Chichester International Film Festival: Celebrating success under new Artistic Director

Walter comments: "I have been overwhelmed by the feedback so many of our audience members have passed on to me and the team. It is a huge team effort to put on this 15-day Festival of film. The special events, new venues, film choices, strands and visiting filmmakers were extremely well received, and I hope that my first Festival as Artistic Director has attracted some new people to the wonder of film.”

Despite a shortened Festival, this year’s event still presented almost 100 films over 15 days across six different venues showing the Festival’s commitment to increasing access for everyone. There were 15 UK/English premieres, 10 previews, 4 talks and 10 Q&A screenings with visiting filmmakers and actors including Juliet Stevenson, Rory Kinnear, and acclaimed documentary filmmaker, Tony Palmer.

Over 2,000 people flocked to Priory Park for the Festival’s annual opening weekend of Open Air Screenings; with ‘Barbie’ on the Friday night, ‘The Lego Movie’ and ‘Dirty Dancing’ on the Saturday and on the Sunday, ‘Wonka’ (in partnership with Stonepillow) and ‘Stop Making Sense’.

Now a staple of the Film Festival, some memorable live events included a captivating jazz performance by the three-piece ensemble, HarmonieBand which played their own score to Anthony Asquith’s stylish and atmospheric silent 1920s romantic drama ‘Underground’ at St John’s Chapel; the combination of live music and cinema was also seen during Buster Plays Buster at The Spring in Havant where drummer Buster Birch’s jazz quartet performed a wonderful score to the very funny ‘Sherlock Jr’ starring Buster Keaton which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year; The Chichester City Band honoured ‘100 years of Film Music’ at St Paul’s Church, with a specially curated film montage; Havana Bar played host to a special Prince-themed evening, with a packed screening of ‘Purple Rain’ followed by a club night; while the tapas bar El Matador vibrated to the sound of castanets with its tapas banquet and Flamenco evening following the screening of ‘A Chef for Dali’.In a joint venture with the Chichester Cabaret Club, the Festival presented a new Canadian film about a Drag artist called ‘Solo’ followed by a live performance from the club’s Mistress of Ceremonies, Dawn Gracie and entertainment from The Madame.

The Audience Award for best feature film went to ‘Blaga’s Lessons’ by Stephan Komandarev, and for the first time the Festival presented a new Gibson Award. Judged by Roger Gibson (Founder of the Festival and Chichester Cinema) and Walter Francisco (Artistic Director), it is given to the film which best embodies the qualities that Chichester Cinema has championed since its inception in 1979. The inaugural Gibson Award went to ‘About Dry Grasses’ (Turkey) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

The Film Festival is run by Chichester Cinema, the independent cinema based at New Park which is also a registered charity. With its small staff and team of volunteers, the annual event presented documentaries, a shorts programme, retrospectives and talks, and this year, a programme boasting films from 25 countries. Executive Director, Anne-Marie Flynn commented:“With titles from all over the world, we pride ourselves on showing films which are not available anywhere else, films which show the world through the eyes of different countries and cultures and this has also enabled us to work with other charities like My Sister’s House and Sanctuary to provide access to these films for people from a diverse range of backgrounds”.

Chichester Cinema’s autumn season is now open for booking and boasts a great line-up including ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, the latest in the Alien series, ‘Alien:Romulus,’ the French smash hit ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, a documentary on Wings, talks on the Sexual Revolution of the Sixties and the Rolling Stones on Film as well as a season of new eco-themed films in A Greener Screen programme.

For details, visit www.chichestercinema.org