THE INAUGURAL SCARBOROUGH FILM FESTIVAL 9TH - 12TH NOVEMBER 2023 will be a brand new, four day festival of screenings, exhibitions and events, bringing a diverse array of films from across the UK and the rest of the world to the festival hub at the McCarthy cinema and other venues across Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Full programme listing and ticket sales below.
THURSDAY 9TH NOVEMBER
OUR OPENING EVENT:
5PM @McCARTHY CINEMA, THE SJT
Bait and The Tide, plus Q&A with local cast and crew of The Tide
A night of films exploring the tensions faced by coastal communities.
Stunningly shot on a vintage 16mm camera using monochrome Kodak stock, Bait is a timely and funny, yet poignant film that gets to the heart of a Cornish community facing up to unwelcome change.
Locally made short The Tide is supported by Film Hub North through the BFI NETWORK Short Film Fund. It charts the fate of a rusting trawler and its beleaguered crew as they struggle to eke out a living from the waters of the North Sea beyond Scarborough.
Running time: 1hr 45mins + Q&A
Suitable for ages 15+
(Photo credit: Filmed production, Complicité's Can I Live? with Fehinti Balogun. Photo by David Hewitt)
8PM @MCCARTHY CINEMA, THE SJT
Complicité
Can I Live? plus Q&A with Fehinti Balogun
Conceived, written and performed by Fehinti Balogun
Why don't we talk about it? Fehinti Balogun asks this urgent question and offers an invitation in Can I Live?, a vital new digital performance about the climate catastrophe, sharing his personal journey into the biggest challenge of our times. Weaving his story with spoken word, rap, theatre, animation and the scientific facts, Fehinti charts a course through the fundamental issues underpinning the emergency, identifying the intimate relationship between the environmental crisis & the global struggle for social justice, and sharing how, as a young Black British man, he has found his place in the climate movement.
In the face of a sense of helplessness about the climate catastrophe, Can I Live? is an outstretched hand, inviting audiences to recognise they are not alone - and that through understanding the issues and connecting with the many powerful activists around the globe driving change, we can find a sense of hope for the future.
A Complicité production in association with the Barbican, London, supported by Doc Society and Oxford Playhouse. Supported by Arts Council England and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Running Time: 1 hour plus Q&A
Suitable for ages 12+
This screening will be captioned.
Content information: contains some flashing images, some strong language, explores themes of racism, classism and describes some violence.
Our screening of Bait and The Tide is sponsored by Craft, the festival's official post-screening social venue.
FRIDAY 10TH NOVEMBER
1.45PM @McCARTHY CINEMA, THE SJT
SHORT FILM PROGRAMME
Caribbean International Film Festival Presents: Caribbean Stories
Presented in partnership with Caribbean International Film Festival, this collection of varied, stirring stories from around the Caribbean
showcases the richness of culture, language and experiences in portraits from Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Martinique.
Curated by Barbadian journalist turned filmmaker, film programmer, and film exhibitor, Denyce Blackman.
Running time: 1hr 5mins
Suitable for ages 18+
5.30PM @WOODEND GALLERY & STUDIOS
SHORT FILM PROGRAMME
Queer Shorts: Liquid Thoughts
A series of short films that explore themes of water and queerness. Showing in collaboration with SJT, Crescent Arts and Scarborough Museums and Galleries alongside their current exhibitions, Always Been Here; and Garth Gratrix: Cheeky
Felicia.
Running time: 1hr 5mins
Suitable for ages 18+
8PM @McCARTHY CINEMA, THE SJT
The Old Oak, plus Q&A with lead actor, Dave Turner.
Ken Loach partners again with screenwriter
Paul Laverty for what is reportedly Loach's final film.
In a once thriving North-East mining community, The Old Oak is the last pub standing, kept afloat by a few remaining locals who feel abandoned by the system. When a group of Syrian refugees arrive to be placed in the area’s cheap, vacant homes, tensions begin to rise, but an unlikely union forms between the pub’s affable landlord and an aspiring young photographer.
Running time: 1hr 30mins + Q&A
Suitable for ages 18+
SATURDAY 11TH NOVEMBER
10AM @McCARTHY CINEMA, THE SJT
FAMILY FILM
Song of the Sea
This enchanting Irish animation tells the story of
Ben and his little sister Saoirse – the last Seal-child – who embark on a fantastic journey across a fading world of ancient legend and magic in an
attempt to return to their home by the sea.
Running time: 1hr 33mins
Rated PG
11.45AM-1.30PM @BODEN ROOM, THE SJT
WORKSHOP
(This is a free event, but please book to ensure your space).
Children's author and self-taught animator, Terenia Edwards brings an Introduction To Animation workshop to the festival.
Learn the basic mechanics of animating and make your very own thaumatrope (a spinning toy which creates a visual illusion) inspired by The Song Of The Sea!
Perfect for families - recommended for kids 4+
3PM @McCARTHY CINEMA, THE SJT
OUR COMPETITION SELECTION
SHORT FILM PROGRAMME
Yorkshire Shorts
We were inundated with exceptional films from all over the region. Our curation team have chosen a selection of their favourites.
There will be a Q&A with attending filmmakers following the screening and our expert panel of industry judges will announce their winner and runner up after that.
The panel judges are: Bafta winning drama director, Jordan Hogg; broadsheet film critic, Tim Robey; the BFI Academy’s Zoe Naylor and SFF’s resident blogger, freelance journalist, Laurence Boag-Matthews.
Running time: 2hr (inc. presentation and Q&A)
5PM @THE SJT BAR
OUR GALA DRINKS RECEPTION
CELEBRATING THE FILMMAKERS
We are thrilled to be partnering with brilliant local brewery, Brass Castle to celebrate our local filmmakers and their work.
When you purchase a ticket for our Yorkshire Shorts Film Programme you will automatically book your place at the drinks reception and receive a free Brass Castle beer when you show your ticket at the bar.
This is an opportunity for audience to meet the filmmakers and judges in an informal setting; for people to network and plans for future collaborations to be hatched.
Book a ticket for our Yorkshire Shorts Programme to attend this event.
7.45PM @McCARTHY CINEMA, THE SJT
LIVE PERFORMANCE EVENT
Revive
An exciting night of live music and spoken word and a chance to see archive film through a new lens. Environmental archive film from the Yorkshire and NorthEast Film Archive's current Nature Matters project, given new music or spoken word scores by five performers with links to Scarborough.
Our live performers are: Charlotte Brooke, Tanya-Loretta Dee, Charles Kirby, Charlotte Oliver and Jon Plant.
Running time: 1hr 15mins
Our competition prizes are sponsored by Local Properties.
SUNDAY 12TH NOVEMBER
11AM @SEAGROWN, SCARBOROUGH HARBOUR
Stories of the Sea: Artist Moving Image
Explore the work of artists who have focused on communities living in or near the sea.
Join us for a screening of Julia Parks’ Seaweed Stories which explores the relationship between people, seaweed and landscape, in the past, present and future, and Webb-Ellis’s For The First Baby Born in Space. Filmed during the long, hot summer of 2018, the piece features teenagers from Whitby and elsewhere, it records how their coming of age coincides with a time when so much else is in flux.
After the screening we will
be joined by the artists for a Q&A.
Running time: 1hr 15mins
Unfortunately the SeaGrown boat is only accessible via a series of steps so this venue is not suitable for wheelchair users or people with mobility issues. For more information, please get in touch with us at: scarboroughfilmfestival@gmail.com
4PM @RAILWAY CLUB, SCARBOROUGH
So, Which Band is Your Boyfriend In? plus Q&A with local musicians
Exploration of the real-life experiences of non-
male participants in the UK's DIY/underground music scenes. Through a series of interviews with members of the music community, the film takes a
look at their experiences (positive and negative), and investigates what can be done to make music more accessible to everyone, regardless of gender.
This screening is brought to you in collaboration with Record Revivals
7PM @RAILWAY CLUB SCARBOROUGH
Babylon (1980) preceded by the premiere of the visual companion piece to The Hydrogen Trees' debut album "Secret Arcade" and followed by Live Rebel Radics Sound System Set, in collaboration
with Record Revivals
A Young Blue (Brinsley Forde) aims for success at a Reggae Sound System competition, in this cult classic from Franco Rosso that pulsates with an irresistible dub soundtrack.
The screening will be followed by a live dub set by Scarborough’s very own Rebel Radics Soundsystem, they will also give a brief introduction to the film and sound system culture.
Screening in collaboration with Record Revivals.
THROUGHOUT THE FESTIVAL
DEVELOPING FILMMAKERS
THURSDAY 9TH 10AM - 2PM
FRIDAY 10TH 10AM - 4PM
SATURDAY 11TH 10AM - 4PM
SUNDAY 12TH 10AM - 4PM
@MANDY APPLE ARTSPACE
Scarborough is home to some vibrant young talent and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase some of their work as part of the festival.
A selection of films will be played on a loop in Mandy Apple's intimate lounge space throughout the festival. Please drop in and see what these talented young filmmakers have been working on.
Featured work includes:
VIDA - devised, shot and produced by BA Acting Students from CU Scarborough (pictured above from right to left: Joshua Parker, Ellen Ramos, Guilherme Nogueira, Lawrence Scott Sanders, Chloe Thompson, Liam Farricker, Jamielee Squires, Heather Taylor).
BIRDS ON THE EDGE - Produced by Arcade, in partnership with The North York Moors National Park trust & Scarborough Pupil Referral Service.
WRITTEN IN THE WAVES - devised, shot and produced by BA Acting Students from CU Scarborough, Chavez Idjerhe, Crystal Jackson, Selwyn Peterken, Luke Simpson.
THE WAIT - written, directed and starring first time filmmaker, Jessica Vautier
This event is FREE and unticketed, feel free to drop in any time.
