Started in 2014, Cinema Space is a fully voluntary and independent initiative to share beautifully restored classics and contemporary world cinema through free community screenings for audiences and enthusiasts in Abu Dhabi. Come one, come all, and bring guests to discover essential cinema! Explore programs below.
All programs are free and open to audiences. RSVP is mandatory due to limited seating.
Please select an upcoming program in the "All Programs" section below and click on the RSVP button to view information about the film and reserve your spot. You will receive an automatic email confirmation after registering on the individual film page.
(Please see full program and details in 'All Programs' section below)
Explore ongoing programs of Swedish cinema presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in Abu Dhabi.
Explore ongoing programs of Italian cinema presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in Abu Dhabi.
Explore ongoing programs of Korean cinema presented in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Center in the UAE.
Explore ongoing programs of German cinema presented in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region.
Explore new programs of Spanish cinema presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain in Abu Dhabi.
Explore ongoing programs presented in collaboration with Institut francais and Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi.
Free Film Screening
Neotpravlennoe pismo (original title)
(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)
Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov
Soviet Union | 1959 | 96 minutes
In Russian with English Subtitles
RATING: [ G ] - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
Synopsis: The great Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov, known for his virtuosic, emotionally gripping films, perhaps never made a more visually astonishing one than Letter Never Sent. This absorbing tale of exploration and survival concerns the four members of a geological expedition, who are stranded in the bleak and unforgiving Siberian wilderness while on a mission to find diamonds. After many adventures the diamond seam is located and mapped, but a series of natural disasters threatens to prevent the explorers returning to Moscow with the precious find that will fund their nation's conquest of the cosmos. Luxuriating in wide-angle beauty and featuring one daring shot after another (the brilliant cinematography is by Kalatozov’s frequent collaborator Sergei Urusevsky), Letter Never Sent is a fascinating piece of cinematic history and a universal adventure of the highest order.
Free Film Screening
Directed by Mike Leigh
United Kingdom | 2010 | 129 minutes | In English
RATING: [ PG-13 ] - Parental Guidance is advised
Synopsis: From seven-time Oscar nominee Mike Leigh comes this critically acclaimed slice of life starring Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville and Ruth Sheen. Medical counsellor Gerri (Sheen) is happily married to Tom (Broadbent) and the film follows her over the course of the year as she opens her home and heart to her emotionally needy colleague Mary (Manville), counsels a chronic insomniac, spends time on her allotment with Tom and plays host to their 30-year-old lawyer son Joe and his wife and baby. A happy couple for over thirty years, Tom and Gerri act as a steady anchor to their unmarried circle of family and friends. But as the seasons change and another year passes, Tom and Gerri’s support is put to the test in this masterful look at life, love and the meaning of friendship. Another Year is one of director Mike Leigh's finest works and a touching exploration of the lives of a happily-married couple, their friends and family over four seasons as they experience love and warmth, joy and sadness, hope and despair, companionship and loneliness, a birth and a death.
Korean Film Festival - Yas Mall (Tickets 21 AED)
OPENING NIGHT FILM - Actor Lee Kyu-hyung will be in attendance for a Q&A session with the audience.
Directed by LEE Han
South Korea | 2019 | 129 minutes
In Korean with English and Arabic Subtitles
RATING: [ 12+ ]
Synopsis: Soon-ho who once worked as a lawyer for a civil rights organization has set aside his beliefs and joined a large law firm. Working on a major case that could make him a business partner, he wants to put Ji-woo, a teenager with autism and the only witness, on the stand to prove the innocence of a murder suspect. Ji-woo has difficulties communicating, living in a world of her own. Soon-ho tracks her down to ask her about what she witnessed, but is unable to even make a proper introduction. However, Soon-ho does not give up and he tries to get Ji-woo to open up. In time, he begins to understand Ji-woo but the two are destined to meet in court as witness and attorney.
Korean Film Festival - Yas Mall (Tickets 21 AED)
Directed by Lee Seok-geun
South Korea | 2018 | 129 minutes
In Korean with English Subtitles
RATING: [ 12+ ]
Synopsis: Woo-yeon is a 19-year old high school student who’s not good at anything. Seemingly out of the blue, a new transfer student, Seung-hee, shows up before his eyes and he falls helplessly in love with her. From that day forward, he only had one goal in life – to become Seung-hee’s proud boyfriend! He even gives up fighting, which he loves very much, and goes to college, which he never thought he’d do, just to be near Seung-hee, but to her, he’s just a good friend. Perhaps due to bad luck, he never manages to get out of the friendzone and it tears him apart. Even after 10 years, his love for her hasn’t changed but the timing always seems to be slightly off. Can their love be fulfilled?
Korean Film Festival - Yas Mall (Tickets 21 AED)
Directed by Kim Kwang-sik
South Korea | 2018 | 135 minutes
In Korean with English Subtitles
RATING: [ 12+ ]
Synopsis: In 645 AD, the Tang Dynasty’s emperor Li starts his invasion into Goguryeo, one of the ancient kingdoms of Korea. One victory after another, the Tang army marches into Ansi fortress, protected by General Yang, the lord of the fortress. Abandoned by his country and outnumbered by thousands, the brave general gathers his men and women to face the Tang army on his own.
Korean Film Festival - Yas Mall (Tickets 21 AED)
Directed by Park Hoon-jung
South Korea | 2018 | 125 minutes
In Korean with English Subtitles
RATING: [ 15+ ]
Synopsis: 10 years ago, Ja-yoon escaped from a government facility in the midst of an inexplicable incident by herself and lost all her memory. An old couple takes her in even though she doesn’t know her name or age. She grows up to be a bright high school student and enters a nationally televised audition program to win the top prize and help her struggling family out. As soon as she appears on TV, strange people start appearing in her life. A man named ‘Nobleman’ constantly roams around her, in addition to ‘Dr. Baek’ and ‘Mr. Choi’ who have been searching for her since her disappearance. Ja-yoon’s life falls into turmoil as they turn her seemingly ordinary life upside down in a blink of an eye…
Korean Film Festival - Yas Mall (Tickets 21 AED)
Directed by Lee Chang-geun
South Korea | 2019 | 112 minutes
In Korean with English Subtitles
RATING: [ PG ]
Synopsis: 75-year-old Nam-bong and 71-year-old Mae-ja are a couple suffering with dementia. After being married for 45 years, the couple couldn’t even remember when they were in a good relationship. However, as their memories fade by the day, their dreams and romance that have been forgotten rekindle.
Korean Film Festival - Yas Mall (Tickets 21 AED)
Directed by Eom Yu-na
South Korean | 2019 | 135 minutes
In Korean with English Subtitles
RATING: [ 12+]
Synopsis: Set in Seoul during Japanese occupation of Korea, the Korean language is banned from schools and being replaced more and more with Japanese. After being fired from the theater, Pan-su goes to a job interview at the Korean Language society. An illiterate man who’s been in and out of prison to help with making a dictionary? Jung-hwan, the representative of the society, is unconvinced but pushed by his team members who welcome Pan-su and hire him. However, Jung-hwan makes it conditional for a month given that Pan-su learns to read and write. Wondering why they collect words instead of money, Pan-su soon opens his eyes to the importance of his native language. With no time to lose, they must evade surveillance from the Japanese and finish the ‘Mal-mo-e’ dictionary…
Korean Film Festival - Yas Mall (Tickets 21 AED)
Directed by Oh Sung-yoon, LEE Choon-baek
South Korea | 2019 | 102 minutes
In Korean with English Subtitles
RATING: [ PG ]
Synopsis: Abandoned dog Moong-chi is saved by Jjang-a’s stray pack. Adjusting himself to the wild life as a stray dog with Jjang-a’s pack, his and their sweet home is destroyed by humans. Yearning for ultimate freedom and happiness, they decide to take a journey to find their new home.
Korean Film Festival - Yas Mall (Tickets 21 AED)
Directed by Nujoom Alghanem
UAE | 2014 | 85 minutes
In Arabic with English Subtitles
RATING: [ PG ]
Synopsis: Fatima Alhameli is the first Emirati Female camel owner to personally enter her Camel into the Camel Beauty Pageants and take part in Camel auctions in the UAE. Regardless of all the difficulties and challenges she encountered while trying to prove herself in one of the most male dominant domains, Fatima's wish to win in a race or a beauty pageant contest remains the only compensation to overcome her failures. Fatima’s story is uniquely portrayed in this film. She is shown giving us her own first hand experiences and the film depicts her personalized story. For the first time, we see her journey as a child, mother and business woman. The film reveals the path she has chosen for herself, including the challenges she faces, both socially and personally. Just when Fatima begins to lose hope, an unexpected reward comes her way.
Korean Film Festival - Yas Mall (Tickets 21 AED)
Directed by Joe Min-ho
South Korea | 2019 | 105 minutes
In Korean with English Subtitles
RATING: [ 12+ ]
Synopsis: During Japanese colonial rule, Gwan-sun is imprisoned for starting the March 1 Movement, a peaceful protest for Korea’s independence. Undaunted, unites her fellow inmates to resist Japan. The Japanese security chief senses the resistance, entices an inmate to find out Gwan-sun is behind it, then tortures her. Later, Gwan-sun pretends to obey the Japanese while secretly planning another independence protest. This movement spreads beyond prison to the streets, and she is subjected to merciless torture again. Though she dies two days before she is set to be released, her spirit is more liberated and free than ever.
Free Double Feature Screening
(5:30pm - 7:00pm) - PORT OF SHADOWS
(New Film Restoration!)
Directed by Marcel Carné
France | 1938 | 90 minutes | In French with English Subtitles
Rating ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
(7:15pm - 9:00pm) - NEW SURPRISE FILM
2017 | 90 minutes | In English | Rating ( 18+ )
Synopsis for Port of Shadows: Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean (Jean Gabin), an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, as acts of both revenge and kindness render him front-page news. Also starring the blue-eyed phenomenon Michèle Morgan in her first major role, and the menacing Michel Simon, Port of Shadows (Le Quai des brumes) starkly portrays an underworld of lonely souls wrestling with their own destinies. Based on the novel by Pierre Mac Orlan, the inimitable team of director Marcel Carné and writer Jacques Prévert deliver a quintessential example of poetic realism and a misty, mysterious, beautiful classic film from the golden age of French cinema.
Free Film Screening
(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
Italy | 1951 | 97 minutes | In Italian with English Subtitles
Rating ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
Synopsis: Adapted for the screen by Cesare Zavattini and Vittorio De Sica from the former's novel Totò il buono, Miracolo a Milano is a powerful work of social protest in the guise of allegorical fantasy. Once upon a time a wise and kind old woman named discovers a baby in her cabbage patch. She raises the child and names the boy Totò but when young Totò's elderly guardian, Lolotta, dies, he enters an orphanage. Totò leaves the orphanage a happy young man, and looking for work in post-war Milan where he ends up with the homeless and organizes them to build a shanty town in a vacant lot. The residents find themselves battling a rich land-owner who wants to take their land and get rid of them in order to dig for oil which the squatters discovered on their lot. Lolotta's spirit sends Totò and the slum dwellers help in the form of a magic dove in order to find a way out of this impossible situation and lead them to a better world. Miracle in Milan went on to wow critics and audiences, winning the Grand Prize of the Cannes Film Festival in 1951, and this largely unsung masterpiece with its magic realism perfectly imagines a place where society’s most downtrodden can find purchase and possible escape from misery.
Free Double Feature Screening - (Family Friendly)
(5:30pm - 7:00pm) - SPEEDY
(New Film Restoration!)
Directed by Ted Wilde
USA | 1928 | 86 minutes | In English
Rating ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
(7:15pm - 9:00pm) - NEW SURPRISE FILM
2016 | 80 minutes | In English | Family Friendly
Rating ( G ) General Audiences (all ages admitted)
Synopsis for Speedy: Speedy was the last comedy feature to star Harold Lloyd—and one of his very best. The slapstick comedy legend reprises his “Glasses Character,” this time as a good-natured but scatterbrained New Yorker who can’t keep a job. Silent comedy legend Harold Lloyd stars as a die-hard Yankees fan who can't keep a job, but is determined to save the last horse-drawn trolley in New York. He finally finds his true calling when he becomes determined to help save the city’s last horse-drawn streetcar, which is operated by his sweetheart’s crusty grandfather. From its joyous visit to Coney Island to its incredible Babe Ruth cameo to its hair-raising climactic stunts on the city’s streets, Speedy is an out-of-control love letter to New York that will have you grinning from ear to ear.
Free Film Screening - (Special Presentation)
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing
Directed by Todd Douglas Miller
USA | 2019 | 93 minutes | In English
Rating ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
Synopsis: From director Todd Douglas Miller comes a cinematic event fifty years in the making. Crafted from a newly discovered trove of 65mm footage, and more than 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings, Apollo 11 takes us straight to the heart of NASA’s most celebrated mission—the one that first put men on the moon, and forever made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin into household names. Immersed in the perspectives of the astronauts, the team in Mission Control, and the millions of spectators on the ground, we vividly experience those momentous days and hours in 1969 when humankind took a giant leap into the future.
Free Film Screening - (In Memory of Al Reinert)
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing
(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)
Directed by Al Reinert
USA | 1989 | 80 minutes | In English
Rating ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
Synopsis: During the Apollo lunar missions from 1968 to 1972, those onboard were given 16mm cameras and told to film anything and everything they could, in space, in orbit, and on the surface of the moon itself. Two decades later, filmmaker Al Reinert went into the NASA vaults to create this extraordinary compendium of their journeys and experiences. Assembled from hundreds of hours of the astronauts’ own footage, with a soundtrack made up of their memories and a specially composed score by Brian Eno, the film takes the form of one journey to the moon and back again, building with elegant simplicity and exquisite construction to create an overpowering vision of human endeavour and miraculous experience. At once intimate and awe-inspiring, For All Mankind is a genuinely mesmerising first-hand document of one of the high points of the 20th century presented in a beautiful restoration of the film.
Free Film Screening - (In Memory of Al Reinert)
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing
(NEW PRESENTATION!)
Directed by Ron Howard
USA | 1995 | 140 minutes | In English
Rating ( PG ) - Parental Guidance is advised
Synopsis: Nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Apollo 13 is the inspiring and riveting story of the real-life space flight that gripped the nation and changed the world. It had been less than a year since man first walked on the moon, but as far as the American public was concerned, Apollo 13 was just another "routine" space flight - until these infamous words pierced the immense void of space: "Houston, we have a problem." Stranded 205,000 miles from Earth in a crippled spacecraft, astronauts Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) fight a desperate battle to survive. Meanwhile, at Mission Control, astronaut Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise), flight director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) and a heroic ground crew race against time - and the odds - to bring them home. Co-written by Al Reinert, produced by Brian Grazer and directed by Ron Howard, Apollo 13 recreates NASA's epic operation to save the lives of 3 astronauts battling to survive an ill-fated mission to the moon. It's a breathtaking adventure that tells a story of courage, faith and ingenuity that is all the more remarkable because it is true!
Free Film Screening
(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)
Directed by Michael Curtiz
USA | 1950 | 97 minutes | In English
Rating ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
Synopsis: Michael Curtiz brings a master skipper’s hand to the helm of this thriller, Hollywood’s second crack at Ernest Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not. John Garfield stars as Harry Morgan, an honest charter-boat captain who, facing hard times, takes on dangerous cargo to save his boat, support his family, and preserve his dignity. Left in the lurch by a freeloading passenger, Harry starts to entertain the criminal propositions of a sleazy lawyer (Wallace Ford), as well as the playful come-ons of a cheeky blonde (Patricia Neal), making a series of compromises that stretch his morality—and his marriage—further than he’ll admit. Hewing closer to Hemingway’s novel than Howard Hawks’s Bogart-Bacall vehicle does, The Breaking Point charts a course through daylight noir and working-class tragedy, guided by Curtiz’s effortless visual fluency and a stoic, career-capping performance from Garfield.
Free Double Feature Screening - (Family Friendly)
(5:00pm - 6:50pm) - CROOKLYN
(New Presentation!)
Directed by Spike Lee
USA | 1994 | 113 minutes | In English
Rating ( PG-13 ) - Parental Guidance is advised
(7:00pm - 9:00pm) - NEW SURPRISE FILM
2016 | 123 minutes | In English
Rating ( PG-13 ) Parental Guidance is advised
Synopsis for Crooklyn: Make yourself at home with the Carmichael family as they experience one very special summer in their Brooklyn neighborhood that they've affectionately nicknamed "Crooklyn". Renowned director Spike Lee fashions a bold, flavorful picture of family life that People Magazine calls his "most affectionate work." Academy Award nominee Alfre Woodard stars as Carolyn, a loving, but fiercely independent mother who along with her musician husband (Delroy Lindo) struggles to raise her family in difficult but often wonderful circumstances. Complemented by an energizing, vintage R&B soundtrack, this tender, colorful film is a fitting tribute to an American family.
Free Film Screening
Directed by Stephen Daldry
Brazil, U.K. | 2014 | 114 minutes | In English
Rating ( 15+ ) - Suitable for viewers ages 15 and above
Synopsis: When two trash-picking boys from Rio’s slums find a wallet amongst the daily detritus of their local dump, little do they imagine that their lives are about to change forever. But when the local police show up, offering a handsome reward for the wallet’s return, the boys, Rafael (Rickson Tevez) and Gardo (Luis Eduardo), realize that what they’ve found must be important. Teaming up with their friend Rato (Gabriel Weinstein), the trio begins an extraordinary adventure as they try to hang onto the wallet, evade the police, and uncover the secrets it contains. Along the way, the boys will have to figure out friend from foe, as they piece together the story of the wallet’s owner José Angelo and realize they can’t trust the police, led by the dangerous Frederico. But a pair of American missionaries working in their favela – the disillusioned Father Julliard and his young assistant Olivia – might just have the power to knock on the right doors. Based on Andy Mulligan's best-selling novel, Rooney Mara, Martin Sheen, Wagner Moura and Selton Mello star in this thrilling adventure directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Richard Curtis.
