Our 30th Festival Year Begins

Quotes from two of our esteemed patrons to mark the start of our 30th year celebrations:

Award-winning screenwriter, Olivia Hetreed:

“What an achievement.

Actor, director and playwright, Sir Mark Rylance:

“Hello to all my fellow lovers of Film in Purbeck,

We are indisputably lovers of film as this our Purbeck Film Festival celebrates its 30th Anniversary this year. Quite remarkable when most cinema festivals and indeed cinemas themselves are struggling to survive the juggernaut of new technology. Of course, cinema has survived the invention of sound, of tv and computers…will it survive the isolating technology of AI. Artificial intelligence, which puts the mind and knowledge before the heart and soul of what it is to be human?

Films have always known that the human heart is where real change occurs. Have we ever known a world where a change of heart is more necessary. We are flooded with knowledge and information. What good is it doing us without a change of heart? I have had my heart broken and healed many times watching films over the last 65 years. The intimate connection with characters is incomparable. Yes, I can watch them alone at home like you. Many watch them alone now on their telephones. And so, the unnatural world is reduced by the human gods of efficiency and convenience, because we all know it is more convenient, efficient, to move alone than in a group. But when we gather inconveniently, inefficiently, in groups, to celebrate, to protest, to enjoy great sports, great stories; when we share a story as a group, when we make
a story as a group, debate a story as a group, how much more fulfilling it is than on our own, and how much more powerful for the heart.

I hope you come out and enjoy this year’s festival of films. I am told it begins on May 16 with a special event at Encombe House, thanks to the Dagerro Family, and then the main event is in the Autumn. As a film maker, I know small festivals like ours are a god send for film makers, often imagining something different than the mainstream world, as we all do who live on the beautiful Isle of Purbeck.”

Bookings are now open for our Encombe House Celebrations on May 16th.