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12 Film Membership: See all twelve films in the Stafford Film Theatre Autumn/Winter 2023/24 season for just £90 (£78 concessions).

Kelly Fremon Craig / USA 2023 / 105 min / Cert PG

Based on Judy Blume’s much-loved novel of the same name, this delightful film is a timeless coming of age story. Abby Ryder Fortson stars as Margaret, a young girl uprooted from her life in New York City to the suburbs of New Jersey. We follow Margaret as she navigates the perils and uncertainties of puberty. Her mother Barbara, played by Rachel McAdams, has her own crisis of identity “It’s a film that’s both warmly entertaining and downright revolutionary. Kelly delivers a wonderful lived-in family dramedy about religion and sexuality” (Katie Walsh Los Angeles Times)

Wes Anderson / USA, Spain, Germany 2023 / 105min / Cert 12A

A monochrome 1950s American TV show presents a play set in the American West. In the play, presented in colour, photographer Augie Steenbeck and his children make a stop in the remote desert town of Asteroid City (population: 87), to repair his car. Whilst there he encounters some unusual characters, and life from another world. Full of Anderson’s trademark eccentricities, and beautifully, painstakingly, lovingly crafted to within an inch of its life, this film demonstrates that Anderson can still surprise. With a starry ensemble cast, including Tom Hanks and Tilda Swinton, this is, according to Empire, ‘truly delightful’.

Pierre Foldes / Canada, France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands 2022 / 108 min / Cert 15 / Subtitles

An animated adaptation of stories by Haruki Murakami, from his anthology of the same name. Vignettes about an unambitious bank employee, his frustrated wife and a schizophrenic accountant, interweave in the aftermath of an earthquake. Confronting assorted personal problems, the trio find new meaning in their lives with help from unexpected sources. ‘An invigorating translation of prose to the animated form’ Sight and Sound. And the Guardian notes that “It has the ruminative lightness, almost weightlessness, the watercolour delicacy and reticence of the emotions, the sense of the uncanny, the insistent play of erotic possibility and that Murakami keynote: a cat.”

Lukas Dhont / Belguim, France, The Netherlands 2022 / 104 min / Cert 12 / Subtitles

Both a Cannes prizewinner and Oscar nominee for Best International Film, this exquisitely acted production evokes the fragile beauty of boyhood. Léo and Rémi are two 13-year old boys who are so close that ‘best friends’ hardly seems to describe their bond. On starting secondary school, their schoolmates’ prying questions about their friendship make Léo uncomfortable, leading him to distance himself from Rémi. Eden Dambrine plays Léo with wondrous sensitivity, while Gustav De Waele’s performance as Rémi is heartbreaking. Set among the flower fields of the Belgian countryside, Lukas Dhont’s profoundly empathetic look at adolescent intimacy reveals the trappings of masculinity

Emmanuelle Nicot / France, Belgium 2023 / 83 min / Cert 15 / Subtitles

This deservedly multi-award-winning film will blow you away. Twelve-year-old Zelda Samson gives an exceptional performance as Dalva, a girl who was groomed by her father. The viewer follows the young girl from the moment she was taken into care and through her journey to recovery. The director paints an achingly beautiful portrait of friendship, recovery and identity, without falling into the trap of sensationalising or melodrama, yet there is room for humour and laughter, pathos and catharsis. “Dalva, the film, Dalva, the character is rebellious, full of pain, festive, tough, candid and scandalously human.” Erick Estrata, Cinegarage.

Nida Manzoor / UK 2023 / 105 min / Cert 12A

Dynamic, energetic and wickedly funny, Polite Society tells its story via anarchic genre shifts that take in action comedy, martial arts, Bollywood and social horror. 16-year-old Ria Khan is desperate to become a stuntwoman regardless of the disapproval of her British-Pakistani family and posh school. Loyal to her older sister Lena, she’s horrified when Lena becomes engaged to surgeon Salim – who somehow only Ria can see is a sinister creep. Is it sibling envy or loss Ria feels, or is something genuinely awry? After enlisting the help of her friends, Ria attempts to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists in the name of independence and sisterhood. Beautifully designed and boasting a tremendously witty, punchy script, it’s a light-hearted, exuberant and distinctive study of sibling affection.

Raine Allen Miller / UK 2023 / 82 min / 15 / Subtitles

Set over the course of a single day in South London, this vivacious debut from director Raine Allen-Miller is a wonderfully fresh take on the romcom genre. Yas and Dom meet, somewhat unconventionally, at a mutual friend’s art show before they step out into the chaos and vibrancy of Peckham’s Rye Lane, so beginning their adventure. During which, in a nod to the genre, Colin Firth serves them burritos from a cafe called Love Guac’tually. This is a lovely feel-good film where comedy, heartbreak and romance intersect beautifully.

Alice Diop / France / 123 min / Cert 12 / Subtitles

Rama, a successful writer, observes a court case in the French town of Saint Omer, where the defendant, Laurence, stands accused of killing her own infant daughter. We hear from Laurence, the lawyers and several witnesses; meanwhile Rama, pregnant herself, grows increasingly distressed as

the contradictions of the testimonies of each witness take us further and further away from knowable truth. Winning 14 awards and based on an actual case, this fiercely intelligent and engrossing film will continue to haunt your thoughts. ‘Diop’s careful direction allows the elegant dialogue to soar ‘ Sight and Sound ‘…delivered with astonishing clarity’ Empire