Your views and your feedback

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Thanks to all of you who provided feedback: it’s great to have your suggestions and comments as they are taken into account in an attempt to keep improving and give you what you want. Here is a selection of your views:

General:

  • Very welcoming helpers and atmosphere and we enjoyed the introductions from the Director before the films. Great films.
  • More of the same mix please
  • Excellent varied choice of films
  • An excellent event for Sherborne, lots of unusual films
  • There’s nothing to improve, excellent throughout
  • Great organisation. Nice to have some good food
  • We always look forward to the festival and this year has not disappointed. Well done and thank you.
  • Most enjoyable. I look forward to the festival every year.
  • Thank you for enabling me to see three films I would not otherwise have seen.
  • Introductions good; seats not quite so good; screen and sound good
  • The variety and quality of the films were excellent. All so enjoyable – thank you.
  • Excellent choice of films and venue
  • We are thrilled by the festival – excellent, interesting choice of unusual films and a very enjoyable experience. Terrific for Sherborne.
  • Having tried it, I found that watching three films in one day is quite fine, one gets into a rhythm of its own!
  • Suggestions:
  • Missed Far Eastern films this year.
  • Excellent organisation – ran like clock-work. Difficult to fit in meals – a slightly longer gap would be nice. Buffet at The Arch an excellent idea – opportunity to pre-order drinks while at the theatre might help those on the quick turnaround
  • Show children’s film on Saturday morning.
  • How about a Western on Saturday morning?

 Catering:

  • I liked the between film snacks better last year
  • With limited time between films, better option of snacks and drinks in venue (last year’s better)
  • School food service needs better coordination with showing times – suggest 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after the interval service

Animal Kingdom:

  • Stunning, so unlovely, so brutally honest
  • The speech in Animal Kingdom at times seemed unclear. I also found the overall sound volume was rather loud for my ears.

 Heartbreaker:

  • Light, amusing, visual, intelligent
  • Good to laugh and hear others enjoying the humorous moments too
  • I found the sound too loud.

French Cancan:

  • Wonderful visually, above expectations on painting effects
  • Desert island movie
  • Absolutely fantastic. Great fun. Thoroughly enjoyable.

 Biutiful:

  • Uxbal was beautiful
  • Brave film. Need to see things like this
  • Director brilliant, photography and acting brilliant but very harrowing and “in your face” subject. Much food for thought.

Little White Lies:

  • Enjoyable enough. Surprised this was shown at official opening, something more stimulating would have been preferable

 The Maid:

  • Unusual and thought-provoking film

 My Name is Khan:

  • What a wonderful tear-jerker

What a great result!

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Many thanks to all of the people who came along to the 3rd Sherborne Film Festival! It is wonderful to get such support and we are delighted to tell you that ticket sales went up by 8% over last year. Thank you! As it happens, the film costs also went up this year so in the end, the surplus is slightly lower than last year and although the final figures have not been calculated it looks as though we shall have approximately £1400 to distribute to our nominated charities.

Now the feedback on the most popular films…it will be interesting to see if this coincides with your own favourites.

In terms of attendance, the film ranking is as follows:

  1. Senna
  2. Nine Queens
  3. Little White Lies
  4. French Cancan
  5. Animal Kingdom
  6. The Maid
  7. Incendies
  8. Biutiful
  9. Heartbreaker
  10. My Name is Khan
In terms of popularity – on a pro rata basis – the film ranking is as follows:
  1. My Name is Khan
  2. French Cancan
  3. Incendies
  4. Senna
  5. Biutiful
  6. Nine Queens
  7. Heartbreaker
  8. The Maid
  9. Little White Lies
  10. Animal Kingdom
What a result. The film that fewest people came to see turns out to be the most popular (and the longest). There was actually very little difference in the scores of the top three films but here are some interesting observations:
  • The only film that did NOT receive a 5 is Little White Lies i.e. it was good but not outstanding
  • The only film that did receive a 1 was Animal Kingdom and it was also the film with the widest range of scores, so it received a very mixed response
  • The film with the narrowest range of scores, 5s and 4s, was My Name is Khan so it was enjoyed by everyone
  • The film with the highest percentage of 5s was French Cancan – and it was the only film to receive applause at the end…quite something!
I shall be posting some of the audience’s remarks and feedback about the festival tomorrow so do check in again!

New opening film

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Confirmation has been received that the new opening film for the festival is Little White Lies, a French comedy-drama. Described by Empire magazine as having “a gorgeous cast, irreverent humour and beautifully drawn characters”, the film is funny, emotional and thought-provoking – all in a beautiful setting – to fit in with a light-hearted opening evening.

FREE PRESENT! Don’t forget, the opening evening offers a glass of wine, some delicious nibbles, a short musical film, the main film AND, just announced, a goody bag from our gold sponsor, the Margaret Balfour Beauty Centre, so you’ll come out feeling and looking even better than when you go in! What a treat!

Changes to Opening Evening

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The programme has been printed and the tickets are available from the tourist office. Ready to go…and what happens? The film distributing company for our opening film “A Separation” advises us that the DVD production has been put back by one month! So no film! It is a great shame as there is no doubt you would have found the film a fascinating insight into a country we know little about.

Nevertheless, there are many other spectacular films waiting in the wings and the question now is which one? We have narrowed it down to two and hopefully we will be able to announce which one it is as soon as the distributor has confirmed it is available – for sure!

Keep watching – and let’s start again! (In the meantime do get your other tickets from the tourist office).

Official Opening

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This very special evening will set the scene for the festival during the following three days. Enjoy a festival drink and some nibbles before taking your seat for the official opening by Marjorie Snowden, Sherborne town mayor. Hear about the highlights to come and get in the mood with a short, colourful animated film of Rossini’s overture of The Italian Girl in Algiers– its first screening in theUK.

The main feature film this evening, A Separation, has been made possible by the kind permission of the British Film Institute, prior to its general DVD release.

Tickets for this charitable event are £10 and available from the Tourist Office from the end of September.

Welcome

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All of our films have now been confirmed, with thanks in particular to the British Film Institute who managed to arrange an advance copy of the film for our Official Opening on Thursday 20th October. The flim in question is:

A Separation. This Iranian film is the first-ever winner of three Bears from the Berlin Film Festival held earlier this year. It is a fascinating film that keeps you wondering what will happen next.

The official opening is beng held a day early and we hope that you will join us for a glass of wine and something to eat while being presented with this year’s programme – prior to our opening film.

The other film that has been confirmed is French Cancan – a 1954 French musical directed by Jean Renoir. This is a newly remastered version and the story of the beginning of the Moulin Rouge is as colourful and engaging as you would expect.

The dates have been confirmed from Thursday 20th to Sunday 23rd October. Notice anything? Yes, we are extending the festival by one day to allow a gala opening on the Thursday evening. We hope to make it something very special so keep checking the website.

HOT NEWS: We have just had confirmation that we shall be able to show SENNA – this amazing documentary about the life of Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian Formula I racing driver is a magnificent film. Regardless of whether you like motor racing or not, this dramatic story is utterly gripping and the cinematography is superb, including home video footage, official sports commentary and incredible film from cameras mounted on the race-car. This is definitely a film not to be missed!

Keep watching the website for the latest news.

The 2010 programme is still available for you to look at and reflect on.