Oddsocks - Julius Caesar

Festival legends Oddsocks return to Harrogate on the 2nd and 3rd July to perform Julius Caesar. Formed in 1989 by Andy Barrow and Elli Mackenzie, Oddsocks have been performing as part of Harrogate International Festivals for over two decades. This year they bring the Bard’s comedy to life in the gorgeous setting of Harlow Carr Gardens. Pack your picnic and get ready for an evening of laughter and mayhem that is suitable for all ages.
Rome 44BC. Egotistical Emperor Julius Caesar is sweating (and it’s not just the heatwave). His liberal Senators are a stabbing pain in the backside. They’ve had enough! Rome is in chaos, trust in the government is weak and the emperor’s fate is written in the stars (or the ‘entrails of a goat’). The peasants are revolting as the most famous political coup in literature is given the Oddsocks treatment. Expect the tearing of togas, the swishing of roman swords, some preposterous puppetry and the biggest battle scene five actors have ever created. On your marcus, getus setus, let the games begin!

Clement Attlee: a modest little man

Red Wall Theatre performances of Francis Beckett’s comedy about Attlee and the making of the NHS.
'A very funny and, at times, moving account of the life of Clement Attlee' – New Statesman
'A thought-provoking piece distinctly aware of the importance of remembering the past in difficult political climates' - The spy in the stalls.com
It’s May 1945: Britain celebrates victory and cheers Winston Churchill. But those who fought the war want a better, fairer world, and only Labour is offering it.
But the Labour Party is led by a nonentity, ‘a modest little man with plenty to be modest about’. He says almost nothing. He sits in his grey suit and puffs his pipe.
One wit remarked, ‘An empty cab drew up and Clement Attlee got out.’
How can the insignificant, passionless little Labour leader Clem Attlee defy Churchill, a virulently hostile press - and plots and skulduggery from within his own ranks – to bring in a social revolution? All at a time when Britain was bankrupt after the Second World War.

Circus Montini

Fun, all Human, Circus for all the Family

Official Competition | North by Northwest | Hitsville, The Making of Motown | Flee | A Bunch of Amateurs - ALL films presented by Harrogate Film Society

A wealthy businessman hires a neurotic director to produce his crowning achievement - a brilliant art film. Spectacular acting performances by the three stars: Penelope Cruz (the 'director'), Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez (the competing 'actors') result in a wildly entertaining film. There are many laugh out-loud moments together with searing insights into the craft of filmmaking and how not to make friends!

CLASSIC CINEMA - North by Northwest | April 17 | 7pm | Director: Alfred Hitchcock | USA | 1959 | A | IMDb 8.3 | 136 Minutes- technicolor

Cary Grant is the innocent, ‘Wrong Man’, an urbane New York Advertising Executive caught up in the dangerous world of espionage. Eva Marie Saint is the cool but cryptic blond he falls for but doesn’t know he can trust. Follow them on a 2000-mile chase across America!

Documentary film that focuses on the period beginning with the birth of Motown in Detroit in 1958 until its relocation to Los Angeles in the early 1970's. Ignoring the lawsuits, addiction and fraught relationships, the film focuses predominantly on the 1960's and firmly on the artists, the music and the context of America's racial tensions and civil rights movements.

Flee tells the true story of Amin’s incredible journey, as a child refugee, from Afghanistan to Denmark. Travelling over land and sea Amin comes across the best and worst of humanity. Amin’s compelling story is beautifully and skilfully told using animation and archive footage. Flee broke records in 2022 gaining Oscar nominations for Best International Film, Best Animation and Best Documentary. “The film is about loneliness and solitude so we drew a lot of inspiration from Edward Hopper paintings for how we would treat light and colour.” Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Special Fund-Raising Event for Wellspring Mental Health Charity Starbeck and Harrogate Mind - supported by Harrogate Odeon and Harrogate Film Society.

Bradford Movie Makers is one of the oldest amateur filmmaking clubs in the world. Once a thriving community, these days the membership is dwindling and the group struggle to keep the wolf from the door.

ALL events are at Harrogate Odeon except music legends.

Open Read-Through for the musical 'Losing The Plot'

There will be an open read-through of a brand new musical called 'Losing The Plot' at the Pateley Bridge Playhouse on 23rd February at 19.30.
Ten years ago, the celebrated Nidderdale playwright Keith Burton wrote a hilarious farce called 'Grounds For Divorce' that was performed at the Playhouse in the autumn of 2013. Keith has turned this play into a brand-new musical comedy under the new title 'Losing The Plot' which will have its world premiere at the Playhouse this July (6th-12th).
It is an entertaining romp where the world of competitive gardening is turned upside down by illegitimate activities on the local allotment. It will be a rollicking story set to superb original music.
Anyone interested in getting involved is very welcome to come along. New members are also welcome. If you wish to register your interest and can't join us on the night, please contact Keith at [email protected]

Rocks | The Quiet Girl | An Irish Goodbye | To Have and Have Not | EOS: Sunflowers - ALL films presented by Harrogate Film Society

Core season - 11 March - Rocks | UK | 2019 | Dir. Sarah Gavron | 12A | 93 min | IDMb 7.4 | 7.30PM

We are thrilled to announce that Tony Kirkland (who plays the teacher) will introduce the film for us at the Odeon.

Shola or Rocks, as she's known, lives in a London council flat with her younger brother Emmanuel and their single mother. Mum is busy and stressed, leaving Rocks to spend all her free time with school friends. One day, she comes home to find her life radically altered: she is suddenly on her own with a child to take care of. Gavron could easily have steered Rocks into miserabilism but delivers instead a surprising portrait of resilience. Rocks is mercurial, impulsive, and deeply sensitive - not unusual for her age, she sometimes makes desperately poor decisions, for what look to her like good reasons. When her closest friend Sumaya tries to help, Rocks doesn't know how to accept it, blinded by Sumaya's two-parent household and relative comfort. BAFTA winning British Film.

Core Season - 25 March - The Quiet Girl | Ireland | 2022 | Dir. Colm Bairead | 12A | 95 min | IDMb 7.7 | Subtitled | 7.30PM

Rural Ireland 1981. This film tells the story of a quiet, neglected young girl, Cáit, who is sent away for the summer from her dysfunctional family to live with "her mother's people". These are Seán and Eibhlín Cinnsealach; a middle-aged couple she has never met. Slowly, in the care of this couple, Cáit blossoms and discovers a new way of living, but in this house where affection grows and there are meant to be no secrets, she discovers one.

Trivia - The first-ever film in the Irish language to be shortlisted for an Oscar (Best International Film).

We are pleased to present a double bill and include the first Oscar and BAFTA winning Irish short in 20 years.

An Irish Goodbye | Ireland | 2022 | Dir. Tom Berkeley & Ross White | 23 min | IDMb 7.2 |

On a farm in rural Northern Ireland, estranged brothers Turlough (Seamus O'Hara) and Lorcan (James Martin) are forced to reunite following the untimely death of their mother (Michelle Fairley). But when the pair discover an unfulfilled bucket list belonging to their late mum, their pained reunion takes an altogether different course.

Art Season film – 6 March - choose from a 2PM or 7PM screening - Exhibition on Screen: SUNFLOWERS

SUNFLOWERS FILM UNVEILS THE MYSTERY OF VAN GOGH’S GREATEST MASTERWORKS

Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers are some of the most iconic paintings in the world. What many mistake for one masterpiece, are actually five paintings of sunflowers in vases scattered across galleries in Amsterdam, London, Munich, Philadelphia and Tokyo.

This extraordinary feature-length documentary film brings the spectacular series together on screen as never seen before. Working closely with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Sunflowers goes beyond a ‘virtual exhibition’, delving into the rich and complex stories behind each of the paintings to unveil the mysteries of the sunflowers. What did the flowers mean to Van Gogh, and why do they resonate so much with audiences today?

With a striking portrayal of the artist by actor Jamie de Courcey and fascinating insights from art historians, botanists and everything in between, the film offers a unique insight into Van Gogh’s life and artwork.

Classic Cinema - 20 March - To Have and Have Not | Director: Howard Hawkes | USA | 1944 | PG | IMDb 7.8 | 100 Minutes - B&W

To Have and Have Not has all the components required to make a great film. Two Nobel Prize winners combine for story and screenplay: Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. Director, Howard Hughes, considered one of the greatest American Directors of Hollywood’s Golden Age, has a peerless cast to work with!

The action takes place during World War II in Martinique under the control of Vichy France. The story centres on an electric romance between Captain Harry ‘Steve’ Morgan, a freelance fisherman played by Humphrey Bogart and the young American drifter, Marie ‘Slim’ Browning, played by Lauren Bacall, against a backdrop of increasing French resistance to the Island’s collaborating rulers.

Bacall was a Howard Hawkes discovery and was making her sparklingly screen debut as the fast-talking ‘Slim’ who can hold her own with any man. She made a huge impact on the world of cinema as a whole and on her leading man in particular! You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together… and blow.

Around The World in Eighty Days

Panto season is upon us and Pateley Bridge Dramatic Society will be taking to the stage with their customary verve this coming February as they are set to perform ‘Around The World In Eighty Days’. This famous tale is one of Jules Verne’s most acclaimed works and has been brilliantly adapted for the stage as it takes the audience on an unforgettable globe-trotting quest that will provide laughs and excitement for both children and adults alike.

This production is also highly significant in that it will be the first time in four years years that a pantomime has been performed in the Pateley Playhouse, a cultural jewel at the heart of Nidderdale, since its remarkable renovation.

The festive extravaganza will be produced and directed by Ruth Dodsworth, one of the Society’s most skilled actors and directors, who has expertly brought together a talented cast of youth and experience.

Ruth says, “I’m so excited to bring these wonderful characters to life as Phileas Fogg tries to circumnavigate the globe in record time in order to win his wager with his fellow Reform Club gentlemen. ‘Around The World In Eighty Days’ is such a well-known and beloved tale, and yet it provides a fresh and original premise for a pantomime that will have people on the edge of their seats until the very end.”

The performances will be held across two weeks in the Pateley Bridge Playhouse from Wednesday 7th to Sunday 11th February, and then from Wednesday 14th to Sunday 18th February. There will be matinee performances on the Saturday and Sunday of both weeks, starting at 2.30pm. All evening performances will start at 7.30pm. Tickets will be £10 for adults and £7 for children. All Tickets will be on sale from 1st January and bookings will be from the website www.pateleyplayhouse.co.uk

Les Miserables | Utama | EOS:Michelangelo - Love and Death | La Dolce VIta - ALL films presented by Harrogate Film Society

Assigned to work alongside unethical police veterans Chris and Gwada in Paris' Anti-Crime Brigade, Brigadier Stéphane Ruiz - a recent transplant to the working-class suburb of Montfermeil, where Victor Hugo wrote his famous novel Les Misérables - struggles to establish a working relationship with influential community leaders while attempting to maintain some semblance of peace between his disreputable team and the citizens of the local housing projects. When what should be a simple arrest goes tragically awry, the three officers must individually reconcile with the aftermath of their actions while angling to keep the neighbourhood from retaliating with mob violence.

Beginning as a Cesar-winning short film, the film was inspired by the 2005 riots in Paris. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize (in a tie with BACURAU) and was selected as France's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.

In the Bolivian highlands, an elderly Quechua couple has been living the same daily life for years. During an uncommonly long drought, Virginio and Sisa face a dilemma: resist or be defeated by the environment and time itself.

A visually stunning film set in the harsh but beautiful highlands of Bolivia. An elderly couple, Virginio and Sisa, have lived out their married life in the traditional way in this vast , challenging landscape. Things come to a head with the visit of a grandson from the city, who is shocked by their way of life in the face of drought and increasing infirmity. The film mirrors the universal dilemma of an elderly couple reluctant to accept the need for change to an easier lifestyle.

Winner of the 2022 Grand Jury prize at Sundance, this film has 25 Wins and 23 nominations from worldwide festivals listed on IDMb. Trivia - the actors playing Virginio and Sisa are married in real life.

Art Season Film - 7/2/24 - Exhibition on Screen: Michelangelo - Love and Death

Michelangelo - Love and Death offers a cinematic journey through the great chapels and museums of Florence, Rome and the Vatican, to the print and drawing rooms of Europe, to explore Michelangelo's tempestuous life. The film goes in search of a greater understanding of this charismatic and enigmatic figure, both through his relationships with his contemporaries and his ongoing artistic legacy.

The film invites audiences to intimately examine Michelangelo’s art and artistic process - from the Carrara quarries where Michelangelo sourced his marble, to the new technology being used to attribute works. The film also offers a rare chance to get up close to the mesmerising Rothschild Bronzes, which, following an extensive research project carried out by Academics in Cambridge in 2015, were positively attributed to Michelangelo after over a century of debate.

Key contributors to the film include art critics Martin Gayford and Jonathan Jones, Deputy Director of the Vatican Museums Professor Arnold Nesselrath and contemporary artist Tania Kovats.

Filming locations include Casa Buonarroti in Florence, Carrara marble mines, the Medici Chapel and the Vatican. These beautiful locations, combined with high-resolution views of Michelangelo’s greatest works, convene to create a staggering visual experience.

Over the course of seven days Italy’s maestro, Federico Fellini, takes us on a journey through the eternal city. Marcello Mastroianni, defining a generation of cool in his beetle-black sunglasses, stars as Marcello Rubini, a jaded journalist who tries to find meaning in life in the decadent world of Rome’s ‘smart set’. If he is to choose between a life of excess and hedonistic pleasures against a more virtuous and intellectual one, which path will he take?

La Dolce Vita was an international success both critically and commercially, and proved a landmark moment for Italian cinema and European cinema-at-large. The title itself has entered the English language along with ‘Paparazzi’, the plural form of Walter Santesso’s character ‘Paparazzo’ – the photographer – which has become a byword for the worst of tabloid journalism everywhere.

The film also stars Sweden’s Anita Ekberg who, in one of cinema’s most iconic moments, memorably takes a moonlight splash with ‘Marcello’ in the famed Trevi Fountain scene.

Opening Times & Pricing:

Prices and opening times vary for each film

Michelangelo 2pm and 7pm £4 | £6 | £8

Les Miserables 7.30pm £3 | £6

Utama 7.30pm £3 | £6

La Dolce Vita 7pm £4 | £6 | £8

Robin Hood Christmas Pantomime

From the team behind last year’s Cinderella, join Same Difference Arts through this Christmas for their twist on Robin Hood.

This inclusive family show promises festive fun for all the family, with silliness, songs and a good old showdown between the goodies and the baddies!

All is not well in the land of Nottingham. The evil Sheriff has been stealing everyone’s stuff, and Maid Marian doesn’t know what to believe.

Robin Hood is determined to beat the Sheriff single-handedly but will everything go to plan or will Robin need some help after all?
Join Robin and the Merry Men this Christmas as they try to make a change and put things right!

Sharow Church 7pm Friday 5th January 2024 The church is in Berrygate Lane, Sharow, Ripon HG4 5BJ with level access

Tickets £5 children £10 adults (Age guide 4+)

Booking:
https://www.ruralarts.org/whats-on/performances/robin-hood-at-st-johns-sharow/ or Little Ripon Bookshop or phone 07403 213733

Early booking recommended as seating numbers limited

Blind Ambition - Presented by Harrogate Film Society

Four Zimbabwean men form their country's first Wine Tasting Olympics team. Here is an Inspiring, true-life documentary for you to savour.

Follow four young, Zimbabwean refugees on their uplifting journey to become World Class Sommeliers, representing their country in the ‘Olympics of Wine Tasting’ at Chateau de Gilly, France. “When Life Closed a Door, they opened a bottle” Heart-warming, with subtle notes of humour. A very fine vintage!

All seating is unreserved so grab a seat wherever you like. Parking is free after 6pm for all Odeon cinema-goers but you MUST display a voucher obtained from the Odeon lobby.

Opening Times & Pricing:

The film starts at 7.30pm but the social starts at 6.45pm.

Tickets for non-members cost £6 each (Under 25's £3).

These can be purchased online or will available on the door (contactless payments only please, we are not taking cash this season). A small processing fee will be applied to all tickets.

Please note this evening includes our Pre Christmas social with wine or soft drinks. Doors open at the earlier time of 6.45pm and the film will begin at 7.30pm.

A Murder is Announced

Miss Marple comes to Pateley Playhouse

One of the nation’s most beloved literary characters will be brought to life on the stage of Pateley Playhouse this November, as Miss Marple will lead a story of intrigue and suspicion in a staging of ‘A Murder is Announced’, one of Agatha Christie’s most famous tales.

The play has been adapted for the stage by Leslie Darbon and Pateley Bridge Dramatic Society have now started rehearsals in earnest with their customary skill in bringing stories to life.

This production will also mark the directorial debut on the Playhouse stage for PBDS’s exciting new American director, Cory Juras, who brings with him a wealth of experience and creative vision to the newly refurbished theatre, often regarded as one of the cultural jewels of Nidderdale.

The performances will be held in the Pateley Bridge Playhouse from Monday 6th to Saturday 11th November starting at 7.30pm, all tickets costing £10. Due to unprecedented demand since the reopening of the Playhouse, an extra performance for this production has been added as a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm. Tickets are on sale now and bookings will be from the website www.pateleyplayhouse.co.uk

Harrogate Film Society Art Season including Exhibition on Screen

HFS Art Season includes Exhibition on Screen and two feature films

Wednesday 18th October Impressionists
Wednesday 15th November Frida
Wednesday 10th January Leonardo
Wednesday 7th February Michaelangelo
Wednesday 6th March Sunflowers
Wednesday 3rd April 2pm Lust for Life
Wednesday 3rd April 7pm At Eternity’s Gate

Exhibition on Screen: THE IMPRESSIONISTS – AND THE MAN WHO MADE THEM

An eagerly anticipated exhibition travelling from the Musee d’Orsay Paris to the National Gallery London and onto the Philadelphia Museum of Art is the focus of the most comprehensive film ever made about the Impressionists.

The exhibition brings together Impressionist art accumulated by Paul Durand-Ruel, the 19th century Parisian art collector. Degas, Manet Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, are among the artists that he helped to establish through his galleries in London, New York and Paris.

Exhibition on Screen: FRIDA KAHLO

Who was Frida Kahlo? Everyone knows her, but who was the woman behind the bright colours, the big brows, and the floral crowns? Take a journey through the life of a true icon, discover her art, and uncover the truth behind her often turbulent life.

Making use of the latest technology to deliver previously unimaginable quality, we take an in-depth look at key works throughout her career. Using letters Kahlo wrote to guide us, this definitive film reveals her deepest emotions and unlocks the secrets and symbolism contained within her art.

Exhibition on Screen: LEONARDO: The Works

Leonardo da Vinci is acclaimed as the world’s favourite artist. Many TV shows and feature films have showcased this extraordinary genius but Leonardo: The Works presents every single attributed painting, in Ultra HD quality, never seen before on the big screen.

Key works include The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Lady with an Ermine, Ginevra de’ Benci, Madonna Litta, Virgin of the Rocks and more than a dozen others. Filmed on location throughout the world, this remarkable film offers a fresh and revealing insight into one of history’s most extraordinary individuals. It will leave you amazed.

Exhibition on Screen: MICHELANGELO - Love and Death

Exhibition on Screen: SUNFLOWERS

SUNFLOWERS FILM UNVEILS THE MYSTERY OF VAN GOGH’S GREATEST MASTERWORKS

Lust for Life | USA | Dir. Vincente Minelli & George Cukor | A | 124 mins

Vincent Van Gogh is the archetypical tortured artistic genius. His obsession with painting, combined with mental illness, propels him through an unhappy life full of failures and unrewarding relationships. He fails at being a preacher to coal miners. He fails in his relationships with women. He earns some respect among his fellow painters, especially Paul Gauguin, but he does not get along with them. He only manages to sell one painting in his lifetime. The one constant good in his life is his brother Theo, who is unwavering in his moral and financial support.

At Eternity's Gate | USA | 2018 | Dir. Julian Schnabel | 12A | 111 mins | IMDb 6.9

During a self-imposed exile in Arles and Auvers-Sur-Oise, France, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh develops his unique, colorful style of painting. While grappling with religion, mental illness and a tumultuous friendship with French artist Paul Gauguin, van Gogh begins to focus on his relationship with eternity rather than the pain his art causes him in the present.