Best new films – quick links
4 best new films
Jimpa – 1 July (Binge)
Film (2025). Drama starring Aud Mason-Hyde, Olivia Colman and John Lithgow. (MA15+). From ScreenHub’s review:
‘Is conflict integral to cinema? Not according to Hannah, an Adelaide filmmaker, who is not quite Jimpa director Sophie Hyde, but is certainly a misty mirror-universe reflection. Depicted by the magnificent Olivia Colman – an actor so agile she can carry us forward through thought alone – she embraces love and understanding over miscommunication.
‘Hannah is auditioning actors to play a version of her father Jim (John Lithgow), a firebrand gay activist based in Amsterdam, along with her salt-of-the-earth, sassy mother, Katherine (Deborah Kennedy). The two separated when Hannah and her sister Emily (Kate Box) were kids but in Hannah’s recollection, it was an amicable arrangement that honoured Jim’s queerness and need for freedom.’ Read more …
Enola Holmes 3 – 1 July (Netflix)
Film (2026). Adventure follows detective Enola Holmes to Malta, where her plans to tie the knot unravel when Sherlock’s disappearance plunges her into a perilous new case.
Starring Millie Bobby Brown, Louis Partridge, Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham Carter.
Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story – 1 July (HBO Max)
Documentary. Produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, the documentary follows Robin Byrd who pioneered NYC public access with her cult sex-positive call-in show. Now the larger-than-life 70-year-old champion of free speech, queer visibility and safe sex reflects on her unique legacy and her hidden, decades-long marriage behind the scenes.
Phantoms Of July – 3 July (MUBI)
Film (2025). Julian Radlmaier’s fourth film is a bittersweet and whimsical story that spans centuries in the German town of Sangerhausen. Ursula, a heartbroken waitress from East Germany, and Neda, a lonely Iranian YouTuber recovering from a broken arm, meet by chance and mistaken identity. Their encounter leads to an unexpected ghost hunt in the mountains, where the ghosts of history have a playful conversation with the dissatisfied people of modern Germany.
Radlmaier mixes absurd comedy with political commentary and a poetic, melancholic mood. He explores class struggle and ideological conflict using anachronism and irony, blending history and fantasy. The film weaves together four stories that move through time, with surreal moments like a herd of camels or a pair of naked hikers, all captured in the glowing Super 16mm cinematography of Feraz Fesharaki (What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?).
Recent best new films
Wicked – 26 June (Paramount+)
Film (2024). The untold story of the witches of Oz comes to life. Misunderstood because of her green skin, Elphaba forms an unlikely yet profound friendship with the ambitious and popular Glinda while studying at Shiz University.
Starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum.
Little Brother – 26 June (Netflix)
Film (2026). A successful realtor’s life completely flips when his chaotic ‘little brother’ suddenly reappears in this raunchy comedy starring John Cena and Eric André.
Starring John Cena, Eric André, Michelle Monaghan and Christopher Meloni. Watch the trailer.
Theatre of The World – 26 June (MUBI)
Spotlight collection. Queer, feminist, and defiantly avant-garde, Ulrike Ottinger’s ‘Berlin’ trilogy transforms Cold War-era West Berlin into a dazzling landscape of theatricality, excess, and radical imagination. Blurring fantasy, satire, and political provocation, Ottinger’s cinema revels in collisions between the grotesque and the beautiful.
Includes Ticket of No Return, Freak Orlando, Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press.
