The 34th Chichester International Film Festival wraps up with strong audiences, community spirit, unforgettable screenings and special events
The Chichester International Film Festival, supported by BFI Film Audience Network and the National Lottery, has once again cemented its reputation as one of the UKs most dynamic film events, bringing cinema lovers together across the city for a packed programme of 105 films, talks and special events.
Now in its third year under the leadership of Walter Francisco, Festival Director, the Festival delivered an ambitious programme of more than 104 features, documentaries and shorts, 23 previews and 11 premieres of shorts and features from 28 countries, with 43% of the programme subtitled. With five talks, three special events and 42 screenings of repertory films, the Festival continues to offer something for everyone. The result has been hailed as a resounding success by audiences, partners, and the wider community.
This year's Festival saw more than 1800 people flock to the hugely popular Open Air Screenings in Priory Park, for Star Wars, Babe, Pretty Woman, Jurassic Park and Song Sung Blue, supported this year by The Graphic Design House who also print and design the Cinema and Festivals print collateral.
Collaboration with the local community has long been a cornerstone of the Festivals ethos, and 2026 was no exception. This years Festival partnered with a number of local businesses and venues, including Brasserie Blanc (host of both the Special Preview and Closing Night events) and The Barn. The Lumiere once again provided a unique and immersive film-viewing experience with its 80-seat, air-conditioned cinema, housed within a hydraulically expanding truck and other Festival screening venues included CineVic in Arundel, the Windmill Cinema in Littlehampton and the Picturedrome in Bognor Regis
In tune with Chichester Cinema's core objectives, which include combating social isolation and fostering community cohesion, the Festival offered more than 500 free tickets to its Open Air Screenings weekend to local charities including Sanctuary in Chichester, My Sisters House, Chichester District Food Bank, Young People's Shop, Chichester Young Carers, Home Start, Gingerbread, Hyde Later Life, and through Clarion Housing, to a number of families in Parklands Community Primary School and Tangmere Primary Academy.
Some of the Festival's most talked-about moments were the sold-out special events, particularly the 1928 silent masterpiece of Theodore Dreyers The Passion of Joan of Arc which was accompanied by an original, haunting score from the HarmonieBand quintet. The event was hailed as one of the highlights of the Festival, garnering 5 stars from 72% of attendees.
Other special events included a centenary celebration of Miles Davis with the film Birth of the Cool followed by a stellar quartet of leading UK jazz musicians performing music from the trumpeters career. Audiences also enjoyed an exploration and performance of Beethovens 14th String Quartet Opus in C Sharp Minor by the Slate Quartet, before the screening of A Late Quartet featuring another quartet struggling with the same piece of music.
Following last year's successful collaboration, the Festival ran its first full industry day, hosted in collaboration with BFI Network South East at Vicars Hall. With an 80-strong attendance, it included free sessions for emerging screenwriters, with vital advice on building connections, how to craft and pitch your screenplay, and apply for funding. Attendees received first-hand access to BFI Network executives and successful young filmmakers who have been recipients of BFI funding, providing insight into the experience of developing their stories. The event was followed by a networking session at Fernleigh on North Street.
The Festival's popular programme of Talks covered a range of themes including the films of American actor and director Robert Redford; the contemporary British landscape of female directors covering Lynne Ramsay, Andrea Arnold, Clio Barnard and Carol Morely; a talk on 21st century Latin American cinema; an examination of prisons on film; and the extraordinary world of the Polish director Andrzej Wajda who was celebrated in the year of the centenary of his birth.
Walter commented: This year has been such a joy to programme and to see come alive. The Open Air Screenings were great fun and enjoyed by all, and all three live music events were magical and truly unforgettable. My personal favourites this year were The Portuguese House directed by Avelina Prat which will be released later this year and the German film The Frog and the Water (Thomas Stuber) which unfortunately has not yet secured UK distribution this emphasises how important it is to come and see these great new films at the Festival.
Audience Award Winners 2026
The Festival once again celebrated the voices of its audiences with four awards, alongside the prestigious Gibson Award, recognising the films that resonated most strongly with viewers.
Audience Award for Best Feature
Berlin Hero (directed by Wolfgang Becker)
Audience Award for Best Retrospective Film
The Way We Were (directed by Sidney Pollack)
Audience Award for Best Documentary
The Cycle of Love (directed by Orlando Von Einsiedel)
The Gibson Award Awarded by Roger Gibson (Founder of the Festival and Chichester Cinema) and Walter Francisco (Festival Director), this honour recognises a film that embodies the qualities championed by the Festival since 1979: innovative, authentic, culturally significant, technically excellent, challenging and original.
Berlin Hero (directed by Wolfgang Becker)
To find out more about Chichester International Film Festival and Chichester Cinemas autumn programme visit - www.chichestercinema.org.
Images: Alex Stanhope
