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Audio Described

Relaxed

Parent & Baby

HOH Subtitles

Amplified Audio

Our dementia-friendly screenings take place every second Wednesday of the month.

The film starts at 11am, and our cafe and facilities are be open from 10am for early arrivals, tea, coffee & cake!

As with all our accessible screenings, carers go free.

We’re a dementia-friendly venue and all our staff have been dementia trained via the Alzheimer’s Society. We’ve adapted the space and made adjustments to make sure the space is as safe, helpful, and happy as possible.

This includes:

Additional signage

No adverts or trailers

Lights are left on dim and volume is turned down

The cinema isn’t filled to capacity

Relaxed – eg attendees can sing, dance or talk during the film

15 min interval

Extra cushions & alternative seating available

If you have any questions email us, or sign up for our newsletter to hear about forthcoming screenings!

Accessibility:
Please be aware, the cinema is on the first floor and there is no lift. We do have a medium-wide (1100mm) stairwell with handrails on both sides, and we’ve had several guests with limited mobility join us for films. However it does rely on walking up the stairs (with assistance as required).

Our staff will be ready to lend a hand wherever needed.

Please see here for our Accessibility Document.

A chance for parents and carers with babies under a year old to see the best new films.

The cafe is open from 10am, and the films begin at 11am. The sound is turned down a little, and the lights kept up a little. We'll also help you upstairs with your buggy!

(Please note that due to the need to keep our fire exits accessible, buggies are parked in the bar, where we have staff and CCTV, while the film is on)

Only adults accompanied by babies will be admitted.

Come with us on an adventure through space and time as we explore the outer reaches of the universe in our Summer Of Sci-Fi season!

Wherever possible we play films with the audio description soundtrack. These films are listed below, and can be recognised by the [AD] image beside the film title.

A film with an audio description soundtrack means that we can supply you with headphones for the duration of the film which will relay a special soundtrack with full description of events happening on screen. This means that anyone with visual impairment or other needs can fully enjoy the film.

An audio description soundtrack has no affect whatsoever to anyone without the headphones; it's just like a regular film.

HOH subtitles, or ‘closed captioning’, refers to subtitles specifically intended for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing. They are a transcription rather than a translation, so as well as reproducing dialogue in films, aim to describe every additional non-dialogue sound available to a hearing audience, e.g. “(sighs)” or “(door creaks)” and song lyrics. These subtitles are hard-coded onto the screen. All guests are welcome to purchase tickets to these screenings and in our experience, hearing guests at these performances do not find the subtitles to be distracting at all.

Wherever possible, we play films with the Amplified Audio soundtrack. These films are listed below and can be recognised by the [AA] image beside the film title.

A film with an amplified audio soundtrack is specifically intended for people with hearing impairment. It means that we can supply you with headphones for the duration of the film, and you can turn up the volume as much as you need. 

An amplified audio soundtrack has no affect whatsoever on anyone without the headphones; it's just like a regular film.

Relaxed screenings offer a chance to see films in a relaxed environment and are open to everyone to attend, but are especially tailored for those with autism or others with sensory needs, as well as their friends, family and carers. Relaxed screenings are scheduled every second Sunday of the month.

Look at our Photo social story and read our Access Statement which can be used to see the venue before your visit. There is also a 3D tour of the cinema available here.

What’s different about these screenings?

The sound is lower than usual (we also have ear defenders available), the lights are kept on low, seats are not allocated, the cinema screening is filled to a maximum capacity of 75%.It’s ok to move around or walk out of the screen if you need a break. It’s ok to make noise if you need.

Our staff have all received Dimensions UK training, and we’ll make sure it’s a friendly, welcoming and safe environment.

Check out all the exciting events we’ve got coming up, by date.

When we’re not watching films we’re discussing them, running a quiz, learning to knit or laughing at hilarious stand-up comedy. If you’re a dab hand at arts & crafts or you’ve got an idea for an event, workshop or talk - contact us and let us know!

Sun, 27 Apr

NT Live: The Importance of Being Earnest

Three-time Olivier Award-winner Sharon D Clarke is joined by Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who; Sex Education) in this joyful reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedy. While assuming the role of a dutiful guardian in the country, Jack lets loose in town under a false identity. Meanwhile, his friend Algy adopts a similar facade. Hoping to impress two eligible ladies, the gentlemen find themselves caught in a web of lies they must carefully navigate. Max Webster (Life of Pi) directs this hilarious story of identity, impersonation, and romance, filmed live from the National Theatre in London. Please note: for NT Live shows there is no trailer reel. Shows start on time - as they would in the theatre!

Tue, 29 Apr

NT Live: The Importance of Being Earnest

Three-time Olivier Award-winner Sharon D Clarke is joined by Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who; Sex Education) in this joyful reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedy. While assuming the role of a dutiful guardian in the country, Jack lets loose in town under a false identity. Meanwhile, his friend Algy adopts a similar facade. Hoping to impress two eligible ladies, the gentlemen find themselves caught in a web of lies they must carefully navigate. Max Webster (Life of Pi) directs this hilarious story of identity, impersonation, and romance, filmed live from the National Theatre in London. Please note: for NT Live shows there is no trailer reel. Shows start on time - as they would in the theatre!

Wed, 30 Apr

Pitchblack Playback: Mystery Classic Album Club (Post-Dubstep Dystopia)

Album listening session in the dark specialists Pitchblack Playback launch their new Mystery Classic Album Club with a Post-Dubstep Dystopia special, inviting you to immerse yourself in two classic UK electronic albums (released in 2007 & 2010) in uncompressed sound with no distractions on our powerful cinema sound system. These Mystery sessions will always highlight classic and acclaimed albums within their genre, with the albums only revealed upon playback on the night. Your chance to hear some long-awaited albums at Pitchblack Playback, discover albums you didn't know before and fill in gaps in your musical knowledge. Presented in association with Everything Tunes: your essential Instagram music discovery page. "This sounds great” — Rick Rubin
"A fabulous idea" — Jay Kay, Jamiroquai
"The optimal way to listen to an album" — Max Richter
"This might just be my favourite new thing to do" — Nihal, BBC Radio 5 Live Ticket includes Pitchblack Playback eye mask for extra darkness. As recommended by The Guardian, GQ, Time Out, Metro and Newsweek. Duration: 96 minutes (including 10-minute interval)

Sun, 4 May

NT Live: Dr. Strangelove

Seven-time BAFTA Award winner Steve Coogan (Alan Partridge, The Trip) plays four roles in the world premiere stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick's comedy masterpiece Dr. Strangelove. When a rogue U.S. General triggers a nuclear attack, a surreal race takes place, seeing the Government and one eccentric scientist scramble to avert global destruction. This explosively funny satire is led by a world-renowned creative team including Emmy Award-winner Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, Veep) and Olivier Award-winner Sean Foley (The Upstart Crow). Please note: for NT Live shows there is no trailer reel. Shows start on time - as they would in the theatre!

Tue, 6 May

Hackney History Festival: 'Estate, A Reverie' & 'A Palace For Us' - In Conversation

Join us for a special double bill screening at the Hackney History Festival, featuring Estate, A Reverie followed by A Palace for Us, two powerful films exploring the themes of urban regeneration, community, and displacement in Hackney. After the screenings, stay for an 'In Conversation' with the directors of the films (Andrea Luka Zimmerman & Tom Hunter), offering insights into the stories behind the films and the impact of regeneration on local communities. Don't miss this thought-provoking evening of cinema and conversation! Estate, a Reverie (83mins/2015) tracks the passing of the Haggerston Estate in Hackney, London and the utopian promise of social housing it offered, with an unruly celebration of extraordinary everyday humanity. Filmed over seven years, the film reveals and celebrates the resilience of residents who are profoundly overlooked by media representations and wider social responses. A Palace For Us (26mins/2010) follows the older residents who grew up in east London and have lived on the Woodberry Down estate in Hackney since it opened.

Wed, 7 May

NT Live: The Importance of Being Earnest

Three-time Olivier Award-winner Sharon D Clarke is joined by Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who; Sex Education) in this joyful reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedy. While assuming the role of a dutiful guardian in the country, Jack lets loose in town under a false identity. Meanwhile, his friend Algy adopts a similar facade. Hoping to impress two eligible ladies, the gentlemen find themselves caught in a web of lies they must carefully navigate. Max Webster (Life of Pi) directs this hilarious story of identity, impersonation, and romance, filmed live from the National Theatre in London. Please note: for NT Live shows there is no trailer reel. Shows start on time - as they would in the theatre!

Sun, 11 May

'That Was It, I Never Saw My Son Again' - Film + Panel Discussion

Until 2016, youth violence in the capital was widely understood to be falling down from a peak in 2009. Then the numbers started climbing again. The 2020 lockdown seemed to provide some respite, as rates of stabbings decreased for the first time in half a decade, but knife crime in London has risen each year since the pandemic, with a 22 per cent increase in Met Police recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in the last year (up to September 2023). Meet the Londoners at the heart of the capital's knife crime epidemic in 'That was it, I never saw my son again'. The short film screening will be followed by a panel discussion hosted by journalist Emma Loffhagen. Short Film Run Time: 9 minutes 40 seconds Panel Run Time: 30 minutes

Tue, 13 May

NT Live: Dr. Strangelove

Seven-time BAFTA Award winner Steve Coogan (Alan Partridge, The Trip) plays four roles in the world premiere stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick's comedy masterpiece Dr. Strangelove. When a rogue U.S. General triggers a nuclear attack, a surreal race takes place, seeing the Government and one eccentric scientist scramble to avert global destruction. This explosively funny satire is led by a world-renowned creative team including Emmy Award-winner Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, Veep) and Olivier Award-winner Sean Foley (The Upstart Crow). Please note: for NT Live shows there is no trailer reel. Shows start on time - as they would in the theatre!

Pitchblack Playback: Doechii 'Alligator Bites Never Heal'

*Please arrive by event start time as latecomers will not be admitted* Immerse yourself in the mindblowing talent that is Doechii at Pitchblack Playback's album listening session in the dark for her breakout mixtape 'Alligator Bites Never Heal' - the Grammy Awards' 2025 Best Rap Album. Hear this immense record played loud in uncompressed audio on our powerful cinema sound system. No distractions; just you and the music. "This sounds great” — Rick Rubin
"A fabulous idea" — Jay Kay, Jamiroquai
"The optimal way to listen to an album" — Max Richter
"This might just be my favourite new thing to do" — Nihal, BBC Radio 5 Live Ticket includes Pitchblack Playback eye mask for extra darkness. As recommended by The Guardian, GQ, Time Out, Metro and Newsweek. Duration: 47 minutes

Wed, 14 May

Hackney History Festival: 'Under the Cranes' - with Director Q&A

Screened as part of Hackney History Festival.
Stay after the screening for a Q&A with filmmaker Emma-Louise Williams and poet Michael Rosen
Shot entirely on location in Hackney, this film-poem offers a lyrical, painterly defence of the everyday and a celebration of this dynamic and culturally diverse East London borough, even as it poses questions about the process of regeneration. Rare archive footage and dreamlike sequences of present-day Hackney are juxtaposed with the East London paintings of Leon Kossoff, Jock McFadyen and James MacKinnon and a heightened soundtrack mixes documentary with poetry, music, song and location recordings. As we slip between past and present, real and imagined, famous and unknown "the world comes to Hackney": From Shakespeare in Shoreditch, to a Jamaican builder, from Anna Sewell's Black Beauty to the Jewish 43 Group taking on Oswald Mosley in Dalston, the audience is invited to apprehend the city as fragmentary and multi-layered, past in the present, present in the past. Under the Cranes premiered at the East End Film Festival in 2011. "A joyous wonder, an instant addition to the modern canon of filmic London." - Sukhdev Sandhu, BFI
“A wonderfully life-affirming film-poem" - Paul Farley
“ A marvellous evocation of Hackney – the place, the peoples and their dreams too." - Patrick Wright
"Extends the tradition of the ‘city symphony’' - Ian Christie

Tue, 20 May

Life and Death in Gaza with Director Q&A

Life and Death in Gaza is a 4 x BAFTA nominated film, produced by BBC Eye (the investigative department in the BBC World Service) Filmed from the very first days of the war and months into the ongoing conflict, we follow four Gazans - Khalid, Aya, Adam and Aseel - as they document their own lives and the ramifications of the war on their loved ones and those around them. From terrifying bombing raids to multiple evacuations, the intensity of family separations and reunions, to deaths and even the birth of a new life amidst the chaos. Life and Death in Gaza is self-shot over the course of the first year of the war, and captures the fight for survival through direct, personal experiences. Followed by a panel discussion with director Natasha Cox, Dr. Khaled Dawas (Palestinian British Surgeon, UCLH, who's been on emergency medical missions to Gaza) & Manal Massalha (sociologist)

Wed, 21 May

WE ARE FUGAZI FROM WASHINGTON D.C. presented by Doc'n Roll Films X Clapton CFC.

Doc'n Roll Films X Clapton CFC Presents: WE ARE FUGAZI FROM WASHINGTON D.C. Curators Joe Gross, Jeff Krulik, Joseph Pattisall A Charity-Supported Screening Series Across the UK & Ireland Created to commemorate the 20 years that have passed since DC-based post-hardcore band Fugazi’s last live appearance (4th November 2002, at London's Forum), We Are Fugazi from Washington, D.C. is a 96-minute movie comprising crowd-sourced, fan-recorded live shows and rare archive footage of Fugazi curated by Joe Gross, Joseph Pattisall and Jeff Krulik. Explicitly billed as a non-documentary (tHISiSNOTaFUGAZIdOCUMENTARY,) the film pays tribute to Fugazi’s prowess as a live act - for old fans to remember and for a new generation to discover what they missed. This unique archival assemblage celebrates the fans and their cameras, as much as the band itself - a collision/collusion of the ephemeral moment on stage, and the moments captured on camera. The Filmmakers' profits will be donated to BDCA. Bonny Downs Community Association is a dynamic community-led charity that has been serving the residents of the London Borough of Newham since 1998.

Thu, 5 Jun

NT Live: A Streetcar Named Desire

Gillian Anderson (Sex Education), Vanessa Kirby (The Crown), and Ben Foster (Lone Survivor) lead the cast in Tennessee Williams' timeless masterpiece, returning to cinemas. As Blanche's fragile world crumbles, she turns to her sister Stella for solace – but her downward spiral brings her face to face with the brutal, unforgiving Stanley Kowalski. From visionary director Benedict Andrews, this acclaimed production was filmed live during a sold-out run at the Young Vic Theatre in 2014 Please note: for NT Live shows there is no trailer reel. Shows start on time - as they would in the theatre!

Thu, 4 Sep

NT Live: Inter Alia

Oscar-nominated Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, Saltburn) is Jessica in the much-anticipated next play from the team behind Prima Facie. Jessica Parks is a smart Crown Court Judge at the top of her career. Behind the robe, she is a karaoke fiend, a loving wife and a supportive parent. When an event threatens to throw her life completely off balance, can she hold her family upright? Writer Suzie Miller, director Justin Martin, and composer Self Esteem, reunite following their global phenomenon Prima Facie, with this searing examination of modern motherhood and masculinity. Please note: for NT Live shows there is no trailer reel. Shows start on time - as they would in the theatre!

The End

That's it for now.
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