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Summertime

Feel the warmth of the sun and dip into our selection of summer films.

Those long, hot, liberating weeks of summer give great filmmakers time to unwind.  Unfamiliar places, ill-advised love, childish games and adult desires all play out beneath a dizzying sun. When autumn arrives, these characters from Bergman, Sciamma, Kurosawa, Carpenter, Julien and many others, are emphatically changed.

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AfireAfire

Comedy2023103 minsDirector: Christian Petzold

Fires rage around a pompous novelist and his awkward desires in Christian Petzold’s sharp comedy drama.

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Àma GloriaÀma Gloria

Drama202384 minsDirector: Marie Amachoukeli

Six-year-old Cléo spends a final summer with her beloved nanny Gloria, in this profoundly moving story of chosen family, duty and innocence lost.

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Bottle RocketBottle Rocket

Comedy199591 minsDirector: Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson's rarely screened debut ditches the kitsch in favour of surprisingly subtle comedy, in this tale of a criminally inept gang led by Owen Wilson.

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HolidayHoliday

Thriller201888 minsDirector: Isabella Eklöf

A lavish trip to the Turkish Riviera goes horribly awry in this disturbing tale of power, exploitation and complicity from the writer of Border.

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20,000 Species of Bees20,000 Species of Bees

Drama2023128 minsDirector: Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren

Sofía Otero ignites this warm, rich Spanish drama woven from a child’s probing question: who am I?

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LonesomeLonesome

Drama202299 minsDirector: Craig Boreham

Fleeing a mysterious scandal in his hometown, rancher Casey heads to Sydney in search of shelter and connection. There he meets the similarly wounded Tib in this erotic Australian drama.

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Beautiful ThingBeautiful Thing

Comedy199691 minsDirector: Hettie Macdonald

Hettie MacDonald’s 1996 comedy tells the story of two classmates and neighbours (Glen Berry, Scott Neal) who fall in love over one summer in South East London.

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UndertowUndertow

Drama2009101 minsDirector: Javier Fuentes-León

Miguel, a young married fisherman with a baby on the way, struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town’s rigid traditions.

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Beach RatsBeach Rats

Drama201798 minsDirector: Eliza Hittman

Gripping account of repressed sexual desire in a hyper-masculine environment, with British newcomer Harris Dickinson as a virulently macho Brooklyn teen.

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Enys MenEnys Men

Horror202291 minsDirector: Mark Jenkin

Mark Jenkin follows Bait with this chilling, endlessly mysterious folk horror tale, beautifully shot on grainy 16mm.

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Let the Sunshine InLet the Sunshine In

Drama201795 minsDirector: Claire Denis

Director Claire Denis gives a wry account of an artist’s search for love, in this witty black comedy starring Juliette Binoche.

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BaitBait

Drama201989 minsDirector: Mark Jenkin

Simmering tensions between locals and newcomers in a modern-day Cornish fishing village reach boiling point in this hugely acclaimed British independent film.

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A Moment in the ReedsA Moment in the Reeds

Drama2017107 minsDirector: Mikko Makela

The world’s troubles recede, at least for a moment, in this intimate drama about an affair between a Finnish man and a Syrian immigrant.

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Young Soul RebelsYoung Soul Rebels

Drama1991105 minsDirector: Isaac Julien

The Queen's Silver Jubilee beats to the sounds of Funkadelic, Sylvester and the O'Jays in Isaac Julien’s feature debut.

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Stranger by the LakeStranger by the Lake

Drama2013100 minsDirector: Alain Guiraudie

A young man witnesses a violent crime at a gay cruising ground and becomes obsessed with the killer in Alain Guiraudie’s acclaimed mystery-thriller.

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ArchipelagoArchipelago

Drama2011109 minsDirector: Joanna Hogg

Starring Tom Hiddleston, a family holiday to the Isles of Scilly sees fractures emerge in this sun-filled drama from Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir).

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Celine and Julie Go BoatingCeline and Julie Go Boating

Drama1974194 minsDirector: Jacques Rivette

Jacques Rivette’s biggest commercial hit is an exhilarating combination of theatricality, paranoia and ‘la vie parisienne’, around an entrancing examination of making and watching films.

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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.

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Pauline at the BeachPauline at the Beach

Comedy198295 minsDirector: Eric Rohmer

Eric Rohmer's final collaboration with the great cinematographer Néstor Almendros follows a holidaying teenager as she begins to navigate the adult world.

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End of the CenturyEnd of the Century

Drama201984 minsDirector: Lucio Castro

A chance encounter reconnects two men in this heart-breaking lament on love, lust and missed opportunities.

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The Green RayThe Green Ray

Drama198699 minsDirector: Eric Rohmer

Eric Rohmer's masterpiece about a woman chasing romance and adventure during a long, hot summer.

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BeastBeast

Drama2018106 minsDirector: Michael Pearce

The hunt for a Jersey serial killer sparks a dangerous awakening in a young woman (Jessie Buckley, in her feature debut) in this astonishing psycho-sexual thriller, which sets all the senses aflame.

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The Wayward CloudThe Wayward Cloud

Comedy2004114 minsDirector: Tsai Ming-liang

Ming-Liang Tsai's outrageous blend of sex, comedy, musical and drama is a daring, controversial and hilarious smorgasbord from one of Taiwan's most acclaimed directors.

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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.

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The White RibbonThe White Ribbon

Drama2009143 minsDirector: Michael Haneke

Michael Haneke's Cannes prizewinner, set in a pre-WW1 German village, explores the oppressively strict social conditions that gave rise to Nazism

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Summer with MonikaSummer with Monika

Drama195397 minsDirector: Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman’s scandalous tale of two lovers enjoying the freedom of youth.

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Stray DogStray Dog

Crime1949122 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa’s masterful mix of film noir and police thriller set on the sweltering mean streets of occupied Tokyo.

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Smiles of a Summer NightSmiles of a Summer Night

Comedy1955109 minsDirector: Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman’s Cannes prize-winning comedy assembles various couples in a country house in 1900.

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The Man with the AnswersThe Man with the Answers

Romance202181 minsDirector: Stelios Kammitsis

Picturesque drama about the familial ties that bind us, the boys that catch our eye, and the twists and turns that lead us home.

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MoreMore

Drama1969116 minsDirector: Barbet Schroeder

The first feature by Barbet Schroeder (Maîtresse, The Valley), More created a sensation when it was released in 1969, quickly becoming a cult classic and famed for its Pink Floyd soundtrack.

More Summertime films in our Rentals collection.