5 Cinema Highlights for August 2023

While we may have missed out of some good weather, Summer 2023 hasn’t failed to deliver when it comes to great films. 

Following on from the July craze of Barbenheimer (Barbie and Oppenheimer). August provides a diverse range of anticipated releases and captivating stories. Promising to be an unforgettable month of cinema.

Join us as we delve into five of some of the most anticipated films at the Warwick Arts Centre this August:

Theater Camp

From Booksmart’s Molly Gordon and co-director Nick Lieberman, the hilarious, Theater Camp is full of cult film potential. It’s summer, and kids are gathering at AdirondACTS, a scrappy theatre camp in upstate New York that’s a haven for budding performers. After its founder (Amy Sedaris) falls ill, her clueless “crypto-bro” son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) must work with Amos (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) to ensure the curtain rises on opening night. Theater Camp celebrates the brilliant, and unhinged educators who help kids find their confidence on the amateur stage.

Kokomo City

D. Smith’s luminous debut Kokomo City opens a window into the lives of Black transgender women sex workers in America. Shot in striking black and white. Sharing reflections on love and desire, sex work and safety, and belonging and identity within Black culture and society at large. Offering up the hard-earned wisdom of people who have seen it all. D. Smith’s innovative, cinematic, punchily sound-tracked doc gives voice to these women’s joy and pain. Delivering an destigmatising and decisive portrait of lives that are so rarely explored on screen.

Scrapper

Scrapper is an imaginative tale of father-daughter bonding flipped on its head. Spiky 12-year-old Georgie (Lola Campbell) lives on her own and under the radar in an outer London estate. Funding her solo existence via a bike theft business run with her best mate, until her goofy, estranged dad (Harris Dickinson) turns up out of the blue. Why’s he suddenly taking an interest? She’s doing fine, thank you very much. Vibrant, joyful, and stylistically bold, Scrapper is a charming story about youth, imagination and loss that’s full of flourish.

Talk To Me

Talk to Me is the directorial debut for Australian YouTube duo Danny and Michael Philippou. A group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand. Whoever holds the hand long enough can choose to be possessed by a spirit they invite in. With minimal special effects, Talk to Me is a terrifically creepy 21st century horror built on classic foundations.

Haunted Mansion

A crew of spiritual experts seek to rid a home of ghosts in Haunted Mansion, inspired by the Disneyworld attraction. An all-star cast led by LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson lights up Justin Simien’s supernatural blockbuster. Haunted Mansion tells the story of a single mother (Dawson) and her son (Chase W. Dillon) who move into a mansion only to find that it's haunted. Enlisting a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts – a paranormal investigator turned tour guide, a priest, a psychic, and a history professor – to help exorcise its supernatural squatters. With Jamie Lee Curtis, Jared Leto and Dan Levy.