Now Showing
Following the epic 6-year journey of filmmaker Dianne Whelan as she sets out to reconnect with nature and become the first person to travel the world’s longest trail, 500 DAYS IN THE WILD is a stunning reminder of Erath's beauty. The 24,000 km Trans Canada Trail stretches across the continent of North America, connecting the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans. It is the longest trail in the world. For six years filmmaker Dianne Whelan traveled the entirety of the land and water trails, the only person to ever accomplish this journey. 500 Days in the Wild recounts Dianne’s journey by bike, canoe, skis, snowshoes and on foot and her cross-cultural visits with those who live close to the land. This feature doc culled from 800 hours of footage is an intricate weave of adventure film, personal reflection and stunning captures of wildlife and landscapes. Using humour, adventure, beautiful cinematography and a great soundtrack (including songs from Joni Mitchell, First Aid Kit, Xavier Rudd, and The Tragically Hip), 500 Days in the Wild will entertain audiences and inspire hope for the future. She started out alone, disillusioned with state of the world, to look for different ways of caring for the land and for each other. She ended the journey a bit wiser, more hopeful, in love and with a passion to share this story.
RESTORATION! The classic anime cyberpunk action film from 1988 returns to the cinema screen fully remastered and remixed. Set in a dystopian 2019, Kaneda and his motorbike gang tear through Neo Tokyo - a city divided by growing tensions. When Kaneda’s friend has an accident, he discovers a secret government project - and acquires telekinetic abilities. Katsuhiro Otomo’s anime film has a cult following and now, Neo Tokyo will be truly bursting off the screen. Japanese language, English subtitles.
An early cult classic from the celebrated creative partnership of director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) and concept and art director Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy), ANGEL’S EGG is a hauntingly beautiful, enigmatic meditation on existence that has gained international recognition as a unique and iconic work. A masterpiece of experimental anime, ANGEL’S EGG is a vital milestone in the evolution of Oshii as an auteur, and a must-see for fans of poetic storytelling and philosophical cinema.
ENCORE SEASON. Helen Mirren reprises her Academy Award-winning role as Queen Elizabeth II in encore screenings of the original West End production of The Audience, captured live in London in 2013, and featuring an exclusive new Q&A with key members of the cast and creative team. For sixty years, Queen Elizabeth II has met with each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a private weekly meeting. This meeting is known as The Audience. No one knows what they discuss, not even their spouses. From the old warrior Winston Churchill, to the Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher, Blair right up to today’s meetings with the current incumbent David Cameron, the Queen advises her Prime Ministers on all matters both public and personal. Through these private audiences, we see glimpses of the woman behind the crown and witness the moments that shaped a monarch. The Audience is written by Peter Morgan (The Queen) and directed by two-time Tony Award winner and Academy Award-nominated director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours) and was presented in the West End by Matthew Byam Shaw for Playful Productions, Robert Fox and Andy Harries.
Based on the web series which took the world by storm, Kane Parsons makes his feature debut with a psychological horror set in a world on the edge of reality. Furniture store owner Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is on the brink of closing his business when he accidentally discovers a hidden doorway deep in the building basement. Entering an expansive interior space that defies all logic, he recruits his staff to help him explore. Venturing deeper and deeper into the liminal space before returning to the showroom with more questions than answers, his therapist (Renate Reinsve) becomes concerned that Clark may be losing his grip on reality.
Introducing The Readings Big Book Club: Bringing thinkers and readers together to explore great works of literature. Our inaugural five-part Book Club series will occur weekly from Thursday June 18 to Thursday July 16 and explores Homer's The Odyssey. The series takes place at Cinema Nova and is hosted by Michael Williams, editor of The Monthly. Each session, commencing at 6.50pm sharp, is guided by one of The University of Melbourne's leading academics, featuring a 35-minute lecture, followed by conversation and audience discussion: June 18th - Dr Seth Robinson – The Odyssey: The Original Hero's Journey June 25th - A/Prof K.O. Chong-Gossard – The Women in The Odyssey July 2nd - Dr Tom Hercules Davies – Who was Homer? July 9th - A/Prof Ika Willis – The Afterlives of The Odyssey July 16th - Screening of Christopher Nolan’s 2026 film adaptation of The Odyssey Live in-cinema Big Book Club membership: MEMBER EARLY ACCESS: $200 for Readings subscribers, Cinema Nova subscribers and University of Melbourne Alumni. Please note Early Access pricing is available for a limited time, with tickets at this discounted rate ending at midnight on Sunday May 17, 2026. PUBLIC ACCESS: $250. This price will apply from Monday May 18, 2026. There is an Online/virtual Big Book Club membership available, please see the separate ticket listing. Registration includes access to all four seminars and a copy of Homer’s The Odyssey (translated by Emily Wilson). Live in-cinema membership includes a ticket to a public screening of Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of The Odyssey (to take place on Thursday July 16), and will occur weekly on the above dates at Cinema Nova. All seating is allocated and consistent across all five sessions. Conditions: By purchasing a membership to the Live or Online Big Book Club you agree to receive email correspondence regarding this event by the presenting partners. Email correspondence will include full information about the event including collection of your copy of The Odyssey as well as cinema ticket information, once tickets to the film go on sale. Please note that once The Readings Big Book Club has commenced (June 18, 2026), refunds and changes to your membership cannot be made.
Introducing The Readings Big Book Club: Bringing thinkers and readers together to explore great works of literature. Our inaugural five-part Book Club series will occur weekly from Thursday June 18 to Thursday July 16 and explores Homer's The Odyssey. The series is hosted by Michael Williams, editor of The Monthly. Each session, commencing at 6.50pm sharp, is guided by one of The University of Melbourne's leading academics, featuring a 35-minute lecture, followed by conversation and audience discussion: June 18th - Dr Seth Robinson – The Odyssey: The Original Hero's Journey June 25th - A/Prof K.O. Chong-Gossard – The Women in The Odyssey July 2nd - Dr Tom Hercules Davies – Who was Homer? July 9th - A/Prof Ika Willis – The Afterlives of The Odyssey Online/virtual Big Book Club membership: $100 For the Big Book Club live event, please see separate listing. Registration includes access to all four seminars and a copy of Homer’s The Odyssey (translated by Emily Wilson). Online membership grants access to a live video stream of each seminar and does not include a ticket to Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Conditions: By purchasing a membership to the Live or Online Big Book Club you agree to receive email correspondence regarding the event by the presenting partners. Email correspondence will include full information about the event including collection of your copy of The Odyssey. Please note that once The Readings Big Book Club has commenced (June 18, 2026), refunds and changes to your membership cannot be made.
Directed by Luca Guadagnino and based on Andre Aciman’s romantic novel, during the summer of 1983 precocious 17-year-old Elio Perlman (Chalamet) is spending his days with his family at their 17th-century villa in Lombardy, Italy. He soon meets Oliver, a handsome doctoral student who's working as an intern for Elio's father. Amid the sun-drenched splendour of their surroundings, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever. Co-written by James Ivory, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME is a towering work of queer cinema; romantic, sensuous and utterly gorgeous. Some Italian, French language, English subtitles
The estranged children of a once-famous artist hire a forger to complete his unfinished works so they can be "discovered" and sold after his death.
Professor Se Jeong (Jun Ji-hyun), attends a biotech conference-only to witness it spiral into catastrophe when a rapidly mutating virus is unleashed. As the outbreak spreads and the infected begin to transform, authorities seal off the entire facility.
Grappling with his past after a life of crime and murder, Robin Hood finds himself gravely injured after a battle he thought would be his last. In the hands of a mysterious woman, he is offered a chance at salvation.
Almost twenty years after making their iconic turns as Miranda, Andy, Emily and Nigel—Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci return to the fashionable streets of New York City and the sleek offices of Runway Magazine in the eagerly awaited sequel to the 2006 phenomenon that defined a generation. The film reunites the original main cast with director David Frankel and writer Aline Brosh McKenna, and introduces an all-new runway of characters including Kenneth Branagh, Simone Ashley, Justin Theroux, Lucy Liu, Patrick Brammall, Caleb Hearon, Helen J. Shen, Pauline Chalamet, B.J. Novak and Conrad Ricamora. Tracie Thoms and Tibor Feldman also reprise their roles as “Lily” and “Irv” from the first film. “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is produced by Wendy Finerman, and executive produced by Michael Bederman, Karen Rosenfelt and McKenna. The film debuts exclusively in cinemas April 30, 2026.
If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This June, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to … Disclosure Day.
Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, finds refuge in music while navigating his father’s expectations, a conservative community, and his first experience with love — a girl already promised to someone else.
A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.
EPiC features long-lost footage from Presely's legendary Las Vegas residency in the 1970s, woven together with rare 16mm footage from Elvis on Tour, and precious 8mm from the Graceland archive, plus recordings of Elvis telling "his side of the story" rediscovered during Luhrmann's research for his Best Picture Oscar-nominated 2022 film Elvis.
A man becomes increasingly desperate when he realizes he is trapped in a subway station, needing to complete a mission to get out.
FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER is a feature film, though carefully constructed in the form of a triptych. The three stories all concern the relationships between adult children, their somewhat distant parent (or parents), and each other. Each of the three chapters takes place in the present, and each in a different country. FATHER is set in the Northeast US, MOTHER in Dublin, Ireland, and SISTER BROTHER in Paris, France. The film is a series of character studies, quiet, observational and non-judgmental – a comedy, but interwoven with threads of melancholy.
Franz Kafka is torn between the strict expectations of his father Hermann, his monotonous daily routine at an insurance company, and his deep-rooted urge to write and thus give literary expression to his innermost feelings. He finally receives initial attention, while he continues to try to lead a life between conforming to others, such as his dominant father, and self-realisation. Time and again, Franz experiences intense relationships with women who enchant him to the utmost, inevitably facing the tensions between closeness and withdrawal. Supported by his friend and publisher, the picture emerges of a man searching for his place in the world – between a sense of duty, inner turmoil and creative expression. Various languges, English subtitles
Middle-class Karli, alcoholic Jane, unemployed Jackie, and square Ellen are four friends living together and barely scraping by in suburban Sydney. But when Karli’s father offers her a little money and a one-way ticket to New York, she finally sees a way out of her dead-end life—that is, until the money goes missing, kickstarting a final night out on the town that none of them will ever forget.
When Helen's beloved father passes away, she is overtaken by grief and loses herself in memories of their time birding and exploring the natural world together. She becomes obsessed with the idea of training her own goshawk, and so she brings the fearsome bird Mabel home to Cambridge with her. Ready to embark on the arduous process of trying to train the wildest of animals, Helen fills the freezer with hawk food and turns off her phone. But as she labors to teach Mabel how to hunt and fly free on her own, Helen uncovers how neglected her own emotions and life have become. Based on a true story and a memoir of the same name, H IS FOR HAWK is a soaring journey of the connection between people and nature, and how it might be possible to reconcile loss through love.
When reclusive novelist Ohm Bauman (Scott) retreats to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, the staff’s tales of an ancient witch haunting the honeymoon suite take hold of his mind. Soon, disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance draw him into a nightmarish confrontation with the darkest corners of his past. In cinemas April 30.
A group of students and teachers from The Delhi College of Linguistics hit the road to discover Australia and gain first-hand experience of its authentic language and culture. When their plane is diverted to the country town of Dubbo due to storms, and their tour-leader is detained by customs, the hapless bunch unearth the 'real' Australia while never making it to Sydney, Melbourne...or even Brisbane.
I Swear follows the true story of Tourette Syndrome campaigner John Davidson's journey with Tourette's through his troubled teens and early adulthood, having been diagnosed at 15 years old in 1980s Britain - a time when the condition was little known and entirely misunderstood. Initially alienated from his peers and his family, Davidson perseveres in his attempt to live a 'normal' life against the odds, finding some unlikely champions along the way.
From Oscar-nominated director Amy Berg, this acclaimed new documentary traces Jeff Buckley's meteoric rise, the legacy of Grace, and the haunting resonance of an artist whose life was cut tragically short
The Metropolitan Opera’s 2025–26 Live in HD season comes to a close with American composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s first opera, a magical-realist portrait of Mexico’s painterly power couple Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, with libretto by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Nilo Cruz. Fashioned as a reversal of the Orpheus and Euridice myth, the story depicts Frida, sung by leading mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, leaving the underworld on the Day of the Dead and reuniting with Diego, portrayed by baritone Carlos Álvarez. The famously feuding pair briefly relive their tumultuous love, embracing both the passion and the pain before bidding the land of the living a final farewell. Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Met-premiere staging of Frank’s opera, a “confident, richly imagined score” (The New Yorker) that “bursts with color and fresh individuality” (Los Angeles Times). The vibrant new production, taking enthusiastic inspiration from Frida and Diego’s paintings, is directed and choreographed by Deborah Colker. Gabriela Lena Frank | Libretto by Nilo Cruz
Hugh Grant, James Wilby, Denholm Elliot, Rupert Graves, Simon Callow and Ben Kingsley star in MAURICE, James Ivory’s prize-winning drama of a young man trapped by oppressive society as he comes to terms with his sexuality. Maurice Hall (James Wilby) enters Cambridge in 1909 where he befriends the wealthy Clive Durham (Hugh Grant). Their friendship grows before the two men begin to develop strong romantic feelings for one another. Embarking on an intense but chaste affair, their relationship gradually becomes more difficult to conceal. James Ivory explores the ramifications of forbidden desire during Edwardian times through this powerful love story, screening theatrically for the first time in Australia in years during Pride Month at Cinema Nova.
The abusive and traumatic adoptive upbringing of Christina Crawford at the hands of her mother, screen queen Joan Crawford, is depicted.
Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway) reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel) on the eve of her comeback performance.
Beautiful, bizarre and strangely addictive, the film begins as a botched hit which results in the meeting of brunette amnesiac Rita (Laura Harring – Love in the Time of Cholera) and blonde would-be Hollywood actress Betty (Naomi Watts – Birdman, 21 Grams). Taking the viewer on a memorable neo-noir trip through Hollywood’s dark underbelly, Lynch dispenses with a conventional narrative in favour of a hallucinogenic assault on the senses that will stay with you long after the credits roll. Recently voted the best film of the 21st Century in a BBC Culture poll, MULHOLLAND DRIVE is essential viewing by one of the masters of contemporary American cinema. David Lynch’s scary and seductive vision of Hollywood is a true masterpiece, weaving together a tale of love, jealousy, and revenge like no other.
The enchanting new comedy of manners from acclaimed writer/director Grégory Magne (whose debut 'Perfumes' was a sleeper success in 2019), THE MUSICIANS stars Valérie Donzelli as a wealthy heiress whose plan to stage a landmark concert is derailed by the clashing egos of the virtuosos recruited for the performance. Astrid Thompson (Donzelli) is determined to honour her late industrialist father’s final wish: unite four priceless Stradivarius-stringed instruments for the premiere recital of a new composition by his favourite artist, to be live-streamed for music lovers globally. With just six days to rehearse, a quartet is assembled, but the dream quickly unravels: the musicians are at odds, blinded by their differences and prejudices, and seemingly incapable of working together. With the deadline fast approaching, Astrid tries to coax the reclusive composer of the score, Charlie Beaumont (Frédéric Pierrot), out from creative seclusion in the desperate hope of salvaging the event… As the film crescendos to a tender, exhilarating finale where harmony is found not only in music but human connection, THE MUSICIANS celebrates both the chaos and beauty of collaboration. Set amidst the villas, vineyards and chapels of the stunning Champagne region, with an exquisite original score by Grégoire Hetzel, this is sparkling entertainment for the heart (and ears).
When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008, a better moment in history where Orbitz were abundant, and friendships were intact.
Two old friends are walking 600 kilometers through the Scottish highlands, to reconnect with each other, with nature and with parts of themselves they have lost.
After breaking the mysterious “One Wish Willow” to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
Follows a wedding singer and a flagging pop star who come together to write a song to comedic consequences.
In 1990s Iraq, 9-year-old Lamia must bake Saddam Hussein's birthday cake. She scrambles to find ingredients for this compulsory task while facing potential punishment if she fails.
In 18th century Venice, 20-year-old violin virtuoso Cecilia lives at the Pièta orphanage, where, despite her talent, she remains confined, knowing that marriage is the only way out. Yet, her life takes a turn after she meets Antonio Vivaldi, a brilliant and ambitious composer who becomes the new violin teacher. Guided by Vivaldi and his music, Cecilia finds the strength to challenge the destiny that once seemed inevitable. Italian, French and Latin languages, English subtitles.
When renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner learns of the death of one of her patients she is deeply troubled. Convinced that it was murder, she decides to investigate...
Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction… but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.
Few modern scandals have captivated France as the astonishing events surrounding Liliane Bettencourt, the billionaire heiress to the L’Oreal fortune and doyenne of Parisian society. Now writer/director Thierry Klifa has freely adapted the incredible story into a captivating dark comedy, featuring a jaw-dropping, tailor-made role for one of France’s most iconic stars. Marianne Farrère (Isabelle Huppert), the head of the Windler Group, is the richest woman in the world. Pierre-Alain Fantin (Laurent Lafitte) is a vivacious dandy, writer and photographer. After meeting on a photo shoot, the two quickly become inseparable. Their friendship – one where Pierre-Alain is only too happy to take financial advantage – surprises, amuses, intrigues, and eventually unsettles the billionaire’s entourage and family. Most of all, Marianne’s daughter (Marina Fois) struggles with her mother’s sudden complicity with this younger man, but her husband (André Marcon) and loyal butler (Raphaël Personnaz) share her concerns. Surreptitious queries soon transition into a private investigation, resulting in extraordinary ramifications for all involved… With several twists too good to spoil, THE RICHEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD makes the most of its fabulous ensemble cast, but Huppert and Lafitte simply eat up the screen. This wildly entertaining film became an enormous box-office hit in France for good reason.
In this irresistably witty mystery, shepherd George (Hugh Jackman) reads detective novels to his beloved flock every night, assuming they couldn't possibly understand him. But, when a mysterious incident upends life on George's farm, the sheep realise they must solve the crime. Summoning the knowledge they've learned from listening to George's stories, the animals begin to investigate their human suspects. Starring Emma Thompson, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine and Hong Chau, THE SHEEP DETECTIVES features the voice talents of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Brett Goldstein, Patrick Stewart and Chris O'Dowd.
20TH ANNIVERSARY! John Cameron Mitchell's SHORTBUS explores the lives of several emotionally challenged characters as they navigate the comic and tragic intersections between love and sex in and around a modern-day underground salon. A sex therapist who has never had an orgasm, a dominatrix who is unable to connect, a gay couple who are deciding whether to open up their relationship, and the people who weave in and out of their lives, all converge on a weekly gathering called Shortbus: a mad nexus of art, music, politics, and polysexual carnality. Set in a post-9/11, Bush-exhausted New York City, SHORTBUS tells its story with sexual frankness, suggesting new ways to reconcile questions of the mind, pleasures of the flesh, and imperatives of the heart.
A father and his son arrive at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco. They're 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.
A remote German farm harbours generations of secrets. Four women, separated by decades but united by trauma, uncover the truth behind its weathered walls.
The superb new film from multi-award winning writer/director François Ozon ('Swimming Pool', '8 Women', 'Under the Sand'), THE STRANGER is a gripping adaptation of Albert Camus’ landmark novella about a detached young expat under trial for murder in French-colonised Algeria. Summer, 1938. Meursault (Benjamin Voisin, 'Lost Illusions'), a quiet and unassuming clerk in his early thirties, attends his mother’s funeral. The next day, he begins a casual affair with Marie (Rebecca Marder), a colleague randomly encountered at the local baths, and quickly slips back into routine. However, daily life is soon disrupted by his volatile neighbour (an excellent Pierre Lottin, My Brother’s Band), who draws Meursault into an altercation involving an ex-lover. And then, one blisteringly hot afternoon, an inexplicable event occurs on a beach, one that will see Meursault’s very moral standing brought to question… Visually resplendent with sensuous black-and-white images, Ozon’s elegant and masterfully realised film shines a contemporary lens on Camus' classic tale of dissociation and morality, capturing the beauty and heat of a charged society on the boil. Both impactful and mysterious, THE STRANGER is must-see French cinema of the highest order.
In this bittersweet portrait of a vanishing rural way of life, 28-year-old Dalia leaves London to check up on her ageing grandfather Igor, an expert truffle hunter in the picturesque but isolated Italian region of Piedmont. At first Igor can barely hide his resentment towards Dalia’s intrusion, and the two struggle to find common ground about anything other than Igor’s adorable truffle-hunting dog, Birba. This is until Dalia discovers that Igor is behind on his mortgage payments and sets out into the woods with Birba in tow to find a rare and valuable truffle in the hopes of saving the family home. What ensues is a visually spectacular journey into the rarely seen Piedmont forest, where Dalia and Birba have to contend with rival truffle hunters, the dangers of the forest, and the shady agricultural industry in order to find the legendary lightning-struck truffle. A touching story about intergenerational connection and the passing down of traditions and knowledge, with a scene-stealing performance from Birba the dog (who made its big screen debut in The Truffle Hunters), Gabriele Fabbro’s second feature film is a must for lovers of Italy, food, and dogs.
A talented piano tuner’s meticulous skills for tuning pianos lead him to discover an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes, turning his life upside down.
Rachel Ormont lives in an all-too-familiar, decidedly dystopian, alternate universe where she tries to navigate a life of feverish monotony. Raised in captivity in the carefully controlled, craftily curated clutches of an advertising agency, Rachel's humanity is imprinted by and organized around commodity and perception. Her parasocial relationship with the product being advertised a pop star Mommy 6.0 for ratings. She becomes introspectively involved with discovering her real identity and whether she exists in the real world.