What started out as a few screenings of local cine footage in village halls 17 years ago is now the biggest and longest-running rural film festival in the UK.

This year celebrates the variety, imagination and excellence of British film.

Lady Kate Cotton, president of the Purbeck Film Festival said: “Names like Elstree and Pinewood may sound less glamorous than Hollywood with all its razzamatazz, but the film world knows that our home-grown studios created films which were every bit as good. “Many were produced on what nowadays would be regarded as a shoestring, but they have lasted the test of time and are classics of their genre.”

Highlights of the festival that launched last night include a very special charity screening of the groundbreaking animated Beatles film Yellow Submarine in aid of Dorset Action on Abuse, as well as one of the great British Ealing comedies Passport to Pimlico.

Celebrating the Jurassic Coast, One Million Years BC (the film that spawned a million Raquel Welch posters) is showing on Monday, while Danny Boyle’s British masterstroke Trainspotting will be screened on Thursday.

And what more befitting film for autumn than Witchfinder General.

Set in pastoral East Anglia during the mid-17th century, it stars Vincent Price as pious opportunist Matthew Hopkins discovering Catholic witches among the peasantry.

Shot on location it has a rich quality.

Some films date back to the 1920s, such as the silent movie Underground, set in subterranean London, while more recent releases including The Worlds End (starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) and The Great Gatsby.

Also look out for the black and white classic Whisky Galore and the iconic Withnail And I among the GH films screened over the three-week festival.

As well as the British films, there’s a sprinkling from Chile, Denmark, Iran, Japan and elsewhere.

And the venues across Purbeck are as varied as the celluloid.

Village halls at Stoborough, Briantspuddle, Harman’s Cross, Studland, Bloxworth and Lytchett Matravers will be opening their doors to the public, as well as other quirky addresses such as The Winchester bar in Bournemouth and the Square and Compass pub in Worth Matravers.

Not forgetting larger venues such as the Pavilion in Bournemouth, Lighthouse in Poole and the Mowlem in Swanage.

The Rex in Wareham has been involved with the festival from the start, and in 2009 the Purbeck Film Charitable Trust (PFCT) was lucky enough to buy the venue, bringing enormous potential to the future of the event.

As well as screening movies, this year Durlston Castle will be home to an exhibition of British film.

As well as a history of our film industry, and a small collection of posters, projectors and film clips, the exhibition will include a collection of the work of film photographer Arthur Evans.

Julie Sharman, administrator for the PFCT said: “While the festival has expanded over the years, we aren’t forgetting our roots.

“The first Film Festival was a modest affair. It was set up in 1996 partly to promote an out-of-season arts scene in Purbeck and partly to celebrate the centenary of cinema.”

The films were shown with involvement from Artsreach and Trilith, who sourced archive films made by local and amateur filmmakers.

It was well received by an enthusiastic local community, especially in those rural areas without easy access to public cinema.

The following year the festival quadrupled in size, and really took off in 1998 when it received funding from a Lottery grant, as well as charitable status and became a limited company. The help of many willing and enthusiastic volunteers has also made it into the success it is today.

“We never realised quite how well received and popular the festival would become,” said Julie.

“It started life very differently but it is still bringing communities together after 13 years.”

For more information log on to www.purbeckfilm.com