Widescreen Weekend Film Festival Returns With Special Indiana Jones All-Nighter Event

The Widescreen Weekend film festival returns to the National Science and Media Museum’s Pictureville Cinema for its 28^th edition, offering a unique opportunity to experience the immersive magic of the big screen in Bradford, home to one the only remaining public Cinerama screen outside of the US. 

From 26 – 30 September, festivalgoers are invited to a range of special one-off screenings and events within this year’s three strands: VistaVision, Widescreen All’Italiana and A History of Romance. Covering everything from screen heritage and cult favourites to new restorations across a breadth of themes, origins and eras, the festival is a must for all film lovers. Coupling a diverse programme with world-class projection facilities in UNESCO’s first City of Film, the festival has consistently proven to be a real highlight in Pictureville’s calendar.

Following the success of last year’s The Lord of the Rings overnight movie marathon, on Saturday 28 September festivalgoers can again experience Pictureville after hours, as the first three films in the Indiana Jones franchise are screened back-to-back. This unmissable event is a rare opportunity to experience the titles on Pictureville’s iconic curved Cinerama screen for the first time, creating a truly immersive adventure for all. 

Across the weekend, the festival also pays tribute to the legendary Alfred Hitchcock, a VistaVision pioneer, with UK premieres of newly restored prints of North by Northwest (1959) on 70mm and Vertigo (1958) on 35mm, as well as a 35mm print screening of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and To Catch a Thief (1955).

Other highlights include contemporary classics like Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Phantom Thread (2017) in a deep dive into all things romance, taking a look at the sumptuous costumes, grand gestures and poetic prose of the period dramas we just can’t seem to resist. 

Commenting on this year’s programme Sally Folkard, Head of Screen and Cultural Engagement said:  

“We are delighted that Widescreen Weekend Festival is returning to Pictureville this autumn for another weekend long celebration of great cinema. As one of two Cinerama screens in the world, the festival provides a truly unique cinemagoing experience. We are excited to be hosting the UK premiere of a newly restored 70mm print of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic spy thriller North by Northwest, as well as the return of our all-nighter events with Indiana Jones, following the success of our Lord of the Rings marathon last year. The festival creates the perfect environment for audiences to be fully immersed in the titles on offer, whilst also showcasing our world-class facilities and highly skilled team of projectionists and we cannot wait to welcome our festivalgoers back to the big screen.”