Widescreen Weekend returns to Bradford's National Science and Media Museum with Cinerama, the Dark Knight Trilogy at IMAX and Korean film showcase
Experiencing cinema as it was intended to be seen – that is the aim of Widescreen Weekend, the flagship film showcase returning to the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford.
The festival is hosted at Pictureville, which is in the museum, for five days of large-format cinema, showcasing historic film formats, beloved classics and rarely seen works from from September 25 to 29.
Sally Folkard, Head of Screen and Cultural Engagement said: “This year’s programme is a true celebration of cinematic innovation and global storytelling - from the pioneering spectacle of Todd-AO on its 70th anniversary to our special partnership with the Korean Film Archive, showcasing Korean cinema to our audiences.
"Widescreen Weekend 2025 also looks to the enduring legacies of Hollywood legends, honouring the career of Jack Lemmon in his centenary year, and marking Julie Andrews’ 90th birthday with a specially curated strand that highlights her, sometimes overlooked, range.
“We are extremely proud to continue to celebrate film on film and our world-class projection facilities, including our ability to keep Cinerama alive - offering multiple chances to experience the format over the festival as the only remaining venue regularly screening Cinerama to the public Widescreen Weekend continues to honour the past, embrace the present, and inspire conversations about the future of film.”
Audiences will be able to experience Cinerama – in which three synchronised projectors each show one-third of the picture on a wide, curving screen – with screenings of This is Cinerama (1952) and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1963), as well as a digital restoration of Cinerama Holiday (1955).
At the heart of this year’s festival is a celebration of the 70th anniversary of Todd-AO, a groundbreaking 70mm film format which was developed in the mid-1950s as a high-fidelity alternative to CinemaScope, designed to encourage audiences to return to cinemas following the rise of television in the home.
The Widescreen Weekend 2025 programme honours both the format and its legacy, featuring John Wayne’s The Alamo (1960) and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) alongside later revivals, such as the anamorphic Todd AO 35 lenses seen in documentary Baraka (1992) and David Lynch’s Dune (1984), in a rare 70mm print presentation.
In addition to Lynch’s Dune, the festival will also be looking at more contemporary approaches to immersive cinema technologies with a double bill of Denis Villeneuve’s recent adaptations, Dune: Part One (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024). Both will be screened on the museum’s IMAX screen.
Meanwhile, an IMAX “takeover” continues with an all night Batman marathon, celebrating 20 years of Batman Begins with back-to-back screenings of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005, 2008, 2012).
The festival will shine a spotlight on Korean widescreen cinema, in a special partnership with the Korean Film Archive. Audiences will have the chance to see Park Chan-wook’s genre-defining neo-noir Oldboy (2003) on 35mm, as well as stunning 4k restorations of dark occult classic The Hut (1981) and Kim Ki-young’s Goryeojang [Burying Old Alive] (1963), the first - and possibly only - Korean feature film shot in the ultrawide 2.76:1 aspect ratio.
For full details of the festival visit www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/cinema/widescreen-weekend