Featuring Intro from Andrew Haigh (Director of Weekend, 45 Years, All of Us Strangers).

When a young rabbit named Fiver (Richard Briers) has a prophetic vision that the end of his warren is near, he persuades seven other rabbits to leave with him in search of a new home. Several obstacles impede their progress, including predators, a rat-filled cemetery and a speeding river. Upon arriving at their final destination, a hill dubbed Watership Down, the rabbits find that their journey is still far from over. Realistically drawn, this British animated film carries an emotional weight.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Twenty years after their last holiday at a fading vacation resort, Sophie reflects on the rare time spent with her loving and idealistic father Calum. At 11-years-old, as the world of adolescence creeps into Sophie's view, Calum struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood. Sophie's recollections become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Heroin addict Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends -- Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Begbie (Robert Carlyle), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Tommy (Kevin McKidd). He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane (Kelly Macdonald), along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind when Begbie shows up at his front door on the lam, and a scheming Sick Boy follows.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

BOTCH : 061524

One year to the day after their final show, we present the European Premiere of '061524' as part of BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR!

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Influential hardcore innovators Botch have delivered their electrifying new live album 061524, out June 27th via Sargent House. The album was recorded at the iconic Showbox in Seattle on June 15, 2024—exactly 22 years to the day after their original farewell show at the same venue in 2002. 061524 captures a band still pushing sonic and emotional boundaries, now sharper, louder, and more dynamic than ever.

Botch’s impact on aggressive music is undeniable. Their chaotic, math-laced brand of hardcore helped shape the genre’s landscape well after the band’s abrupt breakup in 2002. For years, a reunion seemed unlikely—until a chain of unexpected events brought the original lineup back together in 2022. What began as a collaborative song between guitarist David Knudson and vocalist Dave Verellen eventually reignited the band's creative spark, leading to the return of bassist Brian Cook and drummer Tim Latona to create the band’s first new recording in over 20 years: 2022’s “One Twenty Two.”

The song was released to critical acclaim in August 2022, building into a frenzy of anticipation for Botch to reunite. What started as a nostalgic experiment quickly became a full-circle celebration, with the band reconnecting both personally and musically. That spark unleashed a wave of activity: secret warm-up shows, sold-out headlining gigs, and eventually a carefully curated international reunion tour, culminating in their hometown return at the Showbox—where 061524 was recorded in front of a packed, exhilarated crowd.

061524 is a blistering, unflinching document of a band reawakened—not as a legacy act, but as a vital force. The album captures the energy, grit, and heart of a group that’s not only older and wiser—but more rehearsed and way more ambitious. The performances are tight but still full of the raw unpredictability that defined their early years. Fan favorites like “To Our Friends in the Great White North” and “Transitions from Persona to Object” are more complex and invigorating than ever before. Other songs, like “Afghamistam” and “Oma,” never considered feasible to pull off live previously, are delivered with the intricacy and intensity that has earned the band a lasting legacy and fresh legion of followers.

Unlike many reunions, Botch’s comeback wasn’t about nostalgia—it was about reconnection: with the music, with each other, and with a new generation of fans. From sweaty rehearsal rooms in Seattle to tear-jerking fan interactions, 061524 is the sound of a band reclaiming their legacy with performances that are more polished, chaotic and immediate than ever before.

Please Note : This film contains many moments of continuous flashing lights which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.

Successful and handsome New Yorker Brandon (Michael Fassbender) seems to live an ordinary life, but he hides a terrible secret behind his mask of normalcy: Brandon is a sex addict. His constant need for gratification numbs him to just about everything else. But, when Sissy (Carey Mulligan), Brandon's needy sister, unexpectedly blows into town, crashes at his apartment and invades his privacy, Brandon is finally forced to confront his addiction head-on.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

In the small South American town of Porvenir, four men on the run from the law are offered $10,000 and legal citizenship if they will transport a shipment of dangerously unstable nitroglycerin to an oil well 200 miles away. Led by Jackie Scanlon (Roy Scheider), the men set off on a hazardous journey, during which they must contend with dangerously rocky roads, unstable bridges, and attacks from local guerillas. The four fight for their lives as they struggle to complete their dangerous quest.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

This performance will feature an introduction by Jaye Hudson of TGirlsonFilm.

A trans woman in trouble.

Castration Movie is a labyrinthine post-modern epic about gender. The first part of this two part film includes Chapter i. Incel Superman and Chapter ii. Traps Swan Princess

Incel Superman follows Turner Stewart, a production assistant who sees his world spiral out of control as he uncompromisingly attempts to shape his life into the one he feels he deserves.

Traps Swan Princess follows a trans woman named Michaela "Traps" Sinclair, a sex worker in Vancouver who splits her time between seeing clients and hanging out with her group of trans friends, who finds her relationships strained when she decides to pursue motherhood.

Written and Directed by Louise Weard, the film's cast includes Vera Drew (The People's Joker), Ada Rook (Black Dresses), Alice Maio Mackay (T Blockers), Avalon Fast (Honeycomb), John Paizs (Crime Wave), and Lea Rose Sebastianis and Nate Wilson (The All Golden) amongst a mix of other emerging talent and weird and wonderful cameos. The original score was composed by Aoife Josie Clements/Ravine Angel, with additional music by Magda Baker, Alex Walton, and E_DEATH.

Part i. had its World Premiere in the United Kingdom in October 2024 at Glasgow’s Weird Weekend Film Festival.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Join Hugo Max as he accompanies a daring triptych of films by F. W. Murnau this spring with live soundtracks on solo viola. Following the success of his 2024 UK Tour, Max improvises scores to chamber drama The Last Laugh (1924). Max’s soundtracks draw on the dramatic and heightened worlds of this film, incorporating musical styles and techniques developed during the time of their conception. His vivid performances breathe new life into Murnau’s symbolic narratives and chiaroscuro imagery, exploring these films as cautionary tales for current times.

Hugo Max on F. W. Murnau’s Der Letzte Mann/The Last Laugh (1924):

“The life of a grand hotel doorman crumbles when he is demoted to the role of a lavatory attendant. Der Letzte Mann/The Last Laugh is a tragic chamber drama and intense character study propelled by Emil Jannings’ empathetic performance as the elderly doorman. Heightening the expressionist angst that permeates the film, my soundtrack on solo viola steps into the shoes of our protagonist, resonating with his doomed hopes and dreams.

Murnau’s study of the German psyche in the aftermath of World War I demonstrates his visual language at its most exhilarating. The director viewed intertitles as ‘an obstructive presence in film’; in The Last Laugh there is no on-screen dialogue, Murnau’s camera roaming bravely to propose a visionary form of cinematic storytelling. Hitchcock expressed his admiration for the film, visiting Germany during its production to assist at the studios where Murnau was shooting. Der Letzte Mann left its distorted shadow on the Master of Suspense and remains one of the most pioneering and affecting works of expressionist film.”

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Inconsolable since the death of his wife, Karsh, a prominent businessman, invents a revolutionary and controversial technology that enables the living to monitor their dear departed in their shrouds. One night, multiple graves, including that of Karsh’s wife, are desecrated, and he sets out to track down the perpetrators.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Henry (Michael Rooker) is released from prison following his mother's murder. He supplements his job as an exterminator with a series of indiscriminate and violent murders. Fellow jailbird and drug dealer Otis (Tom Towles) becomes a willing accomplice in Henry's bloody killings. But as the depravity escalates and Henry forms a bond with Otis' sister, Becky (Tracy Arnold), things start to get out of hand. The film is based on the true-life story of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas.

The family of Raymond, his wife Val and her brother Billy live in working-class London district. Also in their family is Val and Billy's mother Janet and grandmother Kath. Billy is a drug addict and Raymond kicks him out of the house, making him live on his own. Raymond is generally a rough and even violent person, and that leads to problems in the life of the family.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Featuring Post-Film Q&A with Director John Hillcoat, and stars Ray Winstone and Emily Watson

In 1880s Australia, a lawman offers renegade Charlie Burns a difficult choice. In order to save his younger brother from the gallows, Charlie must hunt down and kill his older brother, who is wanted for rape and murder. Venturing into one of the Outback's most inhospitable regions, Charlie faces a terrible moral dilemma that can end only in violence.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

**TICKETS ON SALE TO MEMBERS FRI 23rd MAY 13:00 - FOR 48HRS**

This widely acclaimed film from Soviet director Elem Klimov is a stunning, senses-shattering plunge into the dehumanizing horrors of war. As Nazi forces encroach on his small village in present-day Belarus, teenage Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko, in one of the screen’s most searing depictions of anguish since Renée Falconetti’s Joan of Arc) eagerly joins the Soviet resistance. Rather than the adventure and glory he envisioned, what he finds is a waking nightmare of unimaginable carnage and cruelty—rendered with a feverish, otherworldly intensity by Klimov’s subjective camerawork and expressionistic sound design. Nearly suppressed by Soviet censors who took eight years to approve its script, Come and See is perhaps the most visceral, impossible-to-forget antiwar film ever made.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

When infertility threatens mankind with extinction and the last child born has perished, a disillusioned bureaucrat (Clive Owen) becomes the unlikely champion in the fight for the survival of Earth's population; He must face down his own demons and protect the planet's last remaining hope from danger.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Featuring Intro and Post-Film Q&A with Director Paddy Considine

The story of Joseph, a man plagued by violence and a rage that is driving him to self-destruction. As Joseph's life spirals into turmoil a chance of redemption appears in the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker. Their relationship develops to reveal that Hannah is hiding a secret of her own with devastating results on both of their lives.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview moves to oil-rich California. Using his adopted son HW to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainviews motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

This remarkable television production, imagining how a nuclear war might unfold, remains one of the most shocking and devastating films ever to air in the UK. Combining documentary-style realism and kitchen-sink drama, Threads observes the looming threat of nuclear war from the perspective of an average working-class family in Sheffield, before shifting to the detailed depiction of a society in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. It’s 40 years since the film was originally broadcast and it has lost none of its power to shock.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

When a woman, able to read the thoughts of others, comes to help survivors of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, she encounters a girl with Multiple Personality Disorder whose dangerous 13th personality, Isola, must be stopped.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

While holidaying in Ireland, a pregnant children's author finds her mental state becoming increasingly unstable, resulting in paranoia, hallucinations, and visions of a doppelgänger.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Featuring Intro and Post-Film Q&A with Director Alex Garland.

A young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Featuring Intro from Prano Bailey-Bond (Director of Censor).

A seemingly model citizen living in mid-century London, John Christie (Richard Attenborough) is actually a killer. Masquerading as a doctor, he convinces guileless women that he can cure whatever might ail them, and when they follow him to his home, he chokes them to death and buries them in a makeshift graveyard. Based on a series of real-life killings, the story follows John as he cons a pregnant bride (Judy Geeson) and wonders if he might have found a scapegoat in her husband (John Hurt).

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Set on the outskirts of Bradford, ‘The Selfish Giant’ follows two rebellious young lads - Arbor (Conner Chapman) and Swifty (Shaun Thomas) - and their involvement with a local scrap dealer. At first their earnings seem to roll in but as jealousy and resentment begin to drive the boys apart Arbor will resort to a desperate act of greed, the tragic consequences of which will tear apart the lives of everyone involved… Boldly cinematic and thoroughly gripping, Clio Barnard’s second feature boasts breathtaking cinematography and astonishing performances from its two young leads.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Jack Carter (Michael Caine) is a cold-blooded London gangster, and not the sort of man you want to cross. When Carter's brother winds up dead, he travels to Newcastle to arrange the funeral. Convinced that his brother was murdered, Carter questions local thug Eric (Ian Hendry), who eventually leads him to kingpin Kinnear. From there, Carter carves a bloody trail of revenge through the seedy underbelly of Newcastle in search of his brother's killer.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Oilman is a happily married man whose life changes when he gets paralysed. He observes that his wife is lonely and tells her to have an affair. Will she agree to this strange demand?

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Ken Loach's acclaimed British drama focuses on Billy Casper (David Bradley), a tormented working-class boy who is subjected to abuse both at school and at home. The son of a single mother (Lynne Perrie), Billy's existence is mostly bleak until he takes up an interest in falconry and begins training a kestrel that he finds on a nearby farm. While Billy forms a close bond with the falcon, his hardscrabble life and harsh environment prove to be a challenge to the boy and his bird.

Our Mystery Movie strand is getting the Bleak Week treatment!  

Despair is the name of the game with this one, so if you're not prepared for a melancholic night at the movies then we suggest picking something else in our programme. 

If you're still reading then give in to the temptation and let a little mystery misery into your life.

(ps. As far as we can tell this film has never screened at the PCC)

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Featuring Post-Film Q&A with Director Mike Leigh

Moments from the uncompromisingly bleak existence of a secretary, her intellectually disabled sister, aloof and uneasy teacher boyfriend, bizarre neighbour and irritating workmate.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman), a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy (Susan George), an Englishwoman. In order to escape a hectic stateside lifestyle, David and his wife relocate to the small town in rural Cornwall where Amy was raised. There, David is ostracized by the brutish men of the village, including Amy's old flame, Charlie (Del Henney). Eventually the taunts escalate, and two of the locals rape Amy. This sexual assault awakes a shockingly violent side of David.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Featuring Post-Film Q&A with Director Mike Leigh

Johnny (David Thewlis) is a frenetic and destructive outsider who tears through the lives of others like an emotional tornado. On the run from Manchester, he seeks sanctuary with his ex-girlfriend Louise (Lesley Sharp) in London, where he immediately targets her vulnerable housemate Sophie (Katrin Cartlidge) with his unique blend of predatory charm. From there he embarks on a nocturnal odyssey across the city, dragging other disaffected souls into his orbit as he spirals towards his own personal apocalypse.

Mike Leigh’s Cannes-winning film is a masterful, controversial, and totally unforgettable exploration of society in free-fall at the tail end of Thatcher’s Britain.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

"Gotta light?"

Part 8 of Twin Peaks' third season, "The Return," focuses on the origins of evil and the Black Lodge, exploring the concept of cyclical evil through a surreal sequence set in 1945 after the first atomic bomb test.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.

Featuring Intro by Robert Eggers (Director of The Witch, The Lighthouse and Nosferatu)

During the Prussian invasion of Poland in 1793, a Polish nobleman is saved from imprisonment by a stranger who wants a list of conspirators as repayment. He travels across the country with his rescuer and commits a number of gory murders.

BLEAK WEEK : CINEMA OF DESPAIR is co-presented by the American Cinematheque.