PURBECK Film Festival, Britain's longest running rural film festival, has launched its ninth season.

Once again, it offers a wealth of vintage titles as well as a smattering of recent hits and a broad selection of films that haven't been seen in this area before based around four main themes - Artists In Film, Film Noir, The Sea and Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai, who became the first Chinese director to win Best Director at Cannes in 1997 for Happy Together.

"We have tried to include a cross section of what is good in cinema and I am confident everyone will be able to pull some juicy plums out of the mix for their special enjoyment," says Sir Bill Cotton in his introduction to the Festival.

"In a modest way the Festival is going international for we have established links with the Film Schools at Cherbourg. We are including some of their students' five-minute short films at the start of our shows, together with other selected similar films from our own students at Bournemouth and Poole College. "We are showing films to more local village halls than ever before with special performances for the National Trust on Brownsea Island and the Swanage Railway."

The Festival has also secured the regional premiere of Roman Polanski's eagerly anticipated version of Oliver Twist which stars the ever-impressive Ben Kingsley as Fagin and rising British star Jamie Foreman as Bill Sykes. There's also a first local showing for Derek Jacobi's new film, Cloud Cuckoo Land, about a young man with cerebral palsy who seeks out crashed aircraft.

Classic films on show include the dark romantic drama Gilda starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford; Orson Welles' classic spy thriller The Third Man; Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis in the endlessly entertaining Some Like It Hot; and Sam Peckinpah's robust western The Wild Bunch.

More recent film hits like Frida, with salma Hayek as the feted Mexican artist Frida Kahlo; the hit New Zealand film Whale Rider; Mike Leigh's Oscar-nominated Vera Drake; and new urban British drama Bullet Boy are also on the bill.

And, as ever, there's a strain of films with special relevance to the area including Polanski's version of Tess, in which Normandy stands in for Hardy's Dorset; Fritz Lang's Moonfleet; and Mike Leigh's Purbeck-set Nuts In May.

As well as screenings at recognised cinemas like the Rex in Wareham, Swanage Mowlem and Poole Lighthouse, the Festival also includes several village halls across the area and the Allsebrook theatre at Bournemouth University. In all, more than 80 films are being shown over the two-week programme.

For full details of what's on and where, log on to WEBSITEpurbeckfilm.com; or pick up a brochure at Wareham and Swanage Tourist Information Centres; or Poole Lighthouse.

The programme - Friday 14

The Postman Always Rings Twice (PG), Lighthouse, 5.50pm

Deadlines (tbc), Rex, 7.15pm

Motorcycle Diaries (15), Lighthouse, 8pm

Saturday 15

How To Read Film, Rex, 5pm

Force of Evil (PG), Lighthouse, 6pm

Girl With A Pearl Earring (12A), Stoborough village hall, 7.30pm

Gilda (PG), Rex, 8pm

In The Mood For Love (PG), Lighthouse, 8pm

Sunday 16

Treasure of the Sierra Madre (PG), Rex, 6pm

Ladies In Lavender (12A), Winfrith village hall, 7.30pm

Round Midnight (15), Rex, 8pm

Monday 17

Dead Calm (15), Rex, 6pm

Out Of The Past (PG), Lighthouse, 6pm

Fakers (15), The Allsebrook, 7.30pm

Some Like It Hot (U), California Farm, Swanage, 7.30pm

Cloud Cuckoo Land (tbc), Rex, 8pm

The Third Man (PG), Lighthouse, 8.10pm

Tuesday 18

Jean de Florette (PG), Rex, 6pm

Le Corbeau (PG), Lighthouse, 6pm

Girl With A Pearl Earring (12A), Durlston Castle, Swanage, 7.30pm

Manon des Sources (PG), Rex, 8pm

The Red Circle (PG), Lighthouse, 8pm

Audition (18), The Allsebrook, 7.30pm

Wednesday 19

2046 (12A), Lighthouse, 5.50pm

Le Corbeau (PG), Rex, 6pm

Downfall (15), The Allsebrook, 7.30pm

Some Like it Hot (U), Kimmeridge village hall, 7.30pm

Frida (15), The Rex, 8pm

Imagining Argentina (15), Lighthouse, 8.30pm

Thursday 20

High Sierra (PG), Rex, 6pm

Mildred Pierce (PG), Lighthouse, 6pm

Great Expectations (PG), Durston Castle, Swanage, 7.30pm

Adam and Paul (15), The Allsebrook, 7.30pm

The Chorus (12A), Old Malthouse, Langton Matravers, 7.30pm

Wild Bunch (18), Rex, 8pm

Le Jour se Leve (PG), Lighthouse, 8.20pm

Friday 21

The Last Waltz (U), Lighthouse, 5.40pm

Lust For Life (PG), Rex, 6pm

The Train (PG), Purbeck Railway Circle, 7.30pm

Tess (15), East Burton village hall, 7.30pm

Whale Rider (PG), Morden village hall, 7.30pm

Frida (15), Lighthouse, 8.10pm

Big Wednesday (PG), Rex, 8.15pm

Saturday 22

How To Read Film II, Rex, 5pm

Metropolis (PG), Lighthouse, 6pm

Mutiny on the Bounty (PG), Worth village hall, 7.30pm

Emma (U), Briantspuddle village hall, 7.30pm

Laura (PG), Rex, 8pm

Blade Runner (15), Lighthouse, 8.20pm

Sunday 23

Moonfleet (U), Brownsea Island, 11am & 2pm

Random Harvest (U), Rex, 6pm

The Woodlanders (PG), West Lulworth village hall, 7.30pm

Beggar's Opera (PG), Rex, 8pm

Monday 24

The Pianist (15), Rex, 7.30pm

Happy Together (15), Lighthouse, 6pm

Bullet Boy (15), The Allsebrook, 7.30pm

Ladies In Lavender (12A), Studland village hall, 7.30pm

Night of the Hunter (12A), Lighthouse, 8.10pm

Tuesday 25

Chinatown (15), Lighthouse, 5.50pm

Metropolis (PG), Rex, 6pm

The Entertainer (PG), Durlston Castle, Swanage, 7.30pm

Vera Drake (12A), The Allsebrook, 7.30pm

Tess (15), Church Knowle village hall, 7.30pm

The General (U), Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth, 7.30pm

Blade Runner (15), Rex, 8pm

Buena Vista Social Club (U), Lighthouse, 8.30pm

Wednesday 26

Moonfleet (U), Sandford Middle School, 2pm

Captain Blood (U), Rex, 6pm

Plein Soleil (PG), Lighthouse, 6pm

Old Boy (18), The Allsebrook, 7.30pm

Le Jour Se Leve (PG), Rex, 8pm

Infernal Affairs (15), Lighthouse, 8.30pm

Thursday 27

Pollock (18), Lighthouse, 5.50pm

The Pirate (U), Rex, 6pm

Accident (PG), Durlston Castle, Swanage, 7.30pm

Student Showcase, The Allsebrook, 7.30pm

Tess (15), Langton Matravers village hall, 7.30pm

Plein Soleil (PG), Rex, 8pm

Lust For Life (PG), Lighthouse, 8.20pm

Friday 28

The Cameraman (U), Rex, 6pm

Nuts In May (PG), Corfe Castle village hall, 7.30pm

Before Sunset (15) Rex, 8pm

Saturday 29

Bugsy Malone (U), Rex, 2.30pm

Singing In The Rain (U), Rex, 6pm

Oliver Twist (PG), Rex, 8pm