Film festival returns with global cinema line-up

The film festival will include a live score screening of the oldest surviving animated feature film in the world

Warwickshire's Big Picture Film Festival returns to Stratford-upon-Avon this summer for a weekend of international cinema.

Organised by Live & Local, this year's festival takes place from 28-31 August with the theme of connection and disruption.

The festival, which is supported by Stratford Town Trust, will open with a screening of David Attenborough's latest documentary, Ocean with David Attenborough, after organisers partnered with local environmental groups Stratford Net Zero and River Hope.

Live & Local said the line-up included an array of cinema, from classics to modern independents, from live music scores to documentaries and animated works.

This year, the festival will be based at The Bear Pit Theatre every day, with additional events taking place at Holy Trinity Parish Centre and Stratford Youth Hub, as well as several fringe events in Warwickshire yet to be announced.

What's being shown during the festival?

The varied line-up includes a screening of the oldest surviving animated feature film in the world, Lotte Reiniger's The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), which will be accompanied by a band playing the original music for the film.

Another classic being shown is Toshio Matsumoto's debut feature Funeral Parade of Roses (1969), hailed by the British Film Institute as a "landmark of Japanese queer cinema".

Stratford-based refugee charity Welcome Here is partnering with Stratford Amnesty International Group to present a screening of the Iranian/Scottish co-production, Winners (2022) - a film set in a small Iranian town as two children find a lost academy award.

Also on the line-up is Thelma (2024), featuring 94-year-old June Squibb playing a woman seeking vengeance after being scammed out of $10,000.

Local groups Stratford Net Zero, Welcome Here, River Hope and Stratford Amnesty are also presenting a screening of the 2024 Oscar-winning animated film Flow, which follows a black cat in a flooded world, joining other displaced animals on a journey of survival and co-operation.

June Squibb stars in Thelma, a comedy drama about a 93-year-old woman seeking revenge after falling victim to a phone scam

Are other events taking place?

Several Q&A sessions will also take place as part of the festival.

Stratford-based Bafta winning duo The Brothers McLeod will lead a discussion about the life and death of ideas, called False Starts and Surprises.

The festival also welcomes Bafta breakthrough filmmaker Ella Glendining and international award-winning director Gordon Main for Q&A screenings of their documentaries.

Ella Glendining's Is There Anybody Out There? (2023) presents a first-hand account of living with disability.

Ella Glendining's documentary Is There Anybody Out There? explores living with a disability and ableism in society

Gordon Main's London Recruits (2024), tells the story of the undercover anti-racism missions carried out by ordinary Londoners during the South African apartheid.

Screenwriter Geoff Thompson, director Michael B. Clifford and producer Natasha Carlish - all from Warwickshire - will also do a Q&A event about their trilogy of three short films, filmed across two decades, including Bouncer, which starred Ray Winstone and Paddy Considine, and Brown Paper Bag, which won a Bafta.

Alongside the main festival, there will also be an awards ceremony and Q&A screening of this year's short film competition winners.

The moment the short film Brown Paper Bag won a Bafta

How much do tickets cost?

The festival has maintained its pay-as-you-feel box office, with organisers saying this meant there was "no financial barrier to attend".

Chris Davis from Live & Local said: "We are extremely grateful for the support of Stratford Town Trust, which has allowed us to bring our film festival back to the town and also helps to make the festival more accessible to audiences.

"We have some great events lined up and we encourage audiences to come along and enjoy, whatever their budget."