Documentaries, the Bard... and gin
Posted on Tue 24 May 2016
June is almost upon us - and with it a trio of documentaries with a focus on current issues and working class champions, from director Ken Loach (Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach), the migrant crisis (Fire at Sea) to Michael Moore journeying to Europe to 'steal' our best ideas and bring them back to America (Where to Invade Next).
A cocktail for a great month to kick off the summer...
June is almost upon us - and with it a trio of documentaries with a focus on current issues and working class champions, from director Ken Loach (Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach), the migrant crisis (Fire at Sea) to Michael Moore journeying to Europe to 'steal' our best ideas and bring them back to America (Where to Invade Next).
First up is Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach (Fri 3 June for at least one week), a funny, provocative and revealing account of the life and career of one of Britain’s most celebrated and controversial filmmakers (who celebrates his 80th this year and has just brought his latest film to Cannes). We've got a pay-what-you-can screening on Sun 5 June at 18:10 too!
Next is Fire at Sea (Fri 10 June for at least one week), an intense documentary about the life of Pampedusa, a small Sicilian island that has seen 400,000 migrants pass through en route to the mainland, and off whose coastline more than 15,000 have died. It's Refugee Week in June, and to mark it we'll also be hosting a free event on The Impact of War on Women on Sun 26 June at 15:00.
Lastly, Oscar®-winning firebrand Michael Moore makes a triumphant return with Where To Invade Next (Fri 10 June for at least two weeks, with a Satellite Q&A with Moore on the Friday), where he seeks to show how America has screwed up the things that once made it great by taking part in a sort of cultural invasion of Europe.
There he steals our best policies including the empowerment of women (Tunisia and Iceland), teaching good sex (France), free college (Slovenia), health care (everywhere), healthy school lunches... with cheese courses (France) and compassionate treatment of criminals (Norway)... no word yet on how he's got on with introducing it all to America, but we'll ask him on Friday night to find out about his progress!
For our Brunches, we're marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with four classic film adaptations of his work: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, The Tempest, and Ran. We've also got a couple of special one offs so check out the whole season and step once more into the breach...
Lastly, a heads up about our free Gin Tasting event on Thu 2 June at 17:30. Join us in the Café/Bar to taste our regular gins - Chase GB, Hendricks and Bombay Sapphire - plus guest gins and tonic, and swing by for the rest of the summer (Sun 4 Sept) to taste a rotating selection of some of the best botanicals out there. Cheers!