Keswick Film Festival proved a big hit.
The opening film at the Alhambra - Ali and Ava - a contemporary Bradford love story, was an instant favourite.
Festival guest Kamal Kaan, script consultant on the film gave a fascinating insight into the making of the movie and how some elements of the story were developed in Keswick when he and director Clio Barnard were in town.
Oscar winner Drive My Car was the first of the big hitters to be screened on Friday and had the audience engrossed over its three-hour duration.
Of all the films screened that day only one received an audience rating of less than 70 percent which indicates just how good David Miller’s film programme was, said festival director Ian Payne.
The Keswick audience’s love affair with French cinema was evident with the scores given to Petite Maman, Paris 13th District and the eventual winner of the audience award, Between Two Worlds, which shaded out Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers by 0.2 per cent!
There were some sombre faces at the Alhambra after the screening of Olga, a Ukrainian film set at the time of the Maidan revolution in 2013. The final scenes of optimism in Kyiv’s bright and sunny Maidan Square were in such marked contrast to the images we are seeing today.
The Osprey short film awards attracted an audience of over 100 at the Theatre by the Lake. The judges’ award went to Louis-Jack’s bouldering film Midair and the audience award to The Archers' actors Angus Imrie and Ewan Pollitt’s Rambler Man.
The awards were presented by director/musician Carl Hunter and the Alhambra’s Carol Rennie, who hosted the afternoon.
Films at Rheged were also popular. The stunning graphics of the animated film Belle were seen to best effect on the huge screen on Saturday and Sunday’s screening of Flee (again Oscar nominated) resulted in the highest audience score (85% approval) of the festival.
Another full house, this time for Norway’s The Worst Person in the World, rounded off the programme on Sunday, again justifying the rave reviews it has received around the world.
Ian said: "The Film Club took a risk in going ahead with the festival this year but it paid off.
"We were worried that people might not come back but whilst numbers were down – for obvious reasons – it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces back in Keswick again.
"They are all keen to come back again next year – and so are we!"
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