The Ultimate Picture Palace, Jeune Street, Oxford, OX4 1BN
Tickets
£16 adult / £15 concessions
Age Rating
Cert18+TBC
Performances
6.15pm
Join us for a special preview screening of Fire of Wind, the debut feature film from director Marta Mateus that premiered last year at the Locarno Film Festival.
Written and directed by Marta Mateus, Fire of Wind is a lyrical meditation on memory, resistance, and rural life, blending myth and history through the voices of a close-knit community. The film was nominated for Best Film at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival.
Fire of Wind (2024: 74 minutes) Portuguese: Fogo de Vento. Language: Portuguese with English subtitles.
On their way home from harvesting grapes, a group of workers cross paths with a dangerous runaway bull. Forced to take refuge in the trees of the vineyard, they wait through the night, sharing stories and memories as darkness falls. Their words carry the weight of history, evoking the lasting trauma of António de Oliveira Salazar’s dictatorship and the turmoil that followed. Nominated for Best Film at the Locarno International Film Festival, Portuguese filmmaker Marta Mateus’ striking feature debut is a poetic and symbol-rich meditation on memory, resistance, and collective experience.
Exclusive In Conversation and Q&A with Marta Mateus
We invite you to a special in conversation with Marta Mateus following the screening.
About Film in Focus
The Film in Focus series, presented by the Cultural Programme at Oxford University in partnership with the Ultimate Picture Palace and curated with Dr C.W. Winter, who has brought together this extraordinary partnership and conversation.
The Film in Focus series will showcase some of the finest art house films from last year’s Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Locarno film festivals. Many screenings will feature post-film Q&As with the filmmakers, offering audiences a unique and exciting opportunity to engage with the artists behind the works. The series connects the Cultural Programme at Oxford University with new audiences and partners as the programme prepares for its new home in the Schwarzman Centre in 2025.
The Ultimate Picture Palace, Jeune Street, Oxford, OX4 1BN
Based just off Cowley Road, the Ultimate Picture Palace is easy to find. There is no off street parking, so we recommend a car free visit if possible. However, there are two blue badge disabled parking spaces directly opposite the cinema. The number 1 and 5 bus from Oxford city centre stop right outside and there are numerous bike parks very close by.
We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts.
We don’t show adverts, just a couple of trailers, so don’t be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!
Our Grade II listed building has its challenges when it comes to accessibility, but we have put measures in place to ensure that we are an inclusive place for everyone.
Is the cinema auditorium accessible to wheelchair users?
Yes. The auditorium and box office is on street level. Book tickets as normal through the website and then email us on info@uppcinema.com to let us know that you require a wheelchair space and if you need to reserve a seat for a personal assistant.
Do you have accessible toilets?
We don’t have currently accessible toilets on site. The toilets in our listed building are below the screen down a few steps. However, if you do need to use an accessible toilet during your visit, please speak to a member of staff and they will let you into an accessible toilet in the church just opposite the cinema.
Do you show films with hard-of-hearing subtitles?
We always try to show at least one or two screenings per week with deaf/HOH subtitles. Please consult the listings for more info.
Marta Mateus (born 1984 in Estremoz, Portugal) is a Portuguese filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer acclaimed for her poetic and politically resonant cinema.
Raised in the Alentejo region, Mateus’s early life in a rural setting without electricity deeply influenced her artistic vision, fostering a profound connection to oral traditions and community narratives.
Marta Mateus’ multidisciplinary background spans philosophy, drawing and photography, music, and theatre.
Her debut short film, Farpões Baldios (2017), premiered at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes in Cannes, screened at numerous international festivals, and won the Grand Prize at both Vila do Conde and Hiroshima.
C.W. Winter was born in Newport Beach, California. He is a film director and writer. His previous film, The Works and Days, co-directed with Anders Edström, won the Encounters Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival and won Best Independent Film of the Year from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. His first film, The Anchorage, won a Best Film Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. He will curate ideas from his forthcoming book Underdetermined: A Partial History of Low Virtuosity into a travelling museum show beginning at MUDAM (Luxembourg) in 2027. He completed his DPhil in Art Practice & Theory at The Ruskin School of Art and Wolfson College, Oxford. He is currently the William Golding Junior Research Fellow in the Arts at Brasenose College, Oxford.
