It’s A Wonderful Life at HOME

Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor

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It’s A Wonderful Life

HOME Manchester, Manchester
17-23 December 2023

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Image courtesy of HOME
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“Every time you hear a bell ring, it means that some angel’s just got his wings.”

The ultimate festive favourite, from Oscar-winning director Frank Capra, It’s a Wonderful Life stars James Stewart as despairing businessmen George Bailey. One fateful Christmas Eve, George receives a visit from Clarence, a celestial messenger, who prevents him from jumping into a freezing river. The pair travel together through moments in George’s life to show him what the world would be like if he had never existed.

It’s a Wonderful Life is a bleaker film than its reputation suggests, and James Stewart is pricklier than you might remember, as he displays hints of the darkness he would deploy in later films for Alfred Hitchcock and Anthony Mann. However, this tender yuletide classic has endured for a reason: it’s very very good.

The screening on Tue 19 Dec at 15:10 will be a Relaxed screening (designed for people with autism spectrum conditions and their families), with a short introduction from a member of the HOME team, and no adverts or trailers.

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Where to go near It’s A Wonderful Life at HOME

Manchester
Restaurant
Indian Tiffin Room, Manchester

Indian Tiffin Room is a restaurant specialising in Indian street food, with branches in Cheadle and Manchester. This is the information for the Manchester venue.

The Ritz Manchester live music venue
Manchester
Music venue
The Ritz

The Ritz was originally a dance hall, built in 1928, has hosted The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and The Smiths and is still going strong as a gig venue now.

Homeground
Manchester
Event venue
Homeground

Homeground is HOME’s brand new outdoor venue, providing an open-air space for theatre, food, film, music, comedy and more.

Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Burgess Cafe Bar
at IABF

Small but perfectly-formed café – which also serves as the in-house bookstore, stocking all manner of Burgess-related works, along with recordings of his music. It’s a welcoming space, with huge glass windows making for a bright, welcoming atmosphere.

Rain Bar pub in Manchester
City Centre
Bar or Pub
Rain Bar

This huge three-floor pub, formerly a Victorian warehouse, then an umbrella factory (hence the name), has one of the city centre’s largest beer gardens. The two-tier terrace overlooks the Rochdale canal and what used to be the back of the Hacienda, providing an unusual, historic view of the city.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
The Briton’s Protection

Standing on the corner of a junction opposite The Bridgewater Hall, The Briton’s Protection is Manchester’s oldest pub. It has occupied the same spot since 1795, going under the equally

Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
Castlefield
Gallery
Castlefield Gallery

The influential Castlefield Gallery sits at the edge of Manchester’s exciting Castlefield district, an ideal home for thought-provoking contemporary art.

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Film still
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Faust: A German Folk Legend at RNCM

F. W. Murnau’s silent-era masterpiece Faust: A German Folk Legend gets the big screen treatment at the RNCM, with a live improvised organ score.

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