Playground15

Directed by Laura Wandel | France | 2021 | 1h 12m | French w/ English subtitles | Starring Maya Vanderbeque, Günter Duret, Lena Girard Voss

When seven-year-old Nora sees her older brother Abel being bullied at school, she rushes to protect him. However, her attempts to help only make matters worse. Featuring an extraordinary performance from young actress Maya Vanderbeque, Laura Wandel’s hard-hitting debut presents a child’s-eye-view of the harsh world of playground politics.

Shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Film and winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes Film Festival.

Reviews

‘A claustrophobic portrait of pre-adolescent turmoil, this is an exceptionally taut drama. It’s Wandel’s debut feature, and it feels like she’s been preparing for it her whole life.’
★★★★★
Alex Godfrey, Empire Magazine

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed Playground between May 21, 2022 and May 25, 2022.

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What else is on?

Today (Friday 9th June)

15:30

Are You There God? It's Me, Marg PG
1h 46m
Based on Judy Blume’s classic novel from 1970, a humourous and empathetic coming-of-age comedy following the tumultuous adolescence of a teenage girl growing up in New Jersey.

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18:00

The Dam Cert-TBC
1h 20m | Arabic w/ English subtitles
Lebanese artist and filmmaker Ali Cherri’s quietly political first feature is an enigmatic and allegorical drama about Sudanese bricklayer who wanders into the desert to work on a mysterious construction.

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20:00

Beau Is Afraid 15
2h 58m
Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix stars as a man in meltdown in this brilliantly baffling psychological epic from the director of modern horror classics Hereditary and Midsommer.

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Tomorrow (Saturday 10th June)

15:00

The Dam Cert-TBC
1h 20m | Arabic w/ English subtitles
Lebanese artist and filmmaker Ali Cherri’s quietly political first feature is an enigmatic and allegorical drama about Sudanese bricklayer who wanders into the desert to work on a mysterious construction.

Book here

17:00

Beau Is Afraid 15
2h 58m
Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix stars as a man in meltdown in this brilliantly baffling psychological epic from the director of modern horror classics Hereditary and Midsommer.

Book here

20:30

Master Gardener 15
1h 51m
Legendary filmmaker Paul Schrader continues his late-career resurgence with this potent tale of a man tormented by the ghosts of history and a country reckoning with its own troubled past. 

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 don’t show adverts, just a couple of trailers, so don't be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!