Top 5: Must see films at Cultureplex’s Mini Cini in November

For Sama explores the female experience of war, telling director Waad al-Kateab’s story as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to a daughter against the background of the rising conflict in Aleppo, Syria. Sama is the daughter she gives birth to and the documentary is a love letter to her. This film is simultaneously politically provoking and deeply emotionally stirring – the way we witness the horrors of conflict is usually distilled through the media, but For Sama depicts the lived human experience of the Syrian conflict in devastating clarity.

Make A Scene, Manchester’s gay film club, hosts this screening of 1995 cult classic Showgirls, an erotic drama following Nomi, a drifter who travels to Las Vegas hoping to become a showgirl. The film was a critical and commercial failure on release but has found new life as one of the best worst movies. Debate still rages as to whether the film is deliberately satirical or just plain bad – come along and decide for yourself!

Truly one of the greatest screwball comedies of all time, His Girl Friday sees two standout performances from Cary Grant, as a newspaper editor, and Rosalind Russell, as his former star reporter and ex-wife. The pair are dynamic on screen – this is fast talking comedy at its finest – and you really have to be paying attention to keep up with the madcap plot (and the punchlines). His Girl Friday is a real classic that everyone will enjoy – it’s the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Cinephiles won’t want to miss the chance to see Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 masterpiece in true cinema style. It clocks in at a somewhat lengthy 161 minutes, but is regarded as one of the Russian director’s more accessible films, following a mysterious figure known as the ‘Stalker’ as he guides two clients through the mysterious ‘Zone’ to a room said to grant a person’s deepest desires. The chance to see this film in an immersive cinema atmosphere is an unmissable experience.

Gene Kelly both stars in and directs this classic 50s musical (along with Stanley Donen), depicting a rose-tinted version of Hollywood in the late 1920s, as films transitioned from silent pictures to ‘talkies’. Kelly plays a popular film star opposite Debbie Reynolds as a newcomer actor who steals his heart. Widely regarded as one of the best film musicals ever made, Singin’ In The Rain is a colourful and dazzling movie that’s sure to cheer up anyone’s dreary November day.