FEEDBACK from our audience
Previously shown films in date order with audience feedback notes.​
Please note: If you missed filling in the Feedback paper slips at the end of the last film you saw, you can now add your feedback on the Contact page.
Year 2025/6
Reality
Film info:
Date shown:
USA - 2023
January 2026
Synopsis
On a Saturday afternoon, in June 2017, Reality Winner, a 25-year-old US National Security Agency (NSA) translator is confronted at her Georgia home by FBI agents and her life quickly begins to unravel. A debut film for theatre director Tina Satter, the script is drawn exclusively from the actual recording made by devices attached to the wrists of the FBI men who interrogated Reality.
Although she claims she has no idea why they want to talk to her, Reality is compliant, consenting to the questioning without a lawyer. Much of the film takes place in a single room and the tension arises from the imbalance between Reality and the grimly imposing men. The camera concentrates on Reality; the pressure on her increasing, giving the viewers a sense of how caged she would have felt in this situation.
Audience Star rating: 84%
Audience Feedback
A compelling and beautifully made production, difficult to watch. A remarkable insight into American politics and government department controls, holding a tremendous relevance to American society and the Trump era - the event took place one year after Trump’s first inauguration as President. All the more powerful for using the exact transcripts from the actual day. Great acting from the lead actress Sydney Sweeney. A terrific film, an essential watch, absolutely gripping, powerful, chilling, a terrifying ‘behind the scenes’ insight into conscientious whistle blowing and the ramifications for being courageous and principled.
The Truffle Hunters
Film info:
Date shown:
Itay - 2021
January 2022
Synopsis
Deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, a handful of men, seventy or eighty years young, hunt for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle, guarding their location with absolute secrecy.
Audience Star rating: 89%
Audience Feedback
So enjoyable. Delightful, lyrical! Beautiful scenery and internal scenes. An uplifting film. Lovely glimpse into a small and possibly threatened life. An intriguing portrayal of a pastoral lifestyle.
Beautiful shots of landscapes that look like paintings by Brueghel and interior shots that are almost like tableaux, mostly of two men or a man and his dog. Left a smile on your face.
The Marching Band
Film info:
Date shown:
France - 2025
December 2025
Synopsis
An uplifting tale from French film-maker Emmanuel Courcol, director and co-writer,
Set near Lille, in France, The Marching Band is at heart the story of two brothers, Thibaut and Jimmy who, having been separately adopted as children, had grown up in wildly different circumstances, unaware of each other's existence. How the two very different brothers bond over music, develop a relationship and work together in an atmosphere of protests around the closure of the factory, which is the heart of the little town near Lille, is the core story of this movie.
The soundtrack plays a central role in shaping the film’s emotional landscape, particularly Ravel’s Boléro, which recurs throughout. Like the piece itself, the film gradually builds toward harmony, bringing together the brothers and the small-town marching band at the heart of the story. Professional actors are mixed in with real marching band musicians, and together they give realistic portrayals of the marching band players. The Marching Band perfectly blends humour, a heartwarming story, and sharp social commentary. It became one of France’s highest-grossing films for 2025 and also earned seven César Award nominations.
Audience Star rating: 91%
Audience Feedback
This film was generally much appreciated by our audience who found it ‘great, heartwarming, joyful and entertaining; avoided the usual cliches but did have a closing sequence shamelessly and cheerfully manipulative. Further comment was: ‘The narrative prompted reflection on the nature versus nurture debate’. And ‘The two main brother characters demonstrated a remarkable combination of musical and emotional acting’.
The Outrun
Film info:
Date shown:
UK - 2025
November 2025
Synopsis
Set in the Orkney Islands, this film, based on the book by Amy Liptrot, is an exceptional portrayal of addiction and its impact on relationships. It celebrates rebirth, the spirit of a curious mind, and the restorative powers of nature and solitude as a cure for turmoil and loneliness. Rona is an alcoholic, and has lost complete sense of control, sometimes in potentially life-threatening episodes. The film explored themes of escapism, both through alcohol and faith, centred around Rona’s journey towards recovery, drawing parallels with the legend of the Selkie.
Audience Star rating: 88%
Audience Feedback
For the audience it ‘was not easy to watch; really brought home how difficult it is to live with addition, to witness her disintegration the repeated and very graphic depiction of her destructive behaviour, and attachment to her father’. A convincing portrait of a real recovery, I was waiting for the crash and it never came.’
Whilst one viewer found it ‘too long and repetitious’, most were ‘captivated, nevertheless’, and rated it ‘wonderful, beautiful, stunning, powerful ‘. Atmospheric it was – as per one comment - ‘You could feel the weather and the drink!’
The acting was much praised and it felt as if the support actors especially on Papay were the real people who lived there.
Other feedback included …Visually very beautiful (colours and movement – sound). Humorous enough to balance it. Different, encompassed lots of topics - addiction, mental health, isolation and climate change.
Unlike most films about addiction which follow a linear path, the Outrun with its angular, fractured structure, feels like a refreshingly unconventional spin on a sadly familiar theme.
I'm Still Here
Film info:
Date shown:
Brazil/France - 2024
October 2025
Synopsis
Winner of the Academy Award for best international feature, ‘I’m Still Here’ is based on a memoir by one of the real family portrayed, who co-wrote the screenplay. Director Walter Salles knew the Paiva family – so this was very personal, and the considerable family archive of photos and home videos was an invaluable resource.
Set in the 1970s as Brazil faces the tightening grip of a military dictatorship, Rubens, a former congressman, is abducted from his beachfront home. Men with guns and sour faces arrive at the door. They've come, they say, to take Rubens to make a statement. Who they are and to where he has been removed remain a mystery. His wife, Eunice Paiva, a mother of five, is left to reinvent herself and her family. The film then follows the subsequent developments and after effects.
Audience Star rating: 94%
Audience Feedback
Praise from viewers included: amazing, excellent, very moving, powerful, unhurried, brilliant in every way, thought provoking, poignant.
Further comments were: A superb film. Brilliantly welding original film from Brazil with modern techniques to create a realistic atmosphere. All the acting was superb, especially the mother.
The film was both engaging and sobering. It offered a powerful representation of events from recent history and the profound impact they had had on one family, drawing the audience into their experiences and emotions.
What resonated with me was the remarkable resilience and resourcefulness portrayed by Eunice.
A harrowing story told in a compelling but reticent way. Difficult to watch, this film will stay with me for a long time.
Ama Gloria
Film info:
Date shown:
France - 2023
September 2025
Synopsis
Although a film of barely over 80 minutes; it leaves a huge impression - all the insecurities of a child losing those most important to her - beautifully and heartbreakingly portrayed.
Gloria, from Cape Verde, is like a lot of nannies who have to leave their own children to go to other countries and raise the children of people with more money. In Paris she cares for Cleo whose mum died when she was a baby. Cleo’s father is gentle but remote, still reeling from grief, so it's Gloria who is the sun in Cleo's life. Then Gloria’s mother dies and she goes home to look after her own children.
Invited to spend summer in Cape Verde until a new nanny is found, Cleo is delighted when reunited with Gloria but finds her busy with family and own affairs, and so has to confront the reality that she no longer has a claim to be the centre of Gloria’s world.
Dreamlike sequences of animated artwork in watery tones periodically punctuate the film, showing Cléo’s way of seeing the world.
Audience Star rating: 87%
Audience Feedback
For most - ‘great graphics and so colourful’, although a couple found them overlong and distracting.
The acting was much praised, particularly that of the little girl who although just six years old at the time of filming gave a performance so open and natural.
Further praise from the audience included: ‘absolutely fantastic; totally immersive; a beautiful film that captures the way a child is very much the centre of their own universe; very moving; a fascinating topic rarely addressed’.
However for some it was all ‘a little bit too twee - we could see where this was going from the very first scene.’
Especially thought provoking for anyone who had or knew others who have employed nannies in these circumstances; perhaps the message is - employ a local nanny?