With over 50 events and screenings, including 15 brand-new 4K film restorations showing alongside contemporary classics, film on film rarities and curiosities from around the globe, Cinema Rediscovered 2024 is shaping up to be our most thrilling edition. Add in special guest introductions, projection tour walks, happy hour gatherings and a hugely popular film quiz, and you’ve got a brilliant long cinematic weekend full of friendly vibes and lively conversations.

Early Bird Festival Passes are now on sale: get your Pass for the reduced price of £90 full / £70 concessions / £50 24 and under. Early Bird Pass holders will get priority booking before general sale. Early Bird Passes are on sale until Wed 5 June at midnight – after this date Passes will cost £30 more. Please note - you need to log in to your Watershed ticketing account to book your Festival Pass, or register if you haven’t booked with us in a while as we have a new ticketing system.

Your Pass will allow you to choose from 50 events taking place over five days in Bristol at Watershed (the festival’s hub); the Bristol Aquarium Cinema (the former IMAX); 20th Century Flicks (the world’s longest running video rental store), The Cube Microplex and at the historic Curzon Clevedon in Somerset.

The Regular Festival Pass will then be available for £120 full / £100 concessions / £80 24 and under, so snap an Early Bird Pass up today!

Buy a Cinema Rediscovered Early Bird Festival Pass

Festival founder Mark Cosgrove says:

“One of the upsides of the surge in streaming and new social media platforms like Letterboxd is an increased interest and awareness of the history of film and a desire to see that history as originally intended: on the big screen in the company of others. This appetite from audiences is matched by the increased industry interest in restoring and reviving classics. The combination means Cinema Rediscovered 2024 is shaping up to be our most thrilling edition since the festival started in 2016.”

The full line-up for the 8th edition of the festival will be revealed in June but here’s a sneak peek of what’s in store… 

Our two opening night films are maverick director Jean Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï (1967), a masterpiece of cool embodied by Alain Delon in a career-defining performance, and Charles Vidor's sultry film noir Gilda (1946), which propelled Rita Hayworth to eternal film stardom. The Gilda screening also marks one hundred years of Columbia Pictures and follows its international premiere at this year's Cannes Classics.

Charles Burnett’s long-lost feature The Annihilation of Fish (1999) will be shown in celebration of the film’s 25th anniversary and the 80th birthday of the visionary director.

John Sayles’ Oscar nominated Lone Star (1996) starring a young Matthew McConaughey alongside Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña and Kris Kristofferson represented a highwater mark for American Indie filmmaking. Set on the Tex-Mex border, it brilliantly fuses the western genre with contemporary thriller to explore issues which speak powerfully to the current political climate.

Marking what would have been Scottish born filmmaker Bill Douglas’ 90th year, the festival partners up with The Bill Douglas Museum to present his achingly beautiful trilogy (1972-78) alongside a new documentary Bill Douglas: My Best Friend (2024) which gives fresh insights into this most mercurial filmmaker and passionate collector of film memorabilia.

Other British titles include two 4K restorations of films by the Bristol-born, Oscar® and BAFTA nominated director J. Lee Thompson (1914 – 2002), both featuring strong performances from two recently lost British female leads, Glynis Johns and Sylvia Syms; The Weak and the Wicked (1954) and No Trees in The Street (1959).

With over 50 events over five days, rest assured there will be plenty for you to explore this July – get your Cinema Rediscovered Early Bird Festival Pass now!

Find out more about our partner venues and where to stay.

The festival will be followed with a UK and Ireland wide tour from August - December.

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Cinema Rediscovered is a Watershed initiative presented with collaborators and the support of BFI awarding funds from National Lottery and our principal sponsors Park Circus and STUDIOCANAL. Find out more about our partners, funders, sponsors and the team behind Cinema Rediscovered.

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