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AFERIM!14th March Director: Radu Jude Romania 2015 108 mins (subtitles, black & white)Starring: Teodor Corban, Mihai Comanoiu, Toma Cuzin

Set in Romania in 1835, Aferim! (bravo in Turkish) depicts the life of the region and notably Gypsy slavery. Constantin and his inept son are hired by a nobleman to hunt down an escaped Roma slave. The film reflects the prevailing attitudes of the time: Constantin treats priests and nobles with great respect but peasants and Roma with indifferent cruelty; sometimes he shows a conscience but at others he is shockingly ruthless; some scenes are compelling, humorous and ironic while others are harrowing and violent. This is the first portrayal of Romanian slavery, which was not abolished until 1856 - groundbreaking and controversial.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC28th March Director: Matt Ross USA 2016 118 mins Starring: Viggo Mortensen, George McKay, Samantha Isler

This official Sundance and Festival De Cannes selection is a quirky magical film about an unconventional modern family. Viggo Mortensen is simply amazing in this patriarch role as a devoted father in which the whole family is forced into an unspeakable predicament. The family have to leave the Pacific Northwest and their off-the-grid lifestyle and go on an existential journey into the real world. Going along on this dramatic ride is the marvellous Samantha Isler and Frank Langella. Along with the ensemble five star cast, Mortensen makes this one of the best films for 2016. A must see for this season.

CHINESE PUZZLE21st March Director: Cédric Klapisch France 2013 117 mins (subtitles)Starring: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Cécile De France

Writer Xavier can't bear the idea of his two children growing up in Chinatown, New York, to where his ex-wife has moved, so he too moves there. Battling with the American Green Card system is far from his only problem as also there are his divorced ex-girlfriend with her two children and also his lesbian best friend and her half-Chinese partner (who wish him to be the biological father of a baby). Director Klapisch is well supported by a brilliant cast and expertly weaves together all the story strands for a superb finale. The film is warm, funny and an imaginative delight.

JULIETA4th April Director: Pedro Almodóvar Spain 2016 99 mins (subtitles) Starring: Emma Suárez, Adriana Ugarte, Daniel Grao

Pedro Almodóvar is arguably one of the most internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmakers since Luis Buñuel and his 2016 film Julieta is outstanding. Staring Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte, mother and daughter both live together in Madrid and both share the loss of Xoan, Antia’s father and Julieta’s husband. This is a story of intrigue, loss and romance. Their lives must go on and Almodóvar’s storytelling style and technique is supremely excellent. A superb film based on the stories by Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro. Julieta gets the big thumbs up from the Devizes Film Club.

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JANUARY - APRILTUESDAYS AT 8.00 P.M.

TICKETS ON THE DOORNO MEMBERSHIP NECESSARY

The membership subscription fee is £12.50 a year, renewable each September or you can have half year membership in January for £6.25. You do not have to be a member to come to the films but having that commitment from our audience helps us to thrive! Also tickets are cheaper for members who pay £6.50 rather than £7.50. Membership forms can be picked up from the Palace Cinema or Devizes Books and can be downloaded from our website.

Ailsa Cuttell

Charles Slater Simon Goodman

Simon Goodman

HUNT FOR THE WILDER PEOPLE10th January Director: Taika Waititi New Zealand 2016 101 mins Starring: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata

Ricky is a defiant young city kid who finds himself on the run with his cantankerous foster uncle in the wild New Zealand bush. A national manhunt ensues, and the two are forced to put aside their differences and work together to survive. Filmed in the majestic New Zealand countryside, this is one of the funniest and most delightfully oddball films of the year. Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a pleasure from beginning to end. A big-hearted picture full of small, understated moments of magic, an off-kilter charmer.

BEATLES: 8 DAYS A WEEK24th January Director: Ron Howard UK 2016 137 mins Starring: The Beatles

Is there really anything more to say about the Beatles? Yes, there is, in a film that includes interviews with McCartney and Starr, archive material with Harrison and Lennon, and intriguing conversations with present-day fans such as Elvis Costello and Whoopi Goldberg. You will be treated to a giant public spectacle, the theatre of arriving at airports, hotels, posing for photographs, and best of all, talking to journalists. There is a lot of simple, moment-by-moment pleasure to be had. The scream was an important part of it; be prepared to go back in time to why they became such a legend.

GIRLHOOD21st February

Director: Céline Sciamma France 2014 113 mins (subtitles)Starring: Karidja Touré, Assa Sylla, Lindsay Karamoh

Oppressed by her family setting and dead-end school prospects in the housing projects of Paris, Marieme changes her life after joining a gang of free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her dress code, and quits school and gains a sense of self confidence in the process but she soon finds that this new life does not necessarily make her any happier. While the movie has a lot to say about the general condition of being a girl, in the Paris banlieues and elsewhere, it never loses sight of the specific girl at its heart. The result is honest, empowering and electrifying.

I DANIEL BLAKE17th January Director: Ken Loach UK 2016 100 mins Starring: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Dylan McKiernan

Winner of the Palm d'Or, described by the Telegraph as a quietly fearsome piece of drama. Half a century on from Cathy Come Home, Loach has made what is arguably his finest film since then. Showing how Daniel living in Newcastle-on-Tyne struggles with the almost Kafkaesque bureaucracy of modern Britain's Department for Work and Pensions, the film focuses on his determined, even obstinate, attempts to avoid poverty and potential homelessness whilst retaining his humanity intact, namely self-respect, dignity and kindness to others. A very moving and important film showing what life is like for many in 21st century Britain.

SWEET BEAN7th March Director: Naomi Kawase Japan 2015 113 mins (subtitles) Starring: Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagasi

Winner of five international awards, this film was chosen to open Un Certain Regard at Cannes, in 2015. It is a charming and masterfully told story of a bakery proprietor who reluctantly accepts an old lady's offer to help make the bean paste for his traditional pancakes. She makes the paste by hand despite her crippled fingers and sales improve dramatically. However they both have hidden problems which they have to work out together. This is a delicately handled and moving story that is touching, but not sentimental, under Director Kawase's skilful use of pace and cinematic detail.

HELL OR HIGH WATER7th February Director: David Mackenzie USA 2016 102 mins Starring: Ben Foster, Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges

Hell or High Water is a heist thriller with a satirical edge about a divorced father and his volatile and trigger happy brother. They come together after years apart to rob branches of the bank threatening to foreclose on their family's ranch. For them, the hold-ups are just part of a last-ditch scheme, until they find themselves pursued by the Texas Ranger and his half-Comanche partner. This is a deceptively simple tale of Texan cops and robbers where the humour is as dry as the landscapes and all the characters appearing strangely fatalistic.

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John Ingledew Margaret Bryant Sue Weber

Roger Day Charles SlaterClive Dorling

Matinee at 2.30 p.m.