'Pay what you can' festival returns with 150 films

The film festival will run for five days at venues across Sunderland

A film festival where moviegoers will be able to "pay what you can" amid the cost-of-living crisis has returned.

From Wednesday until Sunday, venues across Sunderland will show more than 150 short films featuring stars including Joanne Lumley and Cate Blanchett.

Festival director Chris J. Allen said the event, which features "everything from comedy to horror, and drama to sci-fi", was "growing in popularity" each year.

Leo Pearlman, who is helping to bring a £450m production facility in the city, said the event was "a fundamentally important" part of Wearside's development in film.

Joanna Lumley features in the film My Week with Maisy, which has been directed by Mika Simmons and will be shown during the festival

Each film is being shown as part of several longer films of different genres, ranging from 45 minutes to two hours 10 minutes in length, each day.

Screenings are taking place at The Fire Station, former church Seventeen Nineteen and The Royalty Theatre.

Organisers said they were "passionate about providing the best film content" to locals "regardless of financial situation", introducing the "pay what you can" option.

'Exciting time'

"We're really pleased with this year's programme, and I can't wait for audiences to see the films and special events we've got lined up," Mr J.Allen said.

"It's such an exciting time for film in the area and I think this really will be one not to be missed."

The festival attracted hundreds of entries from filmmakers across the city, the region and across the world, including Australia and the United States of America.

Sunderland City Council's executive director of city development, Peter McIntyre, said the festival was a "great place to showcase creative filmmaking" and continued to provide fresh talent with a platform in the city.

He said they were "so often the training ground for the stars of the future".

Mr Pearlman added it was "great to see Sunderland Shorts" continue to go from "strength to strength".