film
sounds
words
8-10 November 2024
Ambleside, Lake District
Aerial
Three days and nights of film, music, talks and more
Kate Bush’s
“Little Shrew
(Snowflake)”
Short Film
By kind permission of Kate Bush and in aid of War Child we will be screening her short animation ‘Little Shrew (Snowflake)’ before each film across our main festival programme.
Please donate to War Child here.
More about Little Shrew (Snowflake) here.
Erland Cooper
& BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Sat 9 Nov, 7.30pm
Doors 7pm
St Mary’s Church Ambleside
An exclusive to Aerial, acclaimed Scottish composer Erland Cooper will join forces with BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for an orchestral reimagining of his latest work ‘Carve the Runes Then Be Content With Silence’ for solo violin and orchestra, featuring Solo Violinist Freya Goldmark.
This very special concert will be presented by BBC Radio 3’s Elizabeth Alker and recorded for broadcast on her show ‘Unclassified’ by BBC Radio 3.
Film Screenings
Film and conversation at Zeffirellis, an independent cinema in the heart of Ambleside. Delivered in partnership with Inward Eye Film Festival.
Withnail & I
+ Paul McGann in conversation
Fri 8 Nov, 6pm
Zeffirellis Ambleside
In 1987 Zeffirelli’s hosted the premier of a small budget British film shot in Cumbria. That film was Withnail and I and has since become more than just a cult classic, it defined an era and launched its stars off into the Hollywood stratosphere. Join the eponymous ‘I’ (or Marwood for the purists) Paul McGann who will introduce the film and be in conversation with author and journalist Luke Turner about the films impact and legacy.
The Outrun
+ Amy Liptrot in conversation
Sat 9 Nov, 8pm
Zeffirellis Ambleside
A vivid and unflinching adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s wrenching personal memoir of addiction, powered by an extraordinary central performance from Saoirse Ronan. Addicted to Hedonism, drink and drugs, a young woman must wrestle with recovery in the remote islands of Orkney whilst reckoning with her complex family history. The screening will be followed by an in-conversation event with author Amy Liptrot.
PLUS Q&A
Bill Douglas - My Best Friend
Sat 9 Nov, 8pm
The story of the extraordinary friendship between Scottish film maker Bill Douglas and his lifelong companion and collaborator Peter Jewell. Director Jack Archer and Producer John Archer will be holding a Q&A after the film.
£10 BOOK NOW
Cottontail Sat 9 Nov, 5pm
After the death of his wife, Kenzaburo and his son Toshi receive an unexpected letter from beyond the grave. Akiko, their wife and mother, asks them to scatter her ashes at the place she loved most as a child – Lake Windermere in England. The two men, along with Toshi’s wife and daughter, travel to England from Tokyo to fulfil her final wish. But the father and son’s fraught relationship threatens to upend their journey.
£9 BOOK NOW
Robin and the Hoods
Sat 9 Nov, 4pm
For the tenacious 11-year-old Robin (Ewart) and her loyal band of friends ‘The Hoods’, the patch of overgrown scrubland at the end of their cul-de-sac is a magical kingdom. The only thing limiting their colourful imagination is the prospect of losing their kingdom forever, when the slippery property developer Clipboard turns up and dazzles the parents of the area with promises of health spas and day-care facilities. When their parents can’t see the wood for the trees, Robin and her friends take matters into their own hands to defend their kingdom.
£9 BOOK NOW
Recomposing Earth
Sat 9 Nov, 3pm
Under two feet of peaty soil in Orkney, lies the only recording of Scottish composer Erland Cooper’s unheard album. In an entirely unique attempt to collaborate with the natural world, it would be an experiment on patience, art and value. Will the tape emerge silent, and does it matter if it does?
Recomposing Earth takes you into the mind of an artist and the magic of the Orkney Islands that inspire him, with a story that reminds us of music's importance as an expression of the human condition. With interviews including Paul Weller and Sir Ian Rankin.
£9 BOOK NOW
PLUS Q&A
At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking
Sat 9 Nov, 1pm
Winner of the Grand Jury Award at Sheffield International Documentary Festival, Maja Novaković's impressive feature debut blurs the lines between perception, memory and imagination. Set in the harsh yet beautiful landscape of Bosnia and Herzegovina the film follows an elderly man living in isolation, weaving together a tapestry of dreamlike visuals as it records the routines of his daily life. The screening will be introduced by co-writer Jonathan Hourigan and followed with a Q&A.
£9 BOOK NOW
PLUS Q&A
Bring Them Down Sun 10 Nov, 8pm
Michael, the last son of a shepherding family, lives with his ailing father, Ray. When a conflict with rival farmer Gary and his son Jack escalates, a devastating chain of events leaves both families permanently altered. Written and directed by Christopher Andrews, starring Barry Keoghan, Christopher Abbott, Paul Ready and Colm Meaney. A Q&A with co-writer Jonathan Hourigan will follow the screening.
£15 BOOK NOW
WITH LIVE PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT
Safety Last! with Live Piano Accompaniment
Sun 10 Nov, 6pm
Introduced by Paul McGann (Withnail and I) and in an exciting first for Zeffirellis, local pianist Pete Major will perform a live accompaniment to the film. Withnail enthusiasts will recall a poster of Harold Lloyd hanging from the clock tower which appears in their apartment's bathroom.
The 1923 silent classic starring Harold Lloyd is still viewed today as one of the great film comedies, highly successful and critically hailed, it cemented Lloyd's status as a major figure in early motion pictures.
£15 BOOK NOW
Short Films Sun 10 Nov, 2pm
Actor / Director Mark McGann will host the annual Inward Eye Short Film competition and present a talk ‘mixing mediums: poetry and active silence as human narrative in film’.
£9 BOOK NOW
Paddington in Peru Sun 10 Nov, 2pm
The third instalment of this much loved franchise. Join Paddington and the Brown family as they visit Aunt Lucy in Peru where a mystery sends them to the Amazon rainforest and up Peruvian mountains.
£9 BOOK NOW
FREE WORKSHOP & PERFORMANCE
Air Songs
Propellor
Sun 10 Nov, 1-4pm drop in
Ambleside Parish Centre & Rothay Park
In the near future, there is a divide between those who live in clean air and those who do not. Air Songs are a mysterious oral tradition that has emerged out of an opposition movement in an age of climate inequality…
Propellor’s latest project is an interactive digital drama: a GPS soundwalk inside a new violin concerto with a live massed natural voice choir, telling the story of an industrial conspiracy in an all-too-imaginable future.
Join Propellor’s director/clarinettist Jack McNeill, solo violinist David Le Page, percussionist Delia Stevens and Freddie Wake-Walker (Mahogany Opera) in a real-time creation event. Be the first to hear extracts of the new concerto and digital drama in surround sound. You’ll be guided through a series of breathwork exercises, vocalisations and ways of engaging with your soundscape as you’re invited to engage in a situation placing you at the centre of a gathering, a protest, and starting to sing...
Where will this take us? Come and help Propellor to find out! The concerto and drama will be shared throughout the session. The final work will premiere in Cumbria in 2025.
All ages welcome, no singing experience necessary. Stay as long as you want - the last hour will take place outside in nearby Rothay Park so please dress appropriately.
Late nights
Join the after party at the Zeffirellis Jazz Bar
Withnail & I After Party Fri 8 Nov, 8pm
Stars of the British Folk scene Tom Moore and Archie Moss will provide the soundtrack to an evening celebrating ‘the finest wines available to humanity’ or at least available in Ambleside. Free entry.
Writers Workshop
Seven screenwriters are invited to hone their skills alongside industry mentors and writers at the Inward Eye Writers Workshop.
The station whence he looked
was soft and green,
Not giddy yet aerial, with a depth
Off vale below, a height of hills above
Wordsworth, Home at Grasmere 1806