10 years of English Riviera Film Festival being celebrated today

The event has now attracted worldwide attention

English Riviera Film Festival founder John Tomkins
Author: Andrew KayPublished 10th May 2025

The now international English Riviera film festival is being celebrated today with a special screening at Torquay Museum's Pengelly Hall.

Previous winners have gone on to work on Hollywood films like Wonka and also produce TV dramas like 'Mr Bates Versus The Post Office'

Founder John Tomkins says today they're reflecting on how the festival has grown over the past decade, saying: "At this year's event we had film-makers who flew in from Los Angeles and we had so many film-makers from across the UK industry all attend."

Mr Tomkins says festivals like his are also how most people start out in the industry:, adding: "Hollywood stars and people in notoriety they don't forget their roots. We're showing an industry in the afternoon called The barn and Kate Winslet helped with the development of the script and the rehearsals.

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