Cheltenham Film Society
Cheltenham Film Society (CFS) was founded in 1945 and currently has 450 members. We show mostly subtitled and independent films between September and April at the Bacon Theatre in Dean Close School, Cheltenham. Admission is by annual membership subscription, but members may bring guests.
The object of the society is “to advance the education of the public in the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the arts, particularly the art of film and allied visual techniques”. To this end, the society has the power to “promote the study and appreciation of films by means of lectures, discussions and exhibitions”.
All information provided by Cheltenham Film Society
Screenings
Upcoming
Power Alley
14th Apr 2026 at 19:45
Certificate:
Synopsis
17 year-old Sofia is an exceptionally talented volleyball player. The star player in the São Paulo C.Leste team who are competing in the Youth Volleyball Championship. Her outstanding performances have given her the chance of a life-changing university scholarship in Chile. Winning this tournament with them would virtually guarantee her place, but she discovers she is pregnant. This could change everything; both of her goals are in jeopardy. She wants to have a termination. Her father is supportive but there are very strict legal obstacles against abortion in Brazil. Taking matters into her own hands she finds a clinic online. She does not realise that it is a front run by a religious fundamentalist pressure group whose sole aim is to prevent all abortion …
This is a deeply committed work from director Lillah Halla which was rewarded with the Fipresci Prize at Cannes. Halla also co-wrote the screenplay which doesn’t just focus on Sofia’s right to choose an abortion but also on the strong bond she has with her teammates through sport. The diversity and inclusivity of her teammates who support her brings a wonderful energy to the narrative as they stand up to the strict societal values. There is fantastic chemistry between the actors with the performance of Ayomi Domenica as Sofia a highlight. She completely inhabits her character and radiates star quality. An engaging slice of life drama with a brilliant electronic soundtrack and a defiant ending full of hope.
Additional Info
Location
Cheltenham Film Society, Bacon Theatre, Hatherley Rd, Cheltenham, GL51 6EP
The Marching Band
28th Apr 2026 at 19:45
Certificate:
Synopsis
This gently humorous French drama, led by two of France’s most watchable actors, is a simple yet effective story about the power of music to overcome barriers and give solace in difficult times. An uplifting film, reminiscent of Brassed Off, it was a great success with the audience at the Cannes Festival last year.
Benjamin Lavernhe (comedically brilliant as the over-zealous bridegroom some of you will have seen in C’est La Vie) plays Thibaut, an internationally reknowned musician and conductor who discovers he has leukaemia and needs an immediate bone-marrow transplant. He discovers he is adopted with no blood relatives who can serve as a donor. He embarks on a journey to find a match. His search leads him to Jimmy (Pierre Lottin, When Autumn Falls, The Stranger), a caféteria worker in a colliery near Lille, who plays the trombone in the colliery marching band and has a passion for jazz. Thibaut recognises Jimmy’s musical ability and, reflecting on the good fortune of his own background and how the choices made for them in their respective childhoods have determined their very different lives, he decides to encourage him to fulfil his natural talent. Jimmy begins to dream of a different life …
Maybe not a wholly original plot but it still resonates. The engaging chemistry of the two leads gives this unpretentious story authenticity and a diverse range of music enhances this good-natured and heart-warming tale.
Additional Info
Location
Cheltenham Film Society, Bacon Theatre, Hatherley Rd, Cheltenham, GL51 6EP
Archive
Santosh
20-01-2026 at 19:45
Certificate:
Synopsis
Additional Info
Written and directed by British-Indian filmmaker, Sandhya Sufi, Santosh is a tense and gripping murder mystery set in Northern India. A fascinating portrayal of unfamiliar environments with plenty to get you thinking.
A young widow, unaccustomed to working but forced to by necessity, inherits her husband’s job in the local police force through the Indian convention of ‘appointment on compassionate grounds’. Santosh Saini soon finds herself involved in the murder investigation of a young Dalit girl. As she discovers the realities of policing in this divided rural community with its corruption and caste prejudices, it is not long until she understands the true nature of the law of the land. When protests break out over the local police force’s failure to take steps to solve the crime, a cynical woman detective, Senior Inspector Geeta Sharma, is brought in to lead the case. Given the responsibility of taking the girl’s body to the morgue we see Santosh’s pride in her new responsibilities and pleasure at being in uniform. As a woman her confidence develops - no longer a 2nd class citizen - even to the point of accepting a bribe, just as her fellow male officers do. A fundamentally decent yet disillusioned Santosh is not averse to doing it their way. Is her career and new found independence something to cling on to or can she keep her principles and integrity?
Shahana Goswami is restrained and relatable in the title role. Her nuanced performance is the anchor that keeps viewers invested in her story and the wider implications. Santosh does not offer any answers to its social criticism but it elevates the police procedural into something relevant and meaningful.
Location
Santosh, Bacon Theatre, Hatherley Rd, Cheltenham, GL51 6EP
Disco Boy
27-01-2026 at 19:45
Certificate:
Synopsis
Belorussian ex-con Aleksei arrives in Poland with his buddy Mikhail (Michal Balicki) on a tourist visa, supposedly to see a football match. Their aim is to reach France, so at the first chance they get, they hitch a lift to Paris from a friendly truck driver. With no papers, and limited French, Aleksei joins the Foreign Legion which gives him a residence permit and a promise of French citizenship in five years.
On his first mission Aleksei (now Alex) is sent to rescue French hostages taken by MEND, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta where oil extraction is destroying the jungle habitat. Jomo (Morr Ndiaye) the charismatic leader of MEND is the disco boy - asked what he would like to become if he was born “on the other side among the whites”, he replies “I’d be a dancer - a Disco Boy”. Their paths intersect when Alex is involved in a terrifying sortie - a brilliantly filmed set-piece. The impact of this hallucinatory fire-fight is profound as Alex breaks down, his disillusionment and guilt weighing heavily on him. Udoka (Laetitia Ky) Jomo’s sister, their tribe’s spiritual dancer, is the film’s third main character and, on Alex’s return to Paris, he encounters her by chance at a disco. Dance is the thread that ties the three of them together; their universal connection. Could it hold the possibility of redemption for Alex, yet to find his identity and place in the world?
This is bold, creative film-making. A magnetic lead performance by Franz Rogowski (Passages, Great Freedom), the luminous cinematography and pulsating electronic dance music all come together to make Disco Boy a striking film experience. Be prepared not to understand every moment. The final sequences may be just the distorted reality of a traumatised man and a Utopian vision but, “It’s quite a trip.” - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
Additional Info
Location
Disco Boy, Bacon Theatre, Hatherley Rd, Cheltenham, GL51 6EP
Love Life
10-02-2026 at 19:45
Certificate:
Synopsis
Kōji Fukada’s Love Life is a story quietly told which explores the relationship of one couple whilst revealing some of the sad realities of human nature.
In their small flat in Tokyo, Taeko (Fumino Kimura) and her husband Jiro (Kento Nagayama) lead a tranquil, middle-class existence with her 6 year old son, Keita, from a previous marriage. Jiro’s parents, who live in the same housing complex, do not approve of his marriage, seeing Taeko as a cast-off, and it appears that their disapproval has made Jiro reluctant to formally adopt Keita. At a celebratory party a tragic accident occurs which brings Keita’s half-Korean father, Park (Atom Sunada), back into Taeko’s life. She throws herself into helping this deaf, homeless man who can only communicate in Korean sign language. Jiro is working out his feelings, too, which involves re-engaging with his own past long-term relationship with near neighbour, Yamazaki. As they both adjust to their new realities could it be that to survive they will have to dissolve their relationship?
The film embraces the heaviest subjects, those of life, death, grief, and love in the most understated fashion, with dry humour keeping the narrative from being dragged into sentimentality. Fukada passes no judgment on how his characters choose to process their feelings. Their story is fascinating and ultimately very poignant.
Additional Info
Location
Love Life, Bacon Theatre, Hatherley Rd, Cheltenham, GL51 6EP
I Swear
17-02-2026 at 19:45
Certificate:
Synopsis
The very moving true story of Tourette’s activist John Davidson. It starts from his teenage years when he first began to experience its tics. John goes from a confident, capable boy to being expelled from High School, leaving him without prospects or hope. Scott Ellis Watson who plays John at this age is astonishing in the way he brilliantly brings him to life. 13 years pass and charismatic Robert Aramayo takes over as the adult John; discriminated against by the police, shunned and mocked by ignorant people in the community, without a job or a future. Two people come into his life who help and give him a chance in life. John Davidson now works to educate others about the condition and as seen in the hilarious first scene has recently been awarded an MBE.
Avoiding classic biopic tropes and fake emotion, director Kirk Jones allows the story and characters to connect with the audience. Robert Aramayo brilliantly delivers the heartache and bewilderment the condition causes John to suffer, at the same time as bringing heart-warming truthfulness to his life. There are terrific performances too from Shirley Henderson as John’s fragile mother, Maxine Peake as the Mental Health nurse who takes him in and Peter Mullan as the community centre worker who gives John a chance.
An extraordinarily frank depiction of living with Tourettes. I Swear does justice to John’s inspiring story with a mix of humour, compassion and intelligence; giving respect and understanding to him and others who experience this condition. If you haven’t yet caught this inspirational film we suggest you do.
Additional Info
Location
I Swear, Bacon Theatre, Hatherley Rd, Cheltenham, GL51 6EP
On Becoming A Guinea Fowl
24-02-2026 at 19:45
Certificate:
Synopsis
As Shula (Susan Chardy) drives down a dimly lit road somewhere in Zambia’s capital city Lusaka, she encounters a body of a man in the road. In full party fancy dress she waddles over to inspect the body. She knows him: he is her Uncle Fred. For a brief moment, Shula’s younger self appears beside her and both solemnly stare at the corpse. Without emotion she calls her father. Why the odd response?
On arriving home Shula is soon given the responsibility of organising Uncle Fred’s multi-day funeral. Her lack of grief is in striking contrast to her mother and aunties who gather together to mourn in traditional Bemba style. The elders insist on reverence and tradition; the established patriarchal social order has defined their lives for generations, but Shula and her cousin Nsansa (Elisabeth Chisela) harbour a quiet disdain. This seems odd, but as events unfold and buried secrets are gradually uncovered, this disconnect is slowly, poignantly, and painfully revealed. As the source of their discomfort creeps from the shadows through dreams and repressed memories, we begin to understand the chilling cost of silence.
There is a vein of dark humour underpinning the film but its focus on how devotion to tradition can become toxic never wavers. The film intelligently shows how the family is complicit in permitting it; maintaining the status quo regardless of the effects on the health and wellbeing of their younger generation. Rungano Nyoni, the British-Zambian writer/director (awarded at the Cannes Film Festival for her direction), skilfully and artfully weaves Shula’s own story into the narrative and is discerning and sensitive in her handling of a difficult subject. Susan Chardy gives a wonderfully nuanced performance of subtlety and purpose and Elizabeth Chisela is magnificent. A powerful, thought-provoking drama on a difficult subject.
Additional Info
Location
On Becoming A Guinea Fowl, Bacon Theatre, Hatherley Rd, Cheltenham, GL51 6EP
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig
24-03-2026 at 19:45
Certificate:
Synopsis
This is a tense and gripping drama was shot entirely in secret and the Cannes Film Festival accepted it for screening, director Mohammad Rasoulof was sentenced to flogging and eight years in prison. After Rasoulof was handed his sentence, he decided to flee Iran. With his passport confiscated he travelled on foot to Germany, where he now lives in exile. The film was shown at Cannes to a lengthy standing ovation and won the Special Jury Prize.
Iman (Missagh Zareh), an honest lawyer is promoted to be an Investigating Judge in Iran’s Revolutionary Court just as student protests are taking place against the theocratic Iranian state. He is a loving husband to Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) and father of two daughters, 21 year old Rezvan and teenager, Sana. They are all delighted and look forward to living in better accommodation and the prestige his new role will bring. With revolution outside their door Najmeh tries to isolate her daughters from the protests, allowing only official Iranian television, whilst via a VPN on their mobiles the girls see what we see - the actual footage of the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising on the streets, which Rasoulof has inserted into his film and which inspired him to make it.
As the demands on Iman grow, his sense of self slips away as he makes one concession after another. He begins to succumb to the psychological strain of dealing with hundreds of cases, frequently rubber-stamping the death sentence for protesters. For his safety he is issued with a handgun. After it goes missing and his guilt grows, he dramatically changes; the family home becoming a microcosm of the wider conflict.
This is sure to be Rasoulof’s defining work, such is the passion and commitment he brings to this powerful polemic, intending it to be a stark warning to Iranians, and to the rest of the world, to hold freedom dear. An essential film for our times.
Additional Info
Location
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, Bacon Theatre, Hatherley Rd, Cheltenham, GL51 6EP