Borderlines Film Festival 2008

Welcome to the sixth Borderlines Film Festival - a mouth-watering selection of 75 great films - spread out over 17 days and 25 cinemas to give you even more opportunities to see the films of your choice.

To make it a little easier for you to choose which films you'd like to see from this glittering array of goodies we've organised the programme into strands.

The strands highlight films that have been firm favourites at other festivals, picking up prizes and entertaining audiences across the world. Cannes Film Festival Prize Winners include the gripping 4 Months, 3 Weeks, & Two Days, the hilarious The Band's Visit, the wonderful, uplifting The Diving-Bell and The Butterfly, and the sublime Silent Light.

For those of you who like it really, really real, Hot Docs features some gloriously enjoyable music documentaries (with the world's greatest Gypsy maestros in When The Road Bends . . . and a South African children's choir in We Are Together - "a life affirming testament to the power of music") and a selection of hard-hitting documentaries focusing on the most important issues of the day from peak oil (A Crude Awakening), the future of farming (Our Daily Bread), to the positive impact good people can have on damaged children in Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go - the best British documentary of the year which we have selected for our gala BAFTA screening.

BAFTA Winners is exactly that - a chance to catch up on the prize winners from this year's BAFTAs - No Country for Old Men, The Lives of Others, Control, This Is England.

In the afternoons throughout the second week of the festival we are running our Great European Directors Season - a selection of the greatest films ever made introduced by people who simply love the films they've chosen. So if you want to hear someone who feels passionate about a great movie - be it Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, or festival director, David Gillam - and join in a discussion about the film afterwards, this is the thing for you.

A selection of Borderlines festival director, David Gillam's personal favourites - though he's keen to stress that he rates every film in the festival highly - the Festival Director's picks include Ang Lee's immaculate Lust Caution, the intensely compassionate Luxury Car, and the funny, multi-layered portrait of Bob Dylan, I'm Not There that features an amazing performance from Cate Blanchett that captures Dylan to a T.

So whatever mood you are in and whatever tickles your fancy I hope there is something for you among the films on offer.

This year we have 8 new cinemas joining in the festival for the first time - The Regal Tenbury Wells, and the village halls in Bodenham, Church Stretton, Ewyas Harold, Fownhope, Hay, Moccas and the WRVS Hall in Hereford - which means that Borderlines reaches further and wider throughout Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire than ever before.

This makes it the biggest and best festival yet and I hope means that it's even easier for you to come along, join in, and enjoy the festival!

Borderlines features over 50 speakers introducing films, or taking part in events and debates - from our feature debate New Rural Perspectives to our fourth annual Film and Disability Event highlighting the Oska Bright Tour. Diverse voices from Hereford are heard in Migrant Stories and the Me We Anti-Racism event while film-makers based in the region show their work in John Bulmer presents, Crafta Webb and the Screen WM - Digital Shorts. We are also screening the ever popular Herefordshire Archive films.

David Gillam
Festival Director





The Festival's continued success depends on support from our funders and we would like to thank them all: Screen WM and the National Lottery through the UK Film Council, Herefordshire Council, the Nexus Grants programme through the West Midlands Rural Community Council and the RRZ, The Elmley Foundation, AWM's Rural Regeneration Zone, Arts and Business, Action: Ludlow and Ludlow Rural, South Shropshire District Council and Malvern Hills District Council.

We would like to give a special thanks to our sponsors who are making an increasingly important contribution to the Festival and supporting cultural life in our area for everyone's benefit. Our sponsors this year are: Aardvark Books, Barclays Commerical, Charlotte's Wine Bar and Bistro, Gordon Lutton Solicitors, Hereford College of Arts, Hop Pocket Wine Company, Jack Roe (CS) Ltd, Jackson Equestrian, Melcon Ltd, MovieMail Ltd, Saxtys Bar and Restaurant, Thompsons Land and Property, Wye Valley Brewery, Wyevale Hawkins and Wyevale Holdings Ltd.

MovieMail Ltd, Bill Jackson International, Wyevale Holdings Ltd, The Hop Pocket Wine Company, Saxtys, Wye Valley Brewery, Barclays Corporate, and Borderlines Film Festival Ltd have received an investment from Arts and Business to develop their creative partnership. The Arts and Business Investment Programme is funded by Arts Council England, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Scottish Executive.

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