From November 5, the 2025 Russell Hobbs British Film Festival, presented by Palace, will open in cities across the country, screening at Palace Cinemas, Palace Nova and Luna Palace Cinemas. This year’s sensational lineup showcases British brilliance at its best with hotly anticipated new releases, documentaries and restrospectives.
Opening the festival is the Australian Premiere of THE CHORAL, a sweeping wartime drama with a stellar cast led by Ralph Fiennes, and directed by Nicholas Hytner. As a group of choralists discover the joys of singing, the young male members must also come to terms with their imminent conscription into the army. Exploring humour and humanity at the heart of a community facing an uncertain future, the film also stars Roger Allam, Mark Addy and Amara Okereke.
Our Special Presentation is Oliver Hermanus’ THE HISTORY OF SOUND, starring an electric Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor. A decade spanning romance centered around the power of music, this gorgeous period drama is a film of lingering melancholic beauty.
Marking the highly anticipated return to the screen of Daniel Day-Lewis, ANEMONE is this year’s Festival Centrepiece. Heralding the directorial debut of son Ronan Day-Lewis, with whom Daniel Day-Lewis co-wrote the script, ANEMONE also features superb performances from Sean Bean and Samantha Morton. The film explores the complex and profound ties that exist between brothers, fathers, and sons.
Closing the festival is Oscar winner Chloé Zhao’s (Nomadland,The Rider) radiant adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel HAMNET, starring Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare and Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare. It’s a sensitively observed, magnificently crafted tale about the complexities of love and the healing power of art and creativity, setting the stage for the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.
The festival is delighted to once again welcome naming partner Russell Hobbs — the iconically British appliance brand that’s been adding style, charm, and a proper cup of tea to everyday life since 1952. Dean Hammerton, Marketing Manager, Asia Pacific, says:
“We’re thrilled to be back for another year as naming partner of the Russell Hobbs British Film Festival. We’ve always embraced that classic British mix of innovation, tradition, and a dash of style — values that align beautifully with the films being showcased. It’s a real pleasure to once again celebrate the best of British culture, on screen and beyond.”
A standout selection of real-life stories feature in this year’s lineup profiling iconic British identities including John Cleese, Twiggy and John Lennon. In what might be his final European tour, JOHN CLEESE PACKS IT IN is a wry, behind-the-scenes portrait of a comedy legend on the road, battling various ailments, chaotic travel, and his own stubborn refusal to stop.
Exploring the final decade in the life of John Lennon, BORROWED TIME – LENNON’S LAST DECADE is a gripping documentary charting Lennon’s turbulent post-Beatles years of art, activism, and reinvention. Evolving beyond the Beatles, he created music and stood at the forefront of anti-war protests that would make him one of the most influential pop culture icons of all time.
In celebrated documentary TWIGGY, the meteoric rise of the 1960s style icon—bold, sharp, and unforgettable – is explored. The film showcases the fashion, fame, and fearless individuality of Twiggy, during a culturally significant period of British history.
To complement the documentary, Ken Russell’s THE BOY FRIEND (1971), Twiggy’s first film role, also features in this year’s festival. Bursting with glitz, glamour, and cheeky charm, Twiggy shines as an understudy turned star in this dazzling, tap-dancing love letter to 1920s musicals.
From the director of BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, Gurinda Chadha, comes the Australian premiere of CHRISTMAS KARMA, based on the classic Dickens story A Christmas Carol. In Chadha’s Bollywood style musical adaptation, the all-star cast including Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter, Eva Longoria and Boy George, bring the story to life in a modern day, diverse London.
Premiering to rave reviews at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, I SWEAR is a biographical comedy/dramadirected, written, and produced by Kirk Jones starring Robert Aramayo, Maxine Peake, Shirley Henderson and Peter Mullan. Based on the true story of John Davidson who was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome at a time when it was barely identifiable, the film is a comedic and moving story of his journey.
A riotous spoof of period drama mixing forbidden romance, aristocratic scandals, and razor-sharp wit, FACKHAM HALL premieres at selected sessions just prior to the official release in the UK. With an all-star cast and Jimmy Carr’s absurdist flair, the film skewers tradition while serving nonstop laughs and intrigue.
Actor Harris Dickinson’s searing directorial debut URCHIN follows Mike, sleeping rough on the streets, in his fight for redemption, starring an incredible Frank Dillane in the lead role.. Highly lauded at the 2025 Cannes International Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Film and Best Actor prizes, Harrison Dickinson’s directorial debut is deeply rooted in humane authenticity.
The majestic drama THE NORTH, has been described as the ‘ultimate hiking film’. It is a tale of two old friends who embark on a 600-kilometre journey through the Scottish Highlands, seeking to reconnect not only with nature but with each other and the parts of themselves they have lost.
In icy suspense thriller, DEAD OF WINTER, British icon Emma Thompson plays Barb, a woman travelling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota. Barb interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl, and hours from the nearest town and with no phone service, realises that she is the young girl’s only hope.
MOSS & FREUD is the biopic about the life of era-defining supermodel Kate Moss and her relationship with British artist Lucian Freud. When Freud offered to paint Moss nude during the nine months of her pregnancy in 2002, it prompted her to embark on an intense journey of self-discovery.
Documentary BECOMING HITCHCOCK – THE LEGACY OF BLACKMAIL dives into the groundbreaking 1929 film that launched Hitchcock’s signature style. Also screening is Hitchcock’s thriller BLACKMAIL about a woman who kills a man in self-defence but falls victim to a blackmailer, considered a bridge between the silent era and that of the ‘talkies’.
Set in the Scottish Highlands, GLENROTHAN is a powerful tale of two estranged brothers played by Alan Cumming and Brian Cox, in the much loved actor’s directorial debut.
In a film adapted from an acclaimed novella, THE THING WITH FEATHERS charts the struggle of a young father, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, and his sons after a sudden family loss. As they struggle to hold their world together, they start to experience how love can endure in the strangest, most unexpected forms.
Fueled by powerhouse performances from Vicky Krieps, Aidan Gillen and Colm Meaney, RE-CREATION is a razor-sharp courtroom drama. Director Jim Sheridan reimagines a trial (based on a real story) that never happened with questions, guilt, bias and memory at the centre of a tense chamber where truth itself is on trial.
Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen electrify in chilling folk-horror RABBIT TRAP where music, myth, and obsession collide. Filmmaker Bryn Chainey’s debut blurs reality into an eerie, unforgettable nightmare that draws the viewer in and never lets go.
With a brilliant ensemble cast led by enigmatic festival favourite Bill Nighy, & SONS is the story of a world-renowned but reclusive novelist who believing he is about to die, summons his estranged sons to his home. An adaptation of the novel of the same name, the family drama also stars Johnny Flynn, George MacKay, Imelda Staunton and Dominic West.
Stories that focus on the older generation include FOUR MOTHERS, a riotous, heartfelt comedy where one man’s burgeoning career implodes as four eccentric mothers of his friends, off on a trip to a Pride festival, invade his Dublin home; and drama DRAGONFLY, starring Brenda Blethyn and Andrea Riseborough, about a neglected pensioner who finds an ally in a younger neighbour in what has been described as a fierce and wonderfully acted film.
A story of resilience, friendship and hope against an unforgiving system, LOLLIPOP is a raw, heartfelt drama. Starring Posy Sterling as Molly, a mother recently released from prison, her fight to reclaim her children and give them a life she never had is unrelenting.
In contemporary noir thriller with a twist ISLANDS, Sam Riley stars as a tennis coach at a holiday resort who befriends a couple with unnerving results and in WORDS OF WAR, the true story of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who battled for press freedom in Putin’s Russia, is portrayed by an incredible cast including Maxine Peake, James Lawtey, Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus), Ellie Bamber and Ciarán Hinds.
In a special Retrospective entitled BRITISH BRILLIANCE, six iconic British films that have all won Best Picture at the Academy Awards are showcased on the big screen including CHARIOTS OF FIRE, GANDHI, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, THE ENGLISH PATIENT and from 2010, THE KINGS SPEECH.
Rounding out the superb selection of documentaries is the quirky THE GOLDEN SPURTLE and I AM MARTIN PARR. The contestants of the annual World Porridge Making Championship battle with oats and ladles in a Highland village, celebrating tradition and community in THE GOLDEN SPURTLE; while the playful, provocative portrait I AM MARTIN PARR reveals the iconic British photographer behind the lens and his extraordinary eye on the everyday.
In a celebration of 25 years since its release, BILLY ELLIOT remains a heartwarming tale of grit and grace, following an 11-year-old boy who defies expectations, trading boxing gloves for ballet shoes in a celebration of passion, identity, and the courage to chase dreams.
The Australian premiere of GROW will delight families in an exuberant tale full of giant pumpkins, madcap characters, and a little girl who just might be a pumpkin-growing savant starring Nick Frost, Alan Carr and Jane Horrocks.
The Russell Hobbs British Film Festival opens on Wednesday 5 November in Sydney, Melbourne, Ballarat, Adelaide, Perth, Byron Bay, Canberra and Brisbane, concluding on Sunday 7 December in all cities.
Tickets are now on sale www.britishfilmfestival.
The Russell Hobbs British Film Festival presented by Palace screens in the following locations from NOV 5 – DEC 7:
Melbourne:The Astor Theatre, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Penny Lane, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema, Palace Church St
Ballarat: Palace Regent Ballarat
Canberra: Palace Electric Cinemas
Brisbane: Palace Barracks, Palace James Street
Adelaide: Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Perth: Palace Raine Square, Luna on SX, Leederville and Windsor
Byron Bay: Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas
Sydney: Palace Norton Street, Palace Moore Park, Chauvel Cinema, Palace Central
KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE FESTIVAL:
Instagram and Facebook @BritishFilmFest #BFF25 #BestofBritish
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