Screening at The Regent Pahiatua

Downton Abbey - A New Era.

May is a huge month at The Regent Pahiatua with fan favourites, classics, documentaries, as well as a few programming experiments by new managers Alaina and Derrick Sims.

The laugh-out-loud adventure/romance/comedy The Lost City starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, and Brad Pitt ends its run Wednesday, May 11. Crowds have been good thus far, and unanimously they've all had a rollicking, good time.

Roots drummer Questlove directs his first picture, the 2022 Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul, which plays through mid-May. The film includes never-before-seen performances by Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King and many more. It's an eye-opening, culturally significant and uplifting movie, one that will no doubt leave you singing on the way out the doors.

A new season of James Bond is back with Sean Connery in Dr No on May 7 and Goldfinger on May 14. These are one-night-only shows, and we can all agree any chance to see Agent 007 on the big screen (especially the 1960s releases) is worth it.

Lots of folks have been waiting for Downton Abbey: A New Era, and the wait is over. Opening on May 12, the old cast returns to Downton but soon finds themselves on a grand journey to the South of France, to uncover the mystery of the Dowager Countess' newly inherited villa.

On May 19, we ask you to take a chance on After Yang. From indie powerhouse producers A24 and starring Colin Farrell, this moving sci-fi drama follows a young family whose companion android malfunctions. A celebration of humanity, Yang is unexpected and unlike anything you'll see this year - and that's a good thing.

Continuing our foray into the documentary, The Velvet Queen opens on May 21. Set in the striking beauty of the Tibetan highlands, a nature photographer and a writer go on a quest to document the infamously elusive snow leopard. It's gorgeous, calming and meditative - a documentary that begs us to slow down, look around and see the beauty in life.

Operation Mincemeat, a real-life story of British deception during WWII begins on May 26. Starring Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Jason Isaacs, and more, Mincemeat is a must-see for fans of the British, war history, Ian Fleming, espionage, or all of the above!

Nine for Midnight Series begins on the 28th with The Innocents.

Midnight shows likely wouldn't do well in Pahiatua, so we shifted their showtime to 9pm! Join us for our first Nine-For-Midnight screening, the Norwegian fairytale horror (and 2021 Cannes Film Festival sensation) The Innocents. The film plays on May 28 and 29 and is sort of like Carrie but with lots of Scandinavian kids and heaps more creepy.

Finally, Tararua Cinematheque wraps up the month with Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, and Lilian Gish in Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955). One of the most gorgeous, chilling, and criminally underseen films of the 20th century, Hunter will have you smiling one minute and gripping your seat the next.

See you at the pictures.