The david lean cinema

NO ORDINARY FILMS, NO ORDINARY CINEMA

What's On

Finding Emily

FINDING EMILY

2026 | Dir Alicia MacDonald | UK | USA | 111 min
Stars: Angourie Rice, Spike Fearn, Yali Topol Margalith

Just in time for summer, we’re thrilled to present Finding Emily, a homegrown romcom very much in the style of Notting Hill and Rye Lane. Set in Manchester, the film follows Owen, a young musician who goes on a night out and meets Emily, the girl of his dreams — only to discover the next morning that the phone number she gave him is missing a digit. So, with the help of another Emily (a psychology student with her own motive for joining the hunt), he begins a quest across campus to find his elusive love.

This film contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.

Tuesday 28 July at 2.30pm and 7.30pm (HOH)
The evening screening includes descriptive subtitles.

The Devil Wears Prada 2

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2

2025 | Dir David Frankel | USA | 119 min
Stars: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt

Twenty years on, The Devil Wears Prada 2 struts back onto the scene with its original cast and a fresh dose of high-fashion drama. Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) — ice-cold stare intact — is fighting to keep her fashion magazine Runway relevant as the print media world crumbles. Her former protégé Anne Hathaway returns in considerably better shoes, but it's former assistant-turned-rival Emily Blunt who may prove Miranda's most formidable foe yet. Stilettos are sharpened, alliances tested, and the drama is more fabulous than ever.

Wednesday 29 July at 7.30pm

Arco

ARCO

2026 | Dir Ugo Bienvenu | USA | 88 min

In 2075, 10-year-old Iris sees a mysterious boy in a rainbow jumpsuit falling from the sky. Arco comes from a distant, idyllic future where time travel is possible. Iris takes Arco in and will do whatever it takes to help him return home. This Oscar and BAFTA nominated hand-drawn animation is an uplifting film full of colour and excitement. “Director Bienvenu… has crafted a family film that’s offbeat and full of heart” (Time Out)
Family Film Club in partnership with Croydon Family Hubs.

Thursday 30 July at 11.00am

A Private Life

A PRIVATE LIFE (Vie Privee)

2025 | Dir Rebecca Zlotowski | France | 107 min
Stars: Jodie Foster, Daniel Auteil, Virginie Efira

Jodie Foster plays Lilian Steiner, an American psychiatrist adrift in Paris — divorced, estranged from her son, and losing herself in her patients' troubles. When one of her patients is found dead in an apparent suicide, Steiner can't let it go. Armed with little more than professional instinct and the reluctant company of her ex-husband played by Daniel Auteil, she begins to dig. What unfolds is part Hitchcockian thriller and part wry relationship comedy.
French with English subtitles.

Thursday 30 July at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
French with English subtitles.

Fame

FAME (Dementia Friendly)

1980 | Dir Alan Parker | USA | 134 min
Stars: Eddie Barth, Irene Cara, Lee Curreri

Set in New York’s High School of Performing Arts, Fame follows a disparate group of students from different backgrounds as they audition and then study at the school. We see how they progress across four years of study, as they aim to make it big in their chosen areas of the entertainment world. Various audition and performance scenes, along with the characters’ personal experiences are expertly woven into Christopher Gore’s screenplay, and the result is a joyful celebration of youth, hope and talent.

Tuesday 04 August at 11.00am (Dementia Friendly)

Effi O Blaenau

EFFI O BLAENAU

2026 | Dir Marc Evans | UK | 91 min
Stars: Eddie Barth, Irene Cara, Lee Curreri

Based on the acclaimed one-woman play Iphigenia in Splott, this Welsh-language film version moves the action to the North Wales town of Blaenau, a dreary place surrounded by grey slate tips, where Effi tries desperately to enjoy life on the dole through a haze of clubbing and alcohol. An encounter with a disabled soldier seems to promise her some hope, but things soon descend into chaos… But Effi fights back. Leisa Gwenllian gives a tour-de-force performance as Effi, and aided by Evans’s direction, she has you rooting for her character as fate and the elements conspire against her. An affecting and moving drama in the British social realist tradition.

This film contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.

Tuesday 04 August at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Welsh with English subtitles.

All Of Us Strangers

ALL OF US STRANGERS

2023 | Dir Andrew Haigh | UK | 105 min
Stars: Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy

A special screening of Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers, a film beloved of queer Croydonians, not least because it was set and shot in the borough. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Croydon-born writer John Grindrod discussing the film and the many themes it shares with his new book, Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains. Discover stories of isolation and escape, love and community; and prepare to be devastated all over again by one of the great modern movies, back in its spiritual home.
Q&A with author John Grindrod, in partnership with Croydon Pride.

Wednesday 05 August at 7.00pm

Savage House

SAVAGE HOUSE

2026 | Dir Peter Glanz | UK | 114 min
Stars: Claire Foy, Richard E. Grant, Jack Farthing, Bel Powley

England, 1740. Lady Vane and Lord Ashwick will do anything to claw their way to the top of society - lie, scheme, blackmail, and butcher their way through polite company if they must. Claire Foy and Richard E. Grant star in this deliciously vicious period romp, where corsets are tight, morals are loose, and the body count keeps rising. Sharp-tongued, blood-splattered, and wickedly funny, Savage House skewers the brutal absurdity of class obsession with gleeful, unapologetic savagery.

Thursday 06 August at 2.30pm (HOH) and 7.30pm
The afternoon screening includes descriptive subtitles.

Disclosure Day

2026 | USA | 145 min
Thurs 23 July at 2.30pm (HOH) and 7.00pm

Backrooms

2026 | USA | 126 min
Sat 25 July at 2.00pm (HOH)

Finding Emily

2026 | UK | USA | 111 min
Tues 28 July at 2.30pm and 7.30pm (HOH)

 The Devil Wears Prada 2

2026 | USA|  119 min
Weds 29 July at 7.30pm

Arco

2026 | USA | 88 min
Thursday 30 July at 11.00am

 

A Private Life

2026 | France | 103 min
Thursday 30 July at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
(French with English subtitles)

Fame

1980 | USA | 134 min
Tues 04 Aug at 11.00am (Dementia Friendly)

Effi O Blaenau

2026 | UK | 91 min
Tues 04 Aug at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
(Welsh with English subtitles)

All Of Us Strangers

2023 | UK | USA | 105 min
Weds 05 Aug at 7.00pm (Plus Q&A)

Savage House

2026 | UK | 114 min
Thurs 06 Aug at 2.30pm (HOH) and 7.30pm

Stand By Me

1986 | USA | 88 min
Tues 11 Aug at 2.00pm and 7.30pm

 

 Primavera

2025 | Italy | 111 min
Weds 12 Aug at 2.30pm
Italian with English subtitles

Les Liaisons Dangereuse

2026 | UK | 180 min (incl 15 min interval)
Weds 12 Aug at 6.30pm

Minions & Monsters

2026 | USA | 90 min
Thurs 13 Aug at 11.00am

The Last Viking

2025 | Denmark | 116 min
Thurs 13 Aug at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
(Danish with English subtitles)

Finding Emily

2026 | UK | USA | 111 min
Fri 14 Aug at 11.00am
Babes In Arms screening

Fame

1980 | USA | 134 min
Sat 15 Aug at 11.00am (Relaxed)

Nino

2025 | France | 96 min
Tuesday 18 Aug at 2.30pm
(French with English subtitles)

Come See Me In The Good Light

2025 | USA | 104 min
Tues 18 Aug at 7.00pm (plus Q&A)

Nino

2025| France | 96 min
Weds 19 Aug at 7.30pm
(French with English subtitles)

Toy Story 5

2026 | USA | 102 min
Thurs 20 Aug at 11am, 2.30pm (HOH) and 7.00pm

The Sheep Detectives

2025 | UK | USA | 109 min
Sat 22 Aug at 2.00pm

Ish

2025 | UK | 89 min
Tues 25 Aug at 2.30pm and 7.30pm

 

The Odyssey

2026 | UK | USA | 172 min
Weds 26 Aug at 5.30pm

The Odyssey

2026 | UK | USA | 172 min
Thurs 27 Aug at 2.30pm and 7.00pm (HOH and no trailers for the evening)

Tuner

2025 | Canada | 109 min
Sat 29 Aug at 2.00pm

about Us

Just a 13 minute train from London Bridge, or 10 minutes from Clapham Junction, The David Lean Cinema in Croydon is a gem of a volunteer-led community cinema, which, after closing in 2011, reopened as a result of local campaigning in 2014.
Often collaborating with The Cinema Museum, we frequently screen on 35mm and are a champion of accessibility with frequent descriptive subtitled and Dementia-Friendly screenings - and there are NO adverts!

Films

We screen more than 20 films
each month, ranging from cult classics to the latest blockbusters, as well as stunning world cinema, the best of British, sing-alongs, and more. Without our passionate and dedicated team of volunteers, the David Lean Cinema simply wouldn’t function. It’s our love of community and thirst for quality films that has made our little cinema persevere.

Our Privacy Policy can be viewed by clicking here.

 

Info

Ticket sales provide our main source of income; 80% in FY 2023/24.
This revenue stream will increase in proportion to our audience growth. We will continue to price our tickets competitively, including to offer concessions for those who are 65 or over, 25 or under, students, people with a disability, and those in receipt of Pension Credit, Universal Credit, Income Support or Job Seekers allowance.