The 2024 Chester International Film Festival, highlighting the very best in international cinema (including pre-release previews) took place from 1st March to 8th March 2024. The winner of the audience award for 2024 was Green Border, Agnieszka Holland’s intense, intelligent broadside against injustice and terror on the borders of the EU.
The Chester International Film Festival 2024 (incorporating the Animation Festival) was curated by Chester Film Society in partnership with Storyhouse and The University of Chester. Drinks Receptions were kindly sponsored by VAIN Hair and Beauty, Chester.
The Festival took place from 1st March to 8th March 2024.
The winner of the Audience Award for 2024 was Green Border.
The Chester Animation Festival Audience Award went to The Curse of Dracular.
You can read more about the festival on the Storyhouse website by clicking here or click the link below to see the full programme of feature films.
1 March 2024
Monster (preview)
When her son Minato starts to behave strangely, Saori suspects that there is something wrong. Hearing that one of his teachers is responsible, she confronts the teacher and school admin. The truth is revealed to be more complex from the perspectives of not only Saori, but also the teacher and Minato.
Sol, a seven-year-old girl, goes to her grandfather’s home, where her aunts Nuri and Alejandra are throwing a surprise birthday party for her father. It is probably his last, so in a sense it is also a farewell ceremony. With the onset of dusk, an unfamiliar and unrestrained atmosphere takes over, breaking the family bonds. For Sol, the world is about to change as she learns the essence of letting go and feels the breath of life.
Chester International Animation Festival 2024 has welcomed entries from animators across the world. Come and join us for a screening of the competition finalists, then vote for the Audience Award winner for this year’s competition
An African refugee survival story inspired by true events, it tells the story of two young Senegalese men, Seydou and Moussa, who embark on a harrowing and brutal journey from Dakar to Europe in search of a better life. A trek that increasingly more people find themselves forced into making.
A woman returns to her hometown to care for her father in this Irish drama and finds herself drawn back into the local rowing team. A gentle film punctuated by outbursts of language, and a recurring theme of grief.
In the treacherous and swampy forests of the “green border” between Belarus and Poland, refugees from the Middle East and Africa trying to reach the EU are caught in a geopolitical crisis triggered by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. To provoke Europe, refugees are lured to the border by propaganda promising easy passage. Pawns in this hidden war, the lives of Julia, who has given up her comfortable life, Jan, a young border guard, and a Syrian refugee family intertwine.
When one of her students is suspected of theft, teacher Carla Nowak decides to get to the bottom of the matter. Caught between her ideals and the school system, the consequences of her actions threaten to break her.
The 2025 Chester International Film Festival ran from 21st March to 3rd April 2025 at Storyhouse. It was produced in partnership with the University of Chester and Storyhouse. Opening and closing receptions with thanks to VAIN.
The winner of the Audience Award for 2025 was Four Mothers.
The Chester Animation Festival Audience Award went to The Pearl (Let’s Make Peace) by Abdollah Alimorad from Iran.
For more information, click here to go to the Storyhouse web page.
