POP UP CINEMA BRIGHTON

ROBOT DREAMS

DIRECTOR: Pablo Berger​

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STARRING: N/A

With a thoroughly deserved 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, Pablo Berger's Oscar-nominated Robot Dreams is, without a doubt, one of the most tender and touching films in recent memory. Unlike any animated film you've ever seen, its beautifully crafted, pop-coloured world and deceptively simple storytelling unfold into a masterful, gorgeously wistful tale of love, friendship, loss, and hope — one we truly can't recommend enough for big screen viewing.

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Set in 1980s Manhattan, the story follows Dog, a solitary figure navigating life in the big city. One day, after seeing a television advert, he orders and assembles a robotic companion. What follows is the blossoming of a beautiful friendship, as Dog introduces Robot to the wonders of New York. They become inseparable — until one fateful summer evening, a malfunction forces Dog to make an impossible decision. Will they ever find their way back to each other?

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This bittersweet tragi-comedy is an ode to loneliness and the quiet resilience needed to overcome it. It's a poetic meditation on connection, memory, and hope. Eschewing the usual tropes of exploring 'evil AI' or ironic humour that plague so many animated features, Robot Dreams offers instead a profoundly human story — one that earns its place among the most affecting pieces of cinema ever made.

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At once achingly melancholic and radiantly hopeful, it's a film that will stay with you long after the credits roll — and you'll never hear Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” the same way again.