Richard, George, Mary, Amanda and Joe tell us about their favourite films of the year which we will be showing again from 28 December as part of our Staff Picks 2023 season.
To see all the films that are showing as part of the season, and to book tickets, visit our Staff Picks 2023 season page.
The Garden Cinema was pleased to host the UK premiere of Walking with M on the 10th December 2023, followed by a Zoom Q&A with director Akash Sagar Chopra. The following week, Sri M joined us for a conversation and audience Q&A, again hosted by our very own Matthew Houlihan.
The film tells the story of the 7500km ‘walk for hope’ led by spiritual author and social reformer Sri M. Beginning in January 2015 in the south Indian city of Kanyakumari and concluding 16 months later in the northern region of Kasmir, the ‘walk for hope’ captured the imagination of a nation, with millions participating. Amidst an atmosphere of political divisions, religious tensions and growing fear between communities, Sri M (Mumtaz Ali / Madhukarnath) and his co-walkers meet and discuss with people of all faiths and identities in an effort to re-kindle India’s ancient values of compassion, acceptance and human understanding. Seven years in the making, and produced using over 1800 hours of footage, Walking With M documents the walk and the stories of those that participated.
Filmed at The Garden Cinema on 17th December 2023.
Director Sam Green joined us at the Garden Cinema for a Q&A with Saskia Baron, a documentary filmmaker and journalist who freelances for The Arts Desk, the FT and the Observer/Guardian.
Sam Green’s immersive exploration of sound had the audience experiencing binaural recordings through headphones with FM transmission in our cinema auditorium. Here he discusses with the different versions of his film and live cinema performances, and some of the unusual sounds that didn’t make the cut.
Recorded on 28th November 2023 at The Garden Cinema.
C J ‘Fiery’ Obasi joins us for a Q&A with BLACK to the FUTURE founder Irenosen Okojie. This genre-bending tale brings to life a futuristic fable that fuses spiritual beliefs with inter-generational tensions. Set in the matriarchal ocean village of Iyi, where West African water deity, Mami Wata, reigns via village leader Mama Efe. When the harmony of the village is threatened, two sisters must fight to restore order, as traditions of the past crash with calls from the future.
This Q&A was part of BLACK to the FUTURE, an Afro-Futurist celebration of outstanding Black artists, a space for visionary imaginings to thrive. In partnership with the Royal Society of Literature.
Recorded at the Garden Cinema on 19th November 2023.
Jacob Stolworthy, Chief Culture Reporter at The Independent, and Jack Shepherd, freelance culture journalist, talk us through a day in the life of a film critic, including writing reviews and interviews with the stars. Industry panels followed by networking in our bar is one of the benefits of Garden Cinema membership.
Jacob Stolworthy specialises in film and TV news and feature writing and is the co-presenter of Independent’s review show Binge Watch. Jacob has also written for Esquire and Digital Spy, reviewed films on BBC Radio 1 and is the co-host of “The Lost Boys” podcast. Jack Shepherd writes about film, TV and video-games. He was previously the online editor for Total Film and SFX magazines, entertainment editor at GamesRadar, and was a culture reporter for The Independent. He has also written for publications such as Den of Geek, IGN, and Yahoo. He also co-hosts “The Lost Boys” podcast.
This discussion was recorded at The Garden Cinema on November 13th 2023.
We discuss new forms of storytelling, genre, Afrofuturism and conversations around storytelling amongst the Black diaspora with writer Irenosen Okojie who curated the Black To The Future festival. We are very pleased to be showing two of the programme’s films here at the Garden Cinema. We strive to expand the reach of the films we show and look forward to introducing new and original work to our members and visitors.
In the final video on our Mike Leigh in Conversation series, Mike Leigh and Gary Yershon discuss Peterloo. An epic portrayal of the events surrounding the infamous 1819 Peterloo Massacre, where a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St Peter’s Field in Manchester turned into one of the bloodiest and most notorious episodes in British history. The massacre saw British government forces charge into a crowd of over 60,000 that had gathered to demand political reforms and protest against rising levels of poverty.
Watch the entire Mike Leigh in Conversation collection:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Filmed on 30th October 2022 at The Garden Cinema, 39-41 Parker Street, London WC2B 5PQ
Tony Rayns discusses Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s A Time to Live, A Time to Die in a pre-recorded introduction as part of our New Taiwanese Cinema season.
Inspired by filmmaker Hsiao-hsien Hou’s own childhood, this drama centers on Ah-Ha-Gu (You Anshun), a boy who comes of age during a tumultuous time in his family’s history. When the Gu family made the move from China’s mainland to Taiwan, the elder family members struggled to adapt in their new environment while the adolescent Ah-Ha thrived. Indeed, as Ah-Ha grows to maturity, the generation gap grows fearsomely wide, threatening to alienate the young man from his family and their traditions.