Is there anything better than a night out at the cinema? The silver screen can make us feel a wide spectrum of emotions from joy one minute, to despair the next, jumping off the edge of our seats, to rolling in the aisles laughing.
Add a big bag of popcorn and a brilliant blockbuster and you’ve got yourself a brilliant evening, but what about that on a number of nights in a row? Sounds like heaven right? Well that’s exactly what you get with the upcoming Bath Film Festival!
Running from Monday 25 November to Sunday 8 December, this year’s festival offers more than 40 different films at a wide range of venues including the Masonic Hall, Chapel Arts Centre and The Little Theatre Cinema. So if you want to make the most of this year’s film extravaganza, why not take a look at our Bath hotels and make a trip of it?
The seeds for the Bath Film Festival were planted way back in 1990 when members of the Bath Film Society screened a number of French films in the city. After making an unexpected profit of £50, they decided to approach investors with the idea of a proper Film Festival and thus the Bath Film Festival was born.
While it’s been through some significant changes since then, this year’s festival is set to be the biggest and best yet. You can expect previews, Bath débuts, documentaries, family films and much more.
One of this year’s most impressive events is the annual Sound to Silents evening, where a musician is asked to compose an original score to a silent film. This year Adrian Utley from Portishead and Will Gregory from Goldfrapp join a 24-strong orchestra in the magnificent Bath Abbey to accompany The Passion of Joan of Arc – regularly named by critics as one of the greatest films of all time.
If that doesn’t get even the most ardent of film fans in your family excited, the festival is also a great breeding ground for young talent. With a short film competition and industry-run workshops, it’s the perfect time to get yourself noticed or start your own Hollywood story!
The full programme of events is still being rubber-stamped but lots of great events have already been confirmed over the period of the festival. Foreign language films, international documentaries and behind-the-scenes talks with industry experts join the usual features in what is sure to be a memorable week of fantastic films.
If you’re still unsure, here’s what the festival’s patron, none other than Ken Loach, says about it all: “Bring an open mind and prepare to be engaged: Bath Film Festival is not somewhere you go to be neutral, it’s somewhere you go to participate.”
Check out our Bath hotels and get yourself booked in if you fancy enjoying one of the best film festivals in the UK!
