A third annual 10-day festival bringing world class film to Morecambe has earned rave reviews while rewarding local movie-makers.
The Bay International Film Festival took place in January and February across several venues in the town.
Following its success, event organisers have now confirmed that the festival will return from January 29 to February 7 2027.
The festival’s touring edition will also be taken on the road this summer around Morecambe, Carnforth, Ulverston and Barrow.
Organisers were delighted with increasing audience numbers and widening participation with the town benefiting from overnight stays from filmmakers from Canada, Prague, Amsterdam, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Ireland.
Homegrown talent was showcased with the film industry jury selecting several UK entries for awards including the overall Best Film, Best Documentary and Best Northern Short.
The Best Local Community Film was created by students from local stage school PQA (Pauline Quirke Academy) Morecambe and Lancaster.
Beyond Radio's Matilda Walden, host of the 'Beyond Expectations' podcast, picked up a second and third place award in the Local Community Film category.
Here is Matilda, bottom right, with other award winners. Photo credit: Chris Holmes.
Here is the full list of award winners.
BEST FILM
“A SISYPHEAN TASK”
DIRECTED BY Gus Flind-Henry & George Malcher (UK)
BEST STUDENT FILM
“CATS”
DIRECTED BY Danilo Stanimirović (Serbia)
BEST ANIMATION
“HELP ME TOM”
DIRECTED BY Jiahang Yang (China)
BEST DOCUMENTARY
“DRAINSPOTTING”
DIRECTED BY Andy Oxley & Joshua Gaunt (UK)
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM
“LOSING MY BODY”
DIRECTED BY Žiga Ciber (Slovenia/Ireland)
BEST NORTHERN SHORT
“MEAT RAFFLE”
DIRECTED BY Stuart Armstrong (UK, Cumbria)
BEST FILM FOR CHILDREN
“THIS DARLING MISERABLE LIFE”
DIRECTED BY J. Yin (Canada)
BEST LOCAL COMMUNITY FILM
“THE GREAT PQA HEIST”
CREATED BY STUDENTS FROM PQA Morecambe and Lancaster
Matilda also spoke to Game of Thrones actor Roger Ashton Griffiths, a guest at the festival, and organisers Anna and Darren Henderson. Matilda is pictured below with Roger Ashton Griffiths.
“One of the most remarkable things about The Bay International Film Festival is just how effectively it combines its global outlook with events that involve the local community," said Roger, who also played DS Lestrade in 'Young Sherlock Holmes' which was screened at the festival.
“I presented the award for Best Film to an extraordinary English production but other awards testified to the diverse range of international submissions.
"The festival brought the wide world in, yet sent the local community out, and I congratulate the organisers on their remarkable achievement.”
Daragh Carville, festival patron and director of ITV’s The Bay, said: “The third Bay International Film Festival was an absolute blast, a celebration of the talent and creativity that's long been at the heart of the Morecambe Bay area.
"Congratulations and thanks to the organisers and the team of tireless volunteers for all their hard work in putting together the best festival yet!”
Below, Daragh Carville hosting a mental health film forum at the festival. Credit: Miles Gower
Guest filmmaker Suzanne Procter praised the care and enthusiasm shown by the organisers and incredible volunteers which made the event feel genuinely welcoming.
“Morecambe provided a beautiful and fitting backdrop for such an inspiring event, and we very much hope to return in the next few years with another film," said Suzanne.
"I would highly recommend submitting!”
The festival opened on January 23 at REEL Cinema in Morecambe with a gala evening celebrating the upcoming centenary of the birth of comedian Eric Morecambe.
This included the screening of two films - The Last Laugh and Eric and Ernie.
Guests were Paul Hendy, writer/director of The Last Laugh, Peter Bowker, the BAFTA winning writer of Eric and Ernie, actor Damian Williams who played Tommy Cooper in The Last Laugh and host Daragh Carville.
Below, opening night at the festival with Daragh Carville, Peter Bowker, Paul Hendy and Damien Williams. Credit Chris Holmes
John McMeeking, of festival venue REEL Cinema, said: “An absolute pleasure to be involved.
"From the films to the wonderful guests to the film community who attended.
"A huge congratulations to the organisers for putting together an amazing experience and a credit to Morecambe for hosting. Can't wait for next year.”
Other events included an animation workshop for young people (below, photo: Miles Gower).
A themed programme of shorts will return to the festival in 2027, including the popular Northern day where audiences can discover regional voices, a family friendly screening as well as plans to find a bigger venue for the sold out LGBTQ+ dedicated screening.
Organisers are also looking to introduce Virtual Reality film experiences to the festival programme in a first for the region.
They said with no VR cinema venues in Lancashire and Cumbria, the festival will bring this new cutting-edge cinema to the local audiences as it seeks to secure the future of independent cinema.
“When we started the festival three years ago, we had a simple dream: to bring world-class short films to Morecambe and prove that great film festivals don't just belong in big cities – they belong right here, in our community," said Anna Henderson, festival producer.
"And here we are - three years later with an absolutely incredible festival edition behind us and more to come.
“The warmth, the laughter, the conversations, the tears, the words people shared with us throughout this journey meant everything. People travelled from many countries and all across the UK just to be part of what we're building together here in Morecambe.
"And that blows my mind every single time.”
Read more: LISTEN: Film festival in Morecambe going from strength to strength - Beyond Radio
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