POSTPONED TIL THE 19TH MARCH

OR, THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE RISE AND FALL OF THE WORLD’S WILDEST CINEMA AND HOW IT INFLUENCED A MIXED-UP GENERATION OF WEIRDOS AND MISFITS
In Britain’s post-punk Thatcher years, the infamous and legendary Scala cinema showed a diverse range of films, from high art to cult classics, sexploitation, horror, Kung-Fu and LGBTQIA+. Nudging boundaries of convention, it became an inspiration for future famous creatives. With interviews from nearly 50 contributors, previously unseen archive footage and film clips, Scala!!! is an anarchic, uproarious documentary telling the riotous inside story, with an original soundtrack by celebrated musician Barry Adamson. Transcending nostalgia, Scala!!! is a universal testament to the power of cinemas, providing refuge and community for outsiders. A place where everyone is welcome.

Directed by Jane Giles and Ali Catterall. Barry Adamson, Stewart Lee, Cathi Unsworth, John Waters, Ben Wheatley, Stephen Woolley and others recount the heavy influence the Scala had on their art. To put everything in context the film also contains political and historical archive clips from the times.

PLUS Q & A

Aoife Ni Bhraoin (Kelly Gough) returns home to help her father Brendan ‘The Bear’ O’Briain (Lorcan Cranitch) in his recovery from a heart attack. During this time, Aoife faces the grief of her mother that she hasn’t dealt with until now. A lot has been left unsaid between her and her father. Aoife reacquaints with a group of rowers and this all-female team, who against the odds, take on a high stakes Naomhóg rowing competition.

Tarrac is a drama set at the edge of the world, the coastlines and sea of the Dingle peninsula. A place of wild geography, where the weather and the people have a mind of their own. Tarrac has warmth and a sense of place. An intimate character study of a woman who through a sporting passion finally manages acceptance and love. Laced with humour, heart break and exciting action set against the stunning landscapes and seas of the Kerry Gaeltacht, Tarrac is about daring to care again and learning the power of forgiveness.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

The debut feature of Charlotte Regan is a triumphant comedy-drama with a lot of heart and a splash of magic. After her beloved mother passes away, 12-year-old Georgie believes she can get by on her own. Scrappy and resourceful, she steals bikes with her best friend Ali. She definitely has no interest in getting to know her absentee father Jason, who drops into her garden one day – and back into her life.

With Scrapper, Regan is firing on all cylinders, presenting a refreshingly upbeat and vibrant spin on the working-class family drama. Charismatic newcomer Lola Campbell brings bounding energy and terrific comic timing as the irrepressible Georgie, while Harris Dickinson delivers an equally fun and empathetic turn as Jason, a man desperately trying to find his feet as a dad. Regan conceived the plot almost like a coming-of-age story in reverse. At the beginning of the film, Georgie is trying her best to be an adult, convincing anyone who’ll listen that she’s doing okay. Then, over the course of the film, she allows herself to be a vulnerable child again. It’s a sweet journey that will leave you wishing you could stay longer in Regan’s world.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

The feature debut of UK director Tim MackenzieSmith, Getting It Back tells the story of Cymande, a group of Black musicians who formed a band in 1970s south London. Cymande combined jazz, funk, soul and Caribbean grooves; although they achieved success in the US, the UK was largely indifferent. Subjects interviewed include musicians and DJs such as Mark Ronson, Norman Jay, Jazzie B, Khruangbin, Loyle Carner, DJ Maseo of De La Soul, Jim James and Louie Vega. Anyone who has listened to the Fugees, De La Soul or the Wu-Tang Clan, or who has simply been on a dance floor, will recognise their irresistible, infectious funk. The extraordinary Cymande story is one of joyous creativity stifled by political and institutional obstruction, it feels urgent and relevant.

This is the first ever film screening at Sound Records and will feature a set from DJ Will Mendoza playing music influenced by the band.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

Drawing on filmmaking talent, from near and far, this afternoon selection of short films will raise questions and provoke debate. These are journey films which take us from physical and spiritual places of conflict and lead us through difficult decisions and questions about the nature of family. Journeys which take place in both the inner and material worlds and ask how we get there?

These films also explore how short film can open up screen narratives and innovate within this varied and exciting genre of film-making. The screening will be accompanied by a Q&A and we encourage film lovers and film-makers to get involved.

The programme will include: Incompatible - Hayley Standing and Maxine Peake/ The Journey You'll Take - Filip Bos and Laura Makai/ Living in Limbo - Claudia Weston / Forbidden Birth - Sohrab  Kavir

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

The installation runs on both 16th and 17th March

Artists Anna Cady, Nick Grellier and Carolyn Black present a moving image installation within, and in response to, the fugitive, atmospheric essence that they sense in the Chapels of Rest. The buildings’ long use as places of transition, and more recently, their state of disuse and flux, have left their marks on the fabric of the building. The artists’ moving images communicate something uncanny that is of both past and present. A playful and poetic presentation with light, movement and sound.

Multiple films will be projected throughout the two chapels, on walls, roof and floors. The films will be looped and run continuously for the whole weekend. Prepare yourself NOT to see a film on a screen that is of a fixed duration! Anna, Nick and Carolyn will be there to talk with you and share their thoughts about the work.

Artists will be present throughout the weekend.

Disabled parking is available at the chapels, otherwise parking is limited on Bisley Road.

FREE Donations welcome at the door

PLUS LIVE DISCUSSION WITH THE DIRECTOR

Co-hosted by the Trinity Rooms Community Hub and the Red Hearth women's space, join us for an intimate evening as we dive into Estonian sauna culture and women’s healing journeys.

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Best Documentary Winner at the European Film Awards 2023) is a deeply moving, intimate and breath-taking approach to issues of trauma, healing and community. In the darkness of smoke sauna, women share their innermost secrets and intimate experiences. Through a sense of communion, they wash off the shame trapped in their bodies and regain their strength. With an authentic voice, born of their own heritage, filmmaker Anna Hints creates a transformative experience of being human within a female body, showing women as they are, with great emotional veracity and deep empathy.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

Drawing on a wealth of talent, from near and far, this afternoon selection of short films will engage and provoke questions. These are films which explore the importance of our landscape and its power over our inner and outer lives. The event brings into focus both global and local concerns, situated as we are, in the heart of the Cotswolds. The screening will be accompanied by a Q&A and we encourage film fans and film-makers to take part in a dynamic exchange.

These are films which grapple with the challenges of illness and the importance the environment has both for our souls and the future of humanity.

The programme will include: Blue Hour- director Simone Einfalt, music Mara Simpson/ 15 Years - Katie Mayhew/ Rise - On the Brink Arts - Megan Coleman /

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

PLUS A RECORDED Q&A WITH THE DIRECTOR

This genre-bending tale brings to life a futuristic fable that fuses spiritual beliefs with inter-generational tensions. Set in the matriarchal ocean village of Iyi, where West African water deity, Mami Wata, reigns via village leader Mama Efe it uniquely brings to the screen a story of mythology, fantasy, and folklore.

When the harmony of the village is threatened, two sisters must fight to restore order, as traditions of the past crash with calls from the future. This is the third feature from director C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi, who represents a new wave of Nigerian filmmakers.

The film is vividly shot in black-and-white and accompanied by an incredible oceanic soundscape and hypnotic score to frame its fantasy fable. It won the Sundance Film Festival: World Cinema Cinematography Award (Dramatic) in 2023.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

The installation runs on both 16th and 17th March

Artists Anna Cady, Nick Grellier and Carolyn Black present a moving image installation within, and in response to, the fugitive, atmospheric essence that they sense in the Chapels of Rest. The buildings’ long use as places of transition, and more recently, their state of disuse and flux, have left their marks on the fabric of the building. The artists’ moving images communicate something uncanny that is of both past and present. A playful and poetic presentation with light, movement and sound.

Multiple films will be projected throughout the two chapels, on walls, roof and floors. The films will be looped and run continuously for the whole weekend. Prepare yourself NOT to see a film on a screen that is of a fixed duration! Anna, Nick and Carolyn will be there to talk with you and share their thoughts about the work.

Artists will be present throughout the weekend.

Disabled parking is available at the chapels, otherwise parking is limited on Bisley Road.

FREE Donations welcome at the door

FILMS MADE IN RESPONSE TO THE 90 SECOND FILM CHALLENGE

It’s the 10th Stroud Film Festival and to mark the occasion come along to this screening of work by the people of Stroud made as part of the festival. THE THEME WHICH FILM MAKERS RECEIVED AT THE START OF THE CHALLENGE WAS …… 10

Compered by professional film makers, this will be a chance to see the films and applaud the awards!

Films made as part of the 90 second Film Challenge will be on the big screen. These are films made in response to a theme announced on 8th March and completed within 5 days.

Everyone is welcome to enter andto attend the three film making workshops earlier in the festival aimed at different age groups. Most people now have a phone which has the capacity to shoot professional looking films. But not everyone knows how to operate the features you might need, while a quick introduction to the world of camera angles, editing, scripting and sound will give people tools to express their ideas in an engaging way.

Expect to see everything from drama to sci fi and crime through to documentary, experimental films and music videos

WATCH THE FILMS HERE, NOW

All Over (10) Quid

Confused- a Short Film

Birthday Wishes

The Lotto

Esma Wanna Be Ten

Take 10

Ten Bridges

Tenfold

Ten Shots of Crazy Car Walks

NaN

Inspired by 10

Ten

Aisle 10

The Ten Curses of John Hegley

Stroud Ten Years Ago

£4 (free to entrants of the challenge)

PLUS Q & A

CHANGE OF PROGRAMME The recent success of Earth Mama has resulted in changes to its release dates. We programmed this great film in the autumn but are regrettably no longer able to screen this film in March. In its place, Stroud's Black Ark Media is pleased to have programmed The Last Tree

On its release, Mark Kermode made The Last Tree his Film of the Week. “A tender tale of an uprooted childhood with powerful performances, tactile visuals and an elegantly fluid score add to the impact of this impressively understated yet profoundly moving tale.”

Femi is a British boy of Nigerian heritage who, after a happy childhood in rural Lincolnshire, moves to inner London to live with his mum. Struggling with the unfamiliar culture and values of his new environment, teenage Femi has to figure out which path to adulthood he wants to take.

Shola Amoo’s direction is strong, and his film moves in unexpected directions. Stil Williams’ cinematography is divine. Adewunmi, Ikumelo and Pinnock  are excellent, with great performances from Tai Golding as young Femi, Denise Black as the foster mom, Demmy Ladipo as a gang leader and Ruthxjiah Bellenea as a potential romantic interest who shares Femi’s love for the Cure.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

Based on Isabella Tree’s best-selling book by the same title, Wilding tells the story of a young couple that bets on nature for the future of their failing, four-hundred-year-old estate. When Isabella and her husband inherited the estate to farm, they recognised how sick the land was.

The young couple battle entrenched tradition, and dare to place the fate of their farm in the hands of nature. Ripping down fences, they set the land back to the wild and entrust its recovery to a motley mix of animals both tame and wild. It is the beginning of a grand experiment that will become one of the most significant rewilding experiments in Europe.

Now it’s a place where mussel-diving pigs, storks and butterflies find sanctuary, and where thriving flora and a vast array of animals have taken back the land. This is a charming, hopeful and necessary story of ecological regeneration. Their grand re-wilding experiment reveals the untapped power of nature to rebound, and offers hope for conserving biodiversity the world over.

£7.90 / Have a ticket on us (pay-as-you-can tickets)

PLUS Q&A

Why don’t we talk about it? Fehinti Balogun asks this urgent question and offers an invitation in Can I Live?, a vital new digital performance about the climate catastrophe, sharing his personal journey into the biggest challenge of our times. Weaving his story with spoken word, rap, theatre, animation and the scientific facts, Fehinti charts a course through the fundamental issues underpinning the emergency, identifying the intimate relationship between the environmental crisis & the global struggle for social justice, and sharing how, as a young Black British man, he has found his place in the climate movement.

In the face of a sense of helplessness about the climate catastrophe, Can I Live? is an outstretched hand, inviting audiences to recognise they are not alone - and that through understanding the issues and connecting with the many powerful activists around the globe driving change, we can find a sense of hope for the future.

£10 / £8 concessions

SCREENING OF JAMES LEVELLE’S EXCITING ADVENTURE DOCUMENTARY

James is a nature-centric award-winning filmmaker, adventurer & storyteller - Discovery, Nat Geo, BBC - working in some of the most extreme & remote environments on the planet. Ambassador for all things wild & advocate of Nature-based, adventurous, and fun solutions to the ecological & climate crisis.

Inspired by the next generation’s efforts to make their voices heard in the climate emergency, James set off from the UK on a 9000-mile race to document youth climate messages and deliver them in a film to the United Nations climate conference in Chile.

His challenge was to get there by any means possible... fossil fuel free.

However, sailing midway across the Atlantic Ocean James received devastating news. The climate conference in Chile had been cancelled and moved to Madrid.

He now faced a seemingly impossible task... continue the mission to document youth climate messages in South America and find a way to deliver their voices to the UN conference in Spain.

On the 10th March James will be here in person talking about the many wild adventures of the trip and showing a few clips. Why not come along to both events.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

PART OF THE STROUD FILM SOCIETY PROGRAMME

Another film from Tarik Saleh who made The Nile Hilton Incident: a movie about the official corruption in Egypt which triggered the Tahrir Square uprising. His new film is a conspiracy espionage drama satirising the corruption of the church and state. A subtle character piece comparable to the intense conspiracy thrillers of John le Carre.

It starts when Adam (Tawfeek Barhom), the son of a poor fisherman, receives a scholarship to a prestigious university in Cairo, the power base of Sunni Islam. His family sees it as a gift from God, but Adam’s fortune sours when the school’s Grand Imam dies.

Fearing a hardline replacement, the government tasks secret serviceman Colonel Ibrahim (Fares Fares) with recruiting a spy, which is how Adam finds himself caught between a rock and hard place in a film that shows how the politicisation of religion – and vice versa – is the great poison of our times.

£8

AN EVENING OF INDUSTRY INSIGHTS: SCREENINGS, DISCUSSIONS AND MAKING NEW CONNECTIONS

Wondering how you remain profitable whilst simultaneously realising the film you have been dreaming of for years? Join us to watch a selection of short films made by directors working across the UK and hear from a panel of creatives instrumental in making them as they share their journeys in film and unearth strategies for balancing dreams with making the bread and butter. Whether you are just starting out, seeking new collaborations or just want to know more about the mechanics of the UK film industry, this evening promises to be a source of inspiration, knowledge and networking for filmmakers, producers and all film enthusiasts in Stroud District and the south west.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

COMMUNITY SCREENING
The community around the Salvation Army hall in Acre Street hosts an uplifting screening of the acclaimed true story Dream Horse. Inviting both horseracing fans and those simply seeking an underdog tale with heart, this crowd-pleasing film follows Welsh bartender Jan Vokes, who recruits her working class village to help breed and raise an unlikely racehorse champion.

Starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis, Dream Horse celebrates a community coming together behind an improbable dream. Despite knowing little about horse racing, Jan and her neighbours dare to take on the London elite with their working class horse who wasn’t bred to race. Through passion and perseverance, their long-shot quest takes thrilling twists on its way to a nail-biting climax. Funny, moving, and filled with performances as bighearted as the story itself, Dream Horse has been called a “fist-pumping crowd pleaser for the ages.”

Did you know that horses are part of the local history? - Acre Street and Chapel Street were historically homes to many stables,.

£4

The film’s director Sheila Hayman will be present for Q and A after the screening

Take a celebrated musical genius, sibling rivalry, an unknown manuscript, some very persistent research and one sensational revelation, and what have you got? Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn – the documentary from BAFTA-winning director Sheila Hayman that features global Decca star, Isata Kanneh-Mason.

The film reveals the extraordinary story of Fanny, a composer long sidelined to her famous brother Felix by the guardians of classical music, who despite being forbidden a musical career persevered, composing 450 works in her short life. Fanny’s lost masterpiece, ‘The Easter Sonata’, is brought to life by virtuoso pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason.

As she explores the music, the parallels between her life and Fanny’s become clear - including the challenge of being a pioneer with few role models in classical music. As moving as it is joyous, and shot on location in Berlin, New York, London, Oxford and Buckingham Palace, Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn is the story of a very modern woman – who just happened to live 200 years ago.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

PLUS TALK WITH THE DIRECTOR

COME AND MEET ADVENTURER AND FILMMAKER, JAMES LEVELLE AS HE TALKS ABOUT THE ADVENTURE THAT INSPIRED HIS DOCUMENTARY RACE FOR THE FUTURE.

James is a nature-centric award-winning filmmaker, adventurer & storyteller - Discovery, Nat Geo, BBC - working in some of the most extreme & remote environments on the planet. Ambassador for all things wild & advocate of nature-based, adventurous, and fun solutions to the ecological & climate crisis.

Inspired by the next generation’s efforts to make their voices heard in the climate emergency, James set off from the UK on a 9000-mile race to document youth climate messages and deliver them in a film to the United Nations climate conference in Chile.

His challenge was to get there by any means possible… fossil fuel free.

However, sailing midway across the Atlantic Ocean James received devastating news. The climate conference in Chile had been cancelled and moved to Madrid. He now faced a seemingly impossible task… continue the mission to document youth climate messages in South America and find a way to deliver their voices to the UN conference in Spain.

This talk is equally exciting for adults and children alike.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

FAMILY DROP-IN WORKSHOP WITH IMOGEN HARVEY-LEWIS
Calling all young designers aged 5+!

Design your own ALIEN film poster and become part of this year’s Film Poster Reinterpreted Exhibition theme ‘SCI-FI’. Take inspiration from the fabulous range of exhibition posters designed by the newly founded Stroud Illustrators Collective (SIC), our local talent of professional illustrators and designers on view at Landsdown Gallery 28th Feb – 5th March, MiP 1st – 31st March 2024, and at various popular satellite venues around town (see Film Posters Reinterpreted).

In the kind and inventive hands of SIC illustrator Imogen Harvey-Lewis, enjoy tips and hints on how to create an awesome and impactful poster of your very own. Watch films and get thinking….so many weird and wonderful beings to choose from!

This special drop-in workshop is for families with children aged 5+.

No need to book, just come along and enjoy.

Free but donations on the door very much appreciated - give what you can!

FREE but donations welcome

WITH AN INTERMISSION FOR TEA AND FRENCH CAKES
Made during the Nazi occupation of France, Marcel Carné’s romantic epic of the 19th-century theatre world is a life-affirming tribute to love, Paris and the stage. Based on a highly literate script by poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert, which draws on real-life figures of the 1820s and 1830s, Marcel Carné’s film is a lavish Dickensian drama set among the actors, criminals and aristocrats that orbit around a theatre on Paris’s so-called ‘Boulevard du Crime’.

Four men love the courtesan Garance (Arletty), most tragically the mime Baptiste Debureau (Jean-Louis Barrault), and their romantic intrigues play out in a backstage milieu lovingly recreated by set designer Alexandre Trauner. Trauner had worked with Carné on his classic series of 1930s ‘poetic realist’ dramas – including Drole de Drame (1937) and Hôtel du Nord(1938) – but as a Jew he was forced to work in secrecy on perhaps his grandest achievement. In 1995, the film was voted the greatest French film ever made by 600 industry professionals and now following a meticulous restoration looks and sounds as never before.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

Here’s a chance to make, as well as see films as part of the festival.

Most of us are very experienced film watchers and have a very good understanding of how stories are told in film. Lots of people are very killed using phones to shoot simple videos. At the same time, lots of videos which are made on phones could be more engaging by applying a few of the approaches used by professional film makers. And to explore some of the apps which are on many phones.

Explore:

• Ways of telling stories through camera angles, sound and editing techniques.

• Awareness of how different kinds of shot and camera angle are part of how we understand stories

• The power of editing and thinking more about where to make the cut in a scene and how to take the audience through time and place

• How sound connects with the pictures

With a little bit of expert guidance, we can pick up a set of techniques and key principles to think about which can turn recordings into short films.

No experience required.

Equipment provided. Who is this for? This session is aimed specifically at people aged 15-22 who would like to devise, shoot and edit their own short films

£20 / £10 / FREE

FILM SCREENING AND SKATE JAM/DISCO PARTY
Stroud Skate Crew present: Roll Bounce (cert 15)

Film screening 7pm

Skate Party - 9-11pm

Roll Bounce is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written by Norman Vance Jr. and directed by Malcolm D. Lee. The film stars hip hop artist Bow Wow as the leader of a roller skating crew in 1970s Chicago.

It's 1978 Chicago, 16 year old Xavier "X" Smith's local roller rink the "Palisade Garden" closes down and his skating friends find themselves spending their summer in the wealthier uptown rink "Sweetwater". Rivalry builds between roller rink star Sweetness and his crew the Sweetwater Rollers.  To earn their place at the rink Xavier's friends "The Garden Boys" enter a skating competition, pulling out all the moves they know.

This is a feel good coming of age film with plenty of skating inspiration and outrageous 70s outfits.

Starring - Nick Cannon, Meagan Good, Brandon T. Jackson, Wesley Jonathan, Chi McBride, Kellita Smith, Jurnee Smollett and Mike Epps. 

After being inspired by the film the floor will be cleared and the skates put on for a roller disco with live DJs playing music we love to move to.

Stroud Skate Crew was born in 2022 when a few Stroud based skaters connected through their love of rhythm and jam skating inspired by the Bristol jam skate scene. They have hosted jam skate parties, skate practice sessions and classes.

Tickets are available either for the film only or for film and skating.

If you stay for the skating there will be demonstrations by sister skate crews from the region and then you'll get the chance to skate with the crew, and learn a routine, but you must bring your own skates!  

(updated prices) £12 film and skate £6 film only

Tish is a tender portrait of Tish Murtha (1956–2013), a woman photographer from South Shields, whose work has been marginalised by dominant histories. Challenging the socio-economic inequalities of 1970s-80s Thatcher’s Britain, Tish’s political and intimate images chronicled the precarious and beautiful lives of the working class Tyneside communities she knew. In this documentary, the artist’s daughter, Ella Murtha, shines a light on the importance of Tish’s photographs, archive, and legacy; questions why Tish’s work has not received the critical attention it deserves.

For this two-part event, Tish will be screened in the SVA bar followed by a discussion with the curators, a local collective of visual practitioners (Hatty Frances Bell, Alice Butler, Anna Gormley, and Kelly O’Brien) working with expanded photography, film, and writing.

Afterwards, join the collective in the gallery, where a collection of works (and works-in-progress) made in response to the film and Tish’s life and practice will be shown. For this flash residency, Bell, Butler, Gormley, and O’Brien will activate the space with images, writings, interventions, and conversations.

The screening in the bar is tier-ticketed – with a free option available – and the gallery will be open to all.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

AN ALLSORTS RELAXED SCREENING
Please come join Allsorts for our relaxed screening of ‘Matilda the Musical’. Matilda the Musical, based on the 1988 classic novel ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl, tells the story of an extraordinary girl who, armed with a sharp mind and a vivid imagination, dares to take a stand with miraculous results.

Relaxed Screenings are designed for those who would appreciate a less formal cinema environment and the light and noise levels may be adjusted to make it less intense. Audience members are welcome to leave their seats, make noise and move around as they wish. Allsorts is a Stroud based charity supporting children with additional needs and their families.Please come join Allsorts for our relaxed screening of Matilda the Musical, based on the 1988 classic novel ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl. The film tells the story of an extraordinary girl who, armed with a sharp mind and a vivid imagination, dares to take a stand with miraculous results. Relaxed Screenings are designed for those who would appreciate a less formal cinema environment and the light and noise levels may be adjusted to make it less intense. Audience members are welcome to leave their seats, make noise and move around as they wish.

Allsorts is a Stroud based charity supporting children with additional needs and their families.

Children £4 / Accompanying parents and carers free

A film screening with live music, poetry reading and art exhibition exploring the connections between land, nature, people and flooding – all in the museum’s charming garden Pavilion.

Antony Lyons will show the film-poem ‘Fluid Forests - an ecological symphony’. This is an atmospheric, immersive work exploring some timeless watery habitats in the Stroud Valleys. For this premiere of the work, it will be accompanied by an improvised live music score performed by the Fantastic Future-Scapes project

Adam Horovitz will read newly commissioned poems relating to nature-based approaches to reducing flood risk in the Stroud Valleys. 

Joe Magee and Chris Uttley (Stroud District Council) present an exhibition of original artwork from the graphic story ‘Sound of a River’, which tells the story of a young Stroud resident’s journey of discovery after the flooding of her home. 

The collection is inspired and part funded by Stroud District Council’s Stroud Valleys Natural Flood Management project, which works collaboratively to reduce flood risk, improve water quality and restore nature in the Stroud Valleys

The film runs for 30 minutes.

£8 (pay it forward)

£6 (standard)

£4 (low income/cost of living affected)

FLIP BOOK FAMILY WORKSHOP WITH IMOGEN HARVEY-LEWIS

Calling young designers aged 6+ and their grown ups! As part of Stroud Film Festival 2024, this year’s Film Poster Reinterpreted Exhibition is taking on the awesome theme of Science Fiction, oh yes!

Get your pencils sharpened and ready to draw with SIC (Stroud Illustration Collective) co-founder, Imogen Harvey-Lewis.

Learn the simple steps to create an animated flip book of your own. From sequential story boarding, narrative, thumbnails and design, be prepared for some fun and intensive drawing.

Share your moving triumphs at MiP (the Museum in the Park), at home and online. Simple is usually best, so get watching movies, plan your pocket sized Sci-Fi story and come on down to create.

Relaxed and fun for everyone ... we can’t wait to see your creations!

And while you are at MiP, don’t forget to say hello to our amazing Acmiola, the sound and film editing machine used by the awesome and award-winning Halas & Batchelor animation studio.

Limited places so please book soon!

£10 Family ticket £5 child ticket

IMMERSIVE EXPERIMENTAL FILM EVENT

We invite you to Standish Gate house for an immersive film event exploring our relationship with the land.

We are all indigenous to the land and the event will explore how film, as a relational tool, can reconnect us to the land, and open up pathways into an imagination within and beyond us...

Grierson award-winning, Bafta-nominated and Sundance Institute filmmaker Elizabeth Stopford has spent the last decade developing a unique methodology that pivots on her relationship with the land. 

She believes that by anchoring in community and place, and deep-listening to the land, we can unlock our embodied imagination and emancipate ourselves from colonial patterns of “looking away”.

How can we creatively transform systemic and repeating patterns of trauma and disconnection in our communities? “Imagination liberates” is the ethos behind this gathering. 

Elizabeth will be in conversation with Eco-systemic author and psychotherapist Roger Duncan, also local to Stroud. 

The event will weave together film clips, insights into Elizabeth's filmmaking process, and experiential activities on the Standish land itself.  We will end with shared soup from Standish land.

“Narrative is radical, creating us at the very moment it is created. …” Toni Morrison

£20 (standard)

£10 (low income/cost of living affected)

this classic of british cinema will be introduced by film director david yates whose credits include the last four harry potter films and fantastic beasts

In Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s visually ravishing masterpiece, a young ballerina is torn between the demands of love and art. Like the heroine of Hans Christian Andersen’s source fairytale, whose magic shoes compel her to dance, Victoria Page – played by real-life ballerina Moira Shearer – finds herself driven to breaking point by obsessive Russian impresario Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) when she’s cast in his ballet The Red Shoes.

The film interweaves Victoria’s story, with that of The Red Shoes ballet in the most dazzling flight of fantasy in Powell’s career, scarcely matched in British cinema. With its captivating behind-the-scenes insight into the creative process, and characters for whom art is more important than life itself, the film has proved an inspiration to filmmakers and dancers alike.

For writer-directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, it represented a triumphant attempt to create a ‘composed film’ in which music – here by Brian Easdale – plays a more central role, demanding similar expressive intensity in every detail of design and performance. Fittingly, it won Oscars for both art direction and music.

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