KFF @ Rheged

We may be the Keswick Film Festival and we enjoy two lovely venues in town – our Festival HQ at the Alhambra Cinema and Theatre by the Lake. But we also show Festival films at the giant Screen 1 at Rheged, located just a short drive or bus ride from Keswick and Penrith.

Our exciting 2026 programme - KFF @ Rheged - showcases hand-picked films to give an immersive experience on this massive 60 ft screen. This year we have the UK Gala Premiere of All And Nothing, The Shepherd and the Bear, The North, Sirât and a special event with Terry Abraham looking at his filmmaking work in the Lake District over the years.

Screen2/Take2

Screen2/Take2 is the chance to bring two generations of festival-goers together - our regular audience has had the chance to select some of their favourite films from previous festivals and our newest audience, evolving out of our partnership with Carlisle College and its students, has had an input into the selection of films that they would like to see at a Festival. The two selections are not mutually exclusive - the message from KFF is 'try something different, something out of your comfort zone'

The selection is:

Friday 7th March

• 4pm Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
• 6:30pm Welcome to the Sticks (TBC)
• 9pm Spirited Away

Saturday 8th March

• 11am Elephant Man
• 6:30pm Amelie
• 9pm Whale Rider

Sunday 9th March

• 2pm Point Break
• 5pm Radiator

Screen2/Take2 has been made possible by support from the BFI and Film Hub North, the Alhambra's state-of-the-art facility will be the perfect place to revisit old favourites or see something entirely new.

Oscar Hopefuls at Keswick Film Festival

Forgive us, but we are a bit chuffed with ourselves as a number of our selections for the KFF programme have been recognised as Oscar contenders.

Three films, The Brutalist, Nickel Boys and Emilia Pérez are all in contention for the Best Picture award and two, Flow and Seed of the Sacred Fig are nominated as Best International Feature. For an animated film like Flow (also up for the award in that category) to be nominated in a feature film category, is testament to the brilliance of the storytelling and the animator’s art.

Adrien Brody and Karla Sofia Gascón are up for Best Actor and actress for their roles in The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez and their respective co-stars Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones and Zoe Saldana are nominated as Best Supporting Actors. The films also feature as nominees in the Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay categories.

The one-of-a-kind movie Emilia Pérez even has two nominations for best original song. The Alhambra will be rocking on Sunday afternoon.

Tickets and Passes on Sale from Friday 10th January

We are thrilled to announce that tickets and passes for KFF 2025 will go on sale from Friday 10th January, from the Alhambra Box Office.

Arrangements for passholders to book seats for individual films have changed and detailed instructions on how to do this will be made available.

Director's introduction and Q&A for Fadia's Tree

Sarah Beddington, Director of Fadia’s Tree (winner of the Amnesty International Award at San Sebastian) will be joining us at the Festival, to introduce her film and to present the Osprey Short Film Awards, alongside Hassan Nazer.

Sarah’s film is a remarkable piece of work, filmed over 15 years, taking a birds-eye perspective to highlight the problems of Palestine and the Palestinians

Glasgow Film Festival Comes To Keswick

To get you in the mood for a whole weekend of film, we have teamed up with the Alhambra and Glasgow Film Festival to bring three UK premieres to Keswick in the run up to our Festival. Starting with their opening film The Outfit on Wednesday 2nd March, followed by The Happening to recognise International Women's Day on the 8th and their closing film Murina on Sunday 13th, after the Film Club's screening of Lingui,The Sacred Bonds.

You can find more details on these films including links to book tickets on our Glasgow Film Festival page.

2020 Audience Awards

In true style, the KFF audience asserted its independence by choosing The Personal History of David Copperfield as its favourite feature film, ahead of big hitters like Parasite and Portrait of a Lady on Fire – and who could argue with such a joyous choice?

The Festival always throws up surprises and Amanda and No Fathers in Kashmir were unexpected pleasures – the latter made more so by the arrival of its star Zara La Peta Webb, along with her family.

The audience did however follow convention in selecting For Sama as the best documentary, with a stunning score of 96.88% - our highest ever score.

Audience Awards – Feature Films

• The Personal History of David Copperfield 85.84%
• Amanda 84.82%
• No Fathers in Kashmir 83.42%
• So Long My Son 82.48%
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire 81.33%
• Parasite 80.00%

Audience Awards – Documentaries

• For Sama 96.88%
• The Kingmaker 83.33%
• The Cordillera of Dreams 79.71%
• Derrière Les Fronts 69.95%

Saturday at Keswick Film Festival

Make the most of your leap day by choosing from 11 very different films including the first screening of Ken Russell's Dance Of The Seven Veils in 50 years. 

• The Personal History of David Copperfield - 11:00am Alhambra
• For Sama - 11:00am Theatre By The Lake
• The Cordillera of Dreams - 11:30am Rheged
• Osprey Short Film Awards - 2:00pm Alhambra
• So Long My Son - 2:00pm Theatre By The Lake
• Tumbbad - 2:00pm Rheged
• Belonging - 4:00pm Alhambra
• Hope Gap - 6:15pm Alhambra
• The Farewell - 6:15pm Theatre By The Lake
• Midsommar - 6:00pm Studio (TBTL)
• SOLD OUT: Parasite - 9:00pm Alhambra
• Dance of the Seven Veils - 9:00pm Theatre By The Lake

Friday at Keswick Film Festival

It's the first full day of the Festival and there are 9 films to choose from including 3 films that have yet to be released in the UK. Students from Carlisle College are taking over the Theatre Studio for an afternoon of multi-media performances, this year taking inspiration from the films of Tilda Swinton as part of our Patron's Legacy Project.

• Amanda - 12:30pm Alhambra
• The Run + Nicky Spinks - Bob Graham Round - 12:30pm Theatre By The Lake
• The Patron's Legacy Project from 1:00pm Studio (TBTL)
• Noah Land - 3:30pm Alhambra
• Ága - 3:30pm Theatre By The Lake
• First Love - 6:00pm Alhambra
• The Tobacconist - 6:00pm Theatre By The Lake
• Only Lovers Left Alive - 6:00pm Studio (TBTL)
• Monos - 9:00pm Alhambra
• The Nightingale - 9:00pm Theatre By The Lake

Honouring Tilda Swinton

You may have read that Tilda Swinton will be receiving a BFI Fellowship in March, reflecting her enormous contribution to the industry.

Maybe a little less glitzy but no less heartfelt, KFF and Carlisle College  are staging our own tribute to Tilda at this year’s Festival. Miss Swinton has agreed to be the subject of this year’s Patron’s Legacy Project, meaning that students are now busy creating films, posters, costumes and set designs inspired by her impressive filmography. The event, titled Cinephoria, to be held on Friday 28th February in the Studio will be free to enter and I can guarantee a fascinating afternoon of Cumbrian talent.  Already some film posters have been produced and the exhibition in the Theatre Gallery is not to be missed.

For our part, we are showing 3 of Tilda Swinton’s films over the weekend. She gives a barnstorming performance in The Personal History of David Copperfield, teams up with Sir John Hurt and Tom Hiddleston in Only Lovers Left Alive and plays opposite her daughter Honor Swinton Byrne in Joanna Hogg’s much-lauded The Souvenir.

Where KFF leads, the BFI follows!

Full Programme for the 21st Keswick Film Festival

Our full programme for the 21st Keswick Film Festival is now on the website – and David Miller has worked his magic again to bring you a superb weekend of film.

As well as the titles we have already mentioned, there is The Personal History of David Copperfield as the family film on Saturday, a joyous romp written by Armando Iannucci; inspired by the work that Carlisle College is doing with the Patrons Legacy Project we have two more films starring their subject, Tilda Swinton – Only Lovers Left Alive and The Souvenir; there is The Tobacconist, a young boy’s encounter with Sigmund Freud; two fascinating Turkish films Noah Land and Belonging; the marvellous So Long My Son, a film that is collecting plaudit after plaudit and; as it is far too long since we last had a Bulgarian/Japanese co-production, we bring you A Picture with Yuki.

Here's hoping that the KFF programme is an early Christmas present to you all. From all of us at Keswick Film Club, have a wonderful festive break and we look forward to seeing you again in the New Year.

Opening Film - The Runaways

With the help of a fantastically successful crowd-funding campaign, the Alhambra has had a make-over which has transformed the place, using heritage colours. Carol, Alan, Tom and Sylvia’s aim was to ‘Restore the Glory’ and boy, have they achieved it. Stripping back years of paint has revealed all kinds of features – it is going to look wonderful with a full house on the opening night for The Runaways.

Director Richard Heap will be here to introduce his film, the story of an epic crossing of the Pennines by three children in search of their estranged mother. The Yorkshire Post said "Huge praise has to go to director/writer Richard Heap whose unique screenplay evokes a range of emotions from laughter to tears. This is an uplifting and atmospheric story. The film is ultimately a celebration of childhood and the importance of home and family ties."

Light and Shade at the Festival

We are going to play with your emotions this time at Keswick Film Festival.

Our films will take you to some dark places – the brutality of colonial Australia for example in The Nightingale a revenge drama that is a tough watch but so well worth the effort. Tumbbad is an Indian horror/fantasy film to be screened at Rheged on Saturday afternoon. It is a genre that will be new to most of us – but where else than KFF are you going to see a film like that? Then there is Takshe Miike’s First Love, described as 'Kill Bill meets Baby Driver' and 'a carnage of chaos'!

On a lighter note, Friday at the Festival kicks off with Amanda, a moving film about a young girl, orphaned by a terrorist atrocity, taken under the wing of her uncle. Bill Nighy returns to the Festival (on screen at least!) in Hope Gap, playing opposite Annette Bening and we close the Festival with another American leading lady – Susan Sarandon is absolutely superb in Roger (Notting Hill, My Cousin Rachel) Michell’s Blackbird.

The best of the best at the Fest

Sight & Sound magazine has just published its 50 best films of 2019. Favourites from this year’s Festival that made it into the list were In Fabric, Border and Happy as Lazzaro.

That should make KFF 2019 a very hard act to follow but there are more gems from the list waiting for you in the 2020 programme – The Farewell, Monos, For Sama, Midsommar, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Parasite and the poll-topping The Souvenir are all lined up, along with a healthy sprinkling of pre-releases that will doubtlessly make their way onto Sight & Sounds' list for 2020.

First Films Announced For 2020 Festival

The countdown has begun for the 21st Keswick Film Festival. It is only about 100 days until the Film Festival starts on 27th February – by which time the nights will be drawing out again and the snowdrops will be out in force.

Not only that but the Alhambra is looking fantastic after its refurbishment, ready to screen such delights as Parasite, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Monos, Judy and Punch, The Kingmaker and many more. The screens at the Theatre by the Lake and Rheged will be busy too – keep checking our website, Twitter and Facebook for further information on the programme.

Passes are on sale now from the Theatre by the Lake and individual tickets from 3rd January.

More Audience Scores

The scores for all of the films are now available so you can now see how your favourite films fared.

Saturday at Keswick Film Festival

Today we have long films (4 hours) and short films (2 mins) and plenty in between the two. We're also delighted to be joined by special guests Alice Lowe and director Carl Hunter for our Gala Screening of Sometimes Always Never.

• Fighting With My Family - 10:00am Alhambra
• An Elephant Sitting Still - 11:00am Theatre
• Citizenfour - 11:00am Studio
• Down To Earth - 11:15am Rheged
• The Osprey Short Film Awards - 12:30pm Alhambra
• Sorry To Bother You - 1:15pm Rheged
• Rafiki - 3:00pm Alhambra
• Prevenge - 2:30pm Studio
• Happy As Lazzaro (Preview) - 5:00pm Alhambra
• Lizzie - 4:30pm - By The Lake
• Faces Places - 5:00pm Studio
• Sunset (Preview) - 8:00pm Alhambra
• Sometimes Always Never + Q&A with Alice Lowe and director Carl Hunter - 8:00pm Theatre By The Lake

Friday at Keswick Film Festival

For the first full day of the Festival there are 11 films to choose from, including two UK premieres and six other films that have yet to be released. Students from Carlisle College and the University of Cumbria are taking over the Theatre Studio to present a new project POPCORN as a tribute to the legacy of our former Patron, Sir John Hurt.

 

• In Fabric (Preview)- 11:00am Alhambra
• Dogman - 11:00am Theatre By The Lake
• The Patron's Legacy Project - 12:00pm Studio
• Maria by Callas (Preview) - 1:45pm Alhambra
• Noah Wise (Premiere)- 2:00pm Theatre By The Lake
• Birds Of Passage (Preview)- 4:00pm Alhambra
• Disobedience - 4:00pm Theatre By The Lake
• Border (Preview) - 6:30pm Alhambra
• The Guilty - 7:00pm Theatre By The Lake
• Sparrowhawk with director Mike Tweddle - 7:00pm Studio
• Everybody Knows (Preview) - 9:00pm Alhambra
• Relaxer (Premiere) - 9:00pm Theatre By The Lake

20th Anniversary Souvenir Brochure

The digital version of our 20th Anniversary Brochure is now available on our website. The printed version is nearly ready and should be available from the the Alhambra, Theatre By The Lake, libraries and assorted coffee shops around Keswick soon.

Documentaires at the Festival

There is an intriguing strand of documentaries at KFF this year.

Keswick Peace and Human Rights Group has chosen a remarkable pair of films. Citizenfour is the story of the journalists working with Edward Snowden to publish his revelations about NSA surveillance. USA Today said "Citizenfour plays like a thriller as it chronicles a complex and vitally important chapter in our history".  A Long Hot Summer in Palestine is Norma Marcos' fascinating account of the impact of conflict on ordinary citizens and Norma will be flying in from Paris to talk about the film and her experiences.

Nae Pasaran is the inspiring story of the workers in Glasgow whose refusal to service the engines from Pinochet’s air force saved lives, several thousand miles away, in Chile. Thanks to guest Neil Sinyard and his contacts with the family of Director, William Wyler we have The Memphis Belle which takes us to the heart of a bombing mission in World war ll. Down to Earth, at Rheged takes us to special places on the planet, safeguarded by some special people.

Film lovers will need no introduction to Agnès Varda, whose Faces Places takes her on a trip around France. In the company of JR, a young photographer, they travel in a special box truck equipped as a portable photo booth and traveling printing facility. They take photographs of people around the country, creating special, colossal mural pictures of individuals, communities and places they want to honour and celebrate.