Pilton Palais
Q&A’s & Guest Appearances
Synopses
Check out our programme highlights video below.
Celebrating Independent Film and Authentic Cinematic Experience
The Pilton Palais team is proud to present this year’s programme, which happens to be more star-studded than ever before, with more A-list guests supporting screenings and participating in Q&A’s of their films. What makes the participation of these wonderful artists and filmmakers more meaningful to us is that it shows how we share the same values and passion for film.
Being a free-admission cinema can stand in the way of us securing titles from some big commercial distributors or film studios whose eyes are fixed on Box-office returns in the first few weeks of a new release, more than anything else. However, for artists and the filmmakers who join us, what really matters is their passion for film and creating a memorable communal cinematic experience. And engaging with the audiences and bringing Cinema to make a space for film as an art form in a large music festival such as Glastonbury.
These sentiments shaped and inspired the main theme which emerged from this year’s programme as it gradually evolved into shedding light on Independent films specifically. Actors who could have chosen blockbuster titles, chose instead their indie films in order to highlight all that is unique in these creative projects and what they represent in terms of artistic freedom and unconventional approaches to storytelling. Some of these indie films span a period of the last three years up until now, with one special pre-release screening from none other than Taron Egerton in She Rides Shot Gun which is scheduled for release sometime in the future. We are immensely grateful to Taron, the director Nick Rowland and the Fifth Season team for pulling out all the stops to bring this event to Glastonbury.
Besides celebrating Indie films this year, we lined up other equally exciting screenings and events. We carry on our collaboration with National Theatre Live, by bringing you the delightful mischievous and high-camp production of The Importance of Being Earnest on Thursday with the fabulous Ncuti Gatwa talking about this production during the interval, how can you possibly miss this? Back by popular demand is film critic Helen O’Hara who will be hosting the Q&A’s. For a detailed listing of all our special guest appearances and Q&A’s please see sub-section listed below.
We also aimed to feature in our programme: family films, crowd-pleasers and special anniversary cult classics, in order to enhance that cinematic communal experience. All of us in the same tent enjoying the same thing at the exact same time. But also experiencing an empathy with characters shown on the screen and created through film, much like they’ve always done since the days of old picture palaces. You can enjoy watching the following family movies at the festival: the classic anti-war cartoon The Iron Giant, followed on Thursday by Moana 2. On Friday Sing is followed by A Minecraft Movie, and on Saturday we have Lilo and Stich, and finishing up on Sunday with Elio and finally Flow and the MCU’s Thunderbolts*. We also made sure to include cult classics such as Little Shop of Horrors (director’s cut), Grease Sing-A-Long and Barbarella along with big crowd pleasers celebrating landmark anniversaries such as Kevin and Perry Go Large (25th anniversary) and Muriel’s Wedding (30th anniversary).
Before our teaser reel below, here’s a quick reminder that:
- All films are free admission and no booking is required.
- No folding chairs are permitted, only wheelchairs in designated areas.
- Where possible, the majority of our films have HOH subtitles.
- Where no BBFC classification is shown, please keep checking back here for an update.
- For more updates, surprise guest appearances and news follow us on
Q&A’s & Guest Appearances
Our first star guest appearance on Wednesday is Tilda Swinton, introducing, Constantine, in which she co-stared with Keanu Reeves, and which is celebrating its 20thanniversary.
On Thursday, we have Blur Live at Wembley Stadium, featuring a host of timeless Blur songs introduced by director Toby L. Then we have Andrew Garfield who stars in We Live in Time, participating in a Q&A prior to the screening of the film. Next up is the highly acclaimed National Theatre Live production of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Ncuti Gatwa. Gatwa will be discussing the play with critic Helen O’Hara during the interval between Act 1 and Act 2. Finally, that same day, our special guest Dan Smith (of Bastille) will be introducing a few words as tribute to the late David Lynch before the screening of Wild At Heart, which makes this 35th anniversary screening of the film all the more special.
First up on Friday morning is an intro by the director Garth Jennings to his joyful film: Sing. Later that day we have a screening of My Old Ass which was produced by LuckyChap, a leading entertainment company which focuses on female-driven stories and female filmmakers. LuckyChap is known for producing films such as Barbie, I Tonya, Promising Young Woman in addition to series such as Maid and Sirens and the upcoming film Wuthering Heights. The Q&A will be presented as a conversation with the producers of the film – Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, and Josey McNamara.
Following is the screening of the much anticipated new film Mountainhead from seven-time Emmy® winner and Oscar® nominated Jesse Armstrong, creator of the ground-breaking series Succession and co-creator of Peep Show and Fresh Meat. Starring Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith and Ramy Youssef as a group of billionaire friends who get together against the backdrop of a rolling international crisis, Mountainhead marks Jesse’s feature directorial debut and he will be with us for a Q&A after the film.
On Saturday is the advanced pre-view screening of She Rides Shotgun, the new film from director Nick Rowland starring Taron Egerton and they’ll both be with us for a Q&A after the screening. Next up is a screening of Aftersun with a Q&A with its multi-talented star Paul Mescal. Following that is a chance to see One To One: John & Yoko and a Q&A with co-director and editor of the film Sam Rice-Edwards and moderated by none other than columnist, cultural critic and comedian Stewart Lee. The documentary gives an interesting look back to life fifty years ago, not just the music but also protest movements against war in Vietnam and the right-wing government of Richard Nixon. On Sunday, we feature a Q&A with Jodie Comer on her film The End We Start From (the screening of the film is on Saturday evening). Also on Sunday, we are honoured to host a Q&A with distinguished filmmaker Edgar Wright, known for his unique style of filmmaking which is characterized by a wry sense of humour, playful approach to storytelling and stellar selection of music in the soundtrack. This Q&A precedes the screening of Scott Pilgrim Vs the World to celebrate its 15th anniversary and concludes our mammoth run of Q&A sessions for this year. Finally on Sunday, ending our programme, is a 25th anniversary screening of The Beach, which will be introduced by Tilda Swinton.
We hope to see as many of you there as possible! Have a great Festival. From the coordinators: Mike & Riyad
Synopses
Wednesday
PG | The Iron Giant
This classic animated adventure is about a young boy who befriends a gentle giant robot which has fallen to Earth from space, and which a paranoid government agent wants to destroy.
PG | Little Shop of Horrors: Director’s Cut
A nerdy florist finds his chance for success and romance with the help of a giant man-eating plant who demands to be fed.
15 | Kevin and Perry Go Large
Two teenage boys (Harry Enfield, Kathy Burke) try to be famous rock stars while seeking girlfriends.
12A | Ballad of Wallis Island
An eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island tries to make his fantasies come true by getting his favourite musicians to perform at his home.
15 | Constantine
John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) has literally been to hell and back – and he knows that when he dies, he’s got a one-way ticket to Satan’s realm unless he can earn enough goodwill to climb God’s stairway to heaven.
15 | Barbarella
The iconic sci-fi classic follows Barbarella, a spacefaring astronaut, who is sent on a mission to find and stop the evil scientist Durand Durand, who has created a dangerous weapon.
Thursday
PG | Moana 2
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ epic animated musical “Moana 2” reunites Moana (voice of Auli‘I Cravalho) and Maui (voice of Dwayne Johnson) for an expansive new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers. After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.
15 | Blur: Live at Wembley Stadium
Blur: Live at Wembley Stadium” is a cinematic concert film capturing Blur’s historic 2023 show at Wembley Stadium. The film features the band performing their iconic songs for 150,000 fans in what was described as a “transcendent, once-in-a-generation performance”.
15 | We Live in Time
Almut and Tobias are brought together by a surprise encounter that changes their lives. As they embark on a path challenged by the limits of time, they learn to cherish each moment of their unconventional love story.
PG | National Theatre Live: The Importance of Being Earnest
The National Theatre Live production of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” follows two young men, Jack and Algernon, who create fictional personas, “Ernest,” to escape their responsibilities and enjoy the carefree lives in the city.
18 | Wild at Heart
After breaking parole for self-defensive manslaughter, Sailor Ripley and his girlfriend Lula Fortune head down the highway for sunny California. Lula’s mother sends out a private detective and a hitman after them.
PG | Grease Sing-A-Long
At half past midnight, experience GREASE SING-A-LONG and revel in the friendships, romances and adventures of a group of high school kids in the 1950s. Welcome to the singing and dancing world of “Grease,” the most successful movie musical of all time. A wholesome exchange student (Olivia Newton-John) and a leather-clad Danny (John Travolta) have a summer romance, but will it cross clique lines?
Friday
U | Sing
Dapper Koala Buster Moon presides over a once-grand theater that has fallen on hard times. An eternal optimist, and a bit of a scoundrel, he loves his theater above all and will do anything to preserve it. Facing the crumbling of his life’s ambition, he takes one final chance to restore his fading jewel to its former glory by producing the world’s greatest singing competition.
15 | Muriel’s Wedding
Socially awkward Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette) wants nothing more than to get married. Unfortunately, due to her oppressive politician father (Bill Hunter), Muriel has never even been on a date. Ostracized by her more socially adept friends, Muriel runs into fellow outcast Rhonda Epinstalk (Rachel Griffiths), and the two move from their small Australian town to the big city of Sydney, where Muriel changes her name and begins the arduous task of redesigning her life to match her fantasies.
PG | A Minecraft Movie
A mysterious portal pulls four misfits into the Overworld, a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home, they’ll have to master the terrain while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected crafter named Steve..
15 | My Old Ass
An 18th-birthday mushroom trip brings Elliott face-to-face with her wisecracking 39-year-old self. When the older Elliott starts handing out warnings about what her younger self should and shouldn’t do, she realizes she has to rethink everything about family, love, and what’s becoming a transformative summer.
cert | TBC Mountainhead
A group of billionaire friends get together against the backdrop of a rolling international crisis.
15 | Hurry Up Tomorrow
This late night screening (half past midnight) follows a musician, played by The Weeknd, on an existential journey after a series of mental breakdowns. He’s drawn into an odyssey by a mysterious woman, Jenna Ortega, who challenges his perceptions and leads him to explore the core of his existence. The story delves into themes of fame, identity, and the search for meaning, exploring a fictionalized version of The Weeknd’s own experiences.
Saturday
PG | Lilo and Stitch
A live-action reimagining of Disney’s 2002 animated classic, “Lilo & Stitch” is the wildly funny and touching story of a lonely Hawaiian girl and the fugitive alien who helps to mend her broken family.
cert | TBC She Rides Shotgun
Eleven-year-old Polly is smart beyond her years. In prison, about to be released, her father Nate runs afoul of a powerful gang leader. Marked for death on his release, Nate soon realizes that everyone he has ever loved is a target. Forced into hiding by the greenlight placed upon them, Nate finds himself having to protect his estranged daughter, all the while observed by Polly’s teddy bear, who is soon the only outlet for the little girl’s emotions. Soon the two of them find themselves on a non-stop struggle for survival, and along the way, discover the bonds that eluded them for so many years.
12A | Aftersun
At a fading vacation resort in Turkey in the late 1990s, 11-year-old Sophie treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father, Calum (Paul Mescal) who struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood. Sophie is smart for her age (she and Calum are sometimes mistaken for siblings) but she’s still also very much a child, torn between hanging out with the younger kids at the resort or with the more boisterous teenagers who lounge around the pool table.
15 | One to One: John & Yoko
Never-before-seen footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono includes their concert performance at Madison Square Garden and their lives in New York’s Greenwich Village. The documentary shows how John and Yoko went on a crusade during the Nixon era to support activism. It was mainly spearheaded by Ono, and how they eventually organised a charity concert to raise funds for an underfunded institution which looked after autistic and severely disabled children to guarantee supplying one carer for each child.
15 | The End We Start From
Screening of the film with the Q&A scheduled the following day on Sunday afternoon. Jodie Comer is a new mother in the film, her baby Zeb, and partner (Joel Fry) are forced to evacuate their home in London after floods threaten everyone in the lower lying areas of the UK. The family is able to seek refuge at his parents’ home, but unfortunately the situation becomes even more dangerous as time goes on. With food becoming scarce and the security situation falling apart, the family is forced to find help at a local shelter. But can they trust the people there? Is this too good to be true? The film is Mahalia Belo’s debut feature and is adapted from Megan Hunter’s novel.
15 | Freaky Tales
Late night screening of “Freaky Tales”: an action comedy set in 1987 Oakland, California, where diverse characters, including an NBA star, a corrupt cop, and neo-Nazis, clash in a series of interconnected storylines. The film, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, is a nostalgic tribute to the East Bay, with a focus on resistance to racism and a vibrant 80s atmosphere.
Sunday
U | Elio
For centuries, people have called out to the universe looking for answers—in Disney and Pixar’s all-new feature film “Elio,” the universe calls back! The cosmic misadventure introduces Elio, a space fanatic with an active imagination and a huge alien obsession. So, when he’s beamed up to the Communiverse, an interplanetary organization with representatives from galaxies far and wide, Elio’s all in for the epic undertaking. Mistakenly identified as Earth’s leader, Elio must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions, and somehow discover who and where he is truly meant to be.
Q&A | with Jodie Comer
A Q&A session with Jodie Comer on the film The End We Start From (which was screened a day prior: on Saturday at 7:30pm).
12 | Scott Pilgrim
In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a young musician, Scott Pilgrim, falls for Ramona Flowers, who has a secret: seven evil exes that Scott must defeat in battle to win her over. Scott also struggles with his current girlfriend, Knives Chau, as he tries to navigate his new feelings for Ramona. The movie follows Scott’s quest to win Ramona, battling her exes while dealing with his personal life and growing self-awareness.
U | Flow
A Latvian, French, and Belgian co-production which is a dialogue-free animated film where a cat and several other animals navigate a post-apocalyptic world after a devastating flood. The animals must cooperate and trust each other to survive the perils of a newly flooded landscape. The film explores themes of nature, survival, and the importance of community through stunning visuals and minimal storytelling. Through beautiful, though sometimes distressing, imagery, Flow explores materialism, self-obsession, connection, impermanence, and love. There are no words in the film, yet the emotion is palpable.
15 | Mickey 17
“Mickey 17” follows Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), an average Joe whose financial troubles on Earth led him to sign up for a space colonization mission. After failing to read the fine print, Mickey becomes expendable: his body and memories have been backed up, and he can be reprinted whenever he dies. He is repeatedly reborn after dying in dangerous missions, retaining his memories and personality. The story explores themes of identity, humanity, and the value of life in a world where individuals are easily replicated and can be sacrificed for the greater good. Mickey’s journey becomes a philosophical exploration of what it means to be human in a world where mortality is redefined.
12 | Thunderbolts*
In “Thunderbolts*” Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes—Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
15 | The Beach
We conclude our programme with an after midnight screening of the Beach. Leonardo DiCaprio is electrifying in this seductive thriller from director Danny Boyle (Trance, Slumdog Millionaire). When Richard (DiCaprio), a young American backpacker traveling through Thailand, discovers a map to a beautiful secret beach, he thinks he’s found the ultimate thrill. But the isolated paradise soon becomes a place of peril in this chilling drama that also stars Tilda Swinton.