Wellington rolled out the red carpet with style for its first film festival.

Despite the weather trying to dampen the spirits, a substantial number of people attended each event, with many being sold out.

The community came together for the festival with many venues hosting film showings and activities.

The Art Deco cinema The Wellesley was involved.

Deb Richardson, one of the organisers from Somerset Film spoke to us about the idea behind the festival.

She said: “The idea for the Film Festival came about after a discussion on creative ways to attract people into the town.

“We originally planned for the festival to go ahead in 2020, but as with everything it was cancelled due to the pandemic.

“The fact that Wellington has such a rich history in the film industry from the early 1900s to now and an amazing art deco cinema made it seem a perfect idea.

“Local film makers had put together films especially for this event and looking to the future of the Film Festival we would love to be able to encourage and support more local film makers to submit their work to us to be shown.”

Deb was keen to highlight that the support from local businesses was paramount to the festival’s success and that the organising team were very pleased with the overall response from the community.

There was plenty of things to do for all ages at the festival. History talks, restored film of Wellington during the 1900s, a Wallace and Gromit triple bill, Harry Potter special effects workshops, director question and answer sessions, a pub quiz and a late night showing of Pulp Fiction were among the many activities on offer.

One of the highlights of the event was the appearance of the 501st Stormtroopers in full costume at Wellington Park during the Music from the Movies event.

Sean Kosikowsky, manager at the Museum of Somerset, arranged for the 501st Legion UK to come to the event.

He said: “I started watching movies at an early age, coming from Glastonbury, which does not have a cinema, we would make the journey to Wells Cinema and Bingo Hall. This made the cinema experience much more of a big event each time. Throw into that my own love for fantasy and sci-fi and I naturally found a lifelong love of the Star Wars franchise.

“It seemed like a perfect pairing to contact the 501st Legion UK garrison and see if they could be involved in the festival.”