Tiny Ideas Festival 2025: The Snail and the WhaleU

Directed by Max Lang & Daniel Snaddon | UK | 2019 | 27m | Starring Diana Rigg, Sally Hawkins, Rob Brydon, Arnold Brown, Cariad Lloyd

Snail dreams of adventure and longs to see the world beyond her shore. While other snails urge her to stay put, she writes a message in the sand, hoping for a chance to explore. To her surprise, a humpback whale answers and invites her on an incredible journey. Together, they travel far and wide, meeting creatures of every size. The Snail and the Whale is adapted from Julia Donaldson’s beloved book, celebrating courage and connection.

Part of Tiny Ideas Festival 2025. Tickets for Adults cost £7, and £5 for Children.

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed Tiny Ideas Festival 2025: The Snail and the Whale between September 27, 2025 and September 27, 2025.

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What else is on?

Today (Saturday 7th February)

14:00

Soundtrack to a Coup d'État 12A
2h 30m
A jazz-soaked political essay, Soundtrack to a Coup d’État traces Cold War chaos as the US government deploys jazz musicians to Africa as soft power, counterpointing decolonization, propaganda, and violence in a propulsive, tragic historical improvisation of empire and media.

Book here

17:30

Heat 15
2h 51m
Master thief Neil McCauley plans one final LA heist as relentless detective Vincent Hanna closes in. Mutual respect grows between them despite opposite sides of the law, building toward an inevitable, explosive confrontation in Michael Mann’s landmark crime thriller.

Book here

21:00

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple 18
1h 49m
In a ravaged Britain, a world-changing discovery and a deadly personal encounter expose a new truth: other survivors may be more terrifying than the infected. Directed by Nia DaCosta, this ferocious follow-up is darker, bloodier, and brutally intense.

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Tomorrow (Sunday 8th February)

12:15

The Princess Bride PG
Kino Kids Cinema Club
1h 38m
True love, daring sword fights, and endlessly quotable humour collide as Westley and Buttercup battle villains, monsters, and fate itself. Directed by Rob Reiner and written by William Goldman, this timeless fairy tale remains irresistible for all ages.

Book here

14:45

The History of Sound 15
2h 8m
Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor star as two young musicians who fall in love through American folk music, then reunite after World War I to preserve disappearing songs. From the director of Living, a tender, melancholic romance about the power off music and memory.

Book here

17:45

Hamnet 12A
2h 6m
Shakespeare and his wife endure the devastating loss of their young son, straining love and family bonds. Chloé Zhao’s (Nomadland) poignant adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel captures grief, creativity, and resilience, with moving performances by Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.

Book here

20:30

Rental Family 12A
1h 50m
In Tokyo, a drifting American actor finds unexpected purpose working for a “rental family” agency, hired to play stand-in roles for strangers. Brendan Fraser, fresh from his Oscar win for The Whale, stars in this quietly moving story about belonging and human connection.

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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!