IFI NOTICE: Due to unforeseen circumstances as was previously published, Dame Judi Dench will not be joining Steve Coogan at the IFI’s Gala Screening of Philomena. Dame Judi is recovering from a knee operation and is under doctor’s orders not to travel any distance. She sends her sincere apologies.

There will be a post-screening Q&A with Steve Coogan.

Winner of the Best Screenplay award at the Venice Film Festival, the IFI, in association with Pathé and Twentieth Century Fox, is delighted to welcome Dame Judi Dench and Steve Coogan to present a special screening of Philomena. Based on the experiences of journalist Martin Sixsmith and Philomena Lee, Dench plays the elderly Irishwoman desperate to trace the son taken from her and sold into adoption by Catholic nuns.

Dench is as excellent as ever, and Steve Coogan, who co-wrote the script, proves equally impressive in a role that illustrates what a versatile actor he has become. (Notes by Kevin Coyne.)