Widescreen Weekend Film Festival Celebrates 30th Anniversary With Bumper Programme, Including Enhanced IMAX Strand

Widescreen Weekend returns to the National Science and Media Museum’s Pictureville cinema for its 30^th anniversary this autumn. Taking place from 24th – 28th September, the festival celebrates the past, present and future of film by shining a spotlight on large-screen formats and innovative cinema technologies.

As part of its 30^th anniversary celebrations, this year’s Widescreen Weekend includes a full programme in the museum’s iconic IMAX screen.A nod to the venue’s unique film history as the first IMAX in Europe, opening in 1983, this year’s festival celebrates the format with a selection of screenings from contemporary cinema’s most beloved directors.

The strand looks to icons of the big screen, with back-to-back screenings of titles from Steven Spielberg including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jurassic Park (1993) and Jaws (1975), returning to IMAX for a truly immersive cinema experience. Critically acclaimed horror blockbuster Sinners (2025) also features in this year’s programme, offering audiences another chance to experience the film in IMAX.

The festival’s IMAX strand continues with a Christopher Nolan retrospective, featuring screenings of Dunkirk (2017), Inception (2010), Tenet (2020) and Interstellar (2014). Ahead of the festival, audiences can also experience Nolan’s highly anticipated new epic The Odyssey (2026) when it arrives at Pictureville this summer. The Odyssey will screen in IMAX from 17th July 2026, with tickets available now.

Celebration of the museum’s unique film heritage continues throughout the weekend with screenings across print and digital formats. This includes a three-strip Cinerama screening of How the West Was Won (1962) showcasing  Pictureville’s capabilities as the only remaining public venue in the world screening Cinerama and presenting the intricate projection technique in all its glory. The festival also highlights Pictureville’s ongoing commitment to film-on-film presentation, with 70mm screenings of The Sound of Music (1965) and One Battle After Another (2025).

The festival will also mark 70 years of Technirama, a screen process developed as a strategic response to the desire for widescreen cinema without losing image quality. Using horizontal film movement, Technirama’s use of the available camera negative meant the resulting image on the print was approximately 30% greater; yielding a far sharper image than any other 35mm based system.  Widescreen Weekend’s Technirama strand will offer audiences the opportunity to experience this landmark technology as it was intended to be seen with screenings of Anthony Mann’s epic El Cid (1961), Auntie Mame (1958), and Western The Big Country (1958).

Elsewhere, the festival explores the rich history of the Indian Western through a curated programme presented in partnership with writer, scholar and international film curator Dr. Omar Ahmed. The strand traces the evolution of the dacoit film, a uniquely Indian take on the Western genre, from its roots in stories of social injustice to the action-packed productions that drew inspiration from Italian Westerns and martial arts cinema. Screenings include the recent 4k digital restoration of Sholay (1975), following its world premiere at Bologna film festival last year, contemporary neo-Western Sonchiriya (2019), and a 20^th anniversary screening of Shakespeare-inspired crime drama Omkara (2006).

For audiences seeking spectacle of a different kind, Showstoppers! celebrates the enduring appeal of musicals on screen. Presented in partnership with Dominic Broomfield-McHugh, Professor of Musicology at the University of Sheffield and a leading authority on musical theatre and film, the strand brings together beloved classics and lesser-known gems. Highlights include Baz Luhrmann’s dazzling Moulin Rouge! (2001) on 35mm in celebration of its 25^th anniversary, Judy Garland’s final film I Could Go On Singing (1963), and the screen adaptation of Broadway hit How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967).

Full festival passes are now on sale on the museum’s website.