On September 25th 2025 the Riverside was 110 years old.

Our technical assistant, William Caley, has made a new film which looks back through the Riverside archive to when the cinema was built in 1915 and traces our 110 year history, and features a few recently newly filmed interviews with Pat Betts, Stuart Saunders and Tina Wiseman.

Our current manager, Neil, and Technical assistant, Will, have for the past few years been working on researching the cinema’s history and collecting all the material together to make a book (now available from the box office!), and this new documentary film.

Come along and celebrate our exciting and fascinating history for our 110th birthday.

SUFFOLK SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL

Suffolk Shorts film festival returns to The Riverside for its 4th year with one day packed with 38 shortlisted short films from all over the world, and a special showcase for local filmmakers. The 4 award winners will be announced on the day.

New Voices: all genres of short films were considered for this category, with the focus being on storytelling in new ways. The shortlist of 9 films features a very hard hitting UK military drama, a short wistful animation, and a multinational imagining of a world where traditional cinema is extinct. New stories from new voices.

SUFFOLK SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL

Suffolk Shorts film festival returns to The Riverside for its 4th year with one day packed with 38 shortlisted short films from all over the world, and a special showcase for local filmmakers. The 4 award winners will be announced on the day.

Unique perspectives: films on the fringe from a diverse range of perspectives. Each film offers a fresh lens on the world, flipping the script on reality. Dance, ice skating, a deep dive into the otherworldly bog biome, moody lo-fi music and clay modelling, and a reconstruction of memories on 16mm Kodak film. This program dares you to see the world differently.

SUFFOLK SHORTS

Suffolk Shorts film festival returns to The Riverside for its 4th year with one day packed with 38 shortlisted short films from all over the world, and a special showcase for local filmmakers. The 4 award winners will be announced on the day.

Narrative Shorts: Whether it’s unspeakable comedy, gripping drama, or something entirely original that defies genre, these short films deliver unforgettable stories. Featuring the 2025 BAFTA winner based on a true story, a window into the world of precocious French poet, Arthur Rimbaud, and a graphic imagining of a hidden threat to a surgeon on her last day in theatre. These are the storytellers of the future.

SUFFOLK SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL

Suffolk Shorts film festival returns to The Riverside for its 4th year with one day packed with 38 shortlisted short films from all over the world, and a special showcase for local filmmakers. The 4 award winners will be announced on the day.

East Anglian showcase: We champion local filmmaking. For this category we have discovered short films that tell East Anglian Stories, films made by East Anglian filmmakers and films that have been made in East Anglia. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers hosted by actor/director Joshua Dickinson.

Screening in tribute to the late Robert Redford who sadly passed away on the 16th September 2025.

“Immensely enjoyable to watch – glowingly photographed, wittily scripted, and with superbly confident performances from Paul Newman and Robert Redford.” David Wilson, Monthly Film Bulletin, April 1970 “Most of what follows is true,” announces the opening caption, setting the playful tone for this tale of bank-robbing outlaws who find the Old West getting too hot for them, before heading for new pastures in Bolivia. As that caption suggests, writer William Goldman and director George Roy Hill are less interested in authentic historical atmosphere – or a conclusive answer to the mystery of the real Butch and Sundance’s ultimate fate – than in having fun, with Paul Newman and Robert Redford making a wonderfully relaxed double act. The laidback 1969 vibe is further enhanced by the hints of ménage à trois with moll Etta Place (Katharine Ross) and music by Burt Bacharach, including the hit song ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head’.

Screening in tribute to the late Robert Redford who sadly passed away on 16th September 2025.

Two green reporters and rivals working for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), research the botched 1972 burglary of the Democratic Party Headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex. With the help of a mysterious source, code-named Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook), the two reporters make a connection between the burglars and a White House staffer. Despite dire warnings about their safety, the duo follows the money all the way to the top.

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, as the world grapples with the unveiled horrors of the Holocaust, U.S. Army psychiatrist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) is assigned the extraordinary task of assessing the mental state of Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), the notorious former Reichsmarschall and Hitler’s second in command, along with other high ranking Nazi officials. As the Allies – led by the unyielding chief U.S. prosecutor, Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) alongside Sgt. Howie Triest (Leo Woodall), David Maxwell-Fyfe (Richard E. Grant), Gustave Gilbert (Colin Hanks), Col. John Amen (Mark O’Brien) and Burton C. Andrus (John Slattery) – navigate the monumental task of creating an unprecedented international tribunal to ensure the Nazi regime answers for its atrocities, Kelley gets to know his ‘patients’. But he soon finds himself locked in a psychological duel with Göring, whose charisma and cunning reveal a sobering truth: that ordinary men can commit extraordinary evil.

Please note that this is a private screening for members of Woodbridge Film Society and not open to the public. If you wish to join the Film Society then please visit their page here

Cléo (an exceptional performance by six-year-old Louise Mauroy-Panzani) loves her nanny Gloria (Ilça Moreno Zego) more than anything. When Gloria suddenly has to return home to Cape Verde to look after her own children, Gloria invites Cléo to visit her and the two have to make the most of their last summer together. Marie Amachoukeli’s outstanding feature was the opening film of Cannes Critics’ Week 2023 and has been an audience favourite at film festivals across Europe including London and Dublin. It is produced by Céline Sciamma’s regular producer Bénédicte Couvreur (Petite Maman, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Girlhood).

Life on the Deben is a documentary film that was made in association with Woodbridge Riverside Trust and first released in December 2017.

Presented by author and journalist John McCarthy, the film explores the Deben’s incredible history, geography, environment and the influence it has had over the people who have lived by its banks.

The film traces the entire length of the Deben, from the secret upper reaches near Debenham to the boatyards of Woodbridge and down to the sea at Bawdsey and Felixstowe Ferry. The film was shot over 2 years by Director and Cameraman Tim Curtis (Video East), Produced by Malcolm Hodd.

The film will screen alongside a rare 1965 film entitled "The Deben Valley" with broadcaster Robert Dougall venturing around Suffolk with his wife, tracing the pathway of the River Deben. He visits Ufford, Debenham, Woodbridge and Ramsholt along the way.

The Deben Valley runs for 29mins and is from the collection of James Cecil of JCB Films.

Following the screenings there will be an on stage discussion with James Cecil, Tim Curtis and our manager, Neil.

It looks like she's lived a charmed life - a loving upbringing, marrying a superstar rock singer, children, strong friendships, and lately a successful career in television.

But in her new book ‘Someone Like Me’, Penny Lancaster reveals how she was bullied at school, struggled with her studies because of undiagnosed dyslexia and, as she made her way for herself as a model, experienced a harrowing sexual assault.

Determined, though, always to see the positive in life, Penny cultivated skills and talents to enable her to achieve and maintain her independence, training as a fitness instructor and then a photographer, and she’s used her struggles to inform and help others.

What’s more, since marrying and making a family with Rod Stewart, Penny has embraced every opportunity offered to her. She's competed on 'Strictly Come Dancing', 'Celebrity MasterChef', 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'. And she is a guest panellist on 'Loose Women'.

Using this profile she is a campaigner and ambassador for a multitude of charities, speaks widely and passionately about menopause issues and volunteers as a Special Constable with the City of London Police.

She is a warm, engaging and inspiring speaker and we're thrilled that she's joining us at The Riverside in Woodbridge for this special evening event. She will be in conversation with Catherine Larner and signing copies of her book.

Tickets are £20 to include a signed copy of her book 'Someone Like Me' (RRP £20). One further ticket can be purchased for £12 (without the book).

Please book at The Riverside in person or on the website www.theriverside.co.uk and be sure to include your name with your booking so that we can allocate your book on the night.

Photography credit to Robert Wilson.