We’ve sprinkled some Christmas classics amongst the pick of the mainstream, art house and world cinema releases at Errol Flynn Filmhouse this December.

 At the top of the tree is the greatest Christmas film of all time, It’s A Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart as despairing businessman George Bailey. With its emphasis on the importance of friendship and decency over monetary gain, Frank Capra’s bittersweet comedy drama has never seemed more apt. A screening at 5.30pm on Christmas Eve featuring a pre-show performance from Royal & Derngate Community Choir is sold out, but tickets are still available for the 2.30pm screening on Wednesday 18 December. A further screening has just been announced for 12pm on Saturday 21 December, accompanied by The Mistletoe Bough, a two-minute gem of a Christmas ghost story from 1904, featuring some early trick photography, and released as part of the BFI’s Gothic season.

The Muppet Christmas Carol (Saturday 14 December at 3.15pm) stars Michael Caine as Scrooge alongside the Muppet regulars in a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Dickens’ classic. With its famous ice-skating scene, the 1947 romantic comedy The Bishop’s Wife is full of wonderful seasonal atmosphere, starring Cary Grant as a suave angel, David Niven as a troubled clergyman and Loretta Young as his wife. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious family favourite Mary Poppins is guaranteed to dispel the post-Christmas slump on Sunday 29 December at 2pm. Before that, from Friday 20 December, the heartwarming Saving Mr Banks tells the little-known story of its making, with Emma Thompson as headstrong author P. L. Travers, and Tom Hanks as a persistent Walt Disney. The screening at 5pm on Sunday 22 December will also feature The Mistletoe Bough. 

Our last screening of 2013 will be a live broadcast of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra’s New Year’s Eve Concert, under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle and featuring the brilliant Lang Lang, at 4.30pm on Tuesday 31 December. The programme includes two of the most popular Hungarian Dances by Brahms, three of Dvořák‘s beautiful Slavonic Dances, and Khachaturian‘s famous Sabre Dance.

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Our December programme is on sale now, including a selection of the best new releases, a French mini-season, more great documentaries and some festive classics. 

Our Vive La France season presents a contrasting selection of films demonstrating the range of current French cinema, from the sexually-charged Blue Is The Warmest Colour to Daniel Auteuil’s atmospheric adaptations of Marius and Fanny, the first two books in Marcel Pagnol’s romantic Marseille trilogy. From another actor-turned-director, Julie Delpy, the heart-warming Skylab follows a precocious eleven year old over the course of an eventful Brittany summer.  Completing the season, François Ozon’s Jeune & Jolie sees 17 year old Isabelle transform from a sexually curious ingénue into something altogether darker. 

Our final programme of 2013 is liberally sprinkled with Christmas nostalgia, with classics ranging from The Muppet Christmas Carol and the family favourite Mary Poppins, to the vintage 1947 romantic comedy The Bishop’s Wife, starring Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young. No Christmas would be complete without one of the most popular films ever, Frank Capra’s glorious testament to homely values, It’s A Wonderful Life, with a pre-show performance on Christmas Eve by Royal & Derngate Community Choir. Other classics include the multi award-winning Cinema Paradiso, the nostalgic chronicle of a Sicilian youngster and his obsession with cinema, and the epic historical romance, Gone With The Wind, set against the backdrop of the American Civil War. 

The cream of the current new releases includes Saving Mr Banks, the story of Walt Disney’s battle of wills with author P.L. Travers over the rights to her novel Mary Poppins, a perfect vehicle for Oscar-winning actors Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson. An elegy for a disappearing America, daringly shot in monochrome, Nebraska is a poignant yet humorous road-movie, revolving around a cantankerous old father (the great Bruce Dern) and his long-suffering son (Will Forte), from director Alexander Payne (About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants). Lee Daniels’ widely-praised The Butler stars Forest Whitaker as the African-American Cecil Gaines, who overcomes racism and segregation to work as a butler to eight presidents during thirty years in the White House. Marking the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of John F Kennedy, Parkland is a powerful drama giving fresh perspective to the events of that day, shifting the focus to the perspective ordinary individuals suddenly thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Darkly humorous exploration of the Beat Generation Kill Your Darlings stars a convincingly intense Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg, while Jude Law gives a searing performance as an ex-con on the rampage in Dom Hemingway, a funny and profane British gangster flick. There’s more crime thriller action as Ridley Scott directs Cormac McCarthy’s The Counsellor, with Michael Fassbender leading a star-studded cast as a hotshot lawyer whose dalliance with drug-traffickers quickly spirals out of control. Gripping and visually stunning space disaster movie Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, can be seen in both 2D and 3D versions, and the screening on Wednesday 4 December will be preceded by a talk from Dr Lorna Jowett of the University of Northampton. 

Among the highlights of our documentary strand is Class of ’92, a look at the meteoric rise of six friends who played together in the Manchester United youth team and went on to win the European Cup together. All six, including David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes will be taking part in a live satellite Q&A following the screening. The moving documentary film How To Survive A Plague will be shown to mark World Aids Day. The immersive, nightmarishly beautiful Leviathan depicts life on board a New England fishing boat, and Seduced And Abandoned follows the hilarious journey of actor Alec Baldwin and director James Toback as they try to raise financing for their next film. 

As a special treat to see out the year, the Berlin Philharmonic New Year’s Eve Concert will be broadcast live from Germany, featuring multi-award-winning Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. 

During coming weeks there’ll also be second chances to see some of our most successful recent films, brought back by popular demand, including the heartfelt drama Philomena, starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, feelgood Proclaimers musical Sunshine On Leith and Le Week-End, the thoughtful yet funny tale of a long-married couple searching for their former selves. There will also be a repeat screening of the Doctor Who 50^th anniversary special, Doctor Who: Day Of The Doctor.

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We’ve got pre-show talks coming up at a number of screenings at the Errol Flynn Filmhouse over the next few weeks, helping you get more out of your movie! 

Prior to the 8.30pm screening of The Fifth Estate, on Tuesday 26 November, Hilary Scott, Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Northampton, will be giving a free pre-show talk, starting at 8.10pm. The Fifth Estate sees Benedict Cumberbatch take on the role of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, exploring the early days of the organisation as they began exposing major political and corporate conspiracies.

There will also be a free pre-film talk by Dr Lorna Jowett, Reader in Television Studies at the University, at the screening of space disaster movie Gravity (starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) on Wednesday 4 December. The talk will start at 6pm, with the film following at 6.15pm. 

November also sees the launch of our new Cult Film Club, run in conjunction with staff and students of the School of the Arts at the University of Northampton (but open to anyone to attend). Screenings will be preceded by exciting short introductions that explore the films in their artistic and socio-historic context. The first of these will be the 1965 classic Doctor Who And The Daleks, on Thursday 28 November, with the talk at 6pm followed by the film at 6.15pm. 

Keep an eye on our website for news of further pre-show talks as they are announced.

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We’re delighted to be welcoming award-winning comedian Josie Long to the Errol Flynn Filmhouse on Thursday 14 November at 8.30pm, when she will be performing an intro to her two short comedy films Let’s Go Swimming and Romance and Adventure, and taking part in a Q&A with director Doug King afterwards. 

One of the most respected comedians of her generation, Josie won the BBC New Comedy Award in 1999 aged just 17. After taking time off to complete her English degree at Oxford she won the Chortle Newcomer Award in 2005, scooped Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2006 and has been nominated three times for the Edinburgh Comedy Award in recent years. Josie is a regular contributor to numerous BBC Radio shows, a panellist on radio and TV quiz shows such as Just A Minute and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and her writing credits include teen TV drama Skins. 

Last year, Josie and director Doug King made two short films in Glasgow, Let’s Go Swimming and Romance and Adventure, which were nominated for a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award. Josie wrote and starred in the films, both of which follow one young woman’s awkward rite of passage into modern adulthood. Now the pair have taken to the road, bringing the films to the pick of the UK’s independent cinemas. 

In Let’s Go Swimming, Josie has left her life in London for a better one in Glasgow, the indie band theme park where she will finally be happy and accepted. But sitting in cafes and going to gigs on your own isn’t as fulfilling as she’d hoped. Romance and Adventure finds Josie approaching 30, wandering the streets drinking Buckfast with her flatmate Darren, and wondering why her friends are becoming old and boring. Cameo appearances include Belle & Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch, Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat, and comedians Jojo Sutherland and Jo Neary. 

Says Josie: “Making these films was the best time of my life ever. I’m so proud that we now get to show them to audiences. At every stage from chatting about ideas, to writing, to rehearsing, planning and realising them onscreen, we’ve been powered by massive enthusiasm and excitement.”

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Our screenings for parents and guardians of babies under one continue into November, now moving to a fortnightly Wednesday morning slot. These exclusive screenings give people the chance to catch up on the latest movies with their baby in a safe and sympathetic environment, without the worry of causing a disturbance. 

The next Parent and Baby screening will be the entertaining comedy Girl Most Likely, on Wednesday 6 November at 11am. The film sees Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) playing Imogene, a failed New York playwright awkwardly navigating the transition from next big thing to last year’s news, after an elaborately faked suicide attempt results in her humiliating return to the care of her mother Zelda (Annette Bening). Matt Dillon appears as Zelda’s self-deluded boyfriend. 

A fortnight later, on Wednesday 20 November at 11am, the critically-acclaimed Philomena will be shown as a Parent and Baby screening. Judi Dench is being tipped for an Oscar for her performance as a mother searching for her illegitimate son, taken from her when she served in one of Ireland’s most notorious convents in the 1950s. Stephen Frears, whose successes include The Queen, draws remarkable performances from both Dench and co-star Steve Coogan, whose earthy chemistry, coupled with a sharp and very funny script (part-penned by Coogan), make this film a true delight.

 Tickets for the parent/carer and baby screenings are £6.50, with the baby (aged under one year old) going free. Only parents or carers with babies will be admitted to these screenings. 

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Our exciting and eclectic film programme continues this November with some truly extraordinary world cinema, more brilliant new independent films, the pick of the mainstream releases, and the return of some of the more successful titles from last season.

 We bring some of the biggest hits from this year’s London Film Festival to Northampton this month, from acclaimed foreign language and independent films including Like Father, Like Son and The Selfish Giant, to the pick of the mainstream releases: Philomena, Captain Phillips and Gravity. Wikileaks drama The Fifth Estate sees Benedict Cumberbatch morph uncannily into Julian Assange, while Filth brings Irvine’s Welsh’s surreal and darkly hilarious novel to life, with James McAvoy as a bipolar junkie cop. Acclaimed romcom Enough Said is the late lamented James Gandolfini’s final film. We’re also delighted to be offering Second Chance, an opportunity to catch some of the more critically‑acclaimed films that you may have previously missed, including Rush, Blue Jasmine and The Great Beauty.

 Join a global celebration of Doctor Who with our broadcast screening of the explosive 50th birthday special Day Of The Doctor in 3D, followed closely by the vintage Doctor Who And The Daleks, the first instalment of our Cult Film Club in association with The University of Northampton. Other classic movies for November include Casablanca, seventy years on from its original release and now beautifully restored, and The Wicker Man: The Final Cut, a full restoration fulfilling director Robin Hardy’s original vision, and marking the 40^th anniversary of the cult British horror.

 Continuing our Under The Radar season of brilliant new independent features that may not be so widely available, In A World… is a hilarious off-beat comedy set in the obscure, cut-throat world of the voice-over artist, while Prince Avalanche is a comical two hander about an unlikely pair of road-maintenance workers. From Japanese art-house director Hirokazu Koreeda comes the heart-warming and sensitive drama Like Father, Like Son; Paulina Garcia gives a mesmerising performance as a spirited Chilean divorcee in Gloria; and Metro Manila is a gritty thriller about a naive young rural couple in the Philippines chancing their luck in the capital.

Documentaries this month include The Epic Of Everest, the official film record of the legendary 1924 Everest expedition. Project Wild Thing aims to get kids off computers and out into nature; The Crash Reel is an eye-popping documentary about US champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce, and Muscle Shoals tells the fascinating tale of the backwater town in Alabama that became a hotbed of musical creativity.

 Our live screening of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Richard II, starring David Tennant, quickly sold out, but a repeat screening has now been scheduled for later in November. There’s another chance to see the National Theatre’s recent production of Othello, starring Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear, as an NT Encore recording, and screening of Alan Bennett’s 2010 play The Habit Of Art, featuring Richard Griffiths, Alex Jennings and Frances de la Tour, is part of the National Theatre’s 50^th anniversary celebrations.

Finally, don’t miss award-winning comedian Josie Long’s Q&A session, accompanying her two BAFTA-nominated short films, Let’s Go Swimming and Romance And Adventure.

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If you’re looking for Halloween treats we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve at the Errol Flynn Filmhouse, with a great line-up of films in store for this spookiest time of year. 

With the Hollywood rumour mill buzzing with reports that a script has been drafted for the long awaited Ghostbusters threequel, the original 1984 spectral sci-fi/comedy is enjoying a long overdue re-release, which gets the Halloween ball rolling here on Saturday 26 October at 2.30pm. 

The classic blockbuster, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Sigourney Weaver, follows a team of down-on-their-luck parapsychology professors who get their break when a series of ghoulish gatecrashers descend on New York City. With throngs of nightmarish apparitions running amok in the Big Apple, it’s up to the Ghostbusters to charge up their proton packs and send the slimy menaces back to where they came from.  

On Halloween itself, Thursday 31 October, at 7pm you can see an NT Encore screening of the National Theatre’s Olivier Award-winning 2011 production of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, directed by Oscar-winner Danny Boyle and starring Jonny Lee Miller as Victor Frankenstein and Benedict Cumberbatch as his monstrous creation. (The two actors alternated these roles and the reverse casting can be seen in a screening on Sunday 10 November.) 

Finally, as we approach the witching hour, at 11pm there’s a chance to see The Exorcist – Director’s Cut, starring Linda Blair as the apparently normal 12 year old whose body is possessed by the Devil. Still one of the scariest films ever made, this new edit features previously cut footage including some unseen and genuinely unsettling special effects.

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Our popular programme of live broadcasts of stage performances continues on Sunday 20 October with the first of a series of screenings all the way from Russia, featuring the acclaimed Bolshoi Ballet.

Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is one of the world’s oldest and most renowned ballet companies.

Following their brief but euphorically received London season this summer, four of the Bolshoi’s performances come to Northampton in the form of live broadcasts from Moscow, starting with the spectacular ballet Spartacus on Sunday 20 October at 4pm. This grandiose epic, with stirring music by Khachaturian, tells the tale of the slave turned gladiator who foments a legendary rebellion, and with stunning choreography by Yuri Grigorovich it is considered one of the best ballets in the Bolshoi’s repertoire. 

More Bolshoi live screenings are already on sale for the New Year, starting with Jewels, on Sunday 19 January at 3pm. Inspired by the famous jewellers of New York’s Fifth Avenue, this trio of pieces, choreographed by George Balanchine, to music by Fauré, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, is a tribute to women, and to the cities of Paris, New York and St Petersburg. 

On Sunday 2 February at 3pm there will be a chance to see a new ballet, Lost Illusions, based on Balzac’s novel of thwarted love, ambition and disillusionment, set against a backdrop of 19^th century Paris. 

The final screening, on Sunday 30 March at 4pm, is a refreshing satire, The Golden Age, a tale of love, gangsters and cabaret in 1920s Russia, set to music by Shostakovich. 

Tickets for most live broadcasts are £14 full price, £12 for concessions and £10 for children. Advertised start times are for curtain up, so customers are advised to take their seats 15 minutes beforehand. 

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Kettering Borough Councillor and former Mayor of Kettering Jim Hakewill will join Northants Friends of the Earth  – in giant bee costumes – in support of our screening of More Than Honey, the acclaimed documentary on the bee crisis by Oscar-nominated Markus Imhoof, on Monday 7 October at 6.15pm.

The multi-award winning film tells a provocative yet touching tale of what might happen if our bees became extinct. It takes a fascinating, in-depth look at the intricate honeybee colonies, examining what is behind the current bee crisis and why we rely on bees for so many things. Imhoof has described More Than Honey as “Chaplin’s Modern Times as told by bees”. The Washington Post praised its ‘Gorgeous cinematography and fascinating details about bees’ complex behavior and anatomy’.   

The film is narrated by legendary actor – and keen gardener – John Hurt, who says, “Like a lot of people, I didn’t realise the threat to bees worldwide, and their importance had never occurred to me. But it’s something mankind should be concerned about, because it’s very important for the planet. We do tend to behave so often in the most cavalier way.” 

In recent years many species of British bee have been declining, placing the country’s food supply and economy under threat. Research by Friends of the Earth shows that without bees, it would cost the UK at least £1.8 billion every year to hand-pollinate our crops. The Bee Cause Campaign has secured a promise from Government that it will draw up a Bee Action Plan to save British bees. 

Northants Friends of the Earth have been holding campaign stalls across the county calling for a strong National Bee Plan, and finding areas to seed as wild flower meadow “Bee Worlds”. Northants co-ordinator Alan Heath said: “We are really pleased to support More Than Honey because it raises awareness of the plight of bees. Everyone in Northants can do their bit for bees. Even a small number of wildflowers or herbs in a window-box can provide food for bees and help them thrive.” 

During his term as Mayor of the Borough of Kettering from 2012 to 2013, Cllr Jim Hakewill raised awareness of the decline in the number of bees, butterflies and other insects with his “Bringing the Bee Back to the Borough” campaign.  He handed out 2,000 complimentary cards with a small packet of “bee friendly” wildflower seeds on at events that he and his wife Christine attended through their mayoral year. Cllr Hakewill said, “I am delighted that this amazing film is being screened here in Northampton.   Any publicity around the plight of the bee, and other pollinators, will keep people focused on finding ways to improve our understanding of this major problem of declining numbers”

More Than Honey is screened at Errol Flynn Filmhouse on Monday 7 October at 6.15pm, with a Friends of the Earth stall to raise awareness of the Bee Cause campaign at the cinema before and after the film.

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A group of over 15 volunteer marshals from the Silverstone Marshals Team joined us for a screening of the acclaimed new Formula 1 biopic Rush on Friday 27 September.

Sporting their distinctive orange marshal’s overalls, the group were raising the profile of their role and the opportunities to volunteer, as well as enjoying the stunning racing footage in Ron Howard’s account of the legendary rivalry between  James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian champion Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) in the 1976 Grand Prix season. 

Motor racing at Silverstone Circuit needs volunteers to ensure that races run smoothly and safely. Whether it is a Grand Prix or a club-level meeting, marshals are a vital part of the pits, paddock and trackside team, carrying out a wide range of duties which contribute to the overall efficiency, safety and success of events. 

Karen Timson, Trainee Marshal of the Silverstone Marshals Team, who organised the film outing, said: “It’s a lot of fun being a marshal. You become part of a group of real enthusiasts who all enjoy motor sports whilst also working hard to ensure that motorsport is safe and fun for everyone, from competitor to spectator. The real bonus is that through marshalling clubs like this one, you have a great social life as well.” 

Anyone wishing to find out more about volunteering as a marshal can contact Marshals and Events Administrator Penny Norris at Silverstone  Circuit on 01327 320295 or by email at [email protected]. 

Rush is screened at Errol Flynn Filmhouse until Thursday 3 October.

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