Dunoon Film Festival returns this Spring for its 12th edition featuring award winning films, special previews and events for the community and its visitors 8 - 10 May.
Audiences can expect community interest screenings, international and independent titles, family films and specials events centred around food, cooking, growing and food security.
Award winning musicians and filmmakers come to town for a film-filled weekend with highlights including a live film score screening, an 80s themed disco, singing in the round, Q&As and animation workshops.
Champions of celebrating Scotland, Dunoon Film Festival programmes titles that both highlight the landscape and spotlight varied Scottish voices both behind the screen and on screen. Dutch documentarian Bart Schrijver’s The North showcases Scotland’s West Highland Way and Cape Wrath Trail, in a powerful story of friendship, reconciliation, and the healing power of nature. A Gaelic Psalm singing workshop follows the arrival of documentary Sailm nan Daonie, with director Jack Archer and film lead Rob MacNeacail in attendance for an insightful Q&A at their preview screening.
Dunoon Film Festival, known for placing community at the heart of their annual event, places Dunoon locals at the front and centre of its programme. Brad Bird’s Academy Award winning Ratatouille will be followed by a free family workshop that highlights points in the film inspired by the works of Scots animator Norman McLaren. Attendees will make short films of their own using McLaren’s tasteful techniques, providing fresh opportunities and skillsets to the local Dunoon community.
Multi-talented animator Jim Parkyn (Aardman Animations) returns to host a free family workshop inspired by Bugsy Malone's most infamous sequence post-screening where participants can take part in a plasticine Grand Slam Splurge Out and make custard guns and cakes for an animated Food Fight.
Festival goers have their pick of special events. W.W. Young’s 1915 silent film classic Alice in Wonderland includes a Mad Hatter's Tea Party with bespoke cocktails and sweet treats from POP Shop CIC. Award winning musician Paul Harrison has composed a live score for the film, specially adapted for Dunoon Film Festival and will perform live alongside a band of all-stars from the contemporary Scottish Jazz scene. Ticketholders can enjoy music from vocalist Rachel Lightbody, tenor saxophonist Harben Kay, bassist David Bowden and drummer Tom Bancroft.
Iconic coming-of-age comedy-drama The Breakfast Club (1985) returns to the big screen next month and includes an 80s themed disco fuelled by breakfast rolls at Dunoon Burgh Hall.
Seafood canapes will be on offer at The Orkney Dive, a 30-minute documentary produced between 2023 and 2024 by Open Seas, a Scottish marine sustainability charity advocating for healthier seas, more vibrant coastal communities, and a sustainable seafood system. They wil asol be joined by Inver restaurant chef and co-owner, Pam Brunton, for a post-screening Q&A in the Burgh Hall.
Special guests also include Expressing the Earth director Glenda Rome and filmmaking duo Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard who once again reinvent the documentary form in the ambitious Broken English.
Jen Skinner Festival Programmer from Screen Argyll said: “We are delighted to be supporting the brilliant Dunoon Film Festival bringing an exciting programme of films and guests to Dunoon. There is something for everyone, from a celebration of silent cinema with jazz musician Paul Harrison, through to preview screenings, animations from around the world and classics like Amelie and An American Werewolf in London. It is fantastic to see the community come together and we look forward to sharing the magic of cinema with you all very soon!”
Ann Campbell, DCDT Partnership Manager said:
“Dunoon Community Development Trust is delighted to continue this partnership approach to Dunoon Film Festival with our friends from Screen Argyll, Dunoon Burgh Hall, Studio Cinema Dunoon, and POP Shop CIC. Having been involved in the festival since its first edition in 2013, I know that it provides so much more than just a programme of great films and activities. It brings our community together for new shared experiences, shows us different lives from across the world, and helps to spark conversations about our town and our aspirations for the future. As a Development Trust, we can then use these conversations to help inform community-led action for the benefit of our people and our place.”
Explore the programme at www.dunoonfilmfestival.org