Manchester Film Festival kicks off this weekend showcasing a programme of shorts, documentaries and narrative features from the UK and abroad.
The festival, now in its eighth year, runs all week from March 12 to March 20 at the Odeon in the city centre’s Great Northern complex.
This year marks a return to in-person screenings after being forced online last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Festival director Neil Jarem Croft said: “I think everyone is just so desperate to get back out and have that shared experience.
“We want to be as inclusive as possible and share great cinema with as many people as we can.”
He added that among the festival highlights is the strong line-up of films by local talent.
“We really champion Northwest filmmakers, so we’ve got two amazing sessions of North West shorts and a North West feature called Blank, which is playing on Tuesday night,” he said.
The festival opens with the UK premiere of Wolf, directed and written by Italian filmmaker Nathalie Biancheri.
The surrealist drama, about a man named Jacob who believes he is a wolf, stars George Mckay (1917), together with Lily-Rose Depp (Tusk) and veteran British actor Paddy Considine (The Death of Stalin, Dead Man’s Shoes) as the sinister Zookeeper tasked with “curing” Jacob.
Festival-goers will have the opportunity to watch a number of success stories from the international festival circuit, including 2021 Cannes Grand Prix winner Compartment No.6 (dir. Juho Kuosmanen) and Hit the Road (dir. Panah Panahi), which won best film at the BFI London Film Festival.
Fans of hit TV series Sherlock and The League of Gentlemen will be pleased to know that actor Mark Gatiss will be in attendance for the screening of his 2021 film The Road Dance, alongside co-stars Hermione Corfield (Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Mr. Holmes) and Will Fletcher.
In addition to film screenings, UK and international premieres, the festival will host Q&As with the filmmakers, after-parties and culminates in an awards ceremony.
Tickets start at £20 for a five-film pass and can be purchased from the festival website.
