• Friday 12 December for 1 week

AÑO UÑA (15)

(Mexico 2007) dir. Jonás Cuarón 79m. Subtitles. Digital.
Diego Cataño , Eireann Harper, Salvador Elizondo, Michele Alban, Cristina Orozco, Mariana Elizondo.

AÑO UÑA is much more than just a movie, it's an experience, the strikingly original debut feature by Jonás Cuarón, produced by his father Alfonso, the director of Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN. During a single year Jonas took thousands of photographs, spontaneous images of people in their everyday lives, unposed and unstaged. These have now been woven into the completely fictional narrative tale of the impossible romance between Molly (Eireann Harper), a 21 year old American travelling through Mexico, and Diego (Diego Cataño), a typically and perpetually horny 14 year old – naïve, romantic and troubled by a persistent ingrowing toenail. The delightful soundtrack offers some often hilarious insights into the cultural differences between America and Mexico as well as some insightful observations on the universally painful experience of growing up.

• Friday 12 December for 1 week

LEMON TREE (PG)

(Israel/Germany/France 2008) dir. Eran Riklis 106m. Subtitles.
Hiam Abbass, Ali Suliman, Rona Lipaz-Michael, Doran Tavory, Tarik Copty, Amos Lavie.

Personal meets political in a pertinent and beautifully played drama, based on a true story, that turns a simple snapshot of a minor political situation into a touching and memorable analogy for a country divided. A Palestinian widow finds her beloved lemon grove threatened when an Israeli government minister moves in next door. Israeli security declares that Salma's trees pose a threat to the Ministers safety and order their uprooting.Together with Ziad Daud, a young Palestinian lawyer, Salma goes all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court to try and save her trees. Her struggle raises the interest of Mira Navon, the Defense ministers wife, trapped in her new home and in an unhappy life. Despite their differences and the borders between them the two women develop an invisible bond, while forbidden ties grow stronger between Salma and Ziad. Salmas legal and personal journey lead her deep into the complex, dark and sometimes absurd chaos of the ongoing struggle. With an outstanding central performance by Hiam Abbass, this is intelligent and entertaining cinema at its very best.

• Friday 19 December for 15 days

MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA (PG)

(US 2008) dir. Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath 89m. Digital.
Voices of: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen.

The sequel to the worldwide smash hit sees all the original characters still stranded on the island of Madagascar. Deciding that they preferred the confines of Central Park Zoo they decide to steal a plane and try to find their way 'home', only to crash land on the African continent. Encountering species of their own for the very first time, how will our New Yorker friends survive out in the wild? Double the fun the second time round, this is Dreamworks best animation yet!

• Friday 19 December for 8 days

GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR HUNTER S. THOMPSON (15)

(US 2008) dir. Alex Gibney 120m.
Johnny Depp, Sonny Barger, Tom Wolfe, Sondi Wright, Jimmy Carter, Pat Buchanan, George McGovern.

Johnny Depp is the narrator as legendary journalist Hunter S. Thompson is put under the microscope in this superb feature from Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney. The movie covers all bases: the public persona revered for chronicling modern America with his famed creation of 'gonzo' journalism and the equally famous self-destructive tendencies that shaped his private life. A fast paced and intriguing collection of fascinating archival footage, newsreels, and celebrity interviewees lining up to honour Thompson makes this a compelling tribute to a counterculture hero.

• Friday 26 December for 6 days

FAR NORTH (15)

(UK/France 2007) dir. Asif Kapadia 89m. Digital.
Michelle Yeoh, Michelle Krusiec, Sean Bean, Per Egil Aske, Jan Olav Dahl, Espen Prestbakmo.

Filmed in the breathtaking landscapes of the Arctic, FAR NORTH is as majestically beautiful a film as its story is terrifying. Michelle Yeoh and Sean Bean head an outstanding cast in a tense thriller about survival, passion and revenge, directed and co-written by Hackney's own Asif Kapdia. Haunted by a violent past, Saiva (Yeoh) and Anja (Michelle Krusiec) share an isolated, brutal existence in the desolate Arctic tundra. When Loki (Bean), a wounded stranger, enters their lives, a romance quickly develops, but the betrayal that follows leads to shocking consequences. Based on a story by Sara Maitland, FAR NORTH is a striking mix of myth and reality and a truly remarkable achievement.

There will be a Q&A with Asif Kapadia after the 8.30 show on Mon 29 Dec

• Sunday 28 December for 3 days

BICYCLE THIEVES (U)

(Italy 1948) dir. Vittorio De Sica 93m. Subtitles. Digital.
Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Gino Saltamerenda, Vittorio Antonucci.

The return of a masterpiece. A perennial entry in countless greatest movie lists over the last fifty years, Vittorio De Sica's BICYCLE THIEVES (Ladri di biciclette) defines a unique and unforgettable era in cinema. In immediate postwar, poverty-stricken Rome, a man, hoping to support his desperate family with a new job, loses his bicycle, his main means of transportation for work. With his wide-eyed young son in tow, he sets off to track down the thief. Simple in construction and dazzlingly rich in human insight, the movie embodied all the greatest strengths of the neorealist film movement in Italy: emotional clarity, social righteousness, and brutal honesty.

• Friday 2 January for 2 weeks

CHE: PART ONE (15)

(France/Spain/US 2008) dir. Steven Soderbergh 126m. Digital.
Benicio Del Toro, Demián Bichir, Santiago Cabrera, Elvira Mínguez, Jorge Perugorría.

On November 26, 1956, Fidel Castro sailed to Cuba with a rebel force determined to overthrow the corrupt dictatorship of President Batista. One of those rebels would become a symbol of struggle and hope, an iconic figure recognisable worldwide and a legend: Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. The first part of Steven Soderbergh's powerful and incisive chronicle interweaves narratives of the Argentinian doctor's early years, from his life-changing meeting with Fidel Castro in Mexico to the jungles and hills of Cuba as the fight approaches Havana. Winner of the Best Actor award at Cannes, Benicio Del Toro gives a truly spellbinding performance as the idealist who became a revolutionary hero and an inspiration.

There will be a special New Year's Day double bill of CHE: PART ONE and CHE: PART TWO on Thur 1 Jan at 6.15.

• Friday 16 January for 1 week

A CHRISTMAS TALE ( Un Conte de Noël) (15)

(France 2008) dir. Arnaud Desplechin 153m. Subtitles. Digital.
Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Anne Consigny, Melvil Poupaud, Hippolyte Girardot.

Merry Christmas? It is holiday weekend in the French provincial town of Roubaix, and three generations of a family are gathering under one roof to celebrate together... and endure each other's company. The warring clan has united for a less than celebratory reason – matriarch Junon (Deneuve) is gravely ill. As Junon contemplates her future, her children are forced to reflect on the collective memories from their fraught history in an attempt to reconcile the past before it is too late. The mood swings from the solemn to the ribald and the result is a captivating portrait of a most gorgeously fractious dysfunctional family with all its love and hostility, warmth and mistrust, tensions and mysteries. Deneuve and Amalric , as the ostracised prodigal son, are superb and writer/director Arnaud Desplechin beautifully orchestrates a truly captivating, energizing, passionate, evocative and pleasurable slice of life. Happy New Year!

• Friday 23 January for 2 weeks

MILK (15)

(US 2008) dir. Gus Van Sant 128m. Digital.
Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alison Pill.

Gus Van Sant's magnificent portrait of the life, death and legacy of Harvey Milk, ‘The Mayor of Castro Street’ and the first openly gay man voted into significant US public office. Ironically, the same election that brought Milk to the board of San Francisco supervisors also elected the man who would kill him, ex-police officer and fireman Dan White. MILK captures not only Milk himself, warts and all, but also the political and social landscape of America in the 1970s. Sean Penn gives the performance of his career and impeccable performances from the supporting cast help strike the delicate balance between a personal portrait and a political history that resonates strongly with more contemporary events and attitudes.

ge Clooney), a Treasury agent who's cheating on both his wife and mistress, who's Osborne's wife... With a sense of devious comic timing that can veer off into horror or hilarity, the Coens are up to their old tricks and the result is an intoxicating delight.