Seventy years of bringing great films to the people of Peterborough

The group of volunteers operates the Peterborough Arts Cinema out of the John Clare Theatre in Broadway, its base since 1986.

Its inaugural meeting was held at the Training College in City Road on March 23, 1947. Two films were shown; “Nine Men” and “The Hague” - and a constitution document was produced stating that the mission of the society was: “To advance the education of the public in the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the arts, particularly that of film and allied visual techniques. To promote as well by lectures, discussions and exhibitions, not for profit and open to all above the age of 16 years.”.

Many of its presentations will have had a limited initial release and therefore offers the opportunity to see great films on the big screen that won’t have been shown in multiplex cinemas.

The films for each season are chosen by a members’ vote based on a selection of the best, most innovative or most inspiring of the recent releases.

Screenings are on Thursday evenings in three 12 week seasons a year: January to March, April to July and September to December.

Still to come this season, starting tonight, is Childhood Of A Leader

This chilling fable about the rise of fascism in the 20th Century tells the story of a young American boy living in France in 1918 whose father is working for the US government on the creation of the Treaty of Versailles. What he witnesses helps to mould his beliefs - and we witness the birth of a terrifying ego.

Men & Chicken (February 23)

Men & Chicken is a darkly hilarious slapstick comedy starring Mads Mikkelsen (“Hannibal,” ingeniously cast against type) about a pair of socially-challenged siblings who discover they are adopted half-brothers in their late father’s videotaped will. Born to be Blue (March 2).

Ethan Hawke lights up the screen as jazz legend Chet Baker, whose tumultuous life is thrillingly reimagined with wit, verve, and style to burn. In the 1950s,

Embrace Of The Serpent (March 9).

The story of the relationship between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and last survivor of his people, and two scientists who work together over the course of 40 years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant.

Suburra (March 23).

In 2011, Ostia is the subject of a giant real estate project intended to make the harbor of Ancient Rome the Las Vegas of today. But the place soon becomes a battlefield where criminals and politicians either join forces cynically or fight each other ruthlessly.

Learning To Drive (March 30).

Isabel Coixet’s slice-of-life comedy/drama Learning to Drive stars Patricia Clarkson as Wendy, a middle-aged book critic who is shattered when her husband Ted (Jake Weber) leaves her.

In order to visit her daughter (Grace Gummer), who lives upstate, Wendy begins taking driving lessons from Darwan (Ben Kingsley) an American citizen originally from India who makes a living as a cabbie and giving driving lessons.

Crossfire (April 6)

Homicide Capt Finlay finds evidence that one or more of a group of demobilized soldiers is involved in the death of Joseph Samuels.

In flashbacks, we see the night’s events from different viewpoints as Sergeant Keeley investigates on his own, trying to clear his friend Mitchell, to whom circumstantial evidence points.