Rome, Open City12A

Directed by Roberto Rossellini | Italy | 1945 | 1h 43m | Italian w/ English subtitles | Starring Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero, Vito Annichiarico, Nando Bruno

During World War II in Rome, an underground resistance leader tries to avoid the Gestapo by seeking aid from a local priest. However, it doesn’t take long for both the Nazis and the local police to take notice. Shot in the immediate aftermath of the war, Roberto Rossellini’s groundbreaking neorealist drama signalled a turning point in Italian cinema, garnering awards around the world and setting the stage for a new era in filmmaking.

Classic Season: Vive La Resistance

Reviews

‘Ubaldo Arata’s visceral cinematography blends the grit of a documentary with the heart and soul of a drama (Fellini collaborated on the screenplay) as the people of Rome wrestle with the constraints, compromises and collusions of life during wartime.’
★★★★★
Mark Kermode, The Observer

‘One of the toughest, bleakest, war films ever made, this Roberto Rossellini classic simply couldn’t be any other way.’
★★★★★
Kevin Maher, The Times

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed Rome, Open City between June 2, 2024 and June 6, 2024.

Join our mailing list and we'll make sure you always know what's on and when.

What else is on?

Today (Wednesday 1st April)
Find out more

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

Find out more

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

Find out more

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)
Find out more

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

Find out more

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

Find out more

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

Find out more

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


See all upcoming films

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!

Find out more