Occupied City12A

Directed by Steve McQueen | Netherlands/UK | 2023 | 4h 26m (inc. 15min intermission)

Where do the memories of a city disappear to? Oscar, BAFTA, and Turner Prize-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen presents this monumental documentary exploring the collision of the past with the present in modern day Amsterdam. From the Nazi occupation in 1940 to recent months of pandemic and protest, McQueen presents this poetic and dreamlike documentary where history and hope for a new future coexist.

Reviews

‘In its scale and seriousness, Occupied City allows its emotional implication to amass over its running time. The effect is mysterious and moving.’
★★★★★
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

‘For the most part, sound and image are irreconcilable, so you find yourself either listening in horror or watching with pleasure, only for the spell to be broken by some eye or ear-catching detail in the other temporal strand’
★★★★
Robbie Collin, The Telegraph

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed Occupied City between February 24, 2024 and February 24, 2024.

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What else is on?

Today (Thursday 19th March)

14:30

The Secret Agent 15
2h 41m | Portuguese w/ English subtitles
Carnival, communal resistance, political tensions, and a man's missing leg collide in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s slow-burning 1970s political thriller. The Oscar-nominated Wagner Moura stars in this gripping examination of Brazil’s turbulent past.

Book here

18:00

Amakki 12A
+ Director Q&A
1h 44m | Amharic with English subtitles
In Ethiopia’s coffee-growing hills, two women share time together across a single day. This lyrical portrait of motherhood reveals hardship and the enduring bonds of love. Screening presented by Maona Art, followed by an in-person Q&A with the director.

Book here

20:45

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You 15
1h 53m
A house filling with water. A child who won’t get better. And a husband who’s never there. Rose Byrne delivers an Oscar-nominated performance as a mother whose world is unravelling in Mary Bronstein’s darkly comic portrait of modern womanhood.

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Tomorrow (Friday 20th March)

14:15

The Secret Agent 15
2h 41m | Portuguese w/ English subtitles
Carnival, communal resistance, political tensions, and a man's missing leg collide in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s slow-burning 1970s political thriller. The Oscar-nominated Wagner Moura stars in this gripping examination of Brazil’s turbulent past.

Book here

17:45

The Testament of Ann Lee 15
2h 17m
From poverty in England to revolutionary America, Ann Lee’s spiritual vision and utopian dreams shape the lives of a newly formed religious community. Mona Fastvold’s sweeping historical epic stars Amanda Seyfried as the founder of the Shaker Movement.

Book here

20:45

Sirāt 15
1h 54m | Spanish, French & Arabic w/ English subtitles
Oliver Laxe’s intense, hallucinatory road movie follows a father and son through Morocco as they try to find a missing relative at various sprawling, illegal raves. Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2025.

Book here


Plan your visit

Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road.We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We only show a few adverts – less than most cinemas – and we only play a couple of trailers, so please don’t be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!