WITH its summer shutdown period nearly over, the Alban Arena is showing four films before the end of the month. The first is Woody Allen s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, winner of the Golden Globe for Best Picture – Musical/Comedy. Featuring much-praised perfo

WITH its summer shutdown period nearly over, the Alban Arena is showing four films before the end of the month.

The first is Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, winner of the Golden Globe for Best Picture - Musical/Comedy.

Featuring much-praised performances by Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall, it looks at love and relationships.

Two young American women Vicky (Hall) and Cristina (Johansson) go to Barcelona for a summer holiday where they are drawn into a series of unconventional romantic entanglements with Juan Antonio (Bardem).

But the charismatic painter is still involved with his tempestuous ex-wife Marie Elena (Cruz).

Vicky Cristina Barcelona can be seen at 1pm and 7.30pm next Tuesday, August 25, and at 1.30pm and 7.30pm next Wednesday, August 26.

An animated adaptation of Neil Gaiman's international best-seller Coraline can be seen at the Arena at 1.30pm on the following two days, Thursday, August 27, and Friday, August 28.

It finds a young girl walking through a secret door and discovering a parallel reality that is eerily similar to the life she already knows yet deeply unsettling in a number of ways.

Coraline Jones, aged 11, is probably too adventurous for her own good and she and her parents have recently relocated to Oregon. Bored in her new home, she passes the time by exploring her new neighbourhood with an annoying local boy and paying a visit to her eccentric English neighbours.

But shortly afterwards she discovers a hidden door in her new house and when she ventures into the eerie passageway inside, she emerges into an alternate version of her own reality.

On the same two evenings, the Arena is showing Knowing at 7.30pm, an action-packed thriller about a professor who stumbles on terrifying predictions about the future and sets out to prevent them being realised.

Star Trek gets an airing at both 1.30pm and 7.30pm next Saturday, August 29, in a film which looks at the young crew's maiden voyage on board the USS Enterprise.

The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals born worlds apart - James Tiberius Kirk, played by Chris Pine and Spock (Zachary Qunito), the first of his kind to be accepted into the Starfleet Academy.

In the midst of it all, the two men come face to face with destiny and have to forge an unlikely but powerful partnership.

Tickets for all evening performances are �6 with concessions �2 off and for matinees �4 which includes tea and biscuits before each screening, available from the box office on 01727 844488.

l Diva Jane McDonald has signed up to appear at the Alban Arena next year and tickets are on sale already.

The star of the BBC documentary The Cruise more than 10 years ago is appearing on Friday, March 5, and tickets at �28.50 and �26.50 are available from the box office on the number above or go to www.alban-arena.co.uk