Dir: RJ Balaji, India, 2026, Action, Thriller, Drama. In Tamil with English subtitles. Karuppu (2026) is a high-octane Tamil fantasy-action legal drama directed by RJ Balaji, starring Suriya as a lawyer possessed by a deity, fighting injustices against marginalized communities. Described as a 'one-person army; story, the film promises a mass entertainer where a superhero-like figure restores order in a rotten world.

Presented by Roving Picture Shows & Island Jazz. Dir: Fritz Lang, Germany, 1929, Science Fiction. With Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm & Gustav Fröhlich. Silent with Live Improvised Musical Accompaniment by Chris Coupland. Set in a futuristic city split between wealthy elites above ground and oppressed workers below. The son of the city’s ruler discovers the workers’ suffering after meeting a woman who calls for unity. Meanwhile, a scientist creates a robot that incites chaos and rebellion. “Metropolis does what many great films do, creating a time, place and characters so striking that they become part of our arsenal of images for imagining the world. The ideas of “Metropolis” have been so often absorbed into popular culture that its horrific future city is almost a given . Lang filmed for nearly a year, driven by obsession, a perfectionist madman, and the result is one of those seminal films without which the others cannot be fully appreciated” Roger Ebert.

Dir: Peter Weir, US, 1985, Thriller/Drama/Romance. Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas, Jan Rubes. Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, Director, and Actor; Winner for Best Screenplay and Editing. “Witness begins like many thrillers, with a murder, this time at a city railway station. The killing is witnessed by a small boy who is a member of the Amish community… Pursued by the bad guys, the boy and his widowed mother are protected by a cop, who takes them back to their village and awaits the killers' arrival, just as Gary Cooper did in High Noon… Witness is partly a love story and partly a thriller, but mainly a study of cultural collision… This bucolic world is brilliantly evoked: there is a magical barn-raising scene, a beautiful sequence when an embarrassed yet lustful Ford discovers a half-naked McGillis in the middle of her ablutions, and a telling episode as the Amish endure the hostility of the tourists who gawp at them. The performances are immaculate, with Ford shining in his first serious dramatic role after his action escapades as Han Solo and Indiana Jones. McGillis is perfectly cast, the camera adoring her Nordic beauty beneath her bonnet… There are also fine turns by Alexander Godunov as McGillis's suitor, and Danny Glover as one of the heavies. Yet it's Weir's delicacy of touch that impresses the most.” - John Ferguson, Radio Times (UK)

Dir: Kirk Jones, UK, 2025, Drama/Comedy/True Story. Robert Aramayo, Maxine Peake, Shirley Henderson, Peter Mullan. BAFTA Winner for Best Actor and Best Casting. “I Swear begins in irreverent form. As John Davidson lines up to receive his MBE from Queen Elizabeth II, his nerves get the better of him. ‘Fuck the Queen!’ he blurts out. It’s a deliciously iconoclastic moment, and one that serves both sides of this delightful film’s two wolves: the warm-and-fuzzy teatime template... and the involuntarily foul-mouthed subject that it tracks. Directed by Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine), I Swear tells the true story of a Scottish man living with Tourette syndrome, at a time when public awareness of the condition was virtually nonexistent. After that royal run-in, the story flashes back to 1983, where we meet John as a young boy. He is happy and popular... When involuntary tics start to creep into his voice and mannerisms, though, his life starts to unravel... By the time we meet John as an adult he is treated like a second-class citizen. It is only when he meets Dottie... a mental health nurse brimming with gentle warmth and kindness, that life becomes tolerable... Another of the film’s strengths: it is very, very funny. Without ever punching down, it recognises the inherent absurdity of John’s sweariest tics... This is a film which does justice to those living with Tourette’s, honouring without judging, celebrating without condescending... It’s sweet, funny, and unusually moving.” – John Nugent, Empire

Dir: Andy Hines, Nova Scotia, 2025, Crime/Drama. Stephen Amell, Sean Astin, Stephen McHattie. “An unbelievable true slice of Canadian history serves as the basis for the crime drama Little Lorraine. It tells the story of how a remote Canadian fishing village with 60 residents became a major hub for cross-border cocaine smuggling in the 1980s… the film is both enthralling and haunting, delivering a story of deception, morality, and community… Set amid the stunning landscape of Little Lorraine in Cape Breton, the film opens in the wake of a devastating 1986 mining explosion that claimed the lives of 10 men. Amidst the mine’s closure, Jimmy is left jobless with a young family to support. His estranged and unreliable great uncle Huey reappears, offering Jimmy a position on his lobster fishing boat – an offer he is in no position to decline… Huey’s true intentions are soon revealed: the men are part of a cocaine smuggling operation… The situation escalates when an Interpol agent determined to dismantle the ring, arrives, setting the players on a collision course… Hines debut transforms a forgotten chapter of Canadian history into a very human drama. Little Lorraine proves that reality can be stranger and more gripping than fiction, making it one to watch.” – Rachel West, The Alliance of Women Film Journalists

Dir: Pamela Gallant, Canada, 2026, Drama. Polly Gallant-McLean, Kevin Kincaid, Allegra Fulton. Best Director Winner, Screen Nova Scotia Awards. Set in a conservative Catholic village in Nova Scotia in the early 1970s, this assured debut feature is the coming-of-age story of a precocious nine-year-old who stumbles across a clue to a murder on her paper route. "Pamela Gallant has been quietly making a mark on the Canadian film industry as an editor and director, and with Monica's News, Gallant makes her narrative feature-length debut... Her film follows a tenacious nine-year-old girl, Casey, who is hellbent on changing the world until tragedy strikes. Filmed with a warmth that betrays the challenges Casey confronts, Gallant boldly displays an artistry and gentle nuance for storytelling that finds similarities in tone with Rob Reiner's Stand by Me." - Exclaim! “Monica’s News is the sort of understated storytelling that sneaks up on you. It’s an unexpectedly powerful depiction of childhood and the way children move through the world, observing everything, even though they don’t always fully understand what they see... As Casey, Polly Gallant-Mclean is completely believable as a ‘70s kid, all deference in the company of adults but otherwise free-spirited and still very much a child at age nine... Her impressive performance anchors the storytelling. Monica’s News is an affecting drama that meticulously recreates the era.” - Liz Braun, Original Cin

Dir: Alison Reid, Canada, 2025, Travel Adventure Documentary. Robert Bateman, Bristol Foster, David Suzuki, Wade Davis. “This exceptional documentary, with original 1957 restored footage, captures the essence of mid-century exploration in its purest form. Two men, one outfitted range rover, and a lust for adventure through untamed landscapes offer a rare glimpse into a world before greed and chaos upset everything. It’s a film that doesn’t just show you some wild places, it invites you to feel it. The men in question are renowned Canadian wildlife artist and naturalist, Robert Bateman, and Bristol Foster, a prominent biologist… These men traveled to Africa at a time when it was very unusual to see foreign people… And they took chances off the beaten path. Young and fearless, but extremely smart and capable…The Range Rover (aka the ‘Grizzly Torque’) ran 30,000 kilometres across Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia…. Bateman sketched animals and people along the way and painted a mural of every place they visited along the Grizzly Torque… Through in-depth interviews with friends and family and the original 16mm film footage of their incredible journey, Reid shows how the trip expanded the pair’s knowledge of the physical world while deepening their spiritual and emotional connection to it. A heartwarming, inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.” – Debbie King, The Girl Who Would Be King

Dir: Steven Soderbergh, UK/US, 2026, Comedy/Drama. Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, James Corden, Jessica Gunning. “Steven Soderbergh has reminded us that, yes, old-school artistry is still valued and viable. On its surface, this movie is about a famously difficult painter, Julian Sklar, and the young restorer, Lori Butler, attempting to exploit his dotage. But this is a Soderbergh film... So clearly, there’s more to the story than the initial set-up, in which Julian is eking out his final years in resentful boredom until Lori shows up as his inspiring new assistant. She’s actually a forger secretly hired by his children... to finish a series of paintings inspired by a long-ago lover. Julian has hidden his half-done ‘Christopher’ canvases in the attic, so if Lori can sneak up there between tea-fetching and brush-cleaning, everyone stands to make a fortune when he dies. Well, everyone but Julian, who’s delighted to discover one last opportunity to beat others at their own game... Go see The Christophers.” - Elizabeth Weitzman