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Based on the Book…
Literature has inspired some of the greatest films ever made.
Literary adaptations often get a bad press, with the books’ fans lamenting the necessary excision of events in the book or the loss of tone and character. Yet the best film adaptations capture the mood of the original while completely reimagining the story in their transition to the big screen.

The Quiet GirlThe Quiet Girl
Drama202191 minsDirector: Colm Bairéad
A neglected girl lives a joyful summer in Colm Bairéad's Academy Award-nominated debut that combines outstanding beauty and heart-wrenching performances.

Wuthering HeightsWuthering Heights
Drama2011129 minsDirector: Andrea Arnold
Andrea Arnold's bold re-imagining of the Emily Brontë classic.

The HandmaidenThe Handmaiden
Period drama2016146 minsDirector: Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker) channels Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, to create a sumptuous twisty psychological thriller full of erotic intrigue.

Christiane F.Christiane F.
Drama1981131 minsDirector: Uli Edel
David Bowie’s image and music gives brooding energy to this tale of a junkie sex-worker in 70s Berlin.

Petrov's FluPetrov's Flu
Fantasy2021146 minsDirector: Kirill Serebrennikov
A comic book artist contracts flu during an epidemic and subsequently embarks on a strange journey through Russian society.

IkiruIkiru
Drama1952143 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
A bureaucrat’s life finds new meaning in Kurosawa’s classic original, the source for Bill Nighy’s brilliant drama, Living.

MetropolisMetropolis
Science Fiction1927150 minsSilentDirector: Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang’s expressionist, dystopian vision is one of the first science fiction feature films, and is arguably the most influential.

FirebirdFirebird
Drama2021107 minsDirector: Peeter Rebane
At the height of the Cold War, a love triangle between a junior officer, his best friend and a handsome fighter pilot enters dangerous territory.

RafikiRafiki
Drama201883 minsDirector: Wanuri Kahiu
Romantic sparks fly between the daughters of two opposing politicians in Wanuri Kahiu’s neon-bright story of forbidden love in Kenya.

The Painted BirdThe Painted Bird
Drama2019169 minsDirector: Vaclav Marhoul
Based on Jerzy Kosiński’s 1965 novel and a long time in the making, Václav Marhoul’s extraordinary The Painted Bird finds a lone Jewish boy on a dark odyssey towards home during wartime.

Ghost WorldGhost World
Comedy2001107 minsDirector: Terry Zwigoff
Scarlett Johansson and Thora Birch star as a pair of social outcasts struggling to make sense of the world around them, in this sublime love story based on the work of underground artist Daniel Clowes.

My Sunny MaadMy Sunny Maad
Animation & Artists Moving Image202182 minsDirector: Michaela Pavlátová
When Herra, a Czech woman, falls in love with Nazir, an Afghan man, she has no idea about the life that awaits her in Afghanistan, nor about the family she is about to join.

Old BoysOld Boys
Comedy201995 minsDirector: Toby MacDonald
Charmingly idiosyncratic comedy reworking of Cyrano de Bergerac, with Alex Lawther as a boarder who helps the school hero woo a French teacher's daughter despite being besotted with her himself.

KwaidanKwaidan
Anthology1964183 minsDirector: Masaki Kobayashi
This stunningly beautiful anthology of Japanese ghost stories is one of the most meticulously crafted supernatural films ever made.

OldboyOldboy
Thriller2003120 minsDirector: Park Chan-wook
Park’s wilfully grotesque fable about an abductee trying to fathom the mysteries of his past.

Black OrpheusBlack Orpheus
Romance1959107 minsDirector: Marcel Camus
Academy Award and Palme d'Or-winning adaption of the Orpheus myth, incorporating the music, costume and dance of Brazil’s Rio Festival.

Lord of the FliesLord of the Flies
Drama196391 minsDirector: Peter Brook
Peter Brook’s Palme d’Or-nominated adaption of the classic novel by William Golding.

A Man EscapedA Man Escaped
Drama1956101 minsDirector: Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson’s riveting tale of a Gestapo prisoner determined to regain his freedom, based on real events.

Nosferatu the VampyreNosferatu the Vampyre
Horror1979107 minsDirector: Werner Herzog
English language version of Herzog’s stimulating take on the Dracula story starring Klaus Kinski, with echoes of Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu.

The New GirlfriendThe New Girlfriend
Melodrama2014108 minsDirector: François Ozon
Ruth Rendell provides the source novel for this delicious tale of deception and identity, from the master of mischievous melodrama, François Ozon.

The Miseducation of Cameron PostThe Miseducation of Cameron Post
Drama201892 minsDirector: Desiree Akhavan
Chloë Grace Moretz is the girl who finds her tribe with fellow ‘sinners’ at a religious camp where they are told to pray the gay away.

High and LowHigh and Low
Crime1963143 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s procedural crime masterpiece, from Ed McBain’s gritty novel, follows an industrialist who faces an agonising choice as a result of a botched kidnapping by ruthless criminals.

Between Two WorldsBetween Two Worlds
Drama2021106 minsDirector: Emmanuel Carrère
Juliette Binoche plays an undercover reporter investigating the conditions faced by France’s working women in this insightful, involving drama.

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the SeaThe Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
Drama1976105 minsDirector: Lewis John Carlino
When an English widow, Anne (Sarah Miles, Ryan’s Daughter) falls in love with a dashing American sailor (singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson), her jealous teenage son goes to horrific lengths to restore the status quo.

Sixth HappinessSixth Happiness
Biopic199794 minsDirector: Waris Hussein
Funny, acerbic and moving story of a young man's sexual awakening as family life crumbles around him.

John and the HoleJohn and the Hole
Drama2021103 minsDirector: Pascual Sisto
A troubled teenager holds his family captive in this gripping psychological thriller starring Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Ehle as his parents.

This Filthy EarthThis Filthy Earth
Drama2001106 minsDirector: Andrew Kötting
Andrew Kötting's tragic tale of passion and survival, following the existence of two sisters amidst a landscape of rural hardship and a community consumed with superstition

The Kreutzer SonataThe Kreutzer Sonata
Drama201096 minsDirector: Bernard Rose
Bernard Rose updates Tolstoy's tale about the corrupting power of sex and jealousy, with Danny Huston as the wealthy husband of a beautiful, famous pianist (Elisabeth Röhm).

Love & FriendshipLove & Friendship
Comedy201693 minsDirector: Whit Stillman
Whit Stillman crosses the Atlantic for this irresistible Jane Austen adaptation, following the delicious and devious exploits of Lady Susan (Kate Beckinsale).

Cobra VerdeCobra Verde
Drama1987110 minsDirector: Werner Herzog
Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog’s final collaboration is a typically wild and adventurous story of a bandit who trains an army of women to topple a slave-trading king

Fantastic PlanetFantastic Planet
Animation & Artists Moving Image197372 minsDirector: René Laloux
René Laloux and Roland Topor’s surreal, psychedelic sci-fi animation imagines a world in which humanoid creatures are kept as pets by a race of giants.

Les Enfants TerriblesLes Enfants Terribles
Drama1949106 minsDirector: Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Pierre Melville’s film of Jean Cocteau's controversial novel about a teenage brother and sister and their intense, closeted relationship.

AniaraAniara
Science Fiction2018106 minsDirector: Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja
The passengers on an interstellar space-liner are thrown into turmoil when their mission goes off course, in this compassionate and thought-provoking sci-fi drama.

CrashCrash
Drama1996100 minsDirector: David Cronenberg
Technology and sexuality meet in head-on collision in David Cronenberg’s controversial adaptation of writer J.G. Ballard’s hugely transgressive 1973 novel, starring James Spader and Holly Hunter.

The Angelic ConversationThe Angelic Conversation
Animation & Artists Moving Image198581 minsDirector: Derek Jarman
The Angelic Conversation sees Derek Jarman conjure an evocative and radical visualisation of Shakespeare’s love poems. With narration by Judi Dench and music by Coil.

ZamaZama
Drama2017115 minsDirector: Lucrecia Martel
Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel returns with a fine adaptation of Antonio Di Benedetto’s existential novel. In her first feature since 2008’s The Headless Woman, Martel creates a richly layered exploration of personal malaise.

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