2024-12-05 20:00 - 21:30
Yas overhears recently heartbroken Dom sobbing in the gender-neutral lavatories. Two young strangers, both having had recent break ups, meet. She befriends him as he is about to lunch with his ex and her new boyfriend. She goes along pretending to be his new girlfriend all of which ends in chaos. They cheerfully connect with each other as they move around the sunny streets of south London. A film with street- smart grit and warmth and charm.

(2023). 82 mins. Comedy/romance. English. Dir. Raine Allen-Miller

Another Round (12A)
2025-01-16 20:00 - 21:45
Played by Mads Mikkelsen, Martin is a high school teacher in a mid life crisis. He and his three colleagues embark on an “study” to see what level of alcohol makes them better people.

Measuring social and professional performance they drink only during working hours. Intoxicating, very funny and sobering. The film won a Bafta for Best Film not in the English Language and an Oscar for best international feature.

Directed by Thomas Vintenburg. Danish with English Subtitles.

Perfect Days (PG)
2025-02-06 20:00 - 22:05
Wim Wenders’s Oscar-nominated zen Japanese drama is his best feature film in years. Hirayama cleans public toilets in Tokyo, lives his life in simplicity, appreciating each moment, alongside encounters that lead him to reflect on himself.

This zen meditation on beauty, fulfilment and simplicity is an achingly lovely and unexpectedly life-affirming picture.

Directed by Wim Wenders. English / Japanese with subtitles.

Fallen Leaves (12A)
2025-03-06 20:00 - 21:25
Two lonely souls connect in a rain-lashed Helsinki in this unexpectedly uplifting drama from the Finnish master of melancholy.

Meeting by chance the two look at last to have found love. However, various obstacles thwart their hopes and dreams – lost phone numbers, mistaken addresses, alcoholism and a charming dog. Won the Jury prize at Cannes. Tragicomic romance set in modern-day Helsinki.

Directed by Aki Kaurismäki. Finnish with English Subtitles.

An Evening with Greta Scacchi
2025-03-28 19:30 - 22:00
Ditchling Film Society is proud to host an evening in conversation with Greta Scacchi. Join us for a screening of White Mischief (15) followed by Greta Scacchi in coversation with Peter Guttridge author and former film journalist.

Set in 1940s colonial Kenya, White Mischief (1987) follows Diana Broughton (Greta Scacchi), a young aristocrat trapped in a loveless marriage to the much older Sir Jock Broughton (Charles Dance). Seeking escape, she falls for the charismatic Josslyn Hay, Earl of Erroll (Joss Ackland), a notorious figure in the decadent Happy Valley set. Their affair sparks jealousy and scandal within the insular expatriate community, leading to Erroll’s mysterious murder—a crime that exposes the moral decay beneath the group’s glamorous facade. Directed by Michael Radford (1984), the film blends historical drama with an atmospheric murder mystery, set against the striking landscapes of East Africa.

Radford’s direction highlights the tension between Diana’s yearning for freedom and the rigid constraints of her world. Scacchi delivers a nuanced performance, portraying Diana as both vulnerable and defiant, caught in a web of passion and power. John Hurt’s narration adds a reflective tone, while the film’s restrained pacing builds a quiet inevitability. With its mix of romance, intrigue, and social critique, White Mischief offers a compelling portrait of colonial excess and the personal tragedies it leaves in its wake.

Free for members.

La Chimera (15)
2025-04-03 20:00 - 22:15
La Chimera is a fantasy created from fragments. For the thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth.

For Arthur (Josh O’Connor), fresh out of prison, the chimera means a search through time and the underworld for his love Beniamina. A piece of cinematic magical realism using the ancient and modern landscapes of Tuscany against an unexpectedly rich musical score.

The film has received 11 film awards and 26 nominations.

Directed by Alice Rohrwacher. English, Italian, French with subtitles.

Lee (15) + Special Event
2025-05-08 20:00 - 22:00
NB: This film is being shown on 8th May due to County Council elections on 1st May 2025.

On May 8th, Lee Miller’s granddaughter Ami Bouhassane, Co-Director of the Lee Miller Archives at the Farley Arts Trust will be joining us for a Q&A session. Don’t miss it! It will be a privilege to hear Ami talk about her grandmother’s life and work and answer our questions.

We are also very grateful to Anthony Penrose of the Farley Trust for offering to waive their normal performance fee for our event, however a donation from every ticket sold will go to the Trust.

In Lee, Kate Winslet stars as Lee Miller – the fashion model turned war photojournalist for British Vogue. The film shows Miller as she “documents war as historical evidence”. As a female war correspondent at that time, she was barred from entering active battle zones but none the less was not spared from witnessing and recording moving and horrific scenes beyond the areas of immediate combat.

In the film Lee Miller works along side Life Magazine photojournalist David E. Scherman, played by Andy Samberg. They worked on many shared assignments, including documenting the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau . Scherman’s iconic photograph of Millersitting in the bathtub in Adolf Hitler’s private apartment in Munich, with the dried mud of that morning’s visit to Dachau on her boots – deliberately dirtying Hitler’s bathroom, – was taken in the evening of 30 April 1945, coincidentally the same day that Hitler committed suicide . After posing for the bathtub photograph, Miller took a bath in the tub, and then slept in Hitler’s bed.

After the war Miller fought hard against the repression of her confronting war images in a world that preferred to forget the atrocities that had taken place.That Miller’s work is known today is mainly due to the efforts of her son, Antony Penrose, who has been studying, conserving, and promoting his mother’s work since the early 1980s. Never having known about her war work while she was alive, Penrose later discovered sixty thousand or so photographs, negatives , documents, journals, cameras, love letters, and souvenirs in cardboard boxes and trunks in the attic of Farley Farm, the family home.

Lee (2023) Certificate 15. Directed by Ellen Kuras. 117 minutes. English.

Directed by Ellen Kuras. English.

Widow Clicquot (12A)
2025-06-05 20:00 - 21:30
On June 5th we will be having another special event.

At the showing of Widow Clicquot (2023, Director Thomas Napper) we will be hosting a presentation by Esther Dawson from Ridgeview vineyard. She will be talking about the vision and development that has created Ridgeview as a very successful local winery.

There will be free tastings and Ridgeview wine will be on offer for sale.

A tale of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot who defied French vintner patriarchy and survived calamities to create one of the world’s finest champagnes.

Underlying the movie is a love story told in flashbacks, but what prevails is a fascinating tale of a celebrated drink that, even with a certain conventionality, never loses its subtle charm and remarkable tastefulness.

Winning three major film awards.

Directed by Thomas Napper. English

The Old Oak (15)
2025-07-03 20:00 - 21:45
A tale of Syrian refugees and asylum seekers set in the summer of 2016, just after the Brexit vote. The Old Oak is the local pub where the landlord is only just hanging on due to deprivation and poverty in the village. Не refuses to get involved in the issues of the refugees. While some in the community have some sympathy with the refugees there is hostility at the apparent benefits the refugees get.

He gradually softens towards the refugees and together with Yara, the young Syrian woman, organises a food kitchen where the community can get together socialise and gradually get to understand each other. It is a complex film with issues such as Brexit, racism, poverty and alienation running throughout.

Directed by Ken Loach. English.

Wilding (15)
2025-09-04 20:00 - 21:15
This documentry film based on Isabella Tree’s best-selling bookWilding tells the story of Knepp, and how a dying landscape is healed against the odds and becomes a place where mussel-diving pigs, storks and butterflies find sanctuary, and where thriving flora and a vast array of animals have taken back the land.

Watch this incredible story of a young couple that set to work with their ground-breaking vision, battling entrenched tradition and daring to place the fate of their farm in the hands of nature, and be inspired by this story of rewilding and ecological regeneration.

Directed by David Allen. English.

The Outrun (15)
2025-10-02 20:00 - 22:20
Based on a memoir by Amy Liptrot, the film is set in the other worldly Orkney Islands where Rona goes to recover from her life of addiction to drugs and drink in London.

Saoirse Ronan is outstanding in this sometimes painful drama. The cinematography is at times breathtaking and the film is brilliantly directed by Nora Fingscheidt.

(2024) 1h55 min. English. Directed by Nora Fingscheidt.

The Critic (15)
2025-11-06 20:00 - 21:40
Based on a novel by Anthony Quinn The Critic is a period thriller drama with wicked humour and a twisty plot not to mention sumptous costumes and an all cast.

lan McKellen is an acerbic, conniving and brutally honest newspaper theatre critic in 1930’s London but as the film progresses it becomes darker and more violent and more of a thriller. One critic has said McKellen’s star quality makes him the only possible casting for this role.

Directed by Anand Tucker. English.

The Holdovers (15)
2025-12-04 20:00 - 22:15
Holdovers is the name given to children in exclusive private boarding schools in America, who are held over in school during Christmas, because they are unable to go home to their families.

The film takes place at the end of 1970, when US troops were still fighting in the Vietnam War and explores the relationship between a hated teacher, the school cook and one of the boys “held over”. It is both funny and tragic, with stunning performances by Paul Giamatti (Sideways), Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa. 2023

Directed by Alexander Payne. English.

A Complete Unknown (15)
2026-01-08 20:00 - 22:30
The biographical film about the iconic musician Bob Dylan is beautifully crafted and executed as it transports you back immersing you in the life, music and story of one of the most influential artists of our time.

The performances are exceptional with Timothee Chalamet as Dylan delivering a magnetic portrayal capturing both the vulnerability and genius of the man.

The music is thrilling, with Chalamet playing and singing the songs, and the galvanizing power of ‘The Times they are a Changin’ debuting before a crowd who spontaneously join in. The supporting cast are terrific with Monic Barbaro performing as Joan Baez.

English. 2h21m. Directed James Mangold

A personal view by guest critic Beth Travers.

Transport yourself back in time this January and immerse yourself in the life,music and story of one of the most influential artists of our time – Bob Dylan.

A Complete Unknown is an autobiographical film about the American singer,songwriter and legend starring Timothee Chalamet and directed by JamesMangold. The film composes a gritty verse in the ballad of Bob Dylan’s life. Ittakes us on a journey with the then, unknown 19-year-and his guitar, on hismeteoric rise, and transformation from folk singer to electric visionary.

Mangold effortlessly captures Dylan’s relationships with musical icons suchas Johnny Cash, as well as his complex partnership with Joan Baez (playedby Monica Barbaro). The magic of their two voices intertwined beautifully onand off the stage, re-writing the rules of what art can achieve.

Chalamet delivers a magnetic portrayal, capturing both the vulnerability andgenius of the man. He helps breathe new life into an icon of the past, whileintroducing a younger audience to the brilliance of his music.

Beth.

All We Imagine As Light (15)
2026-02-05 20:00 - 22:00
Mumbai is more than a city. It’s an ever-expanding universe. Night shots of the thronged streets in this exquisite drama.

Having captured the teeming collision of lives, Kapadia gently guides us to follow three nurses. Nurse Prabhais a veteran at the busy urban hospital where all three work; her younger colleague Anu (newly arrived from the south of India, is caught up in the first thrill of romance with her Muslim boyfriend. And Pavartya cook in the hospital kitchen, is facing eviction from ahome that is due to be demolished to sate the voracious appetite of gentrification.

These are ordinary lives, with small sadnesses, twinging regrets and sparks of joy. In the second half of the film, when the women leave Mumbai to accompany Pavarty back to her coastal village, the skies lift, the air clears and the picture takes on a lyrical, dreamlike quality.

Primarily Malayalam and Hindi with English subtitles. 2h3m Director Payal Kapadia. Cannes Grand Prix 2024.

I'm Still Here (15)
2026-03-05 20:00 - 22:15
In the early 1970s, the military dictatorship in Brazil reaches its height. The Paiva family – Rubens, Eunice, and their five children – live in a beachside house in Rio, open to all their friends. One day, Rubens is taken for questioning and does not return.

An intense film based on the true story of Eunice Paiva, a mother and activistcoping with the forced disappearance of her husband, the dissident Brazilian politician Rubens Paiva. Despite being the target of an unsuccessful boycott by the Brazilian far-right, within 3 months of its release, the film surpassed 5 million admissions.

A beautiful film that portrays the strength of an individual fighting back; a triumph of humanity over state terror.

Portugese, French with english Subtitles. 135 minutes. Director Walter Salles. Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (2025) . Golden Globe; Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for Fernanda Torres

A personal review by guest critic Beth Travers:

I’m Still Here, Walter Salles’ Academy Award winning historical film tells the story of the Paiva family living in 1970s Brazil. The film opens on a beach in Rio, capturing a family full of life and love for one another. I found myself craving a place at their table and in their volley-ball games, lulled into the illusion of a happy-ever-after through the film’s comforting palette of yellow and brown. But things aren’t as they seem; the warmth of this family is swiftly disrupted by Brazil’s far right military, who come into their home and take their father away for questioning.

Mother of five, Eunice Paiva, played by Fernanda Torres, carries us and her children through her family’s period of uncertainty and immense stress, as Rubens Paiva becomes one of Brazil’s best known “Politically Disappeared”. I was captured by Torres’s performance, feeling my heart break at her stifled composure and quiet strength. Her attempt to maintain stability for her children, while relentlessly seeking justice and answers, exposed me to a new kind of female resilience.

This period of Brazil’s history was brand new to me, opening my eyes to a time tainted by its far-right, military dictatorship, and serves as a timely reminder of history repeating itself.

I would have loved to have learnt more about Eunice’s later work as a human rights activist and lawyer, seeking justice for other victims of political oppression. But, overall, Torres’s portrayal was still thoroughly deserving of her Golden Globe for Best Actress.

Holy Cow (15)
2026-04-02 20:00 - 21:30
Screenshot

Holy Cow is the feature debut from director Louise Courvoisier. A part time farmer herself, Courvoisier is at home with the reality of rural life in the Jura region of France.

The cast are non professional and take us right into a life that is intrinsically hard. Clément Faveau plays an 18 year old lad whose interests are girls, beer and mopeds. While this doesn’t change, he unexpectedly finds himself alone caring for his 7 year old sister. How do you brush her hair? Get her to school Make money? How indeed? His answer is; learn to make prize winning cheese!

We are making this a special night. High Weald Dairy from Horsted Keynes will visit us. Many of you will know their cheeses in Ditchling and Hassocks as they are brought to our Farmers’ Market by The Sussex Peasant. They will bring tasting samples and cheeses to sell and will talk about cheese making and also their successful and sustainable farming methods.

It will be a convivial evening, and nicely accompanied by a selection of fine wines.

French with English subtitles. 90m. Director Louise Courvoisier. Awards: César Award for Most Promising Actress , César Award for Best First Film , Un Certain Regard Youth Prize .

The Room Next Door (15)
2026-04-30 20:00 - 21:50
Ingrid and Martha became close friends while working together at the same magazine. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.

This is Almodovar’s first English language film. It is a powerful exploration of euthanasia, where Ingrid (Tilda Swinton) asks her old childhood friend, Martha (Julianne Moore), to stay with her until Ingrid decides she is ready to die. When she has made that decision, she will close her bedroom door which is next to her friend’s. The repercussions following Martha’s death resonate with the current debate in this country on assisted dying.

This film won the Golden Lion award at the Venice International Film Festival in 2024.

English. 107m. Directed by Pedro Almodovar.
