The Purbeck Film Festival
South Coast
Swanage

The Purbeck Film Festival is one of the largest coastal Film Festivals on the south coast, bringing the best of cinematic art to the people of Dorset.

Supported by the BFI and its South West Regional Hub, the Purbeck Film Festival has been screening films since 1996 and is the longest running rural film festival in the UK and one of the largest coastal film festivals. A much loved annual event in the last 2 weeks of October each year, it has continued to grow in terms of venues and audience numbers reaching over 8,500 pre pandemic.  It turns unusual and quirky venues such as village halls, pubs, restaurants, hotels, arts centres and castles into boutique pop up cinemas alongside Dorset’s oldest cinema The Rex in Wareham, The Mowlem Theatre in Swanage, The Lighthouse Arts Centre in Poole, Durlston Castle in Swanage and the Electric Palace in Bridport.
Look out for their summer season of outdoor cinema in particular Cinema Under the Stars in the grounds of the magical ruins of National Trust’s Corfe Castle over August Bank Holiday Weekend and other outdoor cinema screenings throughout August including Durlston Country Park, Knoll House Hotel in Studland, Careys Secret Garden and The Blue Pool near Wareham.
Our primary aim is to provide a rich variety of cinematic experiences across a rural area which does not have easy access to foreign language, independent and classic films. Our festival provides a perfect opportunity to compare and contrast stories and styles across a wide range of films. Such a metropolitan approach to film screenings offers the chance to increase our knowledge and literacy of the cinema and can open our minds to new or different worlds.
The Festival is a not-for-profit registered charity, run almost entirely by volunteers and it relies on donations and sponsorship for its continued success.