Chichester International Film Festival 2025 wraps up with record audiences, community spirit and unforgettable screenings

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 screenings, talks and special events.

This years Festival saw more than 1,700 people flock to the hugely popular Open Air Screenings in Priory Park, supported by local businesses who added to the vibrant atmosphere. Guests enjoyed delicious woodfired pizzas from The Three-Wheeling Pizza Company and sweet treats and cocktail from Our Little Place caterpod as well as glitter tattoos from Charlottes Nails, and bespoke wand and bracelet making with Jam Café, to celebrate the outdoor screening of Wicked. Fernleigh in Chichester also created a special cocktail and grazing board for the Saturday night screening of Bridget Jones.

Collaboration with the local community has long been a cornerstone of the Festivals ethos, and 2025 was no exception. This years Festival partnered with a number of local businesses and venues, including El Matador Tapas Restaurant, Brasserie Blanc (host of both the Special Preview and Closing Night events), The Barn (venue for a pre-Festival Bubbles and Canapés evening), and host venues St Johns Chapel and the Windmill Cinema in Littlehampton. Jungle Junction offered exclusive discounts to festivalgoers, while the Festival extended free tickets to local charities including Sanctuary, My Sisters House, Age UK and Chichester Food Bank.

One of the Festivals most talked-about moments was the sold-out screening of the 1927 silent masterpiece Sunrise at St Johns Chapel. Accompanied by a unique live score - part-composed, part-improvised - by pianist, accordionist and flautist Stephen Horne alongside harpist Elizabeth-Jane Baldry, the event was hailed as one of the highlights of the Festival, with near-unanimous top marks from those present, it was voted as the Audience Award Winner for Best Retrospective film.

The Festival also marked a milestone this year with its first-ever industry event, hosted in collaboration with BFI Network South East at Fernleigh on North Street. A panel of first-time producers offered insights into independent filmmaking following a screening of their BFI Network funded short films. The session drew a full house of students, aspiring filmmakers, and new producers, eager to understand the challenges and opportunities of bringing their stories to the screen.

Meanwhile, the Festivals programme of Talks - covering David Lynch, Jack Lemmon, Kate Winslet, Country Music on Film, and Jane Austen adaptations - attracted record audiences to the Lumiere, the Festivals debut pop-up screen. The Lumiere provided a unique and immersive film-viewingexperience with its 80-seat, air-conditioned cinema, housed within a hydraulically expanding truck. The mobile cinema was previously used to support the wellbeing of troops deployed in locations such as Bosnia, Cyprus, Afghanistan, and various UK bases.

Now in its second year under the leadership of Walter Francisco, Festival Director, the Festival delivered an ambitious programme of more than 90 previews and premieres of shorts and features from 25 countries, alongside five talks and three special events. The result has been hailed as a resounding success by audiences, partners, and the wider community.

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 the Sunrise event at St Johns Chapel was truly unforgettable the music and film combined beautifully in the perfect venue. Personally, some of my favourite films this year were Cielo, Signs of Life, the Oslo Stories Trilogy, Souleymanes Story, Young Hearts, The Flood, Cactus Pears, Falls the Shadow, and of course, Battleship Potemkin with the Pet Shop Boys score. We were also honoured to play a preview version of Caravaggio (due for release in November and winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary), thanks to Seventh Arts and their Exhibition on Screen series. The Lumiere has been a huge success, and Ive loved both the experience of it and the audiences reaction. Its been a very special year for the Festival.

Audience Award Winners 2025

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.

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.

Winner: Oslo Stories Trilogy Dag Johan Hagerud

Audience Award for Best Feature

Winner: Souleymanes Story Boris Lojkine

Audience Award for Best Retrospective Film

Winner: Sunrise (1927) with live musical accompaniment F.W. Murnau

Audience Award for Best Documentary

Winner: Caravaggio David Bickerstaff & Phil Grabsky

To find out more about Chichester International Film Festival and Chichester Cinemas autumn programme visit - www.chichestercinema.org.