December

Contemporary cinema’s favourite detective Benoit Blanc returns in Rian Johnson’s sharply penned and devilishly fun reinvention of the classic whodunit.

After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, as the world grapples with the unveiled horrors of the Holocaust, U.S. Army psychiatrist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) is assigned the extraordinary task of assessing the mental state of Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), the notorious former Reichsmarschall and Hitler’s second in command, along with other high-ranking Nazi officials.

On the evening of March 31, 1943, legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart confronts his shattered self-confidence in Sardi’s bar as his former collaborator Richard Rodgers celebrates the opening night of his ground-breaking hit musical “Oklahoma!”.

"ZOOTROPOLIS 2 contains several sequences with flashing lights that may affect those who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or have other photosensitivities."

Brave rabbit cop Judy Hopps and her friend, the fox Nick Wilde, team up again to crack a new case, the most perilous and intricate of their careers.

Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, an aging silent film queen, and William Holden as the struggling writer who is held in thrall by her madness, created two of the screen's most memorable characters in Sunset Boulevard. Winner of three Academy Awards, director Billy Wilder's orchestration of the bizarre tale is a true cinematic classic. From the unforgettable opening sequence through the inevitable unfolding of tragic destiny, the film is the definitive statement on the dark and desperate side of Hollywood.

Sunset Boulevard is screening as part of the BFI's Too Much: Melodrama on Film season. Funding for the film screening was made possible thanks to Film Hub Scotland. Photo Credit: Park Circus.

Join us for the theatrical premiere of A Dairy Story, an award-winning documentary, screening first in cinemas in region it was filmed in. 

Best known locally as the former Cream o’ Galloway ‘ice cream farm’, David and Wilma Finlay transformed Rainton Farm near Gatehouse-of-Fleet from a conventional family dairy farm to organic, regenerative, and now a pioneering cow-with-calf dairy system. 

Filmed over two years, A Dairy Story shows how changing a farming system changes everything; from the lives of the animals to the wellbeing of the farmers, and perhaps even the future of dairy farming itself.

In the past two months the film has already won Best Documentary at the IndieCork Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Central Scotland Documentary Festival in Stirling. 

The screening will be followed by an optional Q&A with David Finlay and Charles Ellett of Rainton Farm, with complimentary hot drinks. 

And now whatever way our stories end, I know you have rewritten mine by being my friend…

Last year’s global cinematic cultural sensation, which became the most successful Broadway film adaptation of all time, now reaches its epic, electrifying, emotional conclusion in Wicked: For Good.

Wicked: For Good is based on the generation-defining musical stage play with music and lyrics by legendary Grammy and Oscar® winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, from the bestselling novel by Gregory Maguire.

All Kevin McCallister wants for Christmas is for his family to disappear. So when he wakes to discover that his wish has come true and they have accidentally left for their Christmas trip without him, he does what any kid would do - he parties!

But when he learns that two burglars with a Christmas list of their own are working their way up the block, he is forced to defend the family home on his own and sets about decking the halls with ingenious traps to hold the thieves at bay until his relatives come home.

After George Bailey (James Stewart) wishes he had never been born, an angel second class (Henry Travers) is sent to earth to make George's wish come true. George starts to realise how many lives he has changed and impacted, and how they would be different if he were never there.

Heartwarming and visually stunning take on Dr Seuss' beloved Christmas classic. The Grinch is a despicable grump who goes on a mission to steal Christmas, only to have his heart changed by a young girl in a universal story about the spirit of Christmas and the indomitable power of optimism.

A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy town of Little Haven – at Christmas – forcing Anna and her friends to fight, slash and sing their way to survival, facing the undead in a desperate race to reach their loved ones. But they soon discover that no one is safe in this new world, and with civilization falling apart around them, the only people they can truly rely on are each other.

LOCAL CONNECTION – the film is based on Ryan McHenry’s terrific short film, ‘Zombie Musical’, which was filmed in the town in 2010 while the film’s producer, Naysun Alae-Carew, also grew up in Dumfries.

Late on Christmas Eve, a boy sits in bed doubting the existence of Santa Claus and waiting to hear the sound of sleigh bells. Instead, a magical steam engine roars outside his window and he begins an extraordinary journey towards the North Pole and beyond his imagination.

SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE is a wall-to-wall cinematic action event, a sequel to the original sleeper hit SISU. Returning to the house where his family was brutally murdered during the war, “the man who refuses to die” (Jorma Tommila) dismantles it, loads it on a truck, and is determined to rebuild it somewhere safe in their honour. When the Red Army commander who killed his family (Stephen Lang from Don’t Breathe) comes back hellbent on finishing the job, a relentless, eye-popping cross-country chase ensues - a fight to the death, full of clever, unbelievable action set pieces.

A unique eco-thriller, and story of resilience and victory in the fight to protect our natural world, narrated by Academy Award-Nominee Tom Hardy.

With only 6000 black rhinos left on earth, one dedicated wildlife ranger, Kiloku, has made it his life mission to protect the species against all odds. With around 5% of the global population being poached each year, Kiloku’s team in Kenya has not lost a single rhino in nearly 10 years… A remarkable achievement, but one that does not come without consequences. They are running out of space. Hemmed in by ruthless bandits, the rhinos at his sanctuary risk turning on each other in a deathmatch for territory.
With the help of a recently qualified ranger named Rita, the pair launch an audacious plan to move a group of the formidable herd to a new safe haven, 60 miles west. A potentially deadly mission, but one that the team are willing to risk their lives for in order to launch a new population, and further Kenya’s incredible ongoing conservation efforts.

Highlighting the daily struggles experienced by those risking their lives to protect biodiversity, whilst simultaneously giving voice to those on the other side of the armed conflict, this hard-hitting, authentic feature - crafted from four years of living and working alongside Kenya’s conservancy community - is both timely and urgent, as banditry violence spirals out of control, and the demand for illicit rhino horn climbs ever higher.

One Battle After Another is our Film of 2025. Many came close, I Swear, Holy Cow, Souleymane's Story and Sirāt to name but a few, but Paul Thomas Anderson's drama about the kidnap of a former revolutionary's daughter is a relentless epic, non-stop until the very end. Never has 2 hour and 40 minutes flown by so quickly. Best viewed on a big screen!

Washed-up revolutionary Bob (DiCaprio) exists in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited, self-reliant daughter, Willa (Infiniti).  When his evil nemesis (Penn) resurfaces after 16 years and she goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her, father and daughter both battling the consequences of his past.

From Warner Bros. Pictures comes “One Battle After Another,” written, directed and produced by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Academy Award and BAFTA winners Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro, and Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti.

The first in our Jack Nicholson mini-season is adapted from Ken Kesey’s novel and centres on Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson, superb), a convict who simulates mental illness in the hope that a transfer to psychiatric hospital might ensure his early release. But he hasn’t bargained for the rigid regimen of Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher, also superb), who dislikes his disruptive — though he’d say liberating — effect on the ward.

Inspired casting (Danny DeVito, Brad Dourif and Christopher Lloyd are among the patients) and Forman’s naturalistic direction lend authenticity to the proceedings, so that the film succeeds both as anti-authoritarian parable and as an affecting reminder of the psychiatric practices of the past.

You can see The Shining on Tuesday 30 December.

The second in our Jack Nicholson season sees his as a writer who takes a job as a winter caretaker at an isolated (and haunted) hotel. After he and his family move in for the winter, the hotel's spirits slowly drive the writer mad. Based on the Stephen King this is one of the great horror films and back in cinemas for its 45th anniversary!

You can see One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest on Monday 29 December.