Picnic At Hanging Rock12A

Directed by Peter Weir | Australia | 1975 | 1h 48m | Starring Rachel Roberts, Anne-Louise Lambert, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse, Tony Llewellyn-Jones

In the early 1900s, Miranda attends a girls boarding school in Australia. One Valentine’s Day, the school’s typically strict headmistress treats the girls to a picnic field trip to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite rules against it, Miranda and several other girls venture off. It’s not until the end of the day that the faculty realises the girls and one of the teachers have disappeared mysteriously. Peter Weir’s wonderfully enigmatic film, with its ethereal cinematography and ghostly, foreboding atmosphere helped usher in a new era of Australian cinema.

Join us on Sunday 18th May (3pm) for a screening introduced by film lecturer Dr Andrew Webber.

Reviews

‘The film’s mystery still shimmers.’
★★★★★
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

‘The “readings” are endless, the mood impossibly eerie and the legacy untouchable.’
★★★★★
Kevin Maher, The Times

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed Picnic At Hanging Rock between May 18, 2025 and May 19, 2025.

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What else is on?

Today (Saturday 7th November)

15:30

Fatherland 12A
1h 22m | German w/ English subtitles
1949: Erika joins her father, Nobel-winning author Thomas Mann, on a literary tour of East and West Germany. Then tragedy strikes the family. From the director of Ida and Cold War, a post-war drama about guilt, love, and a divided country trying to heal.

Book here

17:45

By Design 15
1h 31m
Camille envies a showroom chair so much that she swaps places with it, and finds out that everyone likes her better as a chair. Amanda Kramer (Please Baby Please) directs this camp and darkly funny absurdist satire about desire, starring Juliette Lewis.

Book here

20:00

The HorMones: The Women Are Here U
40m
The HorMones are Oxford’s over-fifties women’s Punk sensation. Formed in 2023 when most of them couldn’t play their instruments, this nine-piece band - ranging in age from fifty-two to eighty - is now performing their own songs at festivals and attracting international attention.

Book here


Tomorrow (Sunday 8th November)

14:30

The Big Heat 15
35mm Film Presentation
1h 29m
Homicide detective Dave Bannion takes the law into his own hands to bring down a crime syndicate after a fellow cop’s suspicious suicide. Fritz Lang’s 1953 noir is lean, angry and fatalistic, and one of the hardest-boiled films of the era. 35mm Film On Film Presentation.

Book here

17:00

NTLive: Golden Boy 12A
2h 36m
Josh O’Connor leads the cast in this searing revival of Clifford Odets’ knockout American classic. Filmed live from the Almeida Theatre, Olivier Award-winner Sam Yates (Vanya) directs this propulsive drama exploring ambition, identity, and the high price of success.

Book here

20:30

Fatherland 12A
1h 22m | German w/ English subtitles
1949: Erika joins her father, Nobel-winning author Thomas Mann, on a literary tour of East and West Germany. Then tragedy strikes the family. From the director of Ida and Cold War, a post-war drama about guilt, love, and a divided country trying to heal.

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!