Sheffield Showroom Cinema Reopening May 2021
Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
Sheffield’s Showroom reopens this month with a programme ready to remind audiences of what they’ve been missing. The reopening schedule boasts acclaimed award winners such as Chloe Zhao’s multiple-Oscar winner Nomadland, Lee Isaac Chung’s heartwarming Minari, and Shaka King’s civil rights thriller Judas and the Black Messiah.
Alongside those big American titles, filmgoers can book to see Kate Winslet and Saorsie Ronan in Francis Lee’s rugged British period romance Ammonite, while Billie Piper writes, directs and stars in pitch black modern rom-com, Rare Beasts. From Ireland, Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart’s gorgeous animated feature Wolfwalkers is unmissable, while urgent documentary The 8th chronicles the campaign to reverse the country’s constitutional ban on abortion.
The opening programme also finds space for Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, which earned Academy Awards for Sound and Editing last month. British actor Riz Ahmed picked up a nomination for his part, with his portrayal of a metal drummer and recovering drug addict who loses his hearing earning wide acclaim.
Also well worthy of a mention is Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow — an understated, unsentimental drama about baking and the extremes of pioneer-era America. Reirchardt’s deliberate pacing can be something of an acquired taste, but this new film cements her place as contemporary cinema’s foremost chronicler of life on the American margins.
