Saturday 30 January 2016

Trailers

Can't decide what to see at the festival, here are trailers for most of the films:



Tuesday 19 January 2016

Special Festival deals for Accommodation and Car Parking

We are pleased to announce that the Lake District Hotels Group is offering a tremendous deal with special rates for Festival goers in its various establishments in and around Keswick, including the Inn on the Square, The Skiddaw, The Kings Arms, The Lodore and The Borrowdale. Festival goers booking via this link will also be eligible for discounts on Festival Passes and individual tickets.

Use this special link to book your accommodation – rooms are allocated on a 'best available' basis.

Allerdale Borough Council has also offered a special deal on car parking passes for the weekend of the Festival. Passes costing £5 will be available to purchase at the Alhambra and the Theatre by the Lake and will be valid from Friday 26th to Sunday 28th February.

Thanks to both partners, Lake District Hotels Group and Allerdale Borough Council – Keswick is Open for Business!


Saturday 9 January 2016

Crossing Continents

For a fully immersive experience at the festival, how about trying our world tour?

Your tour starts on Friday with The Wonders, a delightful Italian film where the routine of a rural family is disrupted by two intruders. Fly west in the afternoon, to Brazil for The Second Mother, concerning the tensions faced by a housekeeper as her family interacts with that of her employers.

East again to France for Polisse, a gripping police procedural and your day is complete with Life in a Fishbowl, an Icelandic film about the inter-connected tales of 3 people as the banking crash looms.

Saturday starts in India with the lunchtime showing of Court, a drama that highlights the absurdities of the judicial system. A choice in the afternoon. Whether to go to Scotland, for the documentary The Closer We Get, described as 'an astonishing story of broken dreams, loyalty and perhaps redemption' from the Memory strand  or to Japan for Still the Water, a coming of age drama on a subtropical island. Stay in the far east in the evening for The Assassin, a visually stunning martial arts drama set in China and then as a seasoned traveller, you will have built up your endurance for one last film. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night from Iran is our late night frightener.

Sunday morning. Stay in Iran for the first leg of a Tom Allen double bill - Karun, charts his journey along that river and the cultural and physical challenges he faces. That's followed by The Last Explorers on the Rio Santa Cruz, his trip along a river under threat from dambuilding in Patagonia. You can swap travellers' tales with Tom after the film at his Q&A.

After Dukhtar from Pakistan there will be just time to catch The Wolfpack, the amazing New York story of 7 siblings hidden from society and who know the world outside only through film. And what better way to finish, than seeing patron Sir John Hurt in AKA Nadia from Israel, where a woman’s hidden past come back to haunt her?

3 days, 13 countries, 14 films, zero carbon footprint, what better way to travel?

Programme Nearly Ready

The programme is almost complete and it's looking great. Not as gloomy as sometimes – we are opening and closing with films with our patron and favourite guest in – who we hope will be here. Chick Lit as the opener and A.K.A.Nadia to close. I have persuaded David to include one of my favourite films of the year The Wolfpack, a documentary I found fascinating. There's lots more listed on the website where you can also find trailers and there'll be more details on all the films coming soon.

We are also welcoming Simon Hughes who  has been in the film industry for over 10 years and has worked as visual effects supervisor on films as diverse as Suffragette, Black Sea and The Theory of Everything. With clips of film and his experience he will take us into the world where what you see is no longer what is real.
Ann Martin, Festival Director