The Monday Night Film Club returns with a classic drama from Hungarian director István Szabó,  the Oscar®-winning director of Mephisto, Hanussen and Being Julia.

Set in Hungary in the years following the end of WW2, a young boy concocts a fantasy ideal of his father who has been killed in the war. In the boy's fertile imagination, the father attains mythical and heroic qualities. Szabó's poignant cinematic ode, combining humour with a poetic nostalgia, relates historical events through the prism of personal experience, producing a film of extraordinary warmth, intimacy and power. Chosen by Hungarian critics and writers as one of the best Hungarian films of all time, Father also boasts luminous monochrome cinematography by the great Sándor Sára. In black and white | In Hungarian with English subtitles.

"Szabó's superb second feature, a major prizewinner at the time... shot and edited with all the effervescent brio of early Truffaut"  Michael Brooke, MovieMail
"A beautiful study of the need for heritage... Szabó has told his story on two levels that complement each other magnificently"  The New York Times

Join us for a special screening of Hal Ashby's black comedy for the 20th Anniversary of the Monday Night Film Club. Originally called Talk Cinema the film + discussion evening was the brainchild of film lecturer Darren Connor. Darren passed away at the very young age of 40 after a charity cycle ride in June 2011. We'll be paying tribute to Darren and we'll also hear from past and present Film Club customers.

The 1971 cult classic pairs Bud Cort as a dead-pan disillusioned 20-year-old obsessed with suicide and a lovable Ruth Gordon (“I’ll never understand this mania for black”) as a fun-loving 80-year-old eccentric. They meet at a funeral, and develop a taboo romantic relationship, in which they explore the tired theme of the meaning of life with a fresh perspective.

Maria, a primary school teacher doing her best to inspire a class of 10-year-olds, is stifled by one unruly and chaotic student. With her career in question and the child's behaviour spiralling, she makes a series of bad decisions that lead to her accidentally taking and locking this "bad apple" in her home. Maria tries desperately to backtrack, but when the class starts flourishing and the staff and parents are thrilled with the improvement, she finds herself in a very complicated predicament. 

Bitter Christmas is the latest film from iconic director Pedro Almodóvar. The Spanish language drama tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl's alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can't help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Amanda and her stepfather Martin struggle with a moral issue that divides them. Has Amanda’s mother, Leslie, who is experiencing advanced dementia, lost the ability to make critical decisions in her own best interest? If so, who is responsible – a spouse, a child, an institution – for making such a determination? As Amanda and Martin are forced to make increasingly difficult choices, the repercussions spiral out of their control. In French and English with some subtitles in English.

The great Willem Dafoe lends his delicate gravitas to the role of Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet who works in the post office. After an eager and flattering young admirer (Edmund Donovan) appears on his doorstep, Saxberger is beckoned into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius. Intoxicated by the attention—and by the alluring presence of Gloria, the group’s “tragic heroine” (a sinuous, Kurt Weill–crooning Greta Lee)—Saxberger gradually reckons with the authenticity of his newfound poetic circle. This thoughtful, witty second feature from Kent Jones (Diane), working from a sly and hugely entertaining script by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Samy Burch (May December), is a wistful yet unromantic look at a lost idea of downtown New York.

Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans.

1961. Bill Evans is playing with what he considers the perfect musical trio until tragedy strikes in the premature death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro - his musical soulmate. Traumatised by grief, Evans stops playing for the first time since his childhood. A tug-of-war between personal torment and the seemingly safer haven of familial love will see Evans oscillate between New York and suburbia, his genius always bubbling beneath the surface.

Directed by Grant Gee and starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Bill Pullman and Laurie Metcalf, the film is written by Mark O’Halloran and based on Owen Martell’s novel Intermission.