Well, they thought they could silence me, but they were wrong!  

I’m not sure who the ‘they’ is in that statement (but I liked the sound of it), suffice to say once upon a time I used to write a short introduction to our printed monthly programme – which has sadly been ‘out of print’ for a little over two years now, for reasons that I am sure are painfully obvious to us all – waxing lyrical about what I felt to be the in-cinema highlights of the next few weeks at Filmhouse. As such, this is the first real opportunity I’ve had to thank all our customers who’ve been visiting us since we reopened last June during what have been very uncertain times. And whilst it’s a bit of a stretch to imagine that the fact that our cinemas remain quieter than we would expect for the time of year has got anything at all to do with the absence of the aforementioned introduction, perhaps my triumphant return to the written foreword can trigger your own triumphant return to the cinema, have you not already chosen to do so... We’re primed and very much looking forward to welcoming you! 

 

And to tempt you back… Robert (The Witch, Lighthouse) Eggers’ down and dirty reinventing of the Norse epic, The Northman, continues, as does Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, a characteristically transgressive tale of a lesbian nun in Italy in the 17th Century (and very much a favourite of whichever Filmhouse staffer you care to ask!)

 

Playground is a small and perfectly formed Belgian film about the relationship between a brother and sister, the former of which is being bullied at school; Happening is the at-times harrowing autobiographical tale of a young woman’s experience in a 60s France where abortion was still illegal; and Ennio is the definitive doc on the career of arguably the greatest music-for-cinema composer of them all, ‘Il Maestro’ Morricone. And if Nicolas Cage ‘meta’ comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent seems like an odd inclusion in Filmhouse’s programme, well, we’ve never been averse to a right good laugh! 

 

Oh, and before I forget, we’ve put together a stunning season of 11 films which feature some of the greatest, most iconic scores from Ennio Morricone’s astonishing career, from 1965’s Fists in the Pocket, through arguably his masterpiece, Once Upon a Time in the West (have a listen below), all the way to 2015’s The Hateful Eight. I’ve rewatched a good number of these films recently and cannot recommend enthusiastically enough that you do so as well, whether it’s again or for the first time. Maestro!! Encore!! 

 

Check out our What's On Guide & Timetable page for a full overview of this programme.