Festival Fringe - Saturday 11th February

Keswick Film Festival kicks off with its own fringe event on Saturday 11th February with a special programme of 4 films at The Alhambra.

Designed as a community event, admission to each film will cost just one penny.
Why the entry fee of one penny? Well Keswick Film Festival is asking "A Penny for Your Thoughts" - the final 3 films that day have been chosen by top film critics Matt Glasby, Karen Krizanovich and Ali Catterall as their favourite films of all time. Their video introductions are on the website and by writing a short review, you could win tickets for a screening the following weekend.

Details of the competition are on the website.

KFF has always tried to put on a film for family audiences and this year it will be at the Fringe:

11.00am Kubo and the Two Strings, an animation that is getting rave reviews, with the voice of Kubo played by Art Parkinson – Rickon Stark in Game of Thrones.

Followed by our critics' choices:

2.00pm – Airplane! Non-stop gags and dubious taste in Karen Krizanovich's choice. Roger, Roger. Do we have clearance, Clarence?

4.00pm - If.... Matt Glasby has chosen this classic film set in a British public school, with Malcolm McDowell in his first big screen role – compare and contrast with The Browning Version at the Festival.

6.15 – Theatre of Blood Ali Catterall has chosen this comedy horror about murder in the Critics' Circle, starring Vincent Price, Diana Rigg and just about every other British actor from the 1970s that you could name

This is binge cinema at its best, nostalgia and a lot of laughs and we hope, in great company. To add to the experience and to keep you going throughout the afternoon, our friends at Woodstone Pizza will have slices sizzling hot and ready in the breaks in between films – just order in the foyer.

Greta Scacchi Comes To Keswick

We are thrilled to announce that Greta Scacchi will be our principal guest at the next February’s Keswick Film Festival!

Familiar to us all from the 2016 adaptation of War and Peace and fresh from the West End stage, where she appeared in The Kenneth Branagh Company's The Entertainer, Miss Scacchi will be presenting three of her most iconic films at the Festival - The Browning Version, from Carlisle born director Mike Figgis; White Mischief, the marvellous ensemble piece in which she co starred with Charles Dance and Joss Ackland and; Robert Altman’s The Player, surely one of the best films about Hollywood ever made.

She last appeared on screen at Keswick Film Festival in Ways to Live Forever, in 2012. That film and Alex Etel's appearance at the Alhambra were stand out moments from KFF's recent history.

Miss Scacchi's early appearances were opposite such greats as Laurence Olivier (The Ebony Tower) and James Mason (Doctor Fischer of Geneva) and she began her film career under the guidance of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory. Add Harrison Ford, Robert Altman and Gabriel Byrne to the mix and the opportunity to hear more about her career will be one of the highlights of the Festival.

Critical Acclaim

Our films for the new Critics' Award have been announced and they genuinely represent the quality and diversity of film making over the last year. Matt Glasby has selected Son of Saul, the rightful winner of the Academy Award in 2016; Karen Krizanovich has chosen Arrival which featured heavily in the best films of 2016 listings and Ali Catterall has gone for Raw which also made it on to those lists on the basis of a few previews and festival screenings.

If you have been lucky enough to catch one of these films or are looking forward to seeing them, join the conversation on Twitter using #KeswickFilm, Facebook or the film pages here on the website – the Critics' Award is all about your opinions.