Friday 23 February – Sunday 11 March 2018
www.borderlinesfilmfestival.org
From Friday 23 February to Sunday 11 March 2018 Borderlines Film Festival will bring 80 films and events to 26 venues across four counties in Herefordshire, Shropshire Worcestershire and Powys. Over that 17-day period, it is set to deliver another rich and varied programme in venues that range from large arts centres, assembly rooms, community cinemas, village halls and pop-ups. It will incorporate 260 screenings, more than ever before, with a 15% increase from last year.
For 2018, Borderlines has partnered with Film Africa, the Royal African Society’s annual film festival, to bring exciting new titles from across the continent exclusively to Borderlines. In 2017 Film Africa focused on women’s stories, a testament to the growing presence of the female voice in African Cinema.
Borderlines continues to adopt the F-Rated standard, pioneered by FilmBath, to promote the visibility of films that have been directed or written by women. Approximately one third of the films in the programme are F-Rated with 11 qualifying as triple-F-rated (featuring significant women characters on screen). These include Lady Bird, actor Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed directorial debut and Nora Twomey’s animated feature The Breadwinner about a young girl living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule
International Women’s Day on March 8 sees bespoke programming of four F-rated films through the day in the Studio at The Courtyard in Hereford. Three of them, the documentary about Nepalese circus artists, survivors of child trafficking, Even When I Fall (an exclusive preview, the first in the UK), Jeune Femme, and Stéphane Brizé’s A Woman’s Life, are triple F-rated.
Films from far-off places have always proved popular at Borderlines. Three outstanding films selected from WOW Film Tales of the Silk Road season will follow the ancient trade network of the Silk Road, from China, through Mongolia and Central Asia to the Mediterranean.
The Rural Media Company resumes its long-standing connection with Borderlines with the premiere of a new film about Travellers as well as a showcase of work by young people taking part in the BFI Film Academy and students on Hereford College of Arts’ short film course. Students from the Art College and from Hereford Sixth Form College will be curating and presenting a programme of shorts.
And Borderlines will be staging two outdoor cinema experiences – with food, drinks, and fire pits on hand – at the Left Bank, a convivial and atmospheric venue on the banks of the River Wye. Titles will be confirmed but are expected to include the documentary Buena Vista Social Club: Adios and another music film.
