A drama about the power of human connection during turbulent times, set in an English coastal town in the early 1980s.

Hilary (Olivia Colman) is a cinema manager struggling with her mental health, and Stephen (Micheal Ward) is a new employee longing to escape the provincial town where he faces daily adversity. Together they find a sense of belonging and experience the healing power of music, cinema, and community.

Margate, England, 1980. As widespread unemployment and a rising wave of extremism plunge the seaside town and Margaret Thatcher's Britain into recession, depressed Hilary sticks to her daily routine as the dutiful front-of-house manager at the Empire: a dying, golden-era movie palace. But even movies like All That Jazz (1979) and The Blues Brothers (1980) can't help lonely Hillary keep her inner demons at bay. And then, bright-eyed new employee Stephen suddenly enters the picture, shaking Hilary's troubled existence. If the celluloid-scented power of cinema can pave the way for meaningful human connection, is there still hope for the once majestic movie theatre?—Nick Riganas