Welcome from guest curator Chris Chibnall
Welcome friends, to Bridport’s Party of Film, 2026 edition!
I’m delighted to be your curator this year as we celebrate the art of screen adaptation via a collection of Big Screen Bangers – major and classic films which started life in other forms on the page.
Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
We have an incredible selection, ranging from thrillers to comedies, secret agents to astronauts, acclaimed masterpieces to under-appreciated gems – all sprinkled with the best new releases. The films span a century of cinema – truly something for everyone.
Join us for our Opening Night Gala as we celebrate 60 years since John Schlesinger shot Thomas Hardy’s classic Far from the Madding Crowd here in the South West. It’s your chance to see this Dorset-set, Dorset- shot film on a Dorset big screen.
We want to hear from you if you were involved in the making of the film. Were you an extra or an animal wrangler or present for filming? If so, please email us at [email protected]
Casino Royale (2006)
Put on your ‘casino chic’ outfits (optional but fun!) for our James Bond Special Gala. Rock up in a tuxedo or gown, grab a vodka martini, and enjoy Casino Royale on the big screen. Following the film, we’ll be joined by screenwriting duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade who have worked on no less than seven Bond movies. We’ll also be welcoming the film’s composer, the legendary David Arnold. We are both shaken and stirred to have such illustrious filmmakers joining us!
Our Closing Night Gala returns us to cinema’s origins with a centenary screening of Buster Keaton’s comic triumph, The General (1926), accompanied live by acclaimed pianist Stephen Horne: you’re in for a treat.
All of our films are entirely different experiences on the big screen with a communal audience – whether that’s the awe-inspiring scale of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Electric Palace or sharing mad laughter with others at cinema’s most gag-filled movie parody, Airplane! at Bridport Arts Centre.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
We also have a number of VSS (Very Special Screenings) where we’ll be joined by filmmakers for Q&As. It’s all part of our intent to put you in direct conversation with screen industry creators.
New for 2026, we’re presenting a series of lunchtime Meet the Makers sessions where I’ll be in conversation with leading lights from today’s screen industries. It’s your chance to hear about the jobs they do, how they got their breaks, and what it’s like working on the projects they’ve been part of. We have a wonderful line-up whose collective awards would make any shelf buckle. These events are FREE if you’re 25 or under. As with all our screenings and events, these are sure to be popular, so please book ahead!
And John Higgs will be quizzing me about my Desert Island Scripts – the scripts and films that made me love cinema and those which have impacted me from childhood until now.
Films are made for audiences, so come to as many screenings as you can (will you join the elite level of festivalgoers who come to everything?) as well as hanging out and chatting with me, the festival team and your fellow film and book fans in the bar and at the café, F.east.
I can’t wait for you to follow the Yellow Brick Road to Bridport Arts Centre this April and join us at the festival.
See you, as they say, at the movies…
Chris Chibnall
Chris is a BAFTA, Royal Television Society, Broadcasting Press Guild and Peabody award-winning screenwriter, executive producer, novelist and playwright whose work has been seen, read, translated and remade around the world. Most recently, Chris has written the screenplay for Netflix’s Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials. His other television work includes the multiple BAFTA winner Broadchurch; Doctor Who; United; Torchwood and Life on Mars. Chris’s best-selling first novel, Death at the White Hart, is soon to be a major ITV drama.