Harimaya Bridge

We were all really disappointed that technical problems prevented us from fully showing Harimaya Bridge at the 12th Keswick Film Festival. You'll be pleased to know that it will be showing at The Alhambra on Sunday to finish off the current Keswick Film Club season of films.  

It will be a free screening to introduce people to the film club, so do come along and bring your friends. After the recent disaster in Japan, there will also be voluntary collection towards a Shelter Box.

Osprey Short Film Awards Winners

It was great to see such a large turnout for the Osprey Short Film Awards. Many congratulations to everybody who entered and a big thank you to Jack Gold and Carl Hunter for their inspiring words.

The winners are as follows:

Under 18s

Gold: Coast Of Soap Ships by Signal Films
Silver: The Solway Spaceman by Activity Films
Bronze: A Frosty Reception by Moonbeam Media

Open Category

Gold: Stuck by Ola Omotoso
Silver: The Deer by Ross Cunningham
Bronze: Endangered Species: Fell Pony Breeders by Dreamtime Films

We're really sorry that we couldn't get any of the Fell Pony Breeder films to show at the cinema but you can now view the film on our website and the rest of the series on Dreamtime Film's Vimeo page.

Most of the other shortlisted films are also available online, see our page on the website for full details.

Extra Screening: Whisper With The Wind - 1:30pm Alhambra

There will be another screening of Whisper With The Wind on Sunday at 1:30pm in the Alhambra

Extra Screening: The Gleaners and I - Sat 9pm

Due to popular demand there will be an extra screening of The Gleaners and I on Saturday at 9pm in the Studio.

Are You Ready?

We're busy making the final preparations for the Festival and opening party tonight. How about you? Have you decided what to see yet? I thought it was worth pointing out some of the more special events:

• Q&A with Kay Mellor at A Passionate Woman, the opening film tonight at 7:30pm
• The Osprey Short Film Awards in the Alhambra Saturday 11am
• Jack Gold with a Q&A at Red Monarch in the Alhambra on Saturday at 1.15pm
• Eric Robson will be hosting a discussion after the Into Eternity at 3:30pm in the Theatre on Saturday.
• "The hottest ticket may well be for Frankenstein Sings" says EmpireOnline as Lancaster Millennium Choir accompany a 25-minute abbreviation  of James Whale's 1931 classic on Saturday at 6pm
• Craig McCall is introducing his own film at 1.30pm on Sunday in the Studio, and introducing Black Narcissus later in the day in the Theatre.

We're also hoping to update this blog and tweeting (@keswickfilmfest) throughout the festival using the hashtag  #kff12 

Whatever you see we hope you have a fantastic time.

Osprey Short Film Awards

By now you probably already know all about the great films on offer at the Festival so I'd like to draw your attention to the Osprey Show Film Awards. Every year we ask Cumbrian film makers to submit short films to show at the festival and we award prizes to the best.


Once again the quality of entries has been incredibly high and the judges have a really difficult job of creating a shortlist, let alone decide on winners. There's a great selection of drama, comedy, horror and documentary in the final selection which will be screened at The Alhambra on Saturday 12th at 11am. It's a free event so it would be great to see a large turnout supporting local film makers, many of whom will be attendance.


Click for full details of the short-listed films

Party News

Keswick Brewing Company is providing beer for the party on Thursday evening. Pass holders and invited guests will be able to have a glass of their beer with their party food.

Why not book a tour of the brewery and find out how their delicious beer is made?

Empire Online

Of course we think David and his friends have chosen some fantastic films but so do others. Read this to help you decide what to see http://www.empireonline.com/festivalsandseasons/

The Square Orange

How could we have failed to put The Square Orange on the map in our brochure. I'm so sorry James, maybe it's because I assume EVERYONE knows you're just down the road from the cinema, have those fantasic pizzas and tapas, great music on a Wednesday night, lovely atmosphere and great selection of wines, beer, teas, coffees and soft drinks.
And we've seen you sprucing it up this week ready for the Film Festival, a new coat of paint, scrubbed floor. our poster in your window - all ready to go!
http://www.thesquareorange.co.uk/

Film Time Changes

Sorry but we've had to change the times of some films
We have had to move A Screaming Man from Friday in the Studio at 19.30 to the Alhambra at 16.00 hours. We have had to swap it with The Gleaners and I which moves to The Studio at 19.30.
We may put on another showing of A Screaming Man on Sunday if there are a lot of people who have missed it because of the change.
If you pick up a brochure or a leaflet with the film times on remember these will be incorrect because of this change

What to see at the Festival?

Have you decided what to see at the Festival. I'm finding the timeline in the brochure really handy to plot my route through the films. I find I go for the foreign films so there's some hard choices for me on Saturday and Sunday - will it be Jerusalema from South Africa or Tehroun from Iran; will it be The Harimaya Bridge - UK premier from Japan or The Temptation of St Tony from Estonia. I like getting an insight into other countries' culture - but how realistic is it? If you were in Estonia and saw Trainspotting and A Passionate Woman would it give you a real insight into UK culture I wonder. Maybe this will be the sort of discussions going on in The Hub in the Theatre this year......

Free workshop

Did you know we've been offered a free workshop for people aged 19 - 25. It's happening on the Saturday morning for 4 hours at the Theatre by the Lake, run by 104 Films from Sheffield and a guest director. And guess who the guest director will be - it's our friend Sol from Hurricane Films who brought Under the Mud to Keswick and then got great acclaim working with Terence Davies. He and Roy came and introduced that film at Keswick too.

There's 15 places available and anyone wanting to attend should get in touch with kirsty@104films.com

Brochure Online

The brochure for the 12th Keswick Film Festival is now available for download on the webiste.

Wittertainment's Code Of Conduct

At this years Festival we'll be expecting all of our audience to follow Radio 5 Live's Wittertainment's Code Of Conduct.