Out of all the end of year ‘best of’ lists, here is the only one that truly matters. To close out 2023 and welcome in 2024 we’ll be showing a selection of our favourite films from the last twelve months of our programme as (democratically) chosen by our staff.
The Garden Cinema Staff Picks: New Releases
As the most viewed film of all time at The Garden Cinema, it’s no surprise to see Saim Sadiq’s vibrant and groundbreaking Joyland amongst our selections. If you haven’t yet seen Celine Song’s modern classic (and Oscar dark horse) Past Lives, we’ve kindly provided you a chance to catch up. Of course there’s room for the great French courtroom drama film from last year. That’s right, Saint Omer was one of our favourites. And our final new release pick was, strangely, made 40 years ago: the new restoration of the greatest concert film of all time, Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense. Our screening on New Year’s Eve is a particularly fine way to start the party.
The Garden Cinema Staff Picks: Classic Titles
Despite being knocked off its perch atop the Sight and Sound tree last year, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo has enduring appeal at The Garden Cinema and is screening again for anyone who missed out in the Summer. Another canonical classic from our Summer programming that makes the cut is Satyajit Ray’s profound coming-of-age story, Pather Panchali. A return to our Francophone West African season brings us the great Ousmane Sembène’s biting satire of postcolonial Senegal in Mandabi. And we hope you do not overindulge this festive season as an appetite will be required for one of our most popular members’ proposals, Juzo Itami’s mouth-watering ‘ramen-western’, Tampopo.
