MOVIES take over the Alban Arena next week with an International Film Week running for four days.

The film week begins at 7.30pm next Tuesday with Outside the Law (Hors-La-Loi) in French and Arabic which tells the story of three brothers who, after losing their family home in Algeria, are scattered across the globe.

One joins the French army fighting in Indo-china, the second becomes a leader of the Algerian Independence Movement and the third moves to Paris to make his fortune in the shady clubs and boxing halls of Pigalle.

Gradually their interconnecting destinies reunite them in the French capital where freedom is a battle to be fought and won.

The Concert (Le Concert), the story of Andrei Filipov, once the conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra until he was fired, is next Wednesday’s film.

Working as a janitor after his dismissal and drinking too much, he masterminds a plan to gather his own Bolshoi in place of the real orchestra when he intercepts an invitation for them to perform in Paris. With a motley bunch of former musicians at his side, Andrei sets off for Paris to fulfil his destiny and return to his glory as a great conductor – along the way reuniting with a young and beautiful violin virtuoso who holds the key to his past and future.

In French and Russian, The Concert can be seen at 1.30pm and 7.30pm.

Of Gods and Men (Des Hommes et des Dieux) is the French and Arabic film next Thursday at 7.30pm.

Eight French Christian monks live in harmony with their Muslim brothers in a monastery perched in the mountains of North Africa in the 1990s.

When a crew of foreign workers is massacred by an Islamic fundamentalist group, fear sweeps through the region. The army offers them protection which the monks refuse. Despite the growing menace in their midst, they slowly realise they have no choice but to stay.

The film festival concludes with Biutiful, a Spanish film, at 7.30pm next Friday, July 8.

The story of a man in free fall, Uxbal, played by Javier Bardem, is on the road to redemption with darkness lighting his way. A tragic hero and father of two who senses the danger of death, he struggles with a tainted reality and a fate that works against him.

Tickets for the evening showings are �6 with concessions �2 off and for the matinee �4, available from the box office on 01727 844488 or go online at www.alban-arena.co.uk

n Rango, a sheltered chameleon living as an ordinary family pet while facing a major identity crisis, is being shown at 11am at the Arena next Saturday, July 9.

When Rango, voiced by Johnny Depp, accidentally winds up in the gritty, gun-slinging town of Dirt, the less-than-courageous lizard suddenly finds he stands out.

Tickets are �4.