Osprey Short Film Award Winners

Around 100 people turned up to the Osprey Short Film Awards on Saturday afternoon at the Theatre By The Lake. The 10 shortlisted films were screened along with two new short films from director Carl Hunter.

The judges prize was awarded to MIDAIR by Louis-Jack, a bouldering film featuring some of the UK's strongest climbers in iconic Lake District locations, set to a pumping techno soundtrack.

The audience selected RAMBLER MAN directed by Angus Imrie for the Audience Award. Written, produced and starring cumbrian native Ewan Pollitt who collected the award. The film, also starring Tim Bentinck (best known for his long-running role on the radio as David Archer) explores mental health, masculinity and our emotional connections with the great outdoors.

We're Back

Keswick Film Festival returns after more than two years away.

Our opening film Ali & Ava will be preceded at 6.30 with a glass of wine and some Asian canapes, courtesy of Cockermouth’s Toral’s Kitchen. Its going to be a great way to open the Festival and tickets are still available.

We go through until Sunday night at 8.30pm in the Alhambra with the possible Oscar winner 'The Worst Person in the World'  from Norway. Along the way you have the chance to see films from all round the World, including 'Drive My Car' from Japan, 'Petite Maman' from France, 'Olga' from Ukraine, 'Parallel Mothers' from Spain and 'Flee' from Denmark. There are films at the Alhambra, at the Theatre by the Lake and at Rheged. There are the Osprey Awards for local filmmakers, and we even have a Young Programmers Fringe Festival this year in Screen 2 at the Alhambra.

For full details go to Festival programme where you can also book your tickets or even buy a pass to the whole festival. Don't miss out - it is going to be a great weekend! 

Covid Information

We are not running the festival with social distancing but it makes sense to be as careful as possible to stay safe as Covid is still around. 

With that in mind:-

During the Festival we would ask that people take a test before attending, to continue to wear masks and leave a reasonable distance between themselves and others in the auditorium – we are not expecting the majority of screenings to be full to capacity.

Venues will be fully aired between screenings.

We will offer a refund to anyone who cannot attend after testing positive up to 48 hours before you are due to come. This may take some time to process. If anyone feels that they can forego a refund to assist with the sustainability of the Festival that would be hugely appreciated – we are a small arts charity and the Festival is largely self-funded.

Young Programmers' Festival Fringe

The Alhambra's Young Programmers are curating a Festival Fringe in the Alhambra's Screen 2. Here's Cameron, one of the head programmers at the Alhambra Cinematic Society at Keswick School to introduce their selection.

We have chosen three films to show during the weekend, all of which are from a different director and have their own unique and wonderful art style and themes:

Saturday 26th March 11.00am - Alhambra

Moulin Rouge - the flamboyant, glitzy and provocative art style of this upbeat and interestingly plotted film will keep you enthralled for the whole of its runtime, with superb performances from Ewan McGregor, Nicole Kidman and Jim Broadbent.

Book Tickets

 

Saturday 26th March 2.00pm - Alhambra

Following directed by Christopher Nolan - this surreal experience was One of Nolan’s first ever works and is very niche in its noir art style, it will surely be a unique visual engagement during the festival.

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Saturday 26th March 6.00pm - Alhambra

The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson - this epic film will have you on tenterhooks from the very beginning: an art theft, murder and a coming of age story rolled into one occurring in the background of Wes Anderson’s beautifully intricate cinematography where every little detail is accounted for. This will be a fantastic journey and a thrilling viewing experience accompanied by the classical and contemporary musical score of Alexander Desplat.

Book Tickets 

 

We hope you enjoy and appreciate the art style of these three superbly unique films from three different directors whether it’s Anderson, Luhrmann or Nolan.

Have a fantastic time!

 

Tickets can be booked via the Alhambra website, free entry for Festival pass holders.

More Short Films For Saturday

On Saturday 26th March, in association with the Osprey Short Film Awards, long-time friend of the festival Carl Hunter (Sometimes Always Never, Grow Your Own) will be showing two of his short films. In More Than Time he documents the streets of Liverpool as they have never been seen before. During lockdown, anonymous messages about 'missing and memory'; were left on an answer machine. These ghostly messages float above still photographs of an empty Liverpool. The film is a place where memory populates the streets of a once vibrant city, instead of its people. 

He will also be screening Still Rings a poetic reflection to the second lockdown in the COVID pandemic, in the company of award winning poet Jacqueline Saphra. Carl took a photograph from the same place on Crosby beach every day and Jacqueline wrote a poem every day. Words and pictures take us on a journey where sound is used to reimagine memory, creating sonic ghosts that serve to help us remember what we were missing.

Shuttle Bus to Rheged

With support from Film Hub North and the BFI Film Audience Network, we are able to run a free shuttle bus between Keswick and Rheged on the Sunday of the Festival, 27^th March, for those of you wanting to see The Souvenir Part ll, Master Cheng or Flee.

Buses will arrive at Rheged in time for the start of each film and the return journey will be in time for the next film at the Alhambra. Having said that, the bus will need to leave Rheged very promptly after the end of the films.

If you are interested, please contact festival@keswickfilmclub.org

Booking is essential as there are only 21 seats and we can't end up with 22 people at Rheged after Flee! 

Olga - UK Cinemas in Support of Ukraine

Having withdrawn Petrov’s Flu from the Festival programme, we are pleased to announce that it will be replaced by the Ukrainian film, Olga. 

The Festival is joining up with cinemas across the country under the banner of ‘UK Cinemas in support of Ukraine’ for a charity screening of Olga, raising funds to support the work of the Red Cross and Unicef. 

Set in 2013 the film is the story of the eponymous Olga, a talented and passionate 15-year-old Ukrainian gymnast, trying to make her place at the National Sports Centre in Switzerland. But the revolt of Euromaïdan breaks out in Kyiv, suddenly involving her relatives. While the young girl has to adapt to her new country and prepare for the European Championships, the Ukrainian revolution enters her life and shakes everything up. The film poignantly shows the anguish of expatriates as fighting breaks out back at home. 

Under the circumstances it would have been wholly inappropriate for us to screen a Russian film at the Festival, even though the Director had had his own problems with the Russian authorities. Olga won the Audience award at the Brussels Film Festival, was a winner in the Cannes Critics Week and was voted best feature film at Hamburg – politics aside, Olga will be worthy addition to the FilmFestival programme.

Osprey Short Films 2022

The judging panel has chosen 10 short films to screen at the Theatre by the Lake on Saturday 26th March. All of the films have a connection to Cumbria, whether that be on screen or behind the camera. The films range in length from a little over one minute to eleven minutes and cover an eclectic mix of subjects - running, walking and bouldering in the Lakes, a study of the Duddon Valley, stories of friendship and relationships, living with and alongside dementia and the modern-day disaster that is losing your mobile phone! 

Official Selection 2022

• A Perfect Day For Piracy by Pete Winterbottom (5 mins 26 secs)
• I Think I Know My Own Mind by Ronald Amanze, Jilly Jarman & Sarah Wallcook (5 mins 4 secs)
• #HELLP! by M J Poynton (5 mins 30 secs)
• Midair by Louis-Jack (4 mins)
• Rambler Man by Angus Imrie (11 mins 22 secs)
• Sing To Encounter Me by Laurence Campbell (8 mins 55 secs)
• Tender Buttons by Kitty Handley (8 mins 21 secs)
• The Show by Richard Rowden (9 mins 18 secs)
• Touching The Water by Hannah Maia, Maia Media (7 mins)
• War Torn by Luke Bain & Alexander Dodds (1 mins 3 secs)

More details on all these films can be found on our Osprey page.

Our new brochure has arrived

Oli Bentley, from Split Design, has done another amazing job on the brochure this year – it is in a new format but with the same stunning visuals. You can download a copy here or pick up a copy when you are in Keswick – the timeline is an essential part of the festival weekend.

There is also a full version of the programme to download as a simple pdf – its in black and white and ideal for perusing in those dim cinemas.