IT starts with a gentle family drama from Spain, it ends with blood-letting and zombies on a Korean train, and in between there are treats from around the globe.

And a 70th birthday to boot in the middle of it all.

Swindon Film Society begins it annual tour of world cinema on Wednesday, with a screening of The Olive Tree, which tells the story of a young Spanish woman who sets out on a quest to find the titular tree which was sold against the wishes of her beloved grandfather.

And there is a British connection to the film - it was written by Paul Laverty, a long-time collaborator of Ken Loach.

Then we are off to France on September 20, when the film society is showing Frantz, a 2016 romantic drama set in 1919 and telling the story of a young German woman grieving her lover killed in the First World War and establishing a relationship with a young French man.

Egypt next, on October 4, and the claustrophobic and powerful Clash, a story set entirely in a police van, as a political riot rages all around among revolutionary demonstrators in 2013.

A further 11 films follow throughout the season, culminating with that zombie express movie, Train To Busan, on March 28. As the title suggests, the story takes place aboard a train travelling from Seoul to Busan, in South Korea - and during the journey, the apocalypse begins. Hmmm...

And those birthday celebrations? This season marks the 70th anniversary of the Swindon Film Society, and a special screening is being held on October 18 when the society will show the 1947 film The Ghost And Mrs Muir, which stars Rex Harrison as the ghost of an English sea captain who “haunts” a widow and her daughter in a seaside cottage.

All films this season are being shown at the Swindon Arts Centre in Old Town, and start at 7.45pm. You can find more information on the films, plus prices and membership details, at http://www.swindonfilm.org.uk/