Sunday at Keswick Film Festival

It's the last day of the Festival but there's still plenty to enjoy including Sight & Sound's first and fifth best films of 2019 (although you will have to choose between them) and a preview of Roger Michell's Blackbird starring Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet and Mia Wasikowska.

• The Kingmaker - 11:15am Alhambra
• Derriere Les Fronts - 11:00am Theatre By The Lake
• A Picture with Yuki - 2:00pm Alhambra
• No Fathers in Kashmir - 2:00pm Theatre By The Lake
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire - 5:00pm  Alhambra
• The Souvenir - 5:00pm  Theatre By The Lake
• Blackbird - 8:00pm Alhambra

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

The 21st Keswick Film Festival Starts Tonight

The doors of the Alhambra will be open from 7pm for people to collect their passes and tickets for the Opening Night films. At 7:30pm things will get underway with Mike Tweddle’s new short film, The Curator featuring Derek Griffiths. Our feature length opening film has already been a hit on the festival circuit and we're delighted that writer-director Richard Heap will be here to introduce The Runaways and answer questions after the film. We'll then be moving down to The Lion for the Pass Holders' Party, a great opportunity to meets other people making the most of the weekend of fantastic film.

Booking Recommended For Parasite

Our screening of Parasite is understandably popular and is likely to sell out any day now. If you are a Pass Holder and have not yet booked a free ticket, you should do so as soon as possible by contacting the Theatre By The Lake Box Office (017687 74411).

Having said that the alternative that evening, Dance of the Seven Veils will be well worth watching. See this weekend’s Observer to find out more! Lisi Russell’s interview for Radio 4s The Film Programme is available on the BBC Sounds app, which will further whet the appetite.

For those local to the area, if it makes a difference to your film choice, The Alhambra will be screening Parasite from 7th March.

Opening Night Films

Our opening night is only a week away. We'll be starting with  Mike Tweddle’s short film The Curator starring none other than Derek Griffiths “The Curator leads a lonely life. His whole life’s work has been art and his gallery. But his life is at a crossroads and his facade of knowledge, knowing and complacency is turned upside down following the most innocent of encounters. Can he cast aside all that he has believed in and see the world from anew?”

Anyone who saw White House Farm on TV will relish seeing Mark Addy again in The Runaways, alongside Tara Fitzgerald and rising star, Molly Windsor. It's the story of three children (and two donkeys) crossing the North York moors to find their estranged mother and avoid 'The Social Services'. We are thrilled that writer-director Richard Heap will be joining us to introduce the film and hold a Q&A after the screening.

The Warmer Climes of Keswick Film Festival

The Festival is almost here and as Storm Dennis batters us, we can think about those warm dry hours ahead as KFF takes us across the world to some warmer climes – the heat of India in Tumbbad and The Run; the humidity of the Philippines in The Kingmaker or Australia with The Nightingale and the dry heat of the middle east in For Sama and Derrière les Fronts. It was pretty hot by the look of it when Dance of the Seven Veils was filmed in Keswick all those years ago. OK, so it rains during Parasite but we can live with that!

Pass Holders' Party

After our opening films we'll be heading down to The Lion (previously The Golden Lion) for the Pass Holders' Party. A great opportunity to meet up with other festival goers and talk about the films coming up over the weekend. It's open to anybody with a pass, so make sure you have yours and make the most of the festival.

Documentaries at Keswick Film Festival

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

Our annual collaboration with the Keswick Peace and Human Rights Group has brought the Oscar-nominated For Sama to Keswick alongside Derrière les Fronts (Beyond the Frontlines), which is set in Palestine and records the work of psychologist Dr Samah Jaber. Ken Loach said of the film "Dr. Samah Jaber is a wise and thoughtful woman. She reflects on the subtle, devastating effect on Palestinian people of years of brutal occupation. Alexandra Dols' film shares her insights with us, generous, humane and deeply disturbing. Please see this film." Derrière les Fronts will be introduced by Dr Alan Kessedjian who was instrumental in getting the film screened in the UK.

Then we have The Kingmaker. It is easy to think of Imelda Marcos as a figure of fun, however The Kingmaker makes for a chilling account of the Marcos' regime and the family’s aspirations for the future.

On a lighter note, there is the The Run, following Australian endurance athlete Pat Farmer as he runs the length of India 85 kilometres a day for 64 days. The pictures of India in The Run will dazzle the senses, as will the cinematography of The Cordillera of Dreams. What better way to experience the grandeur of the Andes than on Rheged's massive screen?

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!

Ken Russell's Dance of the Seven Veils receives its second screening after 50 years

From time to time we are fortunate to bring a UK premiere to Keswick Film Festival. This year we are incredibly pleased to be able to bring a second performance to the screen - Ken Russell’s Dance of the Seven Veils, his biography of Richard Strauss, was screened just once in February 1970, before it was banned.

Ken’s wife, Elize who will be joining us in Keswick for the Festival, put it succinctly "One viewing and the Beeb banned it. Mary Whitehouse sued. Ken’s mentor Sir Huw Wheldon defended Ken’s vision in court, but the suppression of the film by the Strauss family was irrevocable. Ken was fired and the film was banned for fifty years."

This second screening, from Ken’s personal copy, on 29th February 2020. It is anticipated that the reaction this time will be a little less strident.

In an evening hosted by Elize Russell at the Theatre by the Lake, the audience will get to see Dance of the Seven Veils along with a number of Ken Russell’s rarely-seen music videos and hear more about the creative process that led to the cutting of those restrictive ties with the BBC and the subsequent launching of the unfettered Ken Russell on to the world’s cinema screens.

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.