BIRD: British Film Week at FOMO Cinema Tbilisi
Sunday 21. June at 16:00 - 18:00
FOMO Secret Cinema, Tbilisi
June 16-21 FOMO is taking a tour through some of the most distinctive films to emerge from the United Kingdom over the last fifty years. Punk manifestos. Social realism. Gangster films. Cult classics. Coming-of-age stories. Music culture. Working-class Britain. Films that helped define entire generations, alongside newer works that show where British cinema is heading today.
BIRD
Andrea Arnold | 2024 | United Kingdom/United States | 1h59m | Presented in the original English audio with English subtitles
I've been waiting for an excuse to show BIRD again ever since I first screened in 2024. The film follows twelve-year-old Bailey, who lives with her father and brother in a squat in North Kent. Her dad is a somewhat charming immature man-child so her home life is chaotic at best. Nobody seems particularly interested in providing the structure she's looking for. Then she meets a mysterious stranger named Bird and the film begins to drift somewhere unexpected.
Barry Keoghan is excellent as Bailey's chaotic father, but the film really belongs to newcomer Nykiya Adams. Arnold has always had an extraordinary ability to discover young performers who feel completely natural on screen and Adams continues that tradition. She carries nearly every scene and gives the film its emotional centre.
One of the things I admire most about Arnold's work is that she never looks down on her characters. However difficult their circumstances become, she treats them with curiosity rather than judgement. BIRD is no exception. It's a film about loneliness, family, adolescence, and the search for connection, but it's also far warmer than many people might expect.
Fontaines D.C. loom large over the soundtrack. Their music feels perfectly matched to Arnold's vision of contemporary Britain. Restless, searching, melancholy, and occasionally transcendent.
I've paired BIRD with HOW TO HAVE SEX because together they showcase two of the most acclaimed British films of the last few years. Both are interested in questions of identity, belonging, and growing up. And both suggest that the future of British cinema remains in very good hands.
FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: FOMO Cinema Lounge Bar opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 02:00, serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments including coffee and tea, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol from outside allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!
LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.
HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMTA2Mjk0MDI5MjM1
FOMO Secret Cinema • Bazari Orbeliani, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia
