MOVIE fans will be treated a fortnight of fun, drama, and comedy when Purbeck Film Festival enters the spotlight once again.

The annual film festival, which is marking its 28th year, takes place between October 20 and November 4.

More than 80 films new and old will be screened in over 30 venues across Purbeck.

Venues include popular cinemas such as the Mowlem in Swanage and Wareham’s Rex to village and church halls, Durlston Castle and even a tennis and croquet club.

The festival launches on October 20 with three films in Swanage, Bridport and Poole – French-made, One Fine Morning, Emmanuelle Nicot’s debut Love According to Dalva, and Luna: A Yak in the Classroom.

Four Q&A sessions will take place with directors and film industry guests, two French evenings, a Spanish and New Zealand evening, one pre-view documentary, and some nostalgic English films, including Tony Hancock’s Punch and Judy Man, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary.

Films being shown over the two weeks range from well-known classics such as 84 Charing Cross Road, Don’t Look Now, and Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove, to some of this year’s best films including The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, to Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, about a group of Syrians arriving in a former mining area of the north east.

How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Where the Crawdads Sing and Once Upon a Time in the West will also be screened.

Actors featured in this year’s films include Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hanks, Bill Nighy, Al Pacino, George Clooney, Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Olivia Colman, and Tony Hancock.

Hancock’s 1963 film The Punch and Judy Man will be introduced at the Mowlem by Tom Dommett of the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society.

Patrons of this year’s festival are Bafta-nominated screenwriter Olivia Hetreed, producer Andy Paterson, and actor and playwright Sir Mark Rylance.

Purbeck Film Festival said: “Their support gives a boost to the small group of volunteers who organise the festival – but just as important will be the sight of (hopefully) packed audiences enjoying the films, with or without a Purbeck ice-cream.”

For more information, visit purbeckfilm.com.