About
Cheltenham International Film Festival is a non-profit charity committed to celebrating the culture of cinema and the art of filmmaking. We bring the finest independent films from across the globe to our community, host live events with both emerging and acclaimed filmmakers, and actively engage with young people from diverse backgrounds.
Now in its sixth year, the festival has showcased hundreds of films—ranging from features and documentaries to shorts—while organising masterclasses, workshops, and discussions that have involved and inspired audiences in Cheltenham. Our mission is to unite and energise the community through the transformative power of film, not just during the festival, but year-round.
But the Cheltenham International Film Festival is more than just film. We embrace the entire spectrum of the moving image. Last year, we expanded our scope by introducing television, with a special preview of the BBC drama series Boiling Point. This year, we’re going further by launching new strands in comedy and music, linking film with other art forms and mediums.
In our ongoing efforts to nurture young talent, we officially launched CineYouth last year, encouraging aspiring filmmakers and film students to submit their work to the festival. We continue to organise free film screenings and invite guest directors to visit schools, inspiring pupils and students of cinema by sharing their expertise.
As the years go by, we aim to solidify our place among Cheltenham’s premier cultural events, standing alongside the Literature, Music, and Jazz Festivals, and earning our spot among the UK’s most respected film festivals. With past guests including Dame Judi Dench, Ken Loach, Sir Stephen Frears, Timothy Spall, Steven Berkoff, Carol Morley, and Oscar-nominated director Jan Komasa—and this year, welcoming talents like Alice Lowe, Nora Fingscheidt, Tony Palmer, and Patricia Hodge—we are confident that we are on the right path.
History
2019
Cheltenham International Film Festival launched in 2019 and made an instant impact, screening over 40 films from 20 countries. We welcomed celebrated filmmakers including legendary, multi-award winning director, Mike Leigh; Oscar-nominated, Polish director, Jan Komasa; theatre/film director, Josie Rourke (Mary Queen of Scots); and actor, writer, director, enfant-terrible, Steven Berkoff, among others. We were joined by first-time features director, Carl Hunter, to introduce his opening night film, Sometimes Always Never, starring 2023 Oscar nominee, Bill Nighy.
2020
2020 – what a year! Never to be forgotten. We were well into preparations when Covid struck. Overnight we had lockdowns. Cheltenham International Film Festival became the first international film festival in the UK to respond by streaming its entire programme online. The reaction was positive. The Festival opened with Lost Transmissions starring Simon Pegg. Simon was also on hand via Zoom to introduce his opening night film. That year many of the world’s filmmakers took part in the film festival answering audience questions after the streaming of their films.
2021
The festival opened with a preview of the Oscar-winning film, The Father, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman. We were still bound by lockdown rules and continued to stream festival films through our new streaming service YourScreen https://watch.yourscreen.net. We marked the 50th anniversary of Stephen Frears’ first film, Gumshoe, with a special screening, accompanied by an interview with Stephen. We introduced a new category of award BEST FILM – open to emerging directors – won by I Never Cry (Piotr Domalewski).
2022
Festival highlight was “An Afternoon with Dame Judi Dench” before a live audience. This was our first full season back as a live film festival and we also streamed films to give access to a wider audience. Following on from Poland and Italy in previous years, we nominated Ukraine as our Country in Focus. BEST FILM was the Swiss-Ukrainian film Olga by Elie Grappe. Ukrainian films were stark, realistic and hard, none more so than Rhino. Rhino’s producer, Dariusz Jablonski, spoke about the film in the absence of the film’s director Oleh Sentsov, who had exchanged the red carpet for the muddy fields of war.
2023
The film festival celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2023, to much acclaim and well-received guests. Highlight was the presentation of our new Master Award to Sir Stephen Frears for his contribution to great cinema. We also took pride in screening the UK premiere of Ken Loach’s final film, The Old Oak, in the presence of the director. The festival opened with a screening of Typist Artist Pirate King and on hand were director, Carol Morley, producer Cairo Cannon, and the film’s star, Monica Dolan. We also welcomed Timothy Spall (Bolan’s Shoes) and talented directors, emerging and more, to discuss the films we screened as premieres. And, we added a new television strand with a preview of the BBC Television drama, Boiling Point, with cast, producers and writers.
Team
Leslie Montgomery Sheldon: Festival Director
Patrick Bliss: Producer/Head of Film Programme
Freddie Holding: Director of Operations
David Saitch: Director Film Traffic Operations
Roz Jones: Director Planning & Development
Jacob Ward: Manager; Web Site Management
Martin Harris: Volunteer Coordinator & Special Events
Hilary: Manager of Social Media
Robert: Website Tech
Film Selection Panel:
Ghislaine Agostini, Stephen Ilott, Pamela Weaver, Patrick Bliss, Freddie Holding, Roz Jones, David Saitch, Martin Harris.
Trustees
Michael Ratcliffe M.B.E. (CEO Cheltenham Chamber of Commerce)
Laurence Marks (film & television scriptwriter)
Laurie Bell (CEO The Cheltenham Trust)
Simon Sheldon (Harper & Sheldon)
Nick Blackburn (ex- Chairman, Eventim UK)
Michael Chittenden (Hotel Owner: Manor By The Lake)
Jessica Brewster (Director Roses Theatre - Tewkesbury)
Thank you
Ghislaine Agostini, Jeanette Blencowe, Jeff Downes, Robert Escott, Stephen Ilott, Caroline Lawrence, Steve Maynard, Clive Menzies, Gia Shin, Rebecca Trotter Pamela Weaver, Dan Wesolowski