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 (Saturday 30th May)

17:30

Earwig 15
+ Director Q&A
1h 55m
In a claustrophobic post-war apartment, a man cares for a girl whose fragile condition is managed through ritual and control. An austere blend of European art cinema and psychological horror. Screening followed by an in-person director Q&A with Lucile Hadzihalilovic.

Book here

20:30

Hokum 15
1h 47m
When novelist Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) retreats to a remote inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, he is unsettled by rumours of a witch haunting the honeymoon suite. Damian McCarthy’s atmospheric psychological horror blends folklore, grief and eerie supernatural mystery.

Book here


Tomorrow (Sunday 31st May)

12:30

The Lego Movie U
Kino Kids Cinema Club
1h 40m
Ordinary LEGO figure Emmet is mistaken for a prophesied hero. Reluctantly joining quirky allies, he embarks on a mission to stop an evil tyrant, discovering courage, creativity, and humour along the way in this colourful, action-packed animated adventure.

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15:00

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders 15
+ Introduction
1h 17m + 18m short film | Czech w/ English subtitles
In a surreal coming-of-age journey, a girl navigates a dreamlike world of vampires, shifting identities, and religious imagery. A key Czech New Wave classic, it is celebrated for its baroque visual style and influential fusion of horror, folklore, and psychoanalysis.

Book here

17:15

Romería 15
1h 52m | Spanish w/ English subtitles
Aspiring filmmaker Marina travels to Galicia to uncover her family’s past, following her late mother’s diary. As buried truths emerge, she confronts grief, identity and belonging in Carla Simón’s (Summer 1993, Alcarràs) warm, autobiographical drama about memory and emotional inheritance.

Book here

20:00

Hokum 15
1h 47m
When novelist Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) retreats to a remote inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, he is unsettled by rumours of a witch haunting the honeymoon suite. Damian McCarthy’s atmospheric psychological horror blends folklore, grief and eerie supernatural mystery.

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!