Any film buff worth their salt should be heading to Stroud this month.

That’s because for the sixth consecutive year, the Stroud Film Festival will be returning to venues in and around the town.

“The festival is a non-profit collaboration between the twelve venues and partner organisations,” said organiser Andy Freedman.

“Stroud is fortunate to have so many organisations keen to participate, and it’s also lucky that we have a large number of professional film makers and serious film fans living in the area.”

The festival began on Thursday 27th February with a screening of the Oscar-nominated ‘Marriage Story’ at the Electric Picture House in Wotton.

The official launch of the festival takes place on Sunday 8th March at The Prince Albert Inn and Andy explains what visitors can expect to find.

He said: “We aim to appeal to an even wider range of film tastes than last year, offering a varied programme of films and film events — from award winning recent features and classic movies through to skateboarding films and films with a distinct Stroud flavour.

“There are workshops and events where people can dress up, through to films by young people and a chance to meet local film professionals.”

Andy, who has lived in Stroud for nearly 30 years, has experience in scriptwriting and cinema programming and also taught film studies and video production at a local college.

His experience in the industry is what prompted him to begin the festival, which he says has steadily become more and more popular each year since 2015.

“With each year, the festival has steadily grown in terms of the number of events and in popularity. In 2019 over half the events were sold out in advance!”

“The festival aims to give people in Stroud a chance to see films on the big screen and as part of an audience, the way films were traditionally meant to be seen.

“The programme aims to put on films which can’t be seen locally at the mainstream cinemas.”

Venues involved in the festival include the Lansdown Hall, Museum in the Park and Stroud Valleys Artspace amongst others.

“For the first time Rush Skatepark will be part of the festival, screening films inside their amazing indoor space,” added Andy.

“Another new venue is Studio 18 who will host an evening where a gathering of video makers projects their own work onto screens set up all around the
studio.

“The festival relies on the work of lots of volunteers and we thank everyone who’s given their time to make this happen, as well as Stroud Town Council, Stroud Festival, Rycote, Darbyshire and Film Hub South West who’ve provided essential support.”

For more information on Stroud Film Festival and for the full line up of events, visit www.stroudfilmfestival.org