Purbeck Film Festival returns for its 30th year with open-air screenings across Purbeck’s most extraordinary locations.
A medieval castle lit for Wicked, Jaws screened beside a real swimming pool, a woodland clearing hosting children’s classics under the trees. This summer, the award-winning Purbeck Film Festival is transforming some of Dorset’s most extraordinary locations into open-air cinemas – and celebrating 30 years of doing exactly that.
The festival has always focused on place as much as film: choosing settings that don’t just host a screening but change how it feels to watch one. This year’s programme takes that approach further than ever.
At Corfe Castle over the August Bank Holiday, audiences will watch films within the medieval ruins themselves, lit to reflect each title. Screenings include Paddington 2 and a Wicked-inspired evening, where marmalade orange, green and pink lighting will transform the ancient stonework. Visitors can also arrive by the Swanage Railway’s popular Sunset Shuttle – making the journey itself part of the night out.
At Knoll House Hotel in Studland, guests take their seats poolside to watch Jaws – Dorset’s own stretch of water standing in for a certain infamous stretch of New England coast.
The Blue Pool provides a natural stage for Labyrinth, Jim Henson’s cult fantasy, its wooded banks lending the film a genuinely otherworldly atmosphere. Nearby, Careys Secret Garden hosts The Magic Faraway Tree in a real woodland clearing, opening the family’s enchanting, scented gardens to all.
The season opens on Saturday 15 August with a return to Langham Wine Estate, following last year’s sell-out event. The Blues Brothers – already one of the festival’s most popular nights – pairs its much-loved soundtrack with local wine in a setting that has quickly become a crowd favourite.
The festival closes at The Blue Pool with The Devil Wears Prada 2, one of the year’s most talked-about releases – a characteristically sharp final note.
Claire Burns, Festival Director, said: “We’ve always focused on matching films with places in a way you can’t replicate inside a cinema. Our 30th year is about doing that at its very best — using locations across Purbeck to create something people will genuinely travel for.”
Now in its 30th year, Purbeck Film Festival is one of the UK’s longest-running rural film festivals, run as a charity with strong local support.
Tickets on sale now at www.purbeckfilm.com
