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

Our Gala Screening is an outright Winner!

Our principal guest this year will be Hassan Nazer, director of Winners, described as Slumdog Millionaire meets Cinema Paradiso. Winners will be the Festival’s Gala Screening on Friday 24th February at the Alhambra, preceded, of course, by a glass of wine.

Winners is an apt name, as the film won the Audience Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival, plus Best Film at the British Independent Film Awards. It is now the Official UK entry for the 2023 Oscars.

Alice Lowe to guest at Keswick Film Festival

We are thrilled to announce that Alice Lowe, one of the stars of Sometimes Always Never will be joining us for the screening on Saturday 2nd March at the Theatre by the Lake. Alice will be holding a Q&A after the screening, with Director Carl Hunter.

Alice is no stranger to Keswick. She starred in and co-wrote the wonderful black comedy Sightseers, released back in 2012, which featured the Pencil Museum as a key location in her character’s bizarre and murderous adventures. Since then she has been a regular face on both the small screen (Inside Number 9, Hang-ups) and the big screen, notably as writer, director and star of Prevenge.

Guests at the 20th Keswick Film Festival

Our guest list is now on the website and it makes for a line-up that is perfect for the 20th Keswick Film Festival.

Carl Hunter is an old friend of the Festival. He co-wrote (with Frank Cottrell Boyce) Grow Your Own which was a sell out in 2008. We screened it again for our 10th Anniversary when Carl and Frank made the short film, Accelerate, to mark the occasion. Carl also chaired the judging panel for the Osprey short film competition.

Sometimes Always Never is Carl's first feature film as director, which comes with a tremendous pedigree both in front of and behind the camera. The gala night on Saturday 2nd March will be memorable.

James Gardner's Jellyfish has been scooping up awards wherever it is screened. James will be introducing the film at our opening night and will be able to give us an insight into working with the amazing young talent that is Liv Hill who plays Sarah.

Mike Tweddle, a master of making dramatic films with ridiculously small budgets, brings Sparrowhawk to Keswick after impressing the Film Club audience with his earlier film, Damaged Goods; Norma Marcos brings her unique insight into the middle east conflict with A Long Hot Summer in Palestine, one of two Keswick Peace and Human Rights Group screenings and Neil Sinyard returns, bringing with him a rare chance to see William Wyler's documentary on The Memphis Belle.

Passes and tickets are now available from Theatre By The Lake.

Your Memories of Keswick Film Festival

We would like to hear your memories from previous Festivals so that we can collate them and show just why this fabulous event has endured.

Over the coming weeks we’ll be posing a number of questions but I’d like to start by asking for your favourite introduction or Q&A by one of our Festival guests. Moments such as those are the essential difference between 'going to a Festival' and 'going to the pictures'.

I have two such stand out moments. Frank Cottrell Boyce’s Q&A after the screening of Millions at the 2009 Festival and Greta Scacchi’s birthday quiz after White Mischief in 2017.

We were all charmed by Millions but then Frank’s interaction with the children in the audience was magical; and for Greta to devise a quiz during the screening of White Mischief and offer slices of her birthday cake as prizes made it a truly memorable night.

But there have been so many such occasions – we’d love you to post your memories on our Facebook page, by commenting on this blog post or contacting us in the usual way.

If your memory needs a jog, have a look at our archive pages on the website

Ian Payne

Festival Director

Bruce Parry comes to Keswick to introduce Tawai

Bruce Parry is coming to Keswick to introduce Tawai – A Voice from the Forest and to host a Q&A afterwards.

Tawai is Bruce's first feature film and draws on his experiences from earlier expeditions that formed the basis of his award-winning television series. He is perhaps best known for Tribe, which ran for three seasons showing him spending time living with indigenous peoples in locations such as Gabon, India, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Mongolia and Venezuela. However, he first came to prominence with children's programmes such as Serious Desert and Serious Jungle. His own jungle experience came, of course, with Amazon.

The film's title, Tawai, is the word the nomadic hunter gatherers of Borneo use to describe their inner feeling of connection to nature. The Guardian described the film as "an empathetic, sumptuously filmed homage to indigenous groups, particularly the Penan, a Bornean community that is held up by anthropologists as a model of a peaceful and egalitarian society."

Bruce is now a champion of the rights of indigenous peoples across the globe and feels that we in the west can and should learn from them. It will be a fascinating early evening session on Saturday 24th February.

The Man who made Shane and Giant

Those of you browsing the Festival website might have wondered about the choice of Woman of the Year and Shane. The common factor is of course, Director George Stevens, one of Hollywood’s greats who also made Giant, A Place in the Sun and The Diary of Anne Frank. 

Neil Sinyard, an old friend of KFF – he was a guest at our very first event in 2000 - will be presenting a talk on the great man on Sunday 25th February. The talk, which will be illustrated with film extracts, will explore some recurrent preoccupations and characteristics of Stevens’ work: the yearnings of the social outsider; his hatred of class prejudice and racial intolerance; a commanding visual style where his signature slow dissolve is used to unite and inspire thoughts and ideas as well as signal transitions of time and place.

Colonel George C Stevens was part of the force that liberated Dachau at the end of World War ll and Neil will explore how his wartime service had a transformational impact on his film-making style. 

For those of us with an interest in the history of cinema, Neil’s talk will undoubtedly prove fascinating.

Guests at the Festival

Our Guests add so much to the experience and we are thrilled to be able to say that Simon Hunter, Neil Sinyard, David Banning and Patrick Glen will be at the Festival. Others may yet follow their example!

Simon Hunter

Simon Hunter made his first film, Spaceman, at seven years old, starring his parents and his dog. After 50 more films whilst growing up in Dumfriesshire, he embarked on a more traditional film school education and his career to date has been littered with awards.

In 2016 Simon completed his third feature film, his passion project, Edie which tells the tale of an old lady (Sheila Hancock) who heads to Scotland to climb a mountain. The movie which opens KFF on Thursday 22nd, was an official selection in the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2016. 

Neil Sinyard

We are pleased to welcome Neil back to Keswick. Neil, Emeritus Professor of Film Studies at the University of Hull, was a guest at the very first KFF in 2000, where he spoke about Shakespeare in Film.

This time around he is telling the story of George Stevens, one of the legendary Directors from Hollywood’s golden age. Starting out on Laurel and Hardy Movies he went on to make films such as Giant, A Place in the Sun and The Diary of Anne Frank. To complement his talk we are screening Woman of the Year (the first pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) and arguably the best western ever, Shane.

David Banning

David is the author of ‘An A-Z of Cumbria & the Lake District on Film’ published by Hayloft in late 2016, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Lakeland Book of the Year. After studying History of Art and later, Lake District Landscape Studies, his passions combined when researching the films and pieces of social history that were spliced together throughout the A-Z.

In looking for a companion piece for David’s talk we have, thanks to Lisi Tribble, been able to find a rare copy of Clouds of Glory, Ken Russell’s film on the lives of Coleridge and Wordsworth.

Dr Patrick Glen

Patrick Glen is a Postdoctoral Research Associate working at UCL History on the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project 'Remembering 1960s British Cinema-going'. Extensive interviews with cinema-goers from the period reveal much about the importance of film on social attitudes and behaviours at a time when smoking in the Odeon was the norm.

He is the ideal person to set the scene for our screening of Night of the Living Dead with his talk on Saturday night, Scared Stiff in the 60s.

More Festival Guests

We are delighted to announce that Paul Murton will be joining us on the Sunday of the Festival. Paul directed How the Rich Avoid Tax, one of our screenings in partnership with Keswick Peace and Human Rights Group. Paul is an accomplished director with The Bill and Casualty amongst his credits and he appears in front of the camera in his travelogue series Grand Tours of the Scottish Islands.

Our second new guest is a little more wooden in its delivery – by kind permission of Nick Barton and the Windermere Jetty Museum Amazon will be stationed outside the Theatre by the Lake on Saturday morning, skull and crossbones fluttering. We may even have a real life Amazon in person, too!

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.

It's Not All Subtitles

Whilst we pride ourselves on bringing you the best of world cinema, that doesn't exclude the English speaking nations.

We open with The Patriarch, a family saga from New Zealand, then there is a strong showing from the USA - Manchester by the Sea sees a superb performance from Casey Affleck, La La Land is a "beguiling musical romance" starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, from the director of Whiplash. The joyous Paterson and Reaching For The Moon are part of our Poets theme and Loving tells of persecution of an inter-racial couple in 1950s Virginia.

Throughout the weekend we will be featuring the work of Michael Curtiz. You would think making Casablanca would be enough in one year for any man, but in 1942 Curtiz made Yankee Doodle Dandy and Captains of the Clouds as well. Find out more about the man and his films from our special guest, Adam Feinstein.

Guests: Tom Allen

Karun - Sunday 28th 12:30pm, Alhambra
Last Explorers On The Rio Santa Cruz - Sunday 28th 2:10pm, Alhambra

Tom Allen's film Janapar was hugely enjoyed at the Festival last year. This year he brings two films to the Festival along with the chance to chat about his exploits – and of course cycling. He says online, "Since 2006 I’ve been going on bicycle adventures to places like Sudan, Iran, Yemen, Syria, the Arctic, Ethiopia, Armenia and Mongolia. There’s about 40 countries on the list, but numbers are boring. A love of adventure is what drives my journeys, and a love of writing is what drives my blog".

Guests: Simon Hughes

Simon Hughes On Special Effects - Saturday 4pm, Studio

Simon 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. He will be pleased to answer questions

Guests: Roxanne Pallet

We are pleased to announce that Roxanne Pallett, star of Emmerdale, Dancing on Ice and Casualty will be attending the festival on Friday. Roxanne plays Carla in The Violators  (Alhambra, Fri 6pm) and will attend the screening with director Helen Walsh.
Roxanne burst onto our screens in 2005 in ITV's Emmerdale as Jo Stiles-Sugden. and instantly earned national recognition and nominations for Best Actress, Sexiest Female and Best Storyline. Her portrayal as the feisty but flawed character gripped the nation with the biggest domestic abuse storyline on screen that year, earning the actress 6 nominations and huge critical acclaim for her emotional performance as the vulnerable Jo.

2010 saw Roxanne treading the boards in three consecutive lead theatre roles - 1950's musical Around The Clock, Eve Ensler's sell out UK tour The Vagina Monologues and in 2011 she won the  role of Tina in two-hander, Satin 'n' Steel, directed by Joyce Branagh, which won her as much credibility and popularity on stage as she did previously on screen.

Guests: Rayna Campbell

Lapse Of Honour - Saturday 7pm. Theatre

Rayna Campbell is a producer, screenwriter and actor, based in London
but originally from Manchester. She won a New York Times scholarship to
train at the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York and recently starred in Layla Fourie which opened in competition at the Berlin Film Festival and won the special mention award. Rayna also won best actress for her role at the women's International Film Festival in Morocco.

Lapse of Honour is her debut feature which is set in and around her native Manchester.

Guests: Karen Guthrie

The Closer We Get - Saturday 4pm, Theatre

Karen was raised on the West coast of Scotland and now lives on a smallholding in the rural Lake District. She met co-producer and Director of Photography Nina Pope whilst students at Edinburgh College of Art and they have since worked together on many creative projects and commissions. Together they founded Somewhere in 2002 and have undertaken art commissions from the likes of Tate Modern and Cambridge University alongside their three feature documentaries: Jaywick Escapes, Living with the Tudors and Bataville:We Are Not Afraid of the Future.

The Closer We Get is Karen's solo directorial debut.

Guests: Helen Walsh

The Violators - Friday 6pm, Alhambra

Hailing from Warrington, Helen Walsh is an award-winning author (her first novel, Brass, won the Betty Trask award and her second, Once upon a Time in England, won a Somerset Maugham award) who has turned her considerable talents to screenwriting and directing. The Violators is her debut feature set in a grim Cheshire housing estate. Described as "a visceral and powerful debut film with more than a few twists along the way" it too has been nominated for many awards on the European Festival circuit.

Guests: Tony Britten

Chicklit - Thursday 7pm, Alhambra

We welcome Tony Britten back to Keswick where this year he achieves the singular honour of opening the Festival for the second time. In Love with Alma Cogan charmed audiences in 2012 and Tony returned the following year, with both film and cast of Peace and Conflict, his feature about the life of Benjamin Britten. Tony is a prolific composer and arranger of film, opera and theatre music and being a serious jazz fan may share some insights into our Jazz theme this year.

An Interview With Gemma Jones

Gemma Jones in Radiator

We are delighted to welcome Gemma Jones (Marvellous, Bridget Jones, Sense and Sensibility) to Keswick along with her Radiator co-star Richard Johnson and director Tom Browne. We sent Sara Teresa to talk to her about Radiator, the Lake District and Jones' roles in Harry Potter and the infamous The Devils.

Read The Full Interview Here







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