Welcome to the new Ditchling Film Society programme for 2026.
There is an eclectic mix of both English and foreign language films, which we have chosen for their diversity and interest. Screenings are on usually on the first Thursday of every month (except January, May and November this year), at 8pm in Ditchling Village Hall with doors open at 7.30pm.
Quality wine and beer is available to purchase prior to every screening.
Membership is £50.00 for twelve months and covers all eleven films from when you join.
Guests pay £7.00 at the door. Payment is by cash or card.
Members can get extra benefits of a 20% discount off food and drink at The Bull pub on movie nights and can also access the society’s library of over 100 titles on DVD and Blu-ray.
Please note films may change due to circumstances beyond our control. We thank you for your support and look forward to seeing you at our films. You can subscribe to our electronic calendar feed into your smartphone diary by clicking on the Subscribe to Calendar button.
Astounding… breathtaking… extraordinary… To celebrate its 80th birthday in 2005, Sergei Eisenstein’s revolutionary cinematic masterpiece was given a Pet Shop Boys synth pop musical work over and presented publicly (and to acclaim) at the Barbican Theatre and in Trafalgar Square in London. In the 2025 remastered version we are screening at Ditchling Village Hall for our October showing, The Pet Shop boys score is performed by the Dresden Sinfoniker and orchestrated by Torsten Rasch.
Eisenstein always said his originally silent film should be accompanied by contemporary music. To keep it relevant for new audiences he suggested the musical accompaniment should be revised and updated every decade or so.
The Edmund Meisel score was the first update and later, the Kryukov adaptation of Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony took up the challenge. Now with the Pet Shop Boys score, twenty years on, the music is uncompromisingly “club”, not at all symphonic, but it is contemporary. It certainly is not Russian. But somehow, perhaps because it is “club” with its relentlessly driving beat, it manages to work across the mass crowd scenes, the giant machine cut-aways and the individual expressions of suffering and horror that were so brilliantly captured by Eisenstein and that are emblematic of his masterpiece.
Welcome to our showing of one of the most acclaimed films in cinematic history.
We present our film with an introduction and question time with the film historian and archivist Dr Frank Grey.
Director Sergei M. Eisenstein. 72 minutes. Silent. Originally screened in 1925. This version with new accompanying soundtrack by the Pet Shop Boys. 2025
This humorous and melancholic films follows Charles (Tim Key) an eccentric lottery winner living alone on a remote island who dreams of getting his favourite folk duo back together for a gig with an audience of just one. Carey Mulligan stars as part of the once almost famous band and returns from west coast USA where she now makes chutney along with her bird watching husband who tows along for the reunion. Tim Basden plays the other part of the duo and wrote the music for the film.
A powerful and beautiful story of family , friendship and identity
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.
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 .
