Olivier Assayas, Barbara Windsor and Ray Winstone are amongst the high profile guests expected to attend.

27 films from 20 different countries will screen at the upcoming Bradford Film Festival, which runs April 19-29.  

The festival will open with last year’s Venice closer Damsels in Distress and will close with the UK premiere of Ron Fricke’s Samara.

The line up will also include Glenn Close starrer Albert Nobbs, Venice Golden Lion winner Faust and Gareth Evans’ martial arts film The Raid, which won the Toronto Audience Award.

Confirmed guests include Olivier Assayas who will be presented with the Fellowship award and Barbara Windsor who will receive a lifetime achievement award. Ray Winstone will attend as the subject of a retrospective.

This year, the festival is launching a new European Feature Award, backed by the University of Bradford, aimed at recognising European filmmaking talent and giving a platform to films which are yet to secure UK distribution deals. The jury is made up of director Joanna Hogg and film critics Tim Robey and Wendy Ide.

The six contenders will be Gabriel Achim’s Adalbert’s Dream (Romania), Konstantin Bojanov’s Avé (Bulgaria), Klemen Dvornik’s Bread and Circuses (Slovenia), Tom Lass’s Papa Gold (Germany), Runar Runarsson’s Volcano (Iceland) and Ignacio Ferreras’ Wrinkles (Spain).

As part of ‘Widescreen Weekend’ to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Cinerama, five original 3-strip Cinerama films will be screened. Film director and historian Kevin Brownlow will be in attendance to talk about the history of the format.

Other highlights include a centenary tribute to Chuck Jones and a performance from the Dodge Brothers band featuring Mark Kermode.

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