FOR two weeks this month, village halls, tourism venues and even homes across Dorset will be turned into cinemas as the Purbeck Film Festival celebrates its 15th year.

Originally set up as an initiative with Purbeck District Heritage and Tourism department to increase tourism outside the main season and celebrate 100 years of cinema, the event is now the longest-running rural film festival in the UK.

“In the first year the Rex Cinema in Wareham was involved alongside other local venues and a small number of village halls,” explained Julie Sharman, administrator of the Purbeck Film Charitable Trust Ltd.

“This first year’s event was so successful that the festival continued and in due course a committee was formed, calling itself The Purbeck Film Festival.

“A lottery grant was then awarded to establish the festival over a number of years, and this gave the stability that was needed.”

It was around this time that Purbeck Film Festival achieved charitable status and also became a limited company.

Organisers now hope the festival, which is supported by South West Screen, Purbeck Ice Cream and many other local businesses and organisations, will bring films to local people that they might not otherwise see as well as bring the community together. This year’s themes will be the genius of Hitchcock and winners; films which have either been nominated for or have won Oscars in Hollywood or accolades at Cannes.

There will also be a collection of Greek films, plus the usual range of more than 50 films from many cultures, to be screened in more than 20 venues across Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole.

“Each year the Festival makes a selection of the films that we think our audience will like and gives about 100 performances in the last two weeks of October in venues throughout Purbeck as well as at Lighthouse in Poole,” said Julie.

“The main cinema is the Rex in Wareham, but we also show films at local village halls and unusual venues all over the place – Saving Private Ryan in Bovington Tank Museum a recent example – wherever in fact we can find a 13amp plug and an enthusiastic local organiser. Each of the wide range of films is personally introduced with printed Film Notes and, where possible, filmmakers are invited to give talks about their films and answer questions from the audience.”

This year’s programme opens on Friday October 14 at the Rex with the Oscar-winning short from 2010 The Lost Thing, a richly-imagined story with overtones of Tim Burton of what it is like to be an outsider.

This will be followed by Cave of Forgotten Dreams, in which director Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France.

Other highlights include Armadillo, an austere documentary tracking a Nato-attached Danish platoon’s six-month tour of duty, and Night and The City, a film about a sleazy, two-bit hustler on the make in London’s underworld for that never-to-work-again job.

It may not have the glamour, the finance or the numbers of Cannes, but the Purbeck Film Festival prides itself on providing high calibre films to suit all tastes in venues as varied as shops, sailing clubs, hotels, pubs and even garden centres.

“We feel there is a strong need within the community for the Purbeck Film Festival to exist, and it serves an essential purpose – to bring the community together to celebrate film and to take film to rural venues,” said Julie.

“The Purbeck Film Festival has been, and continues to, run purely through the hard work and dedication of a very special group of volunteers, who hope to continue running the festival and the Rex Cinema, with help and support from the local community, for many years to come.”

Short films invited

AFTER a successful launch two years ago, the Purbeck Film Festival is again inviting entries of short films for its Purbeck Shorts evening, to be held during the festival on Friday October 21 in the Rex Cinema, Wareham.

There will be two awards, The Judges’ Choice Award and The Audience Choice Award.

Film-goers are invited to enjoy some wonderful, quirky, compelling and serious short films throughout the evening and vote for their favourite.

Some of the directors will be attending and can give an insight into the making of the films and the judging panel will consist of industry experts.

• This year’s festival runs from October 14 to 29. Booklets, which contain ticket-booking information, are available at Tourist Information Centres, shops, libraries, all venues and other outlets throughout Dorset.

For enquiries or to request a programme email info@purbeckfilm.com or call 07939 968238.