Presented by The Canadian Lebanese Association of PEI. Dir: Cyril Aris, Lebanon/Germany, 2025, Romantic Drama/Comedy. Mounia Akl, Hasan Akil, Julia Kassar, Camille Salameh. In Arabic with English subtitles. Presented as part of Lebanese Heritage Month 2026. Winner of 18 International Film Festival Awards, including the People’s Choice Award at the 2025 Venice Film Festival. Set against the ever-changing landscape of Lebanon, A Sad and Beautiful World is a moving love story about fate, belonging, and the enduring pull of home. Born in war-torn Beirut, Nino and Yasmina are childhood sweethearts who dream of a future together. When life takes them in different directions, they lose touch, only to reunite by chance twenty years later. Nino is now a restaurant owner, while Yasmina has become a successful economic consultant. Their connection is immediate, rekindling a love that never truly disappeared. But as their relationship blossoms, they face a difficult question: can they build a future together in a country marked by political instability, economic uncertainty, and the constant possibility of leaving? Blending romance, humour, and heartfelt drama, director Cyril Aris delivers a captivating portrait of love and resilience in contemporary Lebanon. Both joyful and bittersweet, the film explores the complicated emotions of loving a country that can be difficult to call home. A Sad and Beautiful World is a celebration of human connection, hope, and the ties that bind us to our roots.

Dir: Anton Corbijn, UK/Switzerland/Italy, 2026, Mystery/Drama. Helen Mirren, Olivia Cooke, Alden Ehrenreich, Juliet Stevenson. "An exceptional film... Helen Mirren plays a highly fictionalized, potentially murderous version of Patricia Highsmith, the real-life author who wrote 5 books in a series featuring Tom Ripley, a character who is not shy about using elaborate deception and murder to climb the social ladder. Her publisher sends the young and eager Edward Ridgeway to Highsmith’s house in Switzerland to try to convince her to write a sixth book in the series. He’s got his work cut out for him - Highsmith is a hermit and a misanthrope, thinks he’s an idiot, and the previous publisher’s representative sent to do this was never heard from again. On the train to Switzerland, Ridgeway meets Clementine Balfour, a 20-something potential heiress who is trying to convince her aunt to let her gain control of her trust fund. As Highsmith and Ridgeway start to discuss potential plots, reality starts to merge with fiction - Ridgeway starts to take on the persona of Ripley, and Balfour becomes a novel character too... A Talent for Murder is just restrained enough to seem within the realm of plausibility, and just audacious enough to be a delicious murder tale... A Talent for Murder is a splendid work of art." - Andy Howell, Film Threat

Presented by Second Sunday Screenings. Admission by donation at the door, you can reserve here. Second Sunday Screenings is a monthly program of documentaries created by filmmakers from Atlantic Canada. The theme for the first event of the series is «An Island Through Time» with short films only from Epekwitck/PEI filmmakers. Future screenings will broaden the scope to bring in films from the Atlantic region to pair with PEI-made films. 'The Graphic' by Michael McKennirey and Kent Martin is presented courtesy of the National Film Board (NFB). Vanessa Tignanelli, creator of 'Charlottetown Cowboy' will be on hand for a Q&A. 'According to John Acorn' by Jason Arsenault and 'Rebirth' by Duton Adedoyin are representative of our journey through time for PEI filmmakers. Tickets are available through City Cinema online or at the door by donation so you pay what you can while supporting our local filmmakers.

Dir: Pedro Almodóvar, Spain, 2026, Comedy/Drama. Bárbara Lennie, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Victoria Luengo. In Spanish with English subtitles. “Maestro Pedro Almodóvar shines a spotlight on the screenwriting process in an intriguing and engrossing drama charting the evolution of a creative project… It sees Almodóvar return to personal territory… by focusing on the frustrations and neuroses of a filmmaker. This tragicomic tale introduces us to Raúl, whose trials with his indispensable assistant Mónica take a backseat to the story he is telling, that of his alter-ego Elsa, who is plagued by migraines and panic attacks and mourning her mother. Advertising director Elsa is living with devoted beau Bonifacio, a firefighter and stripper. Despite her own mental health struggles, Elsa finds time to support friends Patricia, whose partner has been cheating on her, and Natalia, who is grieving her young son, controversially taking artistic inspiration from both their predicaments. Sporting a typically vivid palette, scored with old Hollywood-esque suspense and building toward some explosive emotions, Bitter Christmas is in many ways quintessential Almodóvar. However, the filmmaker… takes to task the tendency of writers to cull from their own lives and the lives of others, with scant concern for the consequences… The film remains absorbing even as it picks over and rewrites itself… It’s thrillingly sophisticated stuff.” – Emma Simmonds, The List

Dir: Sinéad O'Shea, Ireland/UK, 2025, Documentary. Jessie Buckley, Gabriel Byrne, Edna O'Brien, Walter Mosely. Winner, Best Documentary, Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards. Sponsored by The Benevolent Irish Society. In 1960 a young Irish woman named Edna O'Brien wrote a sexually frank debut novel, The Country Girls. She became a literary sensation, writing for The New Yorker, delivering provocative interviews, and authoring screenplays. Her success enraged her writer husband and made her a pariah in her native Ireland, where her books were banned and burned. She would make her home in London, where she conducted numerous love affairs, hosted star-studded parties, and made and lost a fortune. In July 2024, Edna passed away and this film provides a final testimony from her, aged 93, as she reflects upon her extraordinary life for filmmaker Sinéad O'Shea's camera. Granting the director access to her personal journals - read aloud in the film by Jessie Buckley - and with additional perspectives offered from Gabriel Byrne, Walter Mosley and an array of renowned writers, Edna does not shy from any subject. Blue Road is as candid, dark, and enchanting as O'Brien's wonderful novels. - Metacritic

Dir: Bernard Rose, US, 1992, Horror. Virginia Madsen, Xander Berkeley, Tony Todd. "This unnerving chiller combines modern social issues and the legend of a slave’s murdered son, as Virginia Madsen’s student project turns an urban myth into terrifying reality. Tony Todd’s hook-handed ghost will linger long in your memory." Tom Folley, Radio Times (UK). "This is intelligent, challenging horror, and boasts a fantastic Philip Glass score." - Empire. "What I liked was a horror movie that was scaring me with ideas and gore, instead of simply with gore." - Roger Ebert. "high-caliber horror in its purest, most primal form." - The Hollywood Reporter

Dir: Damian McCarthy, Ireland, 2026, Horror/Thriller. Adam Scott, Peter Coonan, David Wilmot, Florence Ordesh. Sponsored by The Benevolent Irish Society. "Adam Scott plays Ohm Bauman, a cynical, embittered author… On a whim, he leaves his palatial modern manse in Washington state and heads out to Ireland, to the very hotel his late parents enjoyed their honeymoon. As Damian McCarthy‘s film is a proper Irish horror story, there’s a witch, a cynic and a drunk involved. Once at the dark, drab place... one of the attendants suddenly goes missing, shortly after helping Ohm in a deeply affecting way, and he feels obliged to get to the bottom of her case, even as Cob, a local vagabond with an illustrious past, convinces him she’s been murdered… McCarthy‘s film is a taut, well apportioned horror flick with genuine spooks aplenty… Much of the film feels appropriately closed in and claustrophobic - it’s the kind of movie where the frame remains resolutely dark and macabre no matter how many lights are turned on - and it has just enough psychological depth (and sense of humor) to keep things popping. I would not suggest watching it alone." - Piers Marchant, Cinemotic

Dir: Lance Hammer, UK, 2026, Drama. Juliette Binoche, Tom Courtenay, Anna Calder-Marshall. Winner of 3 Silver Bears at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival. “This fearless, absolutely captivating feature digs into one of the most difficult aspects of dementia, and explores it in an empathetic yet forensic fashion. The film follows Juliette Binoche’s academic Amanda whose elderly mother Leslie is living with advanced dementia. At the outset, Amanda walks in on her stepfather Martin having sex with Leslie, despite him previously being warned by his wife’s GP that she is no longer capable of consent. Martin, who is a gentle and loving husband otherwise, is completely committed to caring for his wife but is struggling to do so safely. Trying to wake Martin up to the situation, Amanda calls the police, but the decision backfires and social services get involved too. We see how Amanda’s entanglement in this highly stressful situation impacts on her career and home life, including her ability to look out for her teenage daughter Sara… Hammer’s intelligent and extremely sensitive script considers every conceivable angle of this awful predicament and the performances are quite simply astonishing. Calder-Marshall and Courtenay shared the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at this year’s Berlinale… [and] Binoche is rivetingly conflicted at the centre… The film elevates a fairly grim, real-world issue to something worthy of big-screen scrutiny, holding our interest and seeking to enhance understanding, without ever telling us what to think. This is what cinema should do.” – Emma Simmonds, The List

Dir: Ryan Coogler, US, 2025, Drama/Horror. Michael B. Jordan, Jack O'Connell, Hailee Steinfeld. Winner of 4 Academy Awards including Best Actor, Screenplay, and Score. “Sinners needs no more than a one-word review; Stunning. Magical also works. So does unforgettable. Sinners is one of the most entertaining surprises to arrive in theatres in a long time. Coogler's film is intellectually stimulating, with an open narrative and a rambling pleasure… The story takes audiences back to Mississippi, circa 1932. Slavery is made unconstitutional, but segregation remains the norm. For the notorious Smokestack twins, Elijah ‘Smoke’ and Elias ‘Stack’ freedom is a word without meaning. The brothers, both World War I veterans, high-tailed it to Chicago leaving behind grieving lovers and their broken dreams but returned to their hometown as wealthy men with violent reputations… They purchase an abandoned millhouse and turn it into a backwoods juke joint… A lot happens in Sinners even before a lot happens, but when the music kicks in and the joint starts hopping, all hell breaks loose… Coogler has created a gothic horror musical epic, with encompassing detail, unearthly magic, and historic accuracy. A bombastic meditation on race, freedom, confinement and the magical, sinful, erotic release that can only come from music. Sinners is a movie to see again and again and again. And then, go see it with friends. And that’s all that needs to be said.” – Thom Ernst, Original Cin

(Open Captions - Nov 21, 2:00 show) Dir: Justin Simms, Canada, 2026, Documentary. Mark Critch, Andy Jones, Cathy Jones, Robert Joy, Greg Malone, Rick Mercer, Tommy Sexton, Mary Walsh. These days we might take for granted the genius of a certain group of Newfoundland creatives who emerged in the 1970s to take Canada by storm. This NFB documentary is here to remind us not to. Smash & Grab: The Rebel Lens of Mike Jones goes back to the ‘70s to explore the life of CODCO’s secret weapon: filmmaker Mike Jones (brother to Andy and Cathy), who frequently captured their projects with his camera. Combining rare and unseen footage the film probes the strange genius of these brilliant comic minds. Mike’s family and collaborators reveal his influence through their recollections: from stage shows to the first independent feature film ever produced in Newfoundland, The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood, to how CODCO went off like a bomb on Canadian TV... ‘We went from being the laughingstock of Canada to really making Canada laugh,’ explains Andy. ‘The whole thing started when Mike said, ‘Do you guys want to see what you look like on film?’

(Open Captions Nov 7, 2 pm show). Dir: Christopher Nolan, UK/US, 2026, Action/Adventure. Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson. "The new big-screen reimagining of The Odyssey maintains a vibrancy and excitement that feels timeless… This sweeping epic is a vivid and immersive adventure that translates the mythology of Homer’s ancient Greek poem into a combination of dazzling wartime set pieces and character-driven introspection about family and identity… Ithaca is in shambles since its king, Odysseus left to fight in the Trojan War years ago but never returned. Is he still alive? His wife and queen, Penelope, thinks so, which is why she hasn’t remarried… We learn of Odysseus’ whereabouts through flashbacks, which detail harrowing encounters between his dwindling army and god-like adversaries such as a Cyclops, alluring sirens, and vengeful Poseidon. Currently trapped on a deserted island by the nymph Calypso, he harbors an escape plan for regaining his throne and restoring his kingdom… Both expansive and intimate, The Odyssey reshapes the legendary story for contemporary tastes, turning it into a confident and thoughtful historical fantasy on a grand scale, anchored by a hero whose motives still powerfully resonate." - Todd Jorgenson, Cinemalogue

Dir: Noah Segan, US, 2026, Drama/Thriller. John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, Tatiana Maslany, Steve Buscemi. "Harry is an aging pickpocket, one who sticks to what he knows while the world advances around him. He doesn’t understand smartphones, has no idea what USB means, and laments that no one carries cash anymore. But he’s still able to make a dishonest living and take care of his sick wife. Then one day he accidentally steals a crypto gizmo from the wrong guy, and is pulled into a tense thriller that puts everyone around him at risk. The film is a beautiful love letter to the city of New York, with lots of shots of busy streets and packed subways, but it’s mostly an incredible showcase for Turturro. He plays a genuinely bad guy, but you can’t help but love him in spite of it; at one point he literally steals candy from a child, and it made me smile. The final moments of the film are just about perfect." - Andrew Webster, The Verge

Saturday's 1:00 show will have Open Captions. Dir: Jonathan Demme, US, 1991, Thriller/Horror. Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn. Academy Award Winner for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. “Agent Clarice Starling assists in the hunt for a brutal killer… Hoping to gain some insight into the killer's mind, she visits the notorious psychiatrist and serial killer Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter in prison. His dazzling intellect and psychopathic nature both messes with her head and leads her on the path to success. Of course, while the character of Lecter was the crowd-pleaser, the heart of this genuinely chilling movie lies with Foster... Her encounters with Anthony Hopkins are among the most compelling in recent cinematic history. Director Demme too, should be commended for his restraint when it comes to the violence, choosing to focus on faces and suggestion rather than actual gore. That said, this is a bloody tale, with a finale that'll make you think twice about entering a dark room without a sturdy weapon to defend yourself. Nonetheless, the superb acting, memorable characters, and riveting story should have you hooked.” – Ben Falk, BBC