Save The Dates for the 2027 Fetival

The dates for the 2027 Keswick Film Festival have been announced as 

18 - 21 March 2027

Julia and the festival team are already planning another inspiring celebration of the best in global cinema to give us all something to look forward to next year.

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.

24th Keswick Film Festival

This Thursday sees the start of the 2024 Film Festival with the sold out European Première of Between The Lights (there are still some tickets available for the Saturday screening). From there our cinematic world tour takes in Malaysia, Mexico, Tunisia, Georgia, Japan, Iran and the USA. Recent BAFTA winners The Zone Of Interest and American Fiction are showing at the Alhambra on Sunday. The Osprey Short Film Awards are a free event at the Theatre By The Lake on Saturday featuring 9 new Cumbrian short films. The big screen at Rheged is in use once again for Samsara, The Taste Of Things, Tótem, Four Daughters and The New Boy. On Friday evening we'll be joined by co-directors Ali Catterall and Jane Giles for their riotous new doc Scala!!! (or to give the film its full title: Scala!!! Or, the Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World's Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits). There are 24 feature films over the long weekend including award favourites, critically acclaimed selections and previews of films not yet on release in the UK. 

Tickets and passes are available from the Alhambra, we hope to see you there.

Keswick Film Festival This Weekend

The 23rd Keswick Film Festival starts on Thursday, make sure you have your passes and tickets ready. The programme looks as exciting as always, with 25 films over four days, shown at the Alhambra, Theatre By The Lake and Rheged.  The films have been receiving great critical acclaim as well as award nominations and prizes, so it should be a great long weekend. The Osprey Short Film Awards, featuring 10 Cumbrian short films are also on at the Theatre on Saturday at 2pm.  

22nd Keswick Film Festival

Our season of Sunday evening films has come to an end but we'll be back at the Alhambra, Theatre By The Lake and Rheged from Thursday for the 22nd Keswick Film Festival.

Opening with Clio Barnard's ALI & AVA, there are 24 feature length films to choose from over the weekend with the critically acclaimed THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD bringing the festival to a close on Sunday evening. The award winning DRIVE MY CAR and HIVE are two highlights on Friday with a fundraising screening of the Ukrainian film OLGA in support of Red Cross and Unicef. 

Saturday sees the Osprey Short Film Awards, an online Q&A with Mark Cousins after his latest film THE STORY OF LOOKING,  mesmerising animation BELLE on Rheged's big screen and Almodovar and Cruz together again for PARALLEL MOTHERS.

Sight & Sound's Film of 2021 THE SOUVERNIR: PART II starts the Sunday alongside Jacques Audiard latest film PARIS, 13TH DISTRICT which was co-written by PETITE MAMAN's (showing on Friday) Céline Sciamma. There's a choice of two different Finnish films in the afternoon; COMPARTMENT NO 6 and MASTER CHENG. Animated documentary FLEE rounds off the day at Rheged whilst another film from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY is on at the Alhambra.

That's only some of films so do check out the festival website, Facebook page and Twitter for even more on all of the films showing.

A Review of the Festival

Over four days this past weekend, the Keswick Film Festival showed 28 feature films across three venues - Alhambra, Theatre by the Lake and Rheged. The films were remarkable for their range and many were pre-release having their first UK showing here in Keswick.

One of the films that played to a full house was “Parasite”, a South Korean film that has just won the Best Film Oscar – the first not in English. The Festival team had noted the film some time ago and so it was booked long before the Oscars. For those that missed it, you can catch it at the Alhambra next week.

A moving and thought-provoking film from Syria, “For Sama” gave the highest score ever from the audience. It was introduced by the Keswick Peace and Human Rights Group and showed the appalling suffering against a very human story.

The screening of an old Ken Russell film, “Dance of the Seven Veils” was a unique event and made the national news, as it was the first showing since it was banned after just one show fifty years ago. The film was made in Borrowdale and several people who worked as extras were in the audience including one who had travelled 200 miles to see it. The evening was introduced by Lisi Tribble, Ken’s wife, who had a great store of interesting background stories.

A moment of serendipity came with the showing of “No Fathers in Kashmir” when it was discovered that the star of the film, Zara Webb, was in the audience with her extended family, seeing it for the first time. She gamely stepped up and told us about the making of the film – an interesting story given that it is a subversive film made in a war zone.

A special part of the Festival has always been the Osprey Awards. These are given for short films with a Cumbrian connection and again showed the terrific range and creativity among filmmakers, particularly some of the younger ones.

The audience award for the best film of the Festival went to “The Personal History of David Copperfield”. It’s a very funny, lively take on the Dickens classic, so do see it as it’s now on general release.

Roger Gook

21st Keswick Film Festival

The Film Festival starts this Thursday with Mike Tweddle’s short film The Curator and Richard Heap's The Runaways, "a ray of British sunshine on film". Both directors will be at the screening to get the festival off to a great start. The rest of the weekend features great films from around the world; the award winning Parasite is just about sold out but you don't want to miss the unique opportunity to see Ken Russell's Dance Of The Seven Veils. Other acclaimed films include Monos, The Nightingale, For Sama, So Long My Son, Midsommar, The Farewell, The Kingmaker, The Souvenir and Portrait Of A Lady On Fire. Don't forget to check out the lesser known films, it's often these ones that really make the festival: Amanda, Aga, Noah Land, The Tobacconist, Tumbbad, Belonging, A Picture Of Yuki, No Fathers In Kashmir. And there are some big stars in films which aren't set for a UK release until later in the year like Hope Gap and Blackbird. Add in the Osprey Short Film Awards and the The Patron's Legacy Project work from Carlisle College students and it should be a weekend to remember.

20th Keswick Film Festival

Film, films, films, guests, Osprey Awards...and more

Here we go again! Our normal one film on Sunday is replaced by 30+ films from Thursday night till Sunday night; our normal one venue is enhanced to four - the Alhambra, Theatre by the Lake (Main House and Studio) and Rheged - AND we have guests, The John Hurt Patron's Legacy Project (including free films) and the Osprey Awards: a Cornucopia of Filmic Fun!

Hopefully you have all got your programmes and your tickets or passes by now; if not, you can always buy on the door. All the details are on the festival website, but don't miss out; a reminder that you need to get a ticket for anything at the Studio even if you have a Festival Pass (though it will be free with a pass) - make sure you get this well in advance as there might be a queue at the Theatre box office.

So come on down and have fun! Bring your friends, try and help anyone looking lost (we are the Friendly festival!) and enjoy yourself; which film is going to be the one we all remember (the 'I didn't expect that to be so good' film)?  Which one will get the highest vote? Why not tweet your thoughts too? The more we get mentioned, the more people will notice...and you might be the one who makes them think it is worth coming along.

See you there!

18th Keswick Film Festival

This year's festival runs from Thursday to Sunday. There are over 30 films during the weekend from Bafta winner La La Land to Casablanca (though unless you can be in two places at once 15 is the most you'll see).  As usual there are two films benefiting from the giant Rheged screen.

We have a good range of guests ranging including Greta Scacchi, three film critics and the boat Amazon.

Film club members can get a free programme by showing your membership card or festival pass at the Alhambra or Theatre by the Lake. You can also download the programme or purchase it for £1.

If you've not yet got your tickets, passes are £45 (£50 non members) and individual tickets £5 (£6 non members) so if you are seeing nine or more films it makes sense to get a pass which also gives entrance to the party on Thursday night at the Golden Lion. Passes and tickets are on sale at the theatre and online at theatrebythelake.com and individual tickets at the cinema.

Remember because the theatre studio is small passholders will need to collect complimentary tickets from the theatre box office.

If you live outside Keswick there is a car park pass for Lakeside car park for £5 for Friday to Sunday on sale from Thursday evening at both venues.

Summer Break

The weather may suggest otherwise but we're now on our summer break. Of course there will still be plenty of great films to see at the Alhambra and the film club will be back in September. Hopefully you'll consider joining, we haven't confirmed the prices yet but this year it was only £7 and saves you £1 for every film you see, including the festival.

Talking of the festival, the good news for us all was that Ian Payne took over the job of running it from Ann Martin after her 10 fantastic years as Director. We should thank both Ann for her amazing work AND Ian for be willing to take over -  Thanks both! We do now need a new Club Secretary though. This is not too heavy a task, so I hope you will think about volunteering.

Don't forget we're on Twitter as @keswickfilm and will continue to tweet details of things coming up at the Alhambra throughout the year.

See you in September.