Plans for this year's festival are coming together and the people of Stroud are invited to get involved at this stage.

The programme for this year's festival will feature a really broad range of film events and screenings running at 10 venues around Stroud.

Starting with lead-in events across February, the full festival programme will run from February 22 - March 17.

During 2023 the organising team has been expanded to include seven directors, all local and all previously involved in the festival. The team is keen to hear from the people who'd like to get involved, especially with publicity or through front of house events.

During the autumn, there was a very positive response from film makers and venues keen to take part.

For 2024, people can expect a great range of stories on screen from around the world from a documentary about Marc Bolan and award-winning recent dramas to films by local directors, brand new fantasy and films about farming and the landscape.

Pirates, weaving and roller skating are the subject of a few of the films which also include singing nurses from Finland, films by local young people and much more.

Overall the choice of film aims to inspire, entertain and encourage people to imagine being in someone else's shoes. And there's the experience of being part of a live audience seeing movies on the big screen and in a range of venues across the Stroud area.

This year, it's also about making films as well as watching them. There's a 90 second film challenge which invites everyone to make a short film in response to a theme during the festival.

Three workshops are on the programme, each aimed at a different age group, offering people the chance to develop their film making skills. The films entered in the challenge will be on the big screen in 90 Second Stroud at Lansdown Hall on Saturday, March 16.

The full programme will be announced at the publicity launch in mid-January when the Stroud Film Festival website will go live and people can expect to see the print brochure and posters around the town.

To get involved please contact info@stroudfilmfestival.org