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.

Poetry At Keswick Film Festival

Our poetry strand this year crosses continents and spans centuries.

Draw on Sweet Night is festival favourite Tony Britten's working of the story of John Wilbye, writer of madrigals; Reaching for the Moon chronicles of the tragic love affair between American poet Elizabeth Bishop and Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares, against the breathtaking backdrop of Rio de Janeiro.

Neruda, where director Pablo Larrain and Gael Garcia Bernal combine again to great effect, is also set in South America as poetry and politics collide in 1940s Chile. Jim Jarmusch's Paterson was described as "perhaps the most purely pleasurable film at Cannes this year". A week in the life of a New Jersey poet and bus driver, it is a joy to watch with scenes blatantly stolen by Nellie the bulldog, the rightful winner of the Palme D'Og.

Critical Acclaim – The New Critics' Award at KFF18

Do you read the reviews before going to the pictures? Does a bad review stop you from going?

Critics affect our viewing choices and can make or break a new release, so this year we are bringing 3 top critics to Keswick and asking them to choose their film of the year, present it at KFF and we are asking you, the audience, to vote on their selection. In the run up to the Festival and over the course of the weekend there will be an ongoing, online conversation about those choices.

Before the Festival we will be showing their all-time favourite films – Airplane! If.... and Theatre of Blood - in an amazing triple bill at the Alhambra and for those of you not able to get there, we will be inviting you to watch them at home and join in the conversation from there.

Why not write your own review of one of those classics for the chance to win tickets at the Festival!

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook or sign up to receive our e-mails to find out just which films our critics have selected and use #KeswickFilm to join the conversation.

The Critics

Matt Glasby (@mattglasby) is a film critic for Total Film and GQ among others, and a member of the London Critics' Circle.

Karen Krizanovich (@Krizanovich) is a journalist, writer, researcher, public speaker and broadcaster and is the honorary secretary of the London Film Critics’ Circle and a jury associate for the international film critics’ association

Ali Catterall (@AliCatterall) is a film journalist based in London, who writes and has written for a great many journals, some of which actually still exist, including The Guardian, Total Film, Q, Time Out and The Word.

Films At Rheged

Once again we'll be heading to Rheged on the Saturday of the Festival (Feb 18th) to show two films on their giant screen.

Paths of the Soul

Not many films score 100% on Rotten Tomatoes but this tale of an epic 1200 mile pilgrimage across Tibet will make wonderful use of the Rheged Imax screen.

"Road movies are a staple of cinema but they are rarely as breathtaking, immersive and intense as Zhang Yangs fascinating docu-fiction hybrid....This is slow cinema at its best."

Amber Wilkinson Eye for Film

Wolf Totem

A UK premiere of Jean Jacques Annaud's (The Name of the Rose, Seven Years in Tibet) masterpiece, Wolf Totem is set in Mongolia during the cultural revolution as two students needing 're-education' are sent to live with nomadic herdsmen.

Katie Walsh, Seattle Times

Festival Newsletter

Make sure you are signed up to our newsletter to be the first to hear about the latest additions to the programme.  Here's part of the last email from our new director Ian Payne:

The nights are drawing in, there’s a nip in the air, the leaves are changing colour and our thoughts naturally turn to The Keswick Film Festival! 

What is there to look forward to during the long winter evenings to come? The programme of films already looks stunning. American Honey, Toni Erdmann and La La Land have been receiving tremendous reviews and will be highlights of the Festival. Add to those titles The Patriarch and Neruda and the prospects look even brighter. As ever, our selections portray the best and worst of human behaviour, from the creation of lyrical poetry for the delight of others to the awful intolerance people can feel for one another.

Osprey Short Film Awards 2017

We are now accepting entries for the 2017 Osprey Short Film Awards at the 18th Keswick Film Festival. To be considered for the awards a film must

• Have a significant connection to Cumbria or Keswick Film Festival
• Be no more than 10 minutes long.
• Have been completed during 2016

For full details on all the rules and how to enter please visit the Short Film Awards section of the website.

Osprey Short Films 18 & Under Winner: The Eletheromaniac and the Nostalgic

Watch the winning short film in the 18 & Under category from Harriet Wigginton and read about it in the Times & Star.

The Eletheromaniac and the Nostalgic from Hatty Wigginton on Vimeo.