A film festival back for a third year will be a special lockdown edition with access to film from around the world.

Margate Film Festival, which starts today and runs until Sunday, November 29, is titled Staying Afloat this year, which is a reference to its seaside location, but also how we have all been coping with the pandemic.

Kate Williamson, creative director, said: "We are stayed afloat and it's wonderful to see the communities coming together to support one another and it is

fantastic to see artists trying to create."

It kicks off with the launch of #100years from The Cabinet of Living Cinema, presenting a collection of live score performances to silent films from across the last century, with an Instagram Live introduction and ends with Francesca Ter-Berg closing with a live performance streamed from the Tom Thumb Theatre.

Stand-out features include yet to be released Rose Plays Julie, a gripping psychological thriller about a young woman seeking her biological mother; Hurt By Paradise, partly shot in Margate following a young mother who tries to carve out a career with comically unsuccessful results; and Our Most Brilliant Friends, a funny, heartbreaking and intimate documentary that unflinchingly observes the fragile relationships of Slow Club during their 2016 tour.

For the first time there will also be a family friendly programme, Our Natural World, in collaboration with Rise Up Clean Up, to inspire children ages five and up to question how to save our oceans.

The seaside theme returns with Coasting Along, a collection of short films that bring together characters living by the coast, who find themselves drifting through life - with films shot locally in Margate, Herne Bay and Broadstairs.

The event supports PeopleDem Collective through voluntary donations for the #BlackLivesMatter collection, documenting the widespread injustice against black communities around the world.

Audiences will also be able to access the archive film collection, The Margate Time Warp, documenting the local area from 1925. Films will be able to be seen across the whole weekend. View the programme and book tickets here.

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