Cult cinema to light up the coast at Whitley Bay Film Festival
Screenings in lighthouses, halls and village watch houses bring new atmosphere to old favourites, as the volunteer-led festival returns this autumn
Whitley Bay Film Festival has released its 2025 programme, promising screenings in some of the coast’s most atmospheric settings.
The festival opens on September 17 at St Mary’s Lighthouse with Bill Forsyth’s 1983 comedy Local Hero, followed by a 40th anniversary showing of The Goonies the following day. Other venues across the coast and villages will play host to cult classics and rarities.
At Cullercoats Watch House, Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday will be shown (Sept 20), while on September 27, the village of Earsdon provides the backdrop for British sci-fi horror, Village of the Damned (1960).
The Mediators will provide an electronic soundtrack to the German Expressionist classic The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Oct 3) at Whitley Bay Masonic Hall. Meanwhile, Seaton Delaval Hall will stage two 50th anniversary screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Sept 26).
Powered by volunteers, the festival has built a reputation over the past 15 years for combining film history with unusual locations. Its programming often plays on the interplay between site and story, giving audiences a different way to experience cinema.
Festival patron Ian La Frenais has praised the event for keeping cinema alive in coastal communities. Organisers say the 2025 programme reflects their ongoing aim to celebrate film “in places that matter to local people.”
The festival runs through September and October. Full programme details are available at whitleybayfilmfestival.co.uk