BRASSED OFF at Screening Room
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you might even want to take up the flugelhorn
April’s Screening Room selection is Mark Herman’s poignant comedy-drama Brassed Off. Pete Postlethwaite leads an ensemble cast in this story of Grimley Colliery Band and their dual struggle to reach the National Brass Band Finals against the backdrop of the increasing uncertainty about the future of the local mine. 40 years on from the miners’ strikes, this underrated gem of modern British cinema has lost none of its pathos and charm.
A RUN FOR YOUR MONEY at Screening Room
A truly vintage British comedy that’ll have you singing hymns & arias
As part of our weekend celebrating the 75th anniversary of several Ealing Comedies, we’re excited to be presenting a lesser-known classic from 1949 at this year’s first Screening Room event. A Run For Your Money follows two rugby-mad Welsh miners on their first trip to London - it’s an underrated Ealing gem, and rugby fans will be pleased to note that it finishes just in time for the England’s Six Nation match against Ireland…!
THE CRUEL SEA at Screening Room
A seminal war film where the true villain is the ocean
Our final Screening Room film of the year is a 70th anniversary showing of The Cruel Sea, fittingly screening over the Remembrance weekend. Based on Nicholas Montserrat’s bestselling novel and with a screenplay by the spy fiction writer Eric Ambler, this is a heart pounding and harrowing account of WWII’s Battle of the Atlantic, and the perils faced by those who kept the convoys moving.
GREEN ROOM at Screening Room
Ever thought you’ve played a bad gig? This band’s ordeal will leave you speechless
As part of our 2023 Halloween week, we’ve chosen something a little different from the usual horror fare for our Screening Room Series, but don’t be lulled into a false sense of security…! 2015’s Green Room may read like a thriller on paper, but this exceptionally well-crafted, taut psychological thriller presents an “it could actually happen” scenario as terrifying as any movie monster.
BICYCLE THIEVES at Screening Room
A powerful and influential masterwork of world cinema
Our final three Screening Room events of the year are Saturday matinee screenings, making them a perfect way to spend an autumn afternoon. September’s screening is a special 75th anniversary showing of Bicycle Thieves, the poignant post-war Italian drama that is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made, influencing everyone from Ken Loach to Martin Scorsese.
GOOD WILL HUNTING at Screening Room
A career-launching film with star turns all round
As we move into the autumn, we’re revisiting the powerful and poignant drama Good Will Hunting. This film made household names of its writers and costars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, but it’s the Oscar-winning performance from the late, great Robin Williams that completes the picture and makes this such a heart-warming, moving and engrossing modern classic.
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE at Screening Room
The recent Oscars sensation: playing again this summer
We’re thrilled to have been granted permission for a special screening of Everything Everywhere All At Once, which has recently won the Academy Award for Best Picture (and many other accolades too)! If you missed this instant cult classic the first time round, or need another viewing of this multiverse masterpiece, then join us this August for an evening to remember.
FALLING DOWN at Screening Room
A shocking story about the day that a seemingly ordinary man reaches breaking point
Coming to the Screening Room this June is Joel Schumacher’s incendiary action thriller Falling Down. Thirty years since its release, the uneasy questions it poses are still just as relevant. With a standout performance from Michael Douglas as one man on a rampage, a fiendishly tense plot, and surprising amounts of gallows humour, it’s both disquietening and entertaining in equal measure!
THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE at Screening Room
75 years old, and still one of the great American movies
This May, our Screening Room selection is a seminal Western adventure, and an epic meditation on the human condition and the corrupting influence of greed is arguably director John Huston’s magnum opus. It won him an Oscar, as well as his actor father Walter - but Humphrey Bogart’s performance remains one of the greatest never to receive an Oscar nomination…
HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE at Screening Room
It’s hard to find one, and harder still to fall in love with one…
Our Screening Room selection for April is the screwball comedy celebrating its 70th birthday in 2023, How To Marry A Millionaire. Combining the star power of Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall, and utilising the brand new Cinemascope widescreen technology, its a glamorous and gleefully silly tale of misadventures in the course of hunting for The One, soundtracked by one of the first ever film scores recorded in stereo.
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT at Screening Room
A gripping whodunnit - and a searing 60s study of racism in small-town America
Our March Screening Room selection is In The Heat Of The Night, the Best Oscar-winning neo-noir murder mystery that unflinchingly addresses racial prejudice in 1960s America. Rod Steiger won an Oscar for his portrayal of a racist police chief, with Sidney Poitier every bit his match in one of his defining roles. Its anti-racist message had a major impact on contemporary audiences, and remains powerfully relevant today.
SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE at Screening Room
Celebrate three decades of one of the definitive romcoms
Hot on the heels of Valentine’s Day, we’re presenting a 30th anniversary screening of Nora Ephron’s touching romantic comedy-drama Sleepless In Seattle for our February Screening Room event. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan both shine in their critically acclaimed lead roles, and their chemistry is palpable - even though they famously spend most of the film apart…!
PARASITE at Screening Room
This scathing South Korean social satire is a modern masterpiece
Our Screening Room Series is back at Averys for 2023! Starting the year is Parasite, the first non English-language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Bong Joon-Ho’s savage social satire wowed audiences upon its release in late 2019. Darkly hilarious, deeply unsettling and full of shocking twists and turns, it’s a must-see highlight of 21st Century filmmaking that will leave you on the edge of your seat…
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET: Screening Room Series at Bristol Improv Theatre
75 years on, this timeless classic still captures the spirit of Christmas
To round off the inaugural year of the Screening Room – and get into the festive spirit as we move into December – we’re delighted to be showing the original Miracle On 34th Street. While we’re certainly not criticising the Richard Attenborough remake, the Oscar-winning 1947 version remains a true Christmas classic, deftly blending wry humour and even legal drama into the irresistible childhood wonder that it invokes.
HIGH FIDELITY: Screening Room Series at Bristol Improv Theatre
This romcom with depth hits all the right notes – will it make your Top 5?
November’s Screening Room selection is High Fidelity, the romantic comedy-drama based on Nick Horby’s beloved novel. Surprisingly faithful to the source material for a silver screen adaptation, its transfer of the story from London to Chicago actually works in its favour, and John Cusack leads a cast full of excellent cameos and a story full of great music, with a breakout turn from Jack Black straddling both.
BEST IN SHOW: Screening Room Series at Bristol Improv Theatre
Who’ll win ‘Top Dog’ in this mockumentary from the Spinal Tap team?
The Screening Room Series is back for the autumn in a new venue! To start off at Bristol Improv Theatre, we’ve aptly selected Christopher Guest’s glorious mockumentary Best In Show. You don’t have to be a dog lover to appreciate this tail – sorry, tale – of a prestigious dog show, which utilises everything from satire to slapstick comedy. You’d be barking to miss it…!
A PRIVATE WAR @ Screening Room Series
War Correspondent Marie Colvin spoke truth to power; her story deserves to be seen
Our Screening Room Series continues with the powerful biopic of veteran war correspondent Marie Colvin, A Private War. Rosamund Pike gives a deeply moving performance as Colvin in this compelling must-watch, which explores the best and worst of humanity during wartime through the viewpoint of one of the most fearless journalists of the modern era.
BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS @ Screening Room Series
Our third Screening Room selection is the gloriously wild collaboration between director Werner Herzog and actor Nicolas Cage, Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans. Surreal, dark and tragicomic, Bad Lieutenant subverts the ‘crooked cop’ trope, offering a wry and sometimes pointed commentary on American society, and features Cage at his wildest, and best, in years.
DIVA @ Screening Room Series
Our second Screening Room selection is Jean-Jacques Beineix’s beautifully shot thriller Diva. This pioneer of the cinéma du look movement eschews the gritty realism of 1970s French filmmaking in favour of gorgeous visuals and cinematography; it also features stunning music courtesy of the film’s soprano star Wilhemenia Fernandez and one of the most iconic chase sequences in European cinema history!
BIG NIGHT @ Screening Room Series
We’re excited to launch our new Screening Room Series this Summer. We’ll be showing a mix of great cinema that deserves a wider audience, from genre highlights to foreign cinema, to underrated classics to indie gems. Our inaugural Screening Room event is Stanley Tucci’s tragicomedy Big Night, chronicling the misadventures of two Italian brothers in 1950s New Jersey as they gamble their struggling restaurant’s future on an epic meal for a special guest.