Origin12A

Directed by Ava DuVernay | USA | 2023 | 2h 21m | Starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Nick Offerman, Niecy Nash, Emily Yancy

Isabel Wilkerson, already recognised as the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her journalism, begins research on her new book: an examination of the origins of racial injustice. During her global travels, she delves into historical and contemporary caste structures, all while confronting her own personal tragedies. Oscar-winning director Ava DuVernay (Selma, 13th) skilfully transforms Wilkerson’s non-fiction narrative into a compelling drama, presenting a poignant portrayal of the lasting trauma inflicted by discrimination.

Reviews

‘Wilkerson’s book offers a new way to look at age-old concepts. DuVernay’s film gives us a new way to process them.’
★★★★
Elizabeth Weitzman, Time Out

‘It is in the comparisons between quotidian grief and systemic bigotry, weaving Isabel’s personal experience with the politics of her job and the history she must reckon with, in which Origin is the most impressive.’
★★★★
Steph Green, BBC

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed Origin between April 12, 2024 and April 18, 2024.

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What else is on?

Today (Wednesday 1st April)

15:00

Sinners 15
2h 18m
Twin brothers seek a fresh start in their 1930s Southern hometown but uncover an evil lurking beneath the surface. Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan reunite for this chilling supernatural thriller set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow-era South.

Book here

18:00

Safe 15
+ Intro
1h 58m
In 1980s Los Angeles, a suburban housewife develops a mysterious illness that doctors cannot explain. As she becomes convinced she has severe environmental allergies, Todd Haynes’s Safe unfolds as a chilling meditation on illness and isolation. All tickets £6 each.

Book here

21:00

The President's Cake 12A
1h 45m | Arabic w/ English subtitles
During 1990s Iraq, schoolgirl Lamia is chosen by her class to bake a birthday cake for Saddam Hussein. With her pet rooster beside her she searches the town for ingredients in an award-winning debut about childhood resilience and life under dictatorship.

Book here


Tomorrow (Thursday 2nd April)

12:00

Sinners 15
Parent + Baby Club
2h 18m
Twin brothers seek a fresh start in their 1930s Southern hometown but uncover an evil lurking beneath the surface. Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan reunite for this chilling supernatural thriller set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow-era South.

Book here

15:00

The President's Cake 12A
1h 45m | Arabic w/ English subtitles
During 1990s Iraq, schoolgirl Lamia is chosen by her class to bake a birthday cake for Saddam Hussein. With her pet rooster beside her she searches the town for ingredients in an award-winning debut about childhood resilience and life under dictatorship.

Book here

17:45

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

20:30

Sound of Falling 18
2h 35m | German w/ English subtitles
Across the twentieth century four teenage girls spend their youth in the same farmhouse decades apart, yet their lives echo each other. German director Mascha Schilinski interweaves generations of girlhood, revealing loneliness and lost innocence across a turbulent century.

Book here


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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!