Magdalen Monday Movies - Magdalen College

Magdalen Monday Movies is a film club that runs every Monday during term time. We have a different theme each term. The club runs in conjunction with the Oxford Film Studies Network.

Our curator, Peter Kessler, introduces each film. Sometimes we have guest speakers, and occasionally we follow screenings with interviews with the director. We also have a regular strand called ‘Desert Island Movies’, where a celebrity guest takes us through their personal favourite films.

This is all provided for free. Everyone is welcome to come along – but booking via our Eventbrite page is a good idea.

You don’t need to be a member of Magdalen College. Magdalen Monday Movies is open to everyone over the age of 18: students, academics, members of the public. So please feel free to bring your friends and family.

We also offer everyone free popcorn, because that’s (partly) what going to the movies is all about. Content warnings are available via IMDb or DoestheDogDie.

Our new season starts on April 27th. This term we are focusing on British Decades: one great British film per decade, from the 1920s to the 2000s. Book now and join us for nine weeks of film-going fascination.

A montage picture of images from British films, featuring an image of a traffic warden with a bandaged face.

Mon 27 April: This is England (2006)
Mon 4 May, 7pm: Shallow Grave (1994)
Mon 11 May, 7pm: Threads (1984)
Mon 18 May, 7pm: O Lucky Man! (1973)
Mon 25 May, 7pm: The Lion in Winter (1968)
Mon 1 June, 7pm: The Ladykillers (1955)
Mon 8 June, 7pm: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Mon 15 June, 7pm: The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Mon 22 June, 7pm: Underground (1928)

Plus special features this term…

DESERT ISLAND MOVIES

After our previous guests Mike Newell, Stewart Lee, Stephen Fry and Alex Kingston, we are now talking to another exciting visitor… but we haven’t finalised a date yet. Watch this space!

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA GALA EVENING. Saturday 13 June, 7pm

David Lean’s masterpiece is both epic and personal in scale, with the vast deserts of Arabia jostling for prominence with the mind of an enigmatic central figure. The scale is awesome, the music majestic, the cinematography mind-boggling – and of course, it’s all done without CGI. Along with the film, we are honoured to welcome academic, author and screenwriter Sabina Murray, who is currently writing a bio-fictive novel about T.E. Lawrence himself, one of Magdalen’s most famous alumni.

GREAT MOMENTS IN AVIATION – BEEBAN KIDRON

Film and culture commentator Lillian Crawford discussing the remarkable Beeban Kidron, and screening her 1994 BBC film Great Moments in Aviation.

THE SEVENTH VEIL

Professor Melanie Williams of UEA, an expert on British cinema, talking about (and screening) the 1945 drama about hypnotism and trauma, The Seventh Veil.

THE BAND WAGON

Dr Kathleen Riley on ‘Fred Astaire, Elegant Revolutionary‘ – and screening his and Cyd Charisse’s classic movie The Band Wagon (1953).

Book Tickets Now

Our previous seasons have been