The first-ever Mearns Film Festival will roll out the red carpet next month.
The Mearns Community Cinema group is run by volunteers from Laurencekirk and the surrounding areas.
The cinema’s movie nights have proved extremely popular while family events and special screenings of classic movies have also gone down a storm.
Chairman Jamie Leigh said the inaugural film festival will take place between September 5-9 with a Scottish theme being chosen.
The event will include showings of Sunshine On Leith, Brave and Filth with a “surprise” Scottish film being shown to kick off the festival.
He said: “At the end of last year we were just getting back on our feet after our reshuffle and move to independent status, but from the start of this year we have been trying to develop the Mearns Community Cinema identity and engage with as many of the local community as possible.
“The response has been fantastic, particularly the support we have received from our audience, and local businesses or groups who have either helped us with donations or happily displayed posters or flyers.
“We now have a strong regular audience who make it along to most showings, and there is also normally a number of people at each showing that have never been before.
“I think when I was younger I always thought a film festival had to be a huge event – red carpet premieres, big celebrities, hundreds of films being shown across multiple locations.
“But over time the number of film festivals, particularly those on a much smaller scale, seems to have increased massively.
“I think in general a film festival is a chance to celebrate film and come together with like minded people that want to share their love and passion for cinema.
“This is perhaps more important and in demand now, in a time where you can have pretty much any film you want streamed instantaneously on your TV, tablet or phone.
“We picked September for the film festival because the summer holidays will have come to an end, the days will be getting shorter, and we will all start wondering about how fast the summer flew by.
“The festival will hopefully give everyone something to look forward to even though summer is over and normal life is resuming.”
Mr Leigh said the response to the festival has been extremely encouraging so far after deciding to “shout about all things Scottish”.
He said: “Each individual event has been thought through to try and bring an inclusive and highly enjoyable experience to anyone who attends – we’ve got a surprise/mystery classic film midweek just to whet everyone’s appetite, Sunshine On Leith on the Friday night as a rip-roaring, feel good kick off to the festival, Brave on the Saturday afternoon to get local families involved and Filth on the Sunday to finish things off with a bang.
“The film quiz on the Saturday night is more of a chance to get people in the community talking and socialising with cinema/film as a backdrop.”
He said there is a hope that this will become an annual event if things go well.
