For nearly 30 years, Purbeck Film Festival has been bringing the pick of new and classic films from around the world to venues and village halls across Purbeck – and sometimes further into Dorset. This year is the 29th festival and the programme is one of the most varied and exciting yet.
There are special guests from across the industry, including Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, who will be at the Mowlem Theatre, Swanage, on the opening night, 18th October, when the film is the First World War drama 1917, which he directed.
There are films for all tastes, from Hallowe’en horror (Late Night with the Devil and The Shining, at the Mowlem on 31st October) to Fantastic Machine, a 2023 Scandinavian documentary that traces the invention of the camera from the first mechanical models to the latest technology (Poole Lighthouse on 23rd October).
And talking of taste, there is a lot of food – the theme for this 2024 festival is Food on Film. There will be suppers at village pubs and canapés at Creech Grange and Swanage Waterworks, alongside a feast of some of the greatest food films of all time, including Big Night, Babette’s Feast, Chef, The Taste of Things … and more.
Food and fungi
One of the most interesting new films this year has been selected for the gala evening at the Mowlem on Saturday 19th October – My Favourite Cake (Keyk-e mahboob-e man in Farsi) is a delicate and touching Iranian film abut the joy of sharing cake and conversation with a friend. It is impossible to comprehend why the Iranian authorities tried to ban this funny and moving film.
The Waterworks, a one-time derelict Victorian water-tower, has been imaginatively restored and is now an elegant and unusual venue. Festival films there include, on Sunday 20th October, an Ingmar Bergman double bill of The Virgin Spring and The Seventh Seal, both preceded by wine and canapés supplied by Wareham’s The Salt Pig.
Another theme is the environment, with outstanding documentaries including Wilding, Six Inches of Soil and Fungi: The Web Of Life, presented by Merlin Sheldrake and narrated by Bjork, and a weekend dedicated to the unsung heroes and heroines of adventure and war films particularly, the stuntmen and women, with films featuring exciting stunts and a chance to hear from four experienced stunt people.
Films come from all corners of the globe, this year including foreign-language films from Mongolia, Lithuania, Korea, Bhutan, Turkey and Georgia. Among the special double bills and weekend events, there is a sport double bill at the Mowlem, and a celebrations of two great directors, Ingmar Bergman and Francois Truffaut.
The oldest film being screened is 1944’s Gaslight, adapted from the Patrick Hamilton novel that gave its name to a particularly egregious form of coercive control – it stars Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. The newest is Sean Baker’s Anora, which is being screened at the Mowlem on its release date, 1st November. It’s an exhilarating comedy drama about a New York sex worker who is given a way out of her life on the streets: on a whim, she marries the son of an oligarch. It is also a searing portrait of class inequality in the USA today.
For the Purbeck audience there will be a special interest in Nuts In May, a famous 1976 film by Mike Leigh, which was filmed around some of Purbeck’s most famous and beautiful locations including Corfe Castle and Kimmeridge. It’s at Corfe Castle village hall on Friday 1st November.
The festival ends with the annual Purbeck Shorts film competition, with screenings and announcements of the winners, at the Mowlem on Sunday 3rd November.
As well as the principal venues – the Mowlem, Wareham’s historic Rex Cinema and Poole Lighthouse – films are also being shown at Carey’s Secret Garden, the Isle of Purbeck Golf Club, village halls, Dorchester Corn Exchange and Bridport’s Electric Palace.
