26th Keswick Film Festival

The club season may have come to an end but there are still lots of films to enjoy at the 26th Keswick Film Festival starting on Thursday with The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford (additional screening on Saturday morning). The closing film A Private Life has already sold out and many of the other films are selling fast so don't leave it too late to get your tickets.

The programme includes award winners, a 1976 retrospective, a Jodie Foster showcase, family films, short films by Cumbrian filmmakers, recent work from vibrant US filmmakers selected by students from Carlisle College and an exclusive opportunity to see rare footage from Lake District filmmaker Terry Abraham. If that wasn't enough the Alhambra's second screen will be used for a Fringe Festival on Friday and Saturday.

Nouvelle Vague Sunday - 15th March 5pm

Out season of films comes to and end this Sunday but don't worry there's still more than 30 films to choose from at Keswick Film Festival next week. NOUVELLE VAGUE takes us to Paris, 1959 where Jean-Luc Godard is angry because all his buddies from the magazine 'Cahiers du Cinéma' they work for seem to have given up criticising films in favour of making them. "The best way to criticize a film is to make one" he quips to a friend. So, he turns round, bullies a producer Georges de Beauregard into backing a low-budget movie, hires a few unknowns and sets out to make the film that will change film history forever - 'A Bout de Souffle (Breathless)'.

Ever wondered what Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Jean-Paul Belmondo or Jean Seberg were really like? Come along to 'Nouvelle Vague' and see for yourself.

"Film history is rarely this charming." - Ian Freer, Empire

No Other Choice Sunday - 8th March 5pm

Park Chan-wook's latest is the South Korean entry for the Oscars this year. He has brought us some great thrillers - 'The Handmaiden', 'Decision To Leave' - and this is no exception, but this one is charged with comedy as well.

"With humour blacker than black bean noodles, the film is a masterful work of cinema which might well be Chan-wook’s masterpiece. And given this is the man who directed The Handmaiden that’s saying a lot." - John Bleasdale, Time Out

The Voice Of Hind Rajab - Sunday 1st March 5pm

Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, Oscar nominated for her 'Four Daughters' that we had at the 2024 Festival, and produced by Brad Pitt, Jonathan Glazer, Joaquin Phoenix and many others: The Voice Of Hind Rajab has massive backing, and received a 23 minute standing ovation at Venice Film Festival. 

"As cinema, 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' is formally extraordinary, superbly acted, beautifully shot, and shaped and edited with rare urgency" - Leila Latif, Little White Lies. 

Sentimental Value - Sunday 22nd February 5pm

Another Cannes prize winner for you, the Grand Prize went to Sentimental Value and the film also has 8 BAFTA and 9 Oscar nominations. The BAFTA Awards are taking place the same evening as our screening so you'll be able to find out what it won after the film.

It's a movie that sneaks up on you like great fiction, blending theme and character in a way that allows it to live in your mind after you see it, rolling around what it means to both the people in it and your own life" - Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com.