this year’s festival brings 48 events to 12 independent venues in stroud district over 16 action-packed days!

From its beginnings in 2014, the Festival has worked with a wide range of partners to create a programme of films which aims to be enjoyable, informative and inspiring for a broad variety of tastes. This year topics range from swimming, blacksmiths and a health spa to poetry, access to nature and protest. The festival also aims to screen films in a wide range of venues and for audiences who wouldn’t necessarily see themselves as ‘film festival goers’.

The programme aims to include movies which didn’t reach the audience they deserve, when they were first released. So director Chloé Zhao’s story of Texan rodeo riders, The Rider, begins the festival while Jessie Buckley’s first big film, Wild Rose, will be the finale.

Local, national and international independent films are all in the programme, many of them award winning. With the aim of connecting film makers with audiences through cinema, the festival brings the directors, writers and actors behind many of the films to talk about their work. Events are typically more than a film screening and often involve speakers, discussion, music or food. Films will be found this year at arts venues, youth groups, community hubs, film societies, a brewery, a pub, two charities and two cinemas!

Ticket prices for many events continue at the same level as last year with the same three tier approach, (£4/£6/£8). The audience numbers for the 2025 festival were at a record level and it’s hoped that this pricing policy will also encourage more people to attend events this year.

Much appreciated support for the festival this year comes from Ecotricity, Bath Spa University, Renishaw, Good Small Farms, Vue Cinemas, Five Valleys and Humphries and Begg. The British Film Institute provides not only financial support but also advice and encouragement, which enables the festival to evolve. Without the help of these organisations, the programme would be less exciting and diverse and the ticket prices would be higher! At the same time, the festival is hugely appreciative of the role of its partners and of the participation of you, the audience!

Stroud will see a festival programme which is the most varied yet! For the first time audiences can explore immersive screenings, where new and creative storytelling is available using the latest Virtual Reality technology. Hosted at the Museum, this is a partnership with Bath Spa University and the BFI. By way of contrast, the same day a relaxed screening has been programmed by youth members of the charity Allsorts which works with families with children with additional needs. They’ve chosen Mamma Mia! which will be on the big screen with big sound at Lansdown Hall. On the same action packed weekend, Somali Kitchen Bristol will be coming to introduce Brides at the Trinity Rooms and will welcome the audience with food and lead a panel discussion.

Films exploring current topics include Lute Como ma Memima (Fight Like a Girl) about protest in Brazil and Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, a recent award winning film from Palestine. Blue Has No Borders brings together the experiences of Folkestone residents and refugees, while Shoot the People explores the work of photographer Misan Harriman in documenting the power of protest and activism.

Classic films are represented with Roman Holiday and The Philadelphia Story screened at Cotswold Playhouse and Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard’s debut, at the Electric Cinema Wotton which will also screen The Story of Rocky Horror.

The festival supports local film-makers: short films by industry professionals connected with Stroud and shorts made by and curated by young people feature in separate events at SVA. Local artists’ work features in Christine Felce’s 16mm films from the 1980s, recovered after being thought lost in a fire, at the Museum in the Park, and Pip Heywood shares his landscape and poetry work on screen. The 90 Second Film Challenge returns this year to encourage everyone to make a film and everyone is invited to the films premiered on the last day of the festival.

Two new partners will be screening events at the Museum in the Park. Nomad Architecture are showing films which explore extraordinary building techniques from around the world, while We Swim is a programme of films about people, swimming pools and community, run in collaboration with the Friends of Stroud Lido.

And there’s much more which we hope you will find enjoyable, thought-provoking and inspiring!

Enjoy it all!

Katharina Child, Claire Levy, Andy Freedman, Derrick McLean, Paul Freedman and Hatty Bell.