From satire to surrealism, expressionism to explosive realism, cinema has long been a weapon against tyranny. ‘Antifa On Screen: Anti-fascist Cinema Classics’ brings together six landmark films that confront fascism head-on, whether through stinging satire, stark historical reckoning, or subversive sci-fi.
Throughout May and early June, join us for a journey through anti-fascist cinema at its most provocative, stylish, and powerful, beginning with Charlie Chaplin’s iconic The Great Dictator and ending with Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist.
Use the film links underneath to book tickets and find out more info.
This season has been programmed in collaboration between The Ultimate Picture Palace and The Guardian’s Andrew Pulver.
Charlie Chaplin’s fearless satire sees a humble barber mistaken for a ruthless dictator. A hilarious and scathing critique of fascism, culminating in one of cinema’s most powerful pleas for peace, freedom, and humanity.
A Prague crematorium manager’s obsession with death leads him down a path of fascist horror. Juraj Herz’s surrealist nightmare blends political allegory and psychological terror in one of the most chilling films of the Czechoslovak New Wave.
Humanity fights for survival against alien bugs in this explosive sci-fi thriller. Paul Verhoeven’s action-packed spectacle doubles as razor-sharp satire, exposing the horrors of imperialism beneath its dazzling FX and relentless combat sequences.
A young bride loses her soldier husband to war but rises through postwar Germany’s ranks with fierce ambition. Fassbinder’s masterpiece is a gripping portrait of survival, power, and a nation eager to rewrite its dark past.
A young boy joins the Soviet fight against the Nazis, witnessing war’s unspeakable horrors. Elem Klimov’s harrowing masterpiece is an unflinching, nightmarish vision of World War II and one of cinema’s most devastating antiwar films.
In 1930s Italy, a repressed man joins the fascist party and is ordered to kill his former professor. Bertolucci’s stylish psychological thriller explores conformity and power, influencing greats like Scorsese, Coppola, and Mann.
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!