What’s On

Writer-director Louis Paxton's debut feature sees a nervy council official attempt to evict two siblings who have never had any human contact from their outside world.

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A love letter to nature filmed exclusively on Super 8, Super Nature proposes a new way of seeing. A celebration of all we have and reflecting on all we have to lose, this global co-creation project journeys across 25 different countries, creating a visceral, poetic and personal meditation on the natural world.

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Open your animal eyes. An immersive exhibition of groundbreaking video games & virtual reality. A must-do this summer in Bristol's Undershed Gallery.

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Join us for the launch of the vibrant debut novel by Timothy X Atack, award-winning playwright and composer, and Pervasive Media Studio resident.

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To break his writer's block, a filmmaker draws desperate inspiration from his closest relationships in this rich Almodóvar melodrama.

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Directed by Gregg Araki (whose 2007 comedy Smiley Face inspired the Brat album cover don't you know!) and written by Araki and Karley Sciortino (of Slutever fame), I Want Your Sex is a darkly funny erotic satire.

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Move over Heartstopper... this haunting debut has some teeth to it! A chilling sensation in queer horror from director Adrian Chiarella, Leviticus follows two lovestruck teenage boys who face off against supernatural evil in the wake of harrowing 'deliverance healing'.

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It's 1985. Vincent, almost 13, fumbles through life's big questions: identity, friendship, family, first crushes... and why adults don’t seem to have things figured out either.

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In this talk, Matt Dowse and Mary Stevens from the Centre for Sociodigital Future (CenSoF) will present the ideas behind their upcoming project Just Enough AI: Developing Demonstrators For Responsible, Appropriate Scale A.I. Within Planetary Boundaries.

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The Republic documents the story of Stokes Croft, portraying a diverse community that dares to defy the cold winds of corporate power and globalisation. But their greatest challenge looms as developers target this quarter and ready their wrecking balls.

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Chabrol’s ice cold tale of infidelity, passion and violence – an unmissable Hitchcockian thriller set against a backdrop of bourgeois respectability in late 1960’s Versailles which inspired Andrey Zvyagintsev's Cannes 2026 Grand Prix winner Minotaur.

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Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans.

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In this new 4K restoration of one of Japan's most loved cult films Survive Style 5+, five bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one another eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.

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Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a new kind of horror remake from one of the most exciting new voices in cinema, starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson.

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Welfare shows the nature and complexity of the welfare system in sequences illustrating the staggering diversity of problems that constitute welfare.

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A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life.

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Gurinder Chadha’s beloved Bend It Like Beckham returns, starring Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley.

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The Road to Patagonia follows ecologist Matty Hannon on an incredible solo adventure surfing his way along the west coast of the Americas. Shot over 16 years, the result is a beautiful documentation of the untouched natural world that few get to experience, offering a thrilling new perspective on our place within it.

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Step into the burgeoning British youth culture of the 1950s and 60s with this selection of excerpts from the BFI National Archive’s Associated-Rediffusion collection.

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Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom sees the residents of Mossy Bottom Farm looking forward to Halloween – until the clumsy Farmer trashes the Flock’s beloved pumpkin patch!

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A love story like no other, The Cycle of Love is an inspiring, heart-warming, epic true-life adventure about self-belief, destiny and the courage to risk everything for love, traversing continents in a journey spanning Delhi to Sweden.

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In this Lunchtime Talk, immersive artist and researcher Tosin Olufon shares the messy, joyful and sometimes ridiculous process of turning a folktale into an interactive experience.

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A struggling primary school teacher begins to make some questionable decisions after one of her students is injured.

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Discover the brilliance of this heartwarming coming-of-age classic in 4K from the creators of My Neighbour Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service, which we recently screened.

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Pulp: What Do You Do For An Encore? is a celebration of one of Britain's most unusual bands, captured during their triumphant 2025 tour. Directed by longtime collaborator Garth Jennings and narrated by Pulp frontman, Jarvis Cocker, the film weaves together footage from their ingenious live show with four decades of never-before-seen archival material.

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Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is presented as every cinematic classic should be: on a 35mm print.

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Please join us at the 17:40 Descriptive Subtitled screening of The Cycle of Love on Mon 21 Sept which will feature an introduction by Fern Scott, documentary filmmaker and one of the organisers of Bristol Doc Club, followed by a post-screening discussion in the Café & Bar. Featuring BSL interpretation.

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Encounters Film Festival's 31st edition features 142 films in competition from 39 countries, alongside a rich programme of special screenings, discovering emerging talent and showcasing celebrated auteurs.

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