CINECITY Brighton 2026: tickets, films and venue travel
CINECITY, the Brighton Film Festival, runs from November 6 to 15, 2026. The programme is on sale directly through the venues. Start with the film you want, check its cinema and book that screening before arranging travel: the festival reaches beyond central Brighton to Falmer and Lewes.
The October 9 programme announcement makes this a useful moment to plan a November visit. Opening film *I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning* and closing film *Elsinore* bookend a programme that also includes documentaries, animation, workshops and live music with silent cinema.
This CINECITY Brighton 2026 visitor guide is for choosing a manageable day or weekend rather than trying to see everything. All times below are local. A screening's advertised start, its doors time and the end of an accompanying discussion are different things.
Book through the venue, not a single festival checkout
Use the current festival listings to find a film, then follow its booking link. Check the date and venue again on the payment page. Duke of York's and Duke's at Komedia are different cinemas, even though both are Picturehouse venues in Brighton.
Save each confirmation with the film title, start time and address. If you are meeting someone, send the venue as well as the title; a second showing may be somewhere else.
Do not assume a general cinema membership, voucher or discount applies to every festival event. Picturehouse's Duke of York's information says prices vary by film and time, special-event pricing can apply, and non-member online or telephone bookings incur a per-ticket fee. Compare the final checkout total rather than an old brochure or a regular Monday offer.
If a screening is unavailable, check another listed performance or ask that venue about returns. Do not apply the London Film Festival's ticket-release times or standby process to CINECITY.
The festival pass has limits and was listed as sold out
The official 2026 festival-pass listing was marked sold out when checked on October 16. That status concerns the pass, not every individual screening.
Its published terms say passholders request individual screening tickets by emailing the festival and collect them from a volunteer. Holding a pass is therefore not the same as having a confirmed seat for each chosen film.
The listing excludes the partner events Draw to Film, Melting Vinyl's Phantom of the Opera and Brighton Screendance. Budget for a separate booking if one of those is the reason for your trip. Recheck the live terms and availability rather than buying travel around an assumed pass allocation.
Choose a few films before building the journey
These entries from the 2026 programme diary show how the festival spreads across dates and venues:
| Screening | Date and start | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, opening night | November 6, 18:00 | Duke of York's |
| The Archivist, with Q&A | November 7, 14:00 | Depot, Lewes |
| All of a Sudden | November 8, 11:00 | Duke of York's |
| I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, repeat | November 11, 18:30 | Attenborough Centre, Falmer |
| A Long Winter, with live broadcast Q&A | November 15, 17:30 | Duke of York's |
| Elsinore, closing night | November 15, 21:00 | Duke of York's |
The opening film's own page describes Clio Barnard's Birmingham-set drama about a group of friends. The Falmer repeat gives you another date and location if opening night does not suit your journey. It is not a second opening gala.
*Elsinore* stars Andrew Scott as actor Ian Charleson. A recognizable name in the cast does not mean that actor will attend the Brighton screening. For any guest appearance, rely on an explicit event announcement.
Leave time after a Q&A rather than calculating your next booking from the film's runtime alone. For *A Long Winter*, the programme specifies a live broadcast discussion; do not mistake that for a promise that the filmmaker will be in the Brighton auditorium.
Hear a new live score at Fabrica on November 13
The Fabrica Phantom of the Opera event pairs the 1925 silent film with music written and performed by Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman. This is a different experience from an ordinary film screening, and it needs its own ticket.
Fabrica lists doors and bar at 21:00, with the performance starting at 21:30 on Friday, November 13. Its event page says over-18s only, and lists advance admission at GBP 17.60 including the booking fee, or GBP 20 on the door. Prices were checked on October 16; door pricing does not guarantee tickets will remain.
Use the venue's admission condition when deciding who can attend. A film's historic certificate does not override an event's age restriction.
Arrange your return before booking a late show, especially if you are staying outside Brighton. Ask the venue for the expected finish and check the last usable service for your actual destination. A train arriving from London is not evidence of a train going home in the opposite direction.
The family workshop starts before the film
Fabrica's Maya, Give Me a Title family session on Saturday, November 14 has a more useful timetable than a single diary entry:
- Doors open at 13:45.
- The paper-cut animation workshop runs 14:00-14:45.
- The film runs 15:00-16:15.
Children make characters with artist Esther Marshall before watching Michel Gondry's animation. The film is U-rated, in French with English subtitles. Consider whether reading subtitles suits your child; a certificate alone does not answer that question.
The venue lists GBP 7.50, GBP 5.50 and pay-what-you-can ticket options. Check the appropriate option and booking conditions for everyone attending. Do not arrive at 15:00 expecting to join the earlier workshop.
Fabrica recommends Stop Motion Factory for iOS or PicPac Stop Motion and Timelapse for Android for the activity. Check the relevant store and install any app you intend to use before arriving. Choose this specific session if it fits, then allow time for food and a slower afternoon.
For broader holiday ideas, see our United Kingdom with kids guide.
Group venues before booking back-to-back screenings
The festival's venue directory is a starting point, but the address on each ticket should determine your route.
| Area | Venue | Planning decision |
|---|---|---|
| Preston Circus, Brighton | Duke of York's | Plan the walk or bus to this cinema, not to Komedia |
| Gardner Street, Brighton | Duke's at Komedia | Check the cinema entrance and screen, not just the wider Komedia venue |
| Duke Street, Brighton | Fabrica | Check doors, seating and event-specific conditions |
| University of Sussex, Falmer | Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts | Allow for the train or bus plus the campus approach |
| Pinwell Road, Lewes | Depot | Treat it as a separate town visit, not a short central-Brighton walk |
For an opening-night visit, book the November 6 film and keep the rest of the evening flexible. For a central-Brighton day, choose one main screening and add another only after allowing for its full duration, food and the transfer. If the timetable feels rushed before you leave home, dropping a film is usually the better decision.
A Depot screening can be the reason for a Lewes afternoon. Depot confirms it is next to Lewes railway station. Check both directions of the train journey and leave time to reach the platform after the screening and any discussion.
At Falmer, the Attenborough Centre's journey page puts the venue about five minutes on foot from the station and lists buses 25 and 25X from central Brighton. Use its campus directions, then check date-specific services with the operator. Its general journey page is not a confirmed November festival-night timetable.
Check access and classification for your chosen event
The festival's Duke of York's venue information distinguishes level access to the main foyer and auditorium from the upstairs balcony and bar, which involve stairs. Ask about the seating you are booking rather than treating access to the building as access to every area.
For Komedia, use the cinema-specific venue details. The cinema screens are upstairs, with lift access described through a corridor into Komedia. Confirm the route, wheelchair space and companion arrangement with the cinema before purchase. Advice about a comedy show elsewhere in the building may not describe your screen.
The programme says uncertified films with no certificate listed admit only people aged 18 or over, subject to the venue's latest classification information. Do not take a child to an unclassified title on the assumption that it is unrestricted. Check the current certificate and any separate venue age rule.
Ask specifically about captions, audio description, hearing support or a relaxed screening if you need them. English subtitles for a foreign-language film are not necessarily captions for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. A general venue access provision also does not prove that every festival film has the same support.
Save tickets and return routes before leaving your accommodation
Keep your confirmations, venue addresses and a simple offline map available on your phone. Check the actual train or bus departure before leaving for an evening screening, and again before the show if services have changed. Bring a charged battery and a waterproof layer for the walks between buildings.
For an overseas visitor without suitable included UK roaming, OpenSim United Kingdom plans give you a defined data allowance for retrieving a confirmation, checking a platform change and messaging your group away from accommodation Wi-Fi. The public catalog on October 16 listed 5 GB for 30 days at USD 4.76, with top-up available for that plan. Check the selected package and price before buying.
That is useful for a short festival visit within a longer UK trip, without needing to wait until you find public Wi-Fi to check a changed journey. If your home plan already includes enough UK data, keeping it may be simpler. Mobile data does not reserve a cinema seat or guarantee reception inside an auditorium.
Use the travel data calculator, check phone compatibility and read when to install an eSIM before travel. Put the phone away during the screening.
Sources and updates before CINECITY
OpenSim editorial team checked the linked 2026 festival programme, venue guidance, booking conditions and public product catalog on October 16, 2026. Venue checkout pages control current availability and final prices.
Recheck this guide before November 6 and when the organizers change a screening, guest appearance, age condition or transport arrangement. After November 15, retain it as coverage of the 2026 edition rather than current booking advice.
*Archive photograph: Hassocks5489, December 9, 2006, via Wikimedia Commons, released by the photographer into the public domain. Cropped and compressed. It shows the Duke of York's building, not the 2026 festival.*
