Welcome to Keswick Film Club

"Lee Sang-il's heartfelt and muscular epic (whose title means 'national treasure') was a box-office smash on its Japanese home turf, winning a host of festival awards and an Oscar nomination. It's a mighty Cain-and-Abel drama spanning five decades, set in the rarefied world of kabuki theatre where some of the most exotically prized performers are the onnagata, the men who have mastered the rigorously observed discipline of playing women in classical kabuki roles, a convention which arose from Japan's 17th-century banning of women on stage, rather as they once were in England 100 years before" - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian.

Another Members' Choice this Sunday with Cotton Queen at the later time of 5:45 to make way for the Royal Ballet Manon. Life in a Sudanese village is dominated by cotton and Al-Sit, an old lady who fought off the British many years earlier. Her grand daughter Nafisa is happy with her life, hoping to marry Babiker, until Nadir arrives, selling the villagers on GM seeds, and looking for a wife. Nadir's mother sees him as a good bet, regardless of what Nadir thinks...

"There is a mythical quality to this atmospheric first feature from Sudanese-Russian film-maker Suzannah Mirghani, blending a coming-of-age narrative with a striking depiction of the collision between tradition and modernity." - Wendy Ide, Observer

A film about... an escaped hen! Don't be put off - there is a lot more to this than meets her eye...through which the whole film is seen. As she escapes from one place to the next she "quizzically observes a world where humans treat each other like, well, animals" - Leslie Felperin, Guardian.

La Grazia is the latest from the great Italian director Paolo Sorrentino once again has Toni Servillo in the starring role, this time as Mariano De Santis, an imaginary Italian president in the last months of his office.

“La Grazia is a marvel. Slow, grave and perfectly realised, it's by far Sorrentino's best film for years.” -  David Sexton, New Statesman