Our selection of unmissable screenings in our event programme, including milestone anniversaries, exciting collaborations, special events and other Festival highlights.
Regulars will know that we have a fond spot for Ealing Comedies, and so we’re delighted to announce this 75th anniversary screening of The Lavender Hill Mob. Alec Guinness is on top form as a mild-mannered bank clerk who dreams up an audacious gold bullion heist with a scheme so outrageously simple, it’s surely the perfect crime - or is it? This gleeful sendup of the crime genre went on to inspire Alfred Hitchcock and remains ranked among the funniest British films ever made - and we’ll be pairing it with some wines inspired by the characters and settings!
Our March screenings at the Planetarium continue with a dose of British sci-fi nostalgia: it’s a digitally restored, 60th anniversary screening of Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Hammer/Star Wars legend Peter Cushing returns in this sequel as the titular Doctor, with Bernard Cribbins joining in the misadventure as a policeman who mistakes the TARDIS for an actual police box and gets embroiled in a desperate bid to foil the Daleks’ most dastardly plot yet! This expansion of the Whoniverse for the 60s silver screen is the perfect watch for any fan of the beloved series, as well as anyone who enjoys classic science fiction with a healthy dose of British idiosyncrasies.
Our March screenings at the Planetarium conclude with a 40th anniversary screening of the sci-fi/fantasy epic Highlander. With its sprawling story spanning centuries, sword-and-sorcery spin on science fiction, and legendary soundtrack by Queen, it’s a cornerstone of 80s pop culture in all its glorious, cheesy glory - throw in Sean Connery as an immortal swordsman and location shoots from Manhattan to the Scottish Highlands, and you’ve got yourself a bona fide cult classic that’s still full of life after four decades!
Join us for a very special centenary screening: we’ll be showing acclaimed docudrama The Queen on 21st April, which is the late monarch’s 100th birthday. Helen Mirren won an Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of Elizabeth II - and even received praise from the Queen herself! - in Stephen Frears’ spellbinding film, which is turning 20 this year. Set within the luxurious Aquam Bibe rooms at the Avon Gorge Hotel, arrive early for a sparkling drinks reception and browse our Partner Showcase, then enjoy this contemporary classic - full of wit, humour and pathos, it’s a nuanced exploration of one of the most significant figures in recent history.
2026 marks the 20th anniversary of firm Festival favourite Pan’s Labyrinth. Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning masterpiece is both hauntingly beautiful and brutally ugly, in its seamless blending of its surreal and sinister mythical realm with the harsh realities of the Spanish Civil War’s immediate aftermath. We’ve screened it many times over the past decade at a range of venues, and now for the first time we present it as a Vintage Screening, accompanied by a flight of Spanish wines in tribute to the film’s setting. This promises to be a spellbinding evening - book now to avoid disappointment.
We’re heating things up at the Planetarium in April with a crossover fantasy double bill celebrating dragons on the big screen! First up is a 30th anniversary screening of Dragonheart. Sean Connery voices the last of the dragons in this heartwarming tale of misadventure, unlikely friendship and duty - it’s a loving homage to some of the swords-and-sorcery classics as well as buddy comedies from Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid onwards, with Oscar-nominated special effects utilising full CGI characters that helped pave the way for the likes of Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings. One for the whole family, especially the millennial inner child…!
This May, we’ll be celebrating two very different alien invasion films that both happen to be turning 30 in 2026… First up it’s Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!. We’ve long been fans of Mr Burton’s filmography, but this is our first ever time screening his deliciously dark satire, which feels like a giddy mix of 50s B-movies and Dr Strangelove. Full of famous faces and plenty of laser beam-induced chaos, it’s a campy cult classic that will leave you in shock, awe - and going “Hey, what’s Tom Jones doing here…?”
After sold out screenings last year, we’re going to be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Big Night, Stanley Tucci’s tragicomedy chronicling the misadventures of two Italian brothers gambling their struggling restaurant’s future on an epic meal for a special guest. Expect an Italian wine tasting alongside the film, as well as a meal during the interval courtesy of Toff’s Pasta, to accompany one of the greatest films about food and friendship ever made!
This May, we’ll be celebrating two very different alien invasion films that both happen to be turning 30 in 2026… Second up is Roland Emmerich’s Oscar-winning blockbuster Independence Day. It’s the perfect blend of everything we love about 90s cinema: an epic scale, an eclectic all-star ensemble cast, Jeff Goldblum playing a roguish nerd, and high-octane action sequences served up with a healthy dose of Hollywoods cheese!
We’re bringing another instalment of one of our favourite series to Averys in time for its 50th anniversary: it’s The Pink Panther Strikes Again! Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom are the perfect double act in another madcap chapter in the life of the world’s worst detective and his long-suffering boss, who’s finally driven over the brink… In honour of Inspector Clouseau we’ll be pairing the film with a flight of French wines to enjoy between the laughter - Santé!
In honour of its 75th anniversary, we’re delighted to present our first ever screening of Elia Kazan’s astonishing adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire. Featuring an Oscar-nominated Marlon Brandon and Vivien Leigh in her second Oscar-winning role, this Southern Gothic masterpiece is a powerful and poignant realisation of Tennessee Williams’ incendiary play. To pair with this sweat-drenched film, we’ll be bringing you wines from some of the hottest winemaking regions in the world, as the heat rises in New Orleans’ French Quarter…
This June we’re marking the 50th anniversary of two classic sci-fi films, starting with the utopian/dystopian Logan’s Run. Based on the cult novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, it’s a dazzling slice of 70s science fiction that pairs glossy blockbuster spectacle with surprisingly subversive ideas about youth, freedom, and control. Famous for its chilling “Carrousel” [sic] sequences, and Oscar-winning visual effects, it’s a bold product of the pre-digital era and a time-capsule of futuristic imagination.
