To save paper, cut costs and give us flexibility in selecting films at short notice, we no longer produce printed programmes. All of our films are listed on the Buxton Opera House Cinema website as well as our own. If you’d like to receive a weekly alert for our Monday film please subscribe to our newsletter.
Here is our diary – we update it as soon as new films are confirmed. You won’t find a more varied and interesting programme anywhere!
| Monday 2/3/26 | No Other Choice (15) | When paper company employee Yoo Man-su is abruptly laid off, he loses the perfect life he’s worked hard for. He promises his family that he’ll find a new job within the next three months but that proves impossible and, as the severance pay dries up, his wife Lee Miri starts to talk of cutbacks. Man Su, in turn, grows more and more desperate. Dropping to his knees in front a manager at rival company, he pleads, “My wife cancelled Netflix!” When a new job finally comes along, he realises a cunning plan to get rid of his competition via any available means. Another delightfully wicked black comedy from director Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden, Oldboy) featuring his signature twists, dark humour and exquisite imagery - everything that has made him such a unique cinematic presence. |
| Monday 9/3/26 | The President's Cake (12A) | The film is set in 1990s Iraq among the Mesopotamian marshes of the director’s childhood and at a time when everyday Iraqis across the country were starving due to U.S. sanctions. Saddam Hussein, who later drained the marshes to punish the antagonistic tribes who lived there, insisted that Iraqis celebrate his birthday with a lavish cake. In a small town and modest school, that important duty falls on young Lamia, who lives with her ailing bibi (grandmother) and doesn’t go anywhere without her beloved cockerel Hindi. This charming film follows Lamia as she attempts to acquire the ingredients for the cake at the same time as running away from her bibi’s plan to pass her on to a couple who might better look after her. A compelling and beautifully made film - the marsh reed constructions are extraordinary - and a rarity from Iraq. Winner, Caméra d'Or, Cannes 2025. |
| Monday 16/3/26 | Turner & Constable | The current Tate exhibition celebrating the 250th anniversary of the births of Turner and Constable and their intertwined lives and legacies is the subject of this new documentary from Exhibition on Screen. The two painters, who were also the greatest of rivals, were born within a year of each other and they both used landscape painting to reflect the changing world around them. Discover unexpected sides to both artists with intimate views of sketchbooks and personal items and insights from leading experts. Turner's blazing sunsets and sublime scenes from his travels and Constable's idealised depictions of beloved places from home whipped the public of the time into a frenzy of enthusiasm. Constable represents the very best of the old school of realism and pastoral nostalgia; Turner, an exciting new way of depicting emotion and dreamlike impressions. Critics compared their starkly different styles to a clash of 'fire and water'. An excellent opportunity to see these greats side-by-side, as they so often were in life, on the big screen for the first time. |
| Monday 23/3/26 | Sirat (15) | A father and his son arrive at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco. They are searching for Mar -- daughter and sister -- who vanished months ago at one of these endless, sleepless parties. Surrounded by electronic music and a raw, unfamiliar sense of freedom, they hand out her photo again and again. Hope is fading, but they push through and follow a group of ravers heading to one last party in the desert. As they venture deeper into the burning wilderness, the journey forces them to confront their own limits. Nominated for an Oscar in the Best International Film category |
| Monday 30/3/26 | The Secret Agent (15) | A gripping, mischievous political thriller set amid the vibrant cultural landscape of 1970s Brazil. The film captures the period’s golden-age cinema with sumptuous cinematography and a bold soundtrack. Marcelo, and academic and father on the run from a mysterious past, arrives in the city of Recife during the intensity of its annual carnival. Gradually, his place within the city’s intricate web of secrets begins to emerge. From the acclaimed Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho (Aquarius, Bacurau) the film has already won two Golden Globe awards and is nominated as Best International Film in the upcoming Oscars. “Brilliant” 5* The Guardian |
| Monday 6/4/26 | Twinless (15) | When we watched this film at previews in November, one of our team wrote: “This is an extraordinary film. Beautifully shot, directed, acted. Very moving with unexpected twists. Made me think a lot, definitely one for us”. This under-the-radar film is a highly original, Sundance Audience Award-winning dark comedy about grief from Straight Up writer-director James Sweeney, who also co-stars. After the death of his identical twin brother, Roman joins a support group for bereaved twins where he meets Dennis. Both searching for solace and a sense of identity without their other halves, they quickly become close, but when Roman meets Dennis’s ebullient colleague Marcie, all is revealed to be not what it seems. Clever, graphic and disarmingly funny – Twinless is an exhilaratingly wild ride that takes you to surprising places. |
| Monday 13/4/26 | My Father's Shadow (12A) | Set in 1993 Nigeria during tensions surrounding the presidential election and the transition from military rule. In a remote village two young boys are awed at the sudden and unexplained reappearance of their charismatic and commanding father. When he announces that he must return immediately to Lagos and that the boys can accompany him, we join them on a difficult journey and spend a day in the city when they connect with their father and witness the impact of political unrest on personal lives. The first Nigerian film to be selected for the Cannes film festival's Official Selection. “A rich, heartfelt and rewarding movie.” The Guardian |
| Monday 20/4/26 | DJ Ahmet (tbc) | A touching, comic and radiantly colourful coming-of-age story about the unifying power of music. A wistful 15-year-old from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, Ahmet has a lot on his plate after the loss of his mother, including herding sheep and caring for his kid brother. Weighed down by his father’s rules, he’s also bound by their conservative wider community. He finds an unlikely refuge in music, which brings him closer to Aya but she’s already promised to someone else… Winner of the Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award and a Special Jury Award for Creative Vision, DJ Ahmet casts a crowd-pleasing spell while sensitively exploring the realities of life in patriarchal societies. Uplifted by an extraordinary young cast and a rich soundtrack that draws on regional as well as English language songs, it dances along the line between modernity and tradition. |
| Monday 27/4/26 | The Spin (15) | So many of the very good films we screen tend to be serious or, according to some, “depressing”. This one is a sweet and uplifting Irish road movie that packs in the laughs as it follows Dermot and Elvis, two music lovers who run a struggling record shop in Omagh, Northern Ireland. Facing an unpaid rent bill and their vicious landlord Sadie, who’s eager to get them out of her building, the pair stumble across a deal too good to be true: rare, vintage records of blues legend Robert Johnson for sale in Cork at a knock-down price. If they can make it to the other end of Ireland in time, then maybe they could get the rare vinyl, and save the shop…. A fun and off-the-wall buddy movie, The Spin is based upon a semi-autobiographical short story by Omagh music star Mark McCausland (The Lost Brothers, The Basement, McKowski), who also provides the film’s beautiful folk soundtrack. |
| Monday 4/5/26 | La Grazia | details soon |
| Monday 11/5/26 | tbc | |
| Monday 18/5/26 | tbc |