The Garden Cinema is proud to present a major retrospective of the legendary master of suspense: Alfred Hitchcock. Arranged in three parts, this season provides an overview of Hitchcock’s career and contains his most revered films.

Act II: 1945 – 1954, Post-war Hollywood and Independent Productions:
The end of WWII corresponds with the end of Hitchcock’s working relationship with David O. Selznick, but not before they make Spellbound. Having endured the spectre of Selznick’s influence over the production of Notorious, even after sale of the project to RKO, Hitchcock founded his own production company, Transatlantic Pictures. Stung by the interference of studios (and Selznick), independence allowed Hitchcock to experiment with Rope and, with considerable effort, to make Strangers on a Train. But despite their formidable status today, both films received lukewarm receptions from critics and audiences. We end this section of the season with a taste of what is to follow, a first collaboration with Grace Kelly with Dial M for Murder.

Check listings for screenings with guest introductions.

Part 2 of Mike Leigh and Gary Yershon’s ongoing discussion of the acclaimed director’s films begins with a screening and Q&A for his 1983 film Meantime.

A slow-burning depiction of economic degradation in Thatcher’s England, Mike Leigh’s Meantime is the culmination of the writer-director’s pioneering work in television. Unemployment is rampant in London’s working-class East End, where a middle-aged couple and their two sons languish in a claustrophobic council flat. As the brothers (Phil Daniels and Tim Roth) grow increasingly disaffected, Leigh punctuates the grinding boredom of their daily existence with tense encounters, including with a well-meaning aunt (Marion Bailey) who has managed to become middle-class and a blithering skinhead on the verge of psychosis (a scene-stealing Gary Oldman, in his first major role).

Watch film curator George Crosthwait’s take on War Pony, the directorial debut of Riley Keough and Gina Gammell, and written with first-time writers, Franklin Sioux Bob and Bill Reddy.

The most authentic and well researched depiction of reservation precarity since Chloé Zhao’s docudrama work in Pine Ridge (Songs My Brother Taught Me, The Rider). As with these touchstones, the presence of non-indigenous filmmakers raises some concerns, but the development of the script and characters with Native American writers Franklin Sioux Bob and Bill Reddy, and producer Willi White goes some distance to mitigate this. All that being said, the resulting film feels undoubtedly true to lived experience. A loose, dual narrative structure which takes the time to establish a superb sense of setting before gradually twists into a gripping flashpoint.

Watch film curator George Crosthwait’s take on Pretty Red Dress, the debut feature from writer and director Dionne Edwards.

Evidence perhaps, alongside Raine Allen Miller’s Rye Lane, of an emerging wave of South London-set films made by fresh (and female) voices. Pretty Red Dress is a sweet, funny, and very timely, exploration of black masculinity, brought to life by a superb central cast. Queerness emerges here as a universal sensibility, rather than something paradoxically binary. Also, it’s a musical!

Throughout July and August, we’re excited to present an array of screenings and special events around South Asian Heritage Month 2023, which is themed ‘Stories to Tell.’ The films chosen include suggestions by our members and local residents, alongside partnership events with curator Anupma Shanker, SUPAKINO, and London Bengali Film Festival. The screenings will explore a range of themes, from identity and community to gender, faith, and family, with a special focus on music, dance and drama.

The season opens with Jean Renoir’s intoxicating first colour feature The River, a glorious tribute to the sights and sounds of Indian culture. The film will be introduced by Anupma Shanker and preceded by an Odissi dance performance by Prachi Hota. We also screen Satyajit Ray’s debut feature, Pather Panchali, which revolutionised Indian cinema.

On India Independence Day, there’s chance to see Sandhya Suri’s remarkable, Around India with a Movie Camera, which draws exclusively from the BFI National Archive and features some of the earliest surviving footage from India.

From Bangladesh, we are proud to present Tareque Masud’s rarely screened masterpiece, The Clay Bird, and London Bengali Film Festival also presents a preview of Muhammad Quayum’s award-winning debut feature, The Golden Wings of Watercocks.

For the 40th Anniversary of Octopussy, SUPAKINO brings Turbans Seen On Screen to The Garden Cinema: film screenings featuring notable characters wearing turbans. This under-screened Bond film is surrounded by many fascinating stories linking British film history to the British South Asian experience.

Saim Sadiq’s dazzling Joyland, one of the most acclaimed films of the year, will return to our screens, as well as Gurinder Chadha’s Bruce Springsteen jukebox comedy Blinded by the Light as part of Musical Fridays. Our Films For The Family screening is the Oscar-nominated animation, The Breadwinner.

Following a screening of Sean Baker’s Tangerine, we hosted a panel discussion in partnership with oestrogeneration, a magazine platform highlighting the voices of trans women and transfeminine people in the UK.

In this clip, Jaye Hudson, Bambi Jordan Phillips, and June Bellebono discuss the accessibility of iPhone filmmaking, what kind of films are made on lower budgets, and desires to see trans representation in genre films.

Watch film programmer Erifili Missiou’s take on Medusa Deluxe, the audaciously original debut from writer-director Thomas Hardiman.

This one-take, labyrinthine whodunnit could be easily pigeonholed as another technical marvel. Oscar-nominated cinematographer Robbie Ryan (Fish Tank, The Favourite) surpasses expectations, blending pop grittiness with a snake-like camera movement that slyly progresses from conversation to conversation, room to room, suspect to suspect. Yet, Medusa Deluxe never ceases to be a gripping murder mystery that keeps us at the edge of our seats.

The film’s real appeal though is its hydridic tone, a unique osmosis of campness and pub talk, comedy and thriller. The seamless result is also due to outstanding performances, which give it character and depth. To say that emerging director Thomas Hardiman shows promise with this bold debut is an understatement.

A joint presentation from Chinese Cinema Project and The Garden Cinema. Director Wang Xiaoshuai was in conversation with Tony Rayns following this screening. Wang Xiaoshuai’s epic, multi-generational portrait of lives lived under China’s one child policy is both breathtaking and heartbreaking.