LANSDOWN HALL

Faces Places sees iconic filmmaker Agnès Varda on a road trip with photographer JR in his magical photo booth-enhanced truck. Using chance encounters and prepared projects, they travelled through rural France, listening to residents, photographing them, and plastering large-scale portraits across unconventional locations. A deeply charming and life-affirming look at not only the subtle power of community, but the inspiration that comes from the most cross-generational of friendships.

7:30pm | £6/£5concs

ATELIER

Maybe She’s Born With It is a collection of short films made by individuals from the Stroud Women Filmmakers Collective. This is the premiere of the Collective’s participation at the Stroud Film Festival with the intention of celebrating female filmmakers, and to offer their unique female gaze on subjects, ideas and stories which tickle their fancy. From dark comedy to lilting folk music and everything in-between, the programme promises a taste of the magical, the real and the inevitable.

4pm | £6/£5concs

ST LAURENCE CHURCH

Strictly Cinema returns to the Stroud Film Festival for its third year, promising a night of suspense, excitement and emotion from the vaults of St Laurence Church. They are thrilled to be screening Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece ‘Vertigo’. Sixty years since its first release, this is an unmissable chance to watch this bewitching American film noir, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, in the church’s shadowy pews. An intense and powerful psychological thriller, expect twists and falls along the way.

Dressing up encouraged! Come as the villain or the lover, film noir chic in your 1950s best! A cocktail and canapés from Derrick McLean from Jamaica Inn Kitchen included…

7:30pm | £12(incl. welcome drink and food)

OPEN HOUSE

A workshop with Hollywood director Marc Jobst. How do you approach a script and turn it into a film? How do you harness the individual talents within a film crew?

With so many creative departments in a production (casting, camera, design, costume, make-up, sound, editing, music, props, accounts), directing a film is sometimes a triumph of will over logic. At best, creativity works together to make a script sing, at worst it pulls apart into fractious individualism.

Sharing some of the obstacles, battles, triumphs and pure magic of the process of fiction film-making, this is a roll-your-sleeves-up discussion about driving a film onto the screen.

Marc Jobst started in theatre then worked as a producer/director at the BBC for 10 years. An independent director for 20 years, his recent credits include Daredevil, The Punisher, Luke Cage for Marvel Studios/Netflix; Tin Star with Tim Roth for Amazon/Sky; Hannibal with Mads Mikkelson and Laurence Fishburne for NBC, and most recently Berlin Station with Rhys Ifans, Richard Jenkins and Ashley Judd for Epix/Paramount. He is attached to a number of ongoing feature and TV films.

Illustration by Joe Magee

3-5:30pm | £6/£5concs

LANSDOWN HALL

What is Stroud? Stroud Community TV presents an evening of films by and about the people of Stroud and its Five Valleys, showing off the community that we are when we’re being our best.

Hosted by BBC Gloucestershire’s Faye Hatcher, with films by over a dozen local film-makers and music from Martha James, see aspects of Stroud you may never have realised were there.

The evening will also include six films chosen to represent the breadth of entries to the 60 Second Challenge.

(Modern Times is reproduced by kind permission of its artist Nick Cudworth, and with help from Stroud’s Museum in the Park.)

7:30pm | Free

OPEN HOUSE

On the 13th of February 2012 well-known war correspondent Marie Colvin and photographer Paul Conroy entered war ravaged Syria. Their intention was to bring to the outside world the plight of the civilians in the town of Homs, under heavy attack from the Syrian Army, which they did, but only one of them returned, and injured.

8pm | £6/£5concs

THE MUSEUM IN THE PARK

Creative responses to political and social issues featuring films and Q&A with artist film-maker Anna Cady and dancer Gabriel Galvez Prado.

30% (Women and Politics in Sierra Leone): Oil-painted animation combined with live action reveal the stories of three extraordinary women fighting for fair representation in the governance of Sierra Leone. Selected for Sundance Film Festival.

Bitter Pineapples: Experimental film techniques, with dance and documentary footage set in Mexico and England, express the role dance has played for Gabriel in coming to terms with death, abuse and exile.

8pm | £6 / £5 conc / £7 on the door

HAWKWOOD COLLEGE

A film directed by Peter Moseley. Narrated by his daughter Sarah, this documentary tracks the life and career of Lynn Chadwick CBE (1914–2003), one of Britain’s foremost sculptors, whose sculptures and drawings are displayed worldwide. He lived locally at Lypiatt Park for almost 50 years, creating a remarkable workspace and landscape for showcasing his work. Peter Moseley is an experienced director of photography on feature films, drama, commercials and documentaries for BBC, ITV and Channel 4, including Horizon, Arena and Panorama. Special guests Rungwe Kingdon and Claude Koenig worked intensively for Lynn Chadwick as students, and founded Pangolin Editions in 1984. Collaborating with some of the world’s most well-known artists, Pangolin has grown into the largest sculpture foundry in Britain. They also manage galleries, a charity, projects in Africa and a sculpture park, as well as commissioning books, films and exhibitions.

8pm | £7/£5concs

LANSDOWN HALL

Paweł Pawlikowski follows his Oscar-winning ‘Ida’ with the stunning Cold War, an epic romance set against the backdrop of Europe after World War II. Shot in luminous black and white and set to a soundtrack that takes you from rustic Polish folk songs to the sultry jazz of a Paris basement bar, Cold War is a wistful and dream-like journey through a divided continent – and a heart-breaking portrait of ill-fated love.

7:30pm | £6/£5concs

ATELIER

Stroud’s Secret Suffragist tells the story of the life of Margaret Hills – a prominent suffrage campaigner who worked tirelessly for women’s right to vote alongside Millicent Fawcett. It documents the journey taken by a group of artists, actors, historians, writers and community activists to illuminate this woman’s extraordinary life and legacy.

The film reveals why Margaret should be remembered, as well as how real and present the issues she was working for are to us today: peace, justice, equality, democracy, social rights, and affordable housing. Margaret’s achievements have literally changed the landscape of Stroud, and this event brings this story to life, one year on from the commemoration of women’s suffrage.

This is the debut film by local director River DriverSharp, and composer Dean Jones will be performing live music from the score. After the film Dr Gemma Jerome, writer Jacqui Stearn and director River DriverSharp will facilitate a Q&A.

Illustration by Joe Magee

4pm | £6/£5concs

THE MUSEUM IN THE PARK

Back again by popular demand! If you’ve yet to discover the innovative, humorous and subversively entertaining work of “the British Disney”, you are in for a treat.

Visit the pop-up cartoon café and enjoy some beautifully-crafted, technically-brilliant and wonderfully inventive short animated films from the award-winning studio, which was based in Stroud for many years.

All welcome, no need to book, just call in for ten minutes or stay for an hour or more. There will even be tea and cake…

11am-4pm | Free

SVA GOODS SHED

This is the story of Lost Vagueness – an anarchic area of Glastonbury Festival comprised of burlesque dancers, trapeze artists, sci-fi, edgy-art, casinos and reprobates – and the eccentric man whose brainchild it was: Roy Curvitz. It tells the story of Roy, a new-age traveller, who in the early 2000s founded the bacchanalian late-night area Lost Vagueness, a move that invigorated the festival just as it was lurching into irrelevance.

Director Sofia Olins was present for Lost Vagueness’s rise and demise, and her film offers some great behind-the-scenes footage, not least a bizarre conflict between Gurvitz and Glastonbury over a repurposed aeroplane cockpit that ultimately spelled the end of Lost Vagueness at the festival.

7pm | £6/£7adv from SVA Website /£8otd

OPEN HOUSE

A conversation about film with Kevin Maher, Chief Film Critic, The Times.

Kevin will explain what he does, how he does it and who he’s met along the way, including some well-known names. Why movies are, if you watch them closely enough, a vital part of how our society talks to itself. Kevin Maher was born in Dublin but moved to London in 1994, where he began writing about film for The Guardian, The Independent and Time Out. He became film editor of The Face magazine in 1999, and in 2002 began writing for The Times, where he is currently feature writer, columnist and Chief Film Critic. He has also written two novels, The Fields and Last Night on Earth.

3pm | £5

LANSDOWN HALL

Local documentary film-maker Pip Heywood will show films about extraordinary theatre, disability, walking in local woods, artists and poetry – a whole range of work – introducing each one, describing how they were made and emphasising how easy it is to start making your own films.

An entertaining and thoughtful evening, he will talk about his creative process, as influenced by his father, Oliver, who was a local painter. Pip’s books will also be available. Come and catch his enthusiasm, and his strong but gentle eye on the world…

8pm | £5

ELECTRIC PICTURE HOUSE

Nominated for 2018’s top prize at Cannes, Lee Chang-dong creates a mysterious world of immense power; and his epic, slow-burning film immerses the viewer in the world of his characters whilst exploring male rage, class conflict and working-class struggles, as well as unrequited love and the nature of obsession. Based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, this critically-acclaimed South Korean film tells the story of Jong-soo, a part-time worker who bumps into old neighbour Hae-mi. She asks him to look after her cat while she’s on a trip to Kenya, but when she returns, Hae-mi introduces Ben (Steven Yeun) to Jong-soo. One day, Ben visits Jong-soo with Hae-mi and confesses his own secret hobby...

7.30pm | £7.80adults/£6.70concs from wottoncinema.com or 01453 844601

STROUD BREWERY

In 1900s Vienna, mesmeric entertainer Eisenheim’s magical abilities are wowing the crowds, with an act that ranges from mere tricks to an apparent capacity to raise the dead. However, he has also long been in love with Duchess Sophie von Teschen, which puts him in dangerous competition with the violent, scheming Crown Prince Leopold, who jumps at the opportunity to have the magician arrested on grounds of necromancy. Written and directed by Neil Burger and starring Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti and Rufus Sewell, this 2006 production was also highly acclaimed for its score and cinematography.

A magician will perform before the screening and during the 15 minute interval…

7:30pm | £6 (incl. a drink)/£5concs

ATELIER

Come to the cinema and close your eyes... Why listen to words about cinema, when you can go and watch? This year Radio Cinema will take an unorthodox approach to the original concept. Come and listen in the dark... spoken words, music and sounds will create the images in your head.

This event is co-hosted by sound designer Dave Sheppard and radio enthusiast Kath Child.

7.30pm | £5

SVA GOODS SHED

UPDATE: we are excited to announce that Bill Bailey will join the Q&A, answering questions put by the chair and audience.

Joe Magee’s films have been screened around the world as well as on TV. A well-known artist and illustrator, and a Stroud resident, Joe’s work includes a broad range of film including drama, documentary and experimental pieces. This screening will include films he’s made during his 10 year collaboration with performer Bill Bailey. Standalone shorts for TV, film content for live events and animations are also amongst the films in the programme, alongside a Q&A with Joe.

8pm | £5adv/£6 from sva.org.uk

THE PRINCE ALBERT

The Prince Albert provides the setting for this unique chance to find out more about the festival. What’s happening over the next two weeks? Meet people who make films, people who enjoy film and some people who are in the films! See also a selection of inspiring short films and listen to the soundtrack through silent disco headphones.

4pm | Free

ATELIER

An opportunity for you to make, as well as watch, film as part of the festival. Develop your skills while you devise, shoot and edit a short video. Explore ways of telling stories through camera angles, sound and editing techniques. No experience required. Equipment provided.

After the workshop why not take part in the 60 Second Film Challenge?

Your Tutors are Andy Freedman and Amanda Whittington.

Minimum age: 14.

10am–4pm | £60/£15concs from atelierstroud.co.uk/product/film-school

LANSDOWN HALL

While the refugee crisis, reported so heavily over the last three years, fades from our screens, the story continues. The screening attempts to update our understanding of what life can be like for those who have made their homes elsewhere. The evening includes BAFTA nominated documentary A Syrian Love Story, by acclaimed UK director Sean McCallister. Filmed over 5 years it follows comrades and lovers Amer and Raghda through the Arab Spring and what follows. The event also features video diaries from former refugees, now settled in Europe and a Q&A between aid worker Dr Richard Dean, some of the films’ authors, and local charity workers. Richard, a Stroud GP, has been working in refugee camps in Calais and Greece intensively over the last 3 years. Many refugees have become friends and these video diaries hope to document how the reality of life in Europe lives up to their dreams and expectations.

7.30pm | £5adv

Following January’s screening of My Beautiful Laundrette (in which they managed to grab the assistant director for a Q&A!) film night at the pub returns to the Prince Albert with the Lobster by Yorgos Lanthimos starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz. In a dystopian society, single people must find a mate within 45 days or be transformed into an animal of their choice…

7:30pm | £5

ATELIER

A film event around the joy, interest and curiosity of going into water, whether cold, wild or in a pool. Why do people do this? Filmmakers have been fascinated by this question over and over again. Isabelle Rose Neill, director of Time and Tide will take part in the Q&A after the film screenings. The evening will also include an update on the Stroud Lido project by Jess McQuail and there will also be an introduction by Dominic Thompson to our area’s outdoor swimming clubs. Time and Tide: Every day of the year - rain or shine, the Clevedon swimmers plunge into the icy waters of the Bristol channel. From 10 to 80 years old, there’s only one rule - no wetsuits! The film presents a moving and often humorous look at life, death and friendship. Silent film from the SW Film Archive will also be accompanied by live music performed by Dominic Thompson.

4pm | £6/£5concs

ATELIER

A preliminary Stroud Film Festival evening at the iconic Atelier, A Pig’s Night Out warmly welcomes you to what really should be the first month of the new year - February. Hosted by a collective of female filmmakers with a special guest appearance, come and be entertained by a short collection of films to make the mind wander. Drinks, snacks and excellent company are also on offer, at no extra cost. They can’t promise you’ll leave not wanting more though….

7pm | £6/£5concs