JANUARY       FEBRUARY     MARCH           APRIL

MAY              JUNE             JULY               AUGUST

SEPTEMBER    OCTOBER       NOVEMBER      DECEMBER

4th-13th Jan
FESTIVAL: London Short Film Festival
The Halloween Short Film Festival gets a makeover but retains its edgy ethos with screenings celebrating the more outlandish elements from the short film world.
LSFF site

17th-27th Jan
FESTIVAL: Sundance Film Festival
There's one of the strongest British contingents at this year's festival ever, with ten features on show during the world's premier indie gathering.
Film Network at Sundance   Sundance site

From 18th Jan
FILM: Shot In Bombay
American director Liz Mermin's British-backed documentary follows the making of a Bollywood movie, starring the now jailed Sanjay Dutt.
ICA site

23rd Jan – 3rd Feb
FESTIVAL: Rotterdam International Film Festival
This Dutch festival, now in its 37th year, prides itself on showcasing distintive and upcoming voices in the international film world.
Official site

From 25th Jan
FILM: Lady Godiva
Vicky Jewson makes her directorial debut with an Oxford-set love story drawing upon the legend of the naked horse-rider.
Official site

1st–9th Feb
FESTIVAL: Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival
The French festival celebrates its 30th birthday this year and remains THE place to see short movies from around the world. Marvel at the enthusiastic crowds and wealth of shorts on show.
Clermont-Ferrand site

From 1st Feb
FILM: Battle For Haditha
Nick Broomfield follows his acclaimed drama Ghosts with another recreation drawn on infamous recent events, this time investigating the killing of 24 people during the Iraq War.

FILM: Freebird
Phil Daniels, Gary Stretch and Geoff Bell star in writer-director Jon Ivay's road movie, about three motorbike couriers who hit the road and head for Wales.
Official site

7th–17th Feb
FESTIVAL: Berlin International Film Festival
The German festival celebrates its 58th anniversary with more gems from around the world. Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky is competing for the Golden Bear, while Shane Meadows' Somers Town debuts out of competition.
BIFF site

10th Feb
AWARDS: The BAFTAs
The Orange British Academy Film Awards return to London's Royal Opera House for a second year. This year's frontrunner is Joe Wright's Atonement, which received 14 nominations.
BAFTA site

14th–24th Feb
FESTIVAL: Glasgow Film Festival
The fourth edition of the Scottish film festival aims to build on last year's success. Highlights include premieres of Paul Andrew Williams' The Cottage; Asif Kapadia's Far North; and Dominic Lees' Outlanders.
GFF site

15th–24th Feb
FESTIVAL: Dublin International Film Festival
Now in its sixth year and with a new festival director, Grainne Humphreys, this year's festival includes the premiere of the Irish surfing documentary Waveriders.
DIFF site

19th-20th Feb
FESTIVAL: Eat Our Shorts
Two days of the best student shorts from across the UK, screening at the BFI Southbank in London.
Eat Our Shorts site

From 22nd Feb
FILM: WAZ
Gripping serial killer thriller from Tom Shankland, starring Stellan Skarsgård and Melissa George as New York cops investigating a series of grisly murders.
Official site

24th Feb
AWARDS: The Oscars
The 80th annual Academy Awards will be hosted by Jon Stewart, although it's still unclear how it will be affected by the ongoing writers' strike. There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men are the leading contenders for awards.
Oscars site

29th Feb – 2nd Mar
FESTIVAL: Images Of Black Women Film Festival
Shorts and features are on show in this celebration of African descent women on screen and behind the camera, at London's Tricycle Theatre.
IBW site

29th Feb – 15th Mar
FESTIVAL: Bradford Film Festival
The 14th annual West Yorkshire festival includes the Shine Award, highlighting the work of new and up-and-coming filmmakers, as well as the 'Widescreen Weekend'.
BFF site

6th–14th Mar
FESTIVAL: Birds Eye View Festival
London-based event celebrating women filmmakers from around the world, offering a week of "inspirational" features, documentaries and shorts.
BEV site

From 7th Mar
FILM: The Other Boleyn Girl
TV veteran Justin Chadwick directs Peter Morgan's adaptation of the best-selling novel by Philippa Gregory. The high profile cast includes Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman.
Official site

From 7th Mar
FILM: We Are Together
Paul Taylor's moving and acclaimed documentary focuses on children at the unique Agape orphanage in South Africa.
Official site

From 14th Mar
FILM: Flashbacks Of A Fool
Music videos helmer Baillie Walsh makes his directorial debut with this drama, starring Daniel Craig and Olivia Williams.

FILM: The Cottage
Paul Andrew Williams' eagerly-awaited follow-up to London To Brighton is a blackly comic horror tale starring Andy Serkis, Reece Shearsmith and Jennifer Ellison.

From 21st Mar
FILM: Inkheart
Iain Softley's family movie aims to do better than another previous adaptation of German novelist Cornelia Funke's work, Thief Lord. Inkheart stars Brendan Fraser, Andy Serkis, Paul Bettany and Helen Mirren.
Official site

FILM: Wild Child
Editor Nick Moore makes the transition to directing with this Working Title comedy about a pampered Malibu girl (Emma Roberts) who's forced to attend a strict English boarding school.

27th Mar - 10th Apr
FESTIVAL: London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
The LLGFF celebrates its 22nd year with more premieres and shorts programmes.
Clermont-Ferrand site

From 28th Mar
FILM: In Bruges
Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson star in Martin McDonagh's directorial debut, a black comedy about a couple of hitmen killing time in Belgium. McDonagh previously directed the hilarious Oscar-winning short Six Shooter.

FILM: Son Of Rambow
Garth Jennings' second feature sparked a bidding war at Sundance in 2007. Now some niggling contractual problems have been ironed out, the coming-of-age comedy-drama receives a welcome UK release.

From 4th Apr
FILM: Dangerous Parking
Peter Howitt (Johnny English, Sliding Doors) adapts Stuart Browne's novel and also stars as Noah, an independent film director trying to overcome his addictions and all that life can throw at him.
Official site

10th–19th Apr
FESTIVAL: Belfast Film Festival
Northern Ireland's leading film festival celebrates its eighth year.
BFF site

From 11th Apr
FILM: The Escapist
Brian Cox, Damian Lewis and Joseph Fiennes star in Rupert Wyatt's directorial debut, a prison escape drama which premieres at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

17th–24th Apr
FESTIVAL: East End Film Festival
Showcase of shorts and features from London's East End in the seventh annual festival.
EEFF site

From 25th Apr
FILM: Happy-Go-Lucky
Mike Leigh returns with his follow-up to Vera Drake, a contemporary tale starring Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan.

27th Apr
AWARDS: BAFTA Cymru
The Welsh branch of BAFTA hands out its awards for achievement in TV and film.
BAFTA Cymru site

From 2nd May
FILM: Joy Division
Hot on the heels of Anton corbijn's Ian Curtis biopic Control comes Grant Gee's documentary about northern misery merchants/musical genii (delete according to taste) Joy Division.

14th-25th May
FESTIVAL: Cannes Film Festival
Brit films generally get short shrift at the most famous film festival in the world, but we're hoping that Duane Hopkins' Better Things might get the nod in the festival's 61st year.
Cannes site

4th-9th Jun
FESTIVAL: International Short Film Festival Hamburg
The northern German city's June gathering is generally recognised as one of the best short film festivals in the world, and approaches its silver anniversary this year.
ISFF Hamburg site

18th–29th Jun
FESTIVAL: Edinburgh International Film Festival
Now in its 62nd year, the EIFF has taken the bold step of moving forward two months and standing alone from the world-renowned Edinburgh Festival. Always a passionate supporter of British movies, let's hope the gamble pays off.
EIFF site

1st–3rd Jul
FESTIVAL: Screenwriters Festival
The third annual writers' gathering in Cheltenham, dedicated to the "art, craft and business of writing for the screen".
Fleadh site

8th–13th Jul
FESTIVAL: Galway Film Fleadh
Renowned showcase for both Irish talent and hospitality, the West Ireland festival celebrates its 20th birthday.
Fleadh site

23rd Jul - 1st Aug
FESTIVAL: Rushes Soho Shorts
Tenth annual event in the heart of London celebrating the best of UK shorts.
Rushes site

From 25th Jul
FILM: Angus, Thongs And Full Frontal Snogging
Gurinder Chadha directs this adaptation of Louise Rennison's popular kid's book, with Georgina Groome (London To Brighton) starring as the diary-keeping teenager Georgia Nicolson.
Official site

27th Aug – 7th Sept (tbc)
FESTIVAL: Venice International Film Festival
One of the world's top film festivals and usually receptive to the charms of British films (The Queen and Atonement have both premiered here in recent years).
Venice site

Sept (dates tbc)
FESTIVAL: Cambridge Film Festival
It's all change for the 28th CFF. Its hand forced by the repositioning of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, this year's festival will take place some time in September. Otherwise, expect the usual strong line-up of British and international fare.
CFF site

4th–13th Sept
FESTIVAL: Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto has become arguably the biggest film event in the North American calendar, successfully bridging the worlds of commercial and arthouse cinema.
TIFF site

From 12th Sept
FILM: Brideshead Revisited
Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane) directs the first big-screen adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's classic novel. The A-list cast includes Ben Whishaw, Matthew Goode and Hayley Atwell.

25th Sept – 5th Oct (tbc)
FESTIVAL: Raindance Festival
The Brit indie scene gets its turn in the spotlight with the 16th annual festival in London's West End.
Raindance site

2nd–5th Oct
FESTIVAL: Dinard British Film Festival
The 19th year for the northern French festival with a love of all things British. Six Brit films compete for the Hitchcock d'Or, won in 2007 by Hallam Foe.
Dinard site

From 3rd Oct
FILM: How To Lose Friends & Alienate People
Producer Stephen Woolley brings Toby Young's scabrous memoir to the big screen, with Simon Pegg starring as the journalist who goes from hero to zero whilst working in New York. The script was written by Peter Straughan.

15th–30th Oct
FESTIVAL: Times BFI London International Festival
The UK's biggest film festival enters its 52nd year.
LFF site

5th–9th Nov
FESTIVAL: Sheffield Doc/Fest
One of the biggest documentary festivals in Europe is now in its 15th year and attracted over 1,200 delegates in 2007.
SD/F site

18th–23rd Nov
FESTIVAL: Encounters Short Film Festival
The UK's biggest gathering of short films convenes at Bristol's Watershed Cinema. Expect the best shorts from around the world in both live-action and animation.
Encounters site

From 21st Nov
FILM: Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
Director David Yates returns for his second stint in the director's chair following his success with Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix in 2007.

26th Nov (date TBC)
AWARDS: British Independent Film Awards
The 11st annual BIFA event, held at the Roundhouse in Camden. The big winner in 2007 was Control.
BIFA site

6th Dec
AWARDS: European Film Awards
Copenhagen is the host for the latest EFAs, which celebrate their 21st birthday this year.
EFA site

Given the nature of cinema distribution, only the big studio movies are able to secure a (relatively) fixed release date for the second half of 2008 at this stage. However, more British films you should expect to see in UK cinemas this year include... Gerald McMorrow's sci-fi pic Franklyn; Vito Rocco's MySpace-winning comedy Faintheart; Saul Dibb's costume drama The Duchess (with Keira Knightley); Gillian Armstrong's Death-Defying Acts; Olly Blackburn's pain-in-Spain thriller Donkey Punch; Mark Tonderai's less controversially titled thriller Hush; and Sean Ellis' thriller The Brøken - his first feature, Cashback, still awaits a UK release).

And that's not all. There's also Chris Waitt's documentary A Complete History Of My Sexual Failures; Sharon Maguire's thriller Incendiary (starring Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor); two low budget Mackenzie Crook pics - 3 And Out and Abraham's Point; Jackie Oudney's romantic comedy French Film; Michael Winterbottom's ghost story Genova (starring Colin Firth); James Honeyborne's nature documentary The Meerkats; Nick Moran's Telstar; Noel Clarke's sequel to kidulthood, Adulthood; Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla; Duane Hopkins' Better Things; John Maybury's The Edge Of Love (with Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller); Asif Kapadia's Far North; and Justin Edgar's Special People. Also, Simon Ellis makes his directorial feature debut with the intriguingly titled Dogging: A Love Story.

Adrian Hennigan | Published 10 Jan 08

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