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Festival coverage

Cambridge Film Festival

19 October – 26 October 2023

This year's edition of the festival provides an opportunity to see some of the coming season's big awards contenders, which have been highly acclaimed around the world. There's also an Asif Kapadia retrospective and a great line-up of family favourites to take little ones along to.

The festival runs from 19 to 26 October.

Other years (4)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Hoard
    Review preview for Hoard

    Hoard goes further, creeps around, becomes something you can start to smell, to taste.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    1984, London: Seven-year-old Maria and her mother live in their own loving world built on sorting through bins and collecting shiny rubbish. One night, their world falls apart, and we join Maria a decade later, living with her foster mother.
  • Evil Does Not Exist
    Review preview for Evil Does Not Exist

    Hamaguchi isn’t scared to completely change the rhythm of his film on a dime, something that is likely to frustrate as many people as it delights.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    A rural village faces disruption from the construction of a glamping site for Tokyo tourists.
  • Monster
    Review preview for Monster

    A beautifully constructed piece of work in which every detail serves the whole, putting the tools of the epic at the disposal of a story which is intimate and delicately realised.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A mother is shocked when she learns what a teacher has said to her son, but the truth is more complicated.
  • Eileen
    Review preview for Eileen

    There are so many shots through things, boundaries, borders, thresholds, that we are primed for other barriers crossed. Those transgressions are not light ones, but in them is an abject honesty.

    Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
    Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counsellor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.
  • All Of Us Strangers
    Review preview for All Of Us Strangers

    Protagonist Adam (Andrew Scott) lives in a neatly furnished home, no longer feels the need to hide his sexuality, and tells himself he’s fine, but the music says otherwise.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A screenwriter embarks on a relationship with a neighbour at the same time as making a journey into his troubled past.
  • Poor Things
    Review preview for Poor Things

    Lanthimos skillfully transforms this lustful carnival into a coming-of-age drama, emphasising the protagonist's mastery of sexuality as a connotation of her mental evolution.

    Levan Tskhovrebadze · 4.5 out of 5
    The story of a young woman who has been brought back to life.
  • The Taste Of Things
    Review preview for The Taste Of Things

    While the end result is important, Hùng’s film is all about savouring the moment, something that becomes more urgent as it progresses - although talk of speed has little place in a film that unfolds with the pace and beauty of a flower.

    Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
    The story of Eugenie, an esteemed cook, and Dodin, the fine gourmet she has been working for over the last 20 years.
  • The Royal Hotel
    Review preview for The Royal Hotel

    The feeling that something bad could happen at any moment permeates the mood.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    US backpackers Hanna and Liv take a job in a remote Australian pub for some extra cash and are confronted with a bunch of unruly locals and a situation that grows rapidly out of their control.
  • Fallen Leaves
    Review preview for Fallen Leaves

    An amuse-bouche of a film, Aki Kaurismäki’s latest comedy romance may leave you wanting more but it’s also a fully rounded, good looking experience packed with all the flavours we’ve come to expect from the master of deadpan down the years.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    The course of potential love does not run smooth for a shelf-stacker and a metal worker.
  • 20,000 Species Of Bees
    Review preview for 20,000 Species Of Bees

    Otero, who is in almost every scene, carries the film with her fresh and naturalistic performance, which is perfectly complemented by Solaguren’s impressionistic style.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    An eight-year-old explores her identity over a summer in the Basque country.

A–Z of Cambridge Film Festival 2023 reviews

Features