Restored & Rediscovered

Deeply personal, beautifully realised, and symbolically obscure, Andrei Tarkovsky’s first film directed outside of his home country stands as a testament to his own conflicting thoughts regarding Russia as he considered a self-proclaimed exile.

An anonymous tip starts a traditional whodunnit which quickly segues into a surrealistic farce and moves from film noir to science fiction in the mysterious and enigmatic Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel.

An important milestone of Black South African cinematic history that lives on in cultural memory, African Jim introduced the singular jazz singer and activist Dolly Rathebe to the big screen.

Set in the final hours before a nuclear war threatens to wipe out humanity, Andrei Tarkovsky’s visionary final film is a visually breathtaking meditation on existential terror and a melancholic swan song from one of cinema’s true auteurs.

Berlin-based director Cynthia Beatt’s first feature shot shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall centres on Queenie (a spellbinding performance by a young Tilda Swinton), a woman navigating a personal crisis.

Mike Figgis’ beautifully lurid descent into Las Vegas oblivion is anchored by two career defining - and award winning - performances from Nicolas Cage and Elizabeth Shue.

Arundhati Roy’s debut screenplay captures 1970s student rebellion in New Delhi, set against a vibrant backdrop of Marxism, parties and Beatles songs.

Four city boys embark on a countryside holiday that will transform them in this quietly incisive gem from Satyajit Ray, presented in a stunning new 4K restoration spearheaded by Wes Anderson, and Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation.

Claude Chabrol’s masterful thriller hinges on the unlikely bond between a schoolmistress and a butcher and the unsettling possibility that all might not be what it seems as a wave of murders grip their small idyllic French village.

Dirk Bogarde and Stanley Baker star in a study of masculine malaise among the academic elite told through the elliptical rhythms of Harold Pinter's’ script and cool and penetratingly detached direction of Joseph Losey.

Crafted by renowned poet and screenwriter Ahmed Bouanani, this experimental masterpiece draws from Morocco’s rich oral traditions, and the ever-present spectre of colonialism.

This first and only feature film directed (and edited) by Park Nam-ok, South Korea's first female filmmaker, provides an intimate look at the female experience in post-war Seoul.

The film the British Board of Film Censors didn’t want you to see… until the world changed.

A gritty crime drama focusing on the intense, cat-and-mouse relationship between Inspector Chan and a drug informant, exploring corruption and the "rules of the game" in 1970s Hong Kong.

Charles Burnett’s deeply humanist follow-up to Killer of Sheep centres on Pierce Mundy caught between family expectations and loyalty to a friend, providing an intimate window into early ’80s South Central LA.

Set against the gritty backdrop of 1990s New York City, this postmodern reimagining of the Dracula myth, executive produced by David Lynch, follows estranged vampire twins as they reunite after their father’s death.

British film noir at its darkest and most deadly.

With a production almost as dramatic as its plot, this lavish late silent masterpiece by Erich von Stroheim can be fully experienced thanks to a vital new reconstruction by Milestones.

This important rediscovery banned in 1963 by the Venezuelan government provides a striking snapshot of social disparity which draws on the director’s own childhood experiences.

Set in 17th-century China, T’ang Shushuen’s groundbreaking debut feature - one of the first independent films made in Hong Kong - traces the plight of a widow torn between passion and moral obligations.

Now newly restored for its 30th anniversary, Steve Buscemi’s debut feature is a still-largely unsung indie masterpiece capturing the chaos of hopeless loser Tommy (Buscemi) as he stumbles through life.

Few films tell a heartbreaking story as hilariously as this must-see classic in which Tom Courtenay stars in this tale of a young clerk lost to daydreams in his Yorkshire hometown. But will they ever come true?

Take a trip out to the stunning Curzon Cinema in Clevedon (and a peek at their Christie organ) followed by a special screening of this lavish late silent masterpiece introduced by critic and film historian Pamela Hutchinson.

A hilarious cautionary tale about the perils of independent filmmaking starring Steve Buscemi as a penniless New York screenwriter with big cinematic ambitions.