This film screened 25th September 2016.

In back-to-school month, the weekly spelling test doesn’t have many positive connotations. Yet this film, featuring a young black girl in a disadvantaged South Los Angeles school, places the National Spelling Bee as something that will help her rise up from the negativity that’s around her. Angela Bassett is the unsupportive mother who has plenty of other stuff on her plate. Help comes from the school principal who links Akeelah up with haughty professor Laurence Fishburne. Together they make a formidable team and prepare for victory. Undoubtedly clichéd in places, nevertheless, there are enough heart-warming moments to make this worth a look. (Notes by Alicia McGivern.).

Tickets: €4.80 per person, €14.40 family ticket (2 adults + 2 children, 1 adult + 3 children).