Last Chance to Book for Widescreen Weekend 2025

Widescreen Weekend returns to the National Science and Media Museum’s Pictureville cinema later this month, with five days of spectacular cinema across formats taking place from 25 – 29 September, with final tickets released as guest speakers now announced. 

Showcasing Pictureville’s world-class projection facilities, the 29^th edition of Widescreen Weekend continues to champion film on film, celebrating big screen experiences across formats. This year’s edition is part of the Bradford UK City of Culture 2025 programme and comes as part of a yearlong celebration of Bradford’s status as the world’s first UNESCO City of Film. 

Following the success of previous all-night events, this year’s programme features an IMAX Batman marathon. Celebrating 20 years of Batman Begins (2005) with back-to-back screenings of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005, 2008, 2012), a rare chance to catch all three films as they were meant to be seen. 

Festivalgoers can also look forward to rare screenings and expert introductions from leading voices in film. This year’s programme celebrates the 70^th anniversary of Todd-AO, the pioneering 70mm format, with screenings of original titles such as John Wayne’s The Alamo (1960) and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), alongside later revivals in anamorphic Todd-AO lenses, including Mad Max (1979), introduced by Helen O’Hara (Editor-at-Large for Empire magazine and co-host of the Empire podcast).  

Todd-AO 70 will also feature rare presentations of Baraka (1992) and the late David Lynch’s, infamously largely disowned, Dune (1984) on stunning 70mm print. The strand also includes Widescreen Weekend’s first ever late-night feature with Mike Hodges vibrant space opera Flash Gordon (1980). 

Audiences will also hear from leading experts, including Professor Sir Christopher Frayling and David Strohmaier, who will both offer more insight into both Todd-AO and its widescreen predecessor Cinerama – a format audiences can uniquely experience at Pictureville.  

As the only remaining public venue in the world regularly screening Cinerama, this year’s Widescreen Weekend features two authentic 3-strip Cinerama screenings, This is Cinerama (1952) and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (U) (1963), as well as a digital restoration of Cinerama Holiday (1955). 

This year’s programme also sees Pictureville cinema collaborate with the Korean Film Archive for the first time, in a continued celebration of widescreen cinema across the globe. Korean Widescreen celebrates classic and contemporary titles from across Korean cinema, including Park Chan-wook’s landmark revenge thriller Oldboy (2003).  

Additional titles include Seong Chun-Hyang (1961), the first Korean film to be shot in colour CinemaScope, and initially banned, long presumed lost A Day Off (1968), both restored in 4k by the Korean film archive. These screenings will begin with a short introduction from strand programmer Young Jin Eric Choi, a film curator and archivist at the Korean Film Archive.  

The festival pays tribute to Hollywood icons with two special strands. Twentieth Century Diva, curated by Professor Dominic Broomfield-McHugh, marks Dame Julie Andrews’ 90th birthday, falling just days after the festival, with a celebration of her career beyond the musical, including Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain (1966). A Twist of Lemmon honours the centenary of Jack Lemmon, with introductions from leading film voices such as Pamela Hutchinson (introducing Irma La Douce, The Front Page, The Odd Couple), Pasquale Iannone (Mister Roberts) and Hannah Gatward (My Sister Eileen).  

Ahead of the festival, Pictureville will also host a special one-off screening of Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases on Wednesday 17 September, with a live musical accompaniment by Neil Brand and Jeff Davenport. It includes three episodes of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series (1921–1923), A Scandal in Bohemia, The Golden Pince-Nez, and The Final Problem, introduced by Bryony Dixon, Curator of Silent Film at the BFI National Archive. Recently restored by the BFI National Archive, this event is an exclusive chance see the feature screened for the first time outside of London. 

The full Widescreen Weekend programme and individual tickets are available on the Pictureville website.