First highlights revealed for Cinema Rediscovered 10th edition as Early Bird bookings open
Posted on Wed 15 April
Early Bird passes are now on sale for the 10th birthday edition of Cinema Rediscovered – the UK’s leading celebration of newly-restored films, forgotten gems and classic revivals. The festival will take place at Watershed and other venues in and around Bristol UNESCO City of Film from Wed 22 to Sun 26 July 2026.
From now until Wed 27 May, you can get up to 30% off a full festival pass giving access to a 60+ event line-up of screenings, talks and special guest events.
Cinema Rediscovered 2026 will open with the UK premiere of a new 4K restoration of Mario Bava’s high-octane and influential pop-art masterpiece Danger: Diabolik (1968), with a video-introduction from Edgar Wright. This will also mark the launch of our Comics Come Alive strand featuring live action screen adaptions of comics.
Among them will be Edgar Wright’s own Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010); 25th anniversary showings of camp classic Josie & The Pussycats (2001) and off-beat gem Ghost World (2001) which gave breakout roles to Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson plus Park Chan-wook’s visceral Oldboy (2003) and playful docu-drama American Splendor (2003).
Other confirmed highlights include:
-
Rogue Hollywood – a strand exploring the dark side of the American psyche in the 1970s including the 50th anniversary of Elaine May’s neglected gem Mikey and Nicky (1976) starring John Cassavetes and Peter Falk; Paul Schrader’s dissection of middle-class morality in Hardcore (1979) and Diane Keaton cruising bars for sex and drugs in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977).
-
15+ Premieres including the World Premiere of the 4K restoration of John Schlesinger’s Billy Liar (1963); and UK Premieres of Joseph Losey’s Cannes Festival winning Accident (1967) introduced by the director’s son, Josh Losey; Hong Kong New Wave director Peter Yung’s debut feature The System (1979); Cynthia Beatt’s The Party – Nature Morte (1991) starring Tilda Swinton; and Lynchian gothic tale Nadja (1994); and a new reconstruction of Erich von Stroheim’s lost silent masterpiece Queen Kelly (1929) by Milestone Film & Video, presented by critic and film historian Pamela Hutchinson; author of The Curse of Queen Kelly.
-
Closer to home, we also plan to celebrate Aardman’s 50th anniversary to coincide with Cracking Exhibition, Gromit! 50 Years of Aardman in Bristol at M Shed.
Cinema Rediscovered founder Mark Cosgrove says:
“The fact that we are celebrating our 10th edition is testament to audiences’ renewed appetite for rediscovering film’s rich history and to Bristol’s passionate embrace of all things cinema. We have been delighted to see attendance grow year-on-year and are excited to bring a sensational selection of premieres, events and guests to mark this special birthday including my personal favourite: films that revolve around the power of the cinema Closed Circuit (1978), Matinee (1993) and Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003).”
Early Bird festival passes are on sale now priced at £95 (£75 concessions, £60 aged 24 and under) – a saving of 30% on full prices – with each pass granting access to a choice of more than 60 events taking place at venues including Watershed, the festival’s hub; the Bristol Megascreen and the historic Curzon Clevedon.
As an Early Bird Pass holder, you will also get priority booking access from 27 May when the full programme will be announced (before public sales open on 1 June). Register your interest on our coming soon page to be notified when the full programme goes on sale.
Your pass will also get you access to hotel discounts, and you’ll receive a 25% discount code for a Monthly or Yearly subscription to curated streaming platform Cinelogue, centering cinema from the Global Majority.
Looking to plan your visit? Head to our Tickets & Venues page for more information.
Cinema Rediscovered 2026 is a Watershed presentation in association with Bristol-based independent brewery Wiper and True and made possible thanks to the support of the BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, and principal sponsors Park Circus and STUDIOCANAL.
To stay up to date with festival news, find Cinema Rediscovered on Facebook, Instagram, Letterboxd or Bluesky; keep an eye on watershed.co.uk/cinema-rediscovered or sign up for the free e-newsletter.
