Take a movie trip around the world (From Swindon Advertiser)

Take a movie trip around the world

7:40pm Friday 19th March 2010 in

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WITH the Cannes Film Festival still a couple of months away, Swindon is getting in first with its own touch of movie magic A new Swindon Film Festival is being held next month and, with an impressive line up of international movies, it is being called Around The World In 80 Hours.

The journey starts in Burma and ends in Japan, and takes in films from locations such as Brazil, Australia, Canada, Senegal and Wales in between.

The event will also be hosting the UK premiere of an award-winning South African film.

And there will be some unusual locations for screenings too, with some films being shown at Swindon Central Library, Swindon Dance Theatre and The Vic pub.

The festival begins on Thursday, April 8 at 1pm with a family fun event at Wharf Green, which will include dance displays, a bouncy castle, a visit from Alfie the Adver Alligator, plus screenings on the Big Screen of a variety of family films and TV shows.

The film screenings get under way in earnest later that day when the powerful, award-winning documentary Burma VJ is shown at Swindon Central Library.

Three films are being shown on Friday, April 8 – all at the dance theatre in Regent Circus – with the highlight being the first UK screening of White Wedding, a feelgood comedy road movie that was South Africa’s official entry at this year’s Oscars. Brazilian dance documentary Only When I Dance and Aborigine love story Samson And Delilah will also be shown there.

The Vic pub in Old Town is one of Swindon’s popular music venues and is appropriately hosting two music themed films on Saturday, April 10 – Canada’s Anvil! The Story Of Anvil, a funny and touching documentary about a once influential heavy metal; and Return To Goree, in which Sengalese singer Youssou N’Dour explores Africa’s musical roots.

On the same day, Wales and France feature in two farming documentaries – Sleep Furiously and Modern Life – which are being shown at Lower Shaw Farm.

Two short films looking at the life of Victorian writer Richard Jefferies, and they will be shown at the museum dedicated to his work at Coate on Sunday, April 11.

On the same day the Arts Centre in Old Town will show Indian family drama The Namesake, Antarctica set documentary Encounters At The End Of The World, and Japanese drama Departures.

Barbara Thompson of the Swindon Film Society, which helped organise the festival, said: “This is our first venture in running a film festival and we’re really pleased with the way the programme has come together, and with the tremendous support and encouragement we’ve had from the partners we’re working with, like Swindon Dance Lower Shaw Farm, and the inSwindon team.

“Like the title of the festival Around The World In 80 Hours says, the films in the programmes really do come from all over the world, and they’re going to take us to some amazing places, and let us meet some fascinating people.

“What they have in common is that they’re all beautifully filmed, and the stories that they tell are relevant to all of us here today in one way or another. The festival is going to be a real celebration of the extraordinary world we live in.” For more information, go to www.swindonfilmfestival.org