Friday 13th October

Pavee Lackeen

Directed by: Perry Ogden
Ireland, 2005, 87mins, PG

Ten-year-old Winnie Maughan lives in a roadside trailer with her family in one of Dublin's industrial suburbs. Through her eyes we follow the routines and incidents of Traveller life, a traditional way of life that few outsiders can access. Pavee Lackeen brilliantly treads a fine line between documentary and fiction, with tough but freewheeling action presenting a moving portrait of a young girl making her way in the world despite living on the margins of society.

Astor Cinema, Scarriff at 8.30pm

Tickets: €7 / €6 members

Friday 27th October

Tsotsi

Directed by: Gavin Hood
South Africa, 2005, 94 mins, 15A

Based on a play by Athol Fugard, Tsotsi won an Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film. This remarkable movie means to shake you, and boy does it ever. In Johannesburg's Soweto townships, Tsotsi (slang for "thug") is a gang leader played with brutal force and unexpected tenderness by Presley Chweneyagae. After carjacking a Mercedes and shooting the woman who owns it, Tsotsi discovers the woman's baby in the backseat. A wrenching portrait of a character and a country at a crossroads.

Astor Cinema, Scarriff at 8.30pm

Tickets: €7 / €6 members

Friday 10th November

L'Enfant (The Child)

Directed by: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Belgium/France, 2005, 95 mins, Club

A beautifully acted, exquisitely observed morality tale. Bruno is twenty, Sonia is eighteen. They live by using SoniaÕs benefit and the thefts committed by Bruno and the kids in his gang. Sonia has just given birth to Jimmy, their child. How can Bruno become a father, being so carefree and living as he does for the present, solely concerned about the money from his deals? The Dardennes once again prove that thereÕs still life to be found in hard unvarnished realism, especially when executed with such adult seriousness and compassion.

Astor Cinema, Scarriff at 8.30pm

Tickets: €7 / €6 members

Friday 24th November

Vera Drake

Directed by: Mike Leigh
UK, 2004, 125 mins, 12A

Vera Drake is a portrait of a selfless woman who is totally dedicated to her family. Vera has a secret side, though. Unbeknownst to family and friends, she visits women and helps them to induce miscarriages for unwanted pregnancies, a practice that is illegal in 1950s England. With an outstanding, soul-baring central performance by Imelda Staunton, Leigh crafts a powerfully moving film that is unmissable and unforgettable, and reveals how controversial subjects can seem fresh and new in the hands of a master director and a great ensemble cast.

Astor Cinema, Scarriff at 8.30pm

Tickets: €7 / €6 members

Friday 8th December

Familia Rodante

Directed by: Pablo Trapero
Argentina/Brazil, 2004, 103 mins, Club

Part family drama, and part road-movie - an 80-year-old woman, Emilia, is invited to be "matron of honour" at her great-niece's wedding by a distant branch of the family. She forces her entire extended clan to journey there with her in a clapped-out camper van - all having feuds, intrigues and love affairs on the move. At the end of it all, has Emilia brought her family closer together, or driven them further apart? Is the concept of family, a concept that was supposed to comfort her in death's shadow, made stronger or weaker?

Astor Cinema, Scarriff at 8.30pm

Tickets: €7 / €6 members