This year’s Cinema Under the Stars has a starry line-up! Programmed by Purbeck Film Festival, the 2024 season runs across August with seven box office hits at stunning locations including Corfe Castle. The series begins on Saturday 3rd August with Barbie at Knoll House Hotel, Studland – can you picture a more appropriate setting for this clever, funny and utterly sunny film? Totally deserving of its box office success – and disappointingly unrecognised by the big awards for its brilliant satirical script (and fabulous performances by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling). The screening begins at 8.45pm, and “pink-themed drinks” (what else!) will be available.
Next up is Ghostbusters (the original) at Durlston Country Park, Swanage, on Saturday 17th August, once again at 8.45pm.
Corfe Castle is the atmospheric setting for two films at Corfe Castle, starting with the first Harry Potter – 2001’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – on Friday 23rd August. It’s amazing how young Daniel Radcliffe looks. It’s followed on Saturday 24th by the eternally boyish Timothee Chalamet as Wonka. If you haven’t seen this musical prequel to Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, it is delightful, with Olivia Colman as a thoroughly unpleasant character. Both are at 8.45pm.
On Saturday 31st August at 8.15pm, Careys Secret Garden, a magical location near Wareham, is the venue for Calendar Girls, the original film, which is so much better than both the stage play and the musical, with a matchless cast headed by Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Linda Bassett and Celia Imrie.
The series ends at an iconic Purbeck location: the Blue Pool near Wareham.
On Friday 6th September, the film is A Room with a View – the beautiful adaptation of one of EM Forster’s finest novels, starring Maggie Smith, Daniel Day Lewis and Helena Bonham-Carter.
On Saturday 7th, Baz Luhrmann’s glorious Moulin Rouge, with Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, will light up the Purbeck night. Both screenings at 8pm.
