Interview: A landmark year for Leeds film festival

Each year there are promises of "bigger and better than ever", which clearly can only be true a finite number of times. Chris Fell doesn't go in for all that.

The director of Leeds International Film Festival has the quiet confidence of someone who knows that shouting from the rooftops is inappropriate when you have a festival that needs little help winning its audience over.

Fell, the man behind the 24th Leeds International Film Festival, is so confident in the loyalty of the event's audience that not only does he never mention the words "bigger and better", he in fact claims that this year's festival is smaller than last year – and next year will be smaller still.

"We listen to our audience. They have really shaped the way the festival looks and they feel part of the team here, they tell us what sort of films they want to see programmed," says Fell. "It means that even though we are showing fewer films this year, we know we are going to be showing the kind of films that our audience wants."

Reaching number 24 is a significant landmark for the Leeds International Film Festival. It is now one of the country's most well established showcases and one of the most well supported.

Fell says: "One of our great strengths is that we screen films our audiences can't see anywhere else. Our films come from around the UK and around the world, but because many of them don't have distribution deals, here is the only place audiences will get a chance to see them – that means they have to have a lot of faith in us as programmers. It's something that builds over a number of years, as audiences keep coming back and learn to trust your choices."

The festival opened last night with a screening of The King's Speech, the Colin Firth movie which was partly filmed in Yorkshire and is tipped for recognition at both the BAFTAs and the Oscars.

Fell says: "Our audience will be among the first 5,000 people in the world that get to see this movie. It received its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last year and then there was a premiere in London a couple of weeks ago, but that's it until January when the film is released nationwide.

"After its premiere people got very excited about it and the buzz started about the film being in the running for Oscars almost immediately. We worked really hard to get the film here for our audiences and we're delighted to be holding one of the very first screenings."

The King's Speech is joined by 11 other films which all receive their UK premiere at the festival and which will all compete for the prestigious Golden Owl Award.

The festival, which costs 200,000 to run – dwarfed by the 2m of the Edinburgh Festival and the several million of the London Film Festival – is funded by organisations including the EU Media Programme, the Arts Council and Screen Yorkshire, as well as by eight main commercial sponsors in the city.

With cuts in funding to the arts, Fell says the reduction in size of the festival is necessary, but allows the festival to play to its strengths, while increasing its audience.

"We had 25,000 people last year and we're expecting 30,000 at this year's festival," he says.

"The premieres we have are fantastic and help to excite the audience, but with the five different strands we run and venues all over

the city taking part, we are able to keep increasing our audience by understanding what they want and making sure we programme that for them."

Leeds International Film Festival, to November 21. For full listings log on to www.leedsfilm.com or call 0113 224 3801.

THE FESTIVAL'S FIVE STRANDS

official selection: Sweet Little Lies, The Woman Who Dreamt of a Man, Tuesday After Christmas.

FANOMENON: Horror, Sci-Fi and Thriller, including The Day of the Dead and The Night of the Dead.

CINEMA VERSA: An outstanding range of documentaries, music videos and films which show normally unheard voices.

SHORT FILM CITY: Films made around the UK, including special screenings of Pathe short films from the 1930s.

CHERRY KINO: Labelled as 'Wondermental' by festival organisers, this strand includes artists working in film.