Dawn of Impressionism – Paris 1874 (PG)

2025 UK

Dir. Ali Ray

The Impressionists are the most popular group in art history – millions flock every year to marvel at their masterpieces. But, to begin with, they were scorned, penniless outsiders. 1874 was the year that changed everything; the first Impressionists, “hungry for independence”, broke the mould by holding their own exhibition outside official channels. Impressionism was born and the art world was changed forever.

What led to that first groundbreaking show 150 years ago? Who were the maverick personalities that wielded their brushes in such a radical and provocative way? The spectacular Musée d’Orsay exhibition brings fresh eyes to this extraordinary tale of passion and rebellion. The story is told not by historians and curators but in the words of those who witnessed the dawn of Impressionism: the artists, press and people of Paris, 1874.

Made in close collaboration with the Musée d’Orsay and National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Please note that due to licensing restrictions, tickets for this film are £10 (£7 children/students).

Tickets available on the door or in advance from the Buxton Opera House box-office

Monday 24th March 7.30pm

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found (15)

2024 France, USA

Dir. Raoul Peck

Following a recent UK exhibition of South African photographer Ernest Cole’s ground-breaking photobook House of Bondage – one of the most significant photographic works of the 20th century, which exposed the inhumanity and injustice of South African apartheid to the world – this new documentary takes his story to film.

Narrated by actor LaKeith Stanfield, the film is filled with images of the acutely painful photographs Cole risked his own life to take; psychological portraits of existence within a brutal caste system, its violence and indignity. Published in 1967 when Cole was only in his 20s, House of Bondage exiled him to Europe and America for the rest of his life, enraged for decades by the silence of the West in the face of the apartheid regime. Of a piece with Peck’s wider body of work including the Oscar-nominated I Am Not Your Negro, Ernest Cole: Lost & Found is also a kind of detective thriller, which documents a latter-day discovery while reassessing Cole’s life and contribution to our understanding of race.