A new feature-length documentary about the history of Sidmouth Folk Festival is holding its first screening in Honiton.

A Small Quiet English Town screens at The Beehive Cinema on Friday July 26 at 2pm and 7pm.

The film tells the story of ‘the longest-running folk festival in Europe. It was premiered at The Radway Cinema during Folk Week.

In collaboration with Scott Cinema Group, The Sidmouth Folk Festival Committee and The McGuffin Brothers the film is a ‘journey through time’ as it explores history of the festival since its inception in 1955.

Mr Tully said: "We had Sidmouth residents handing in old VHS tapes, old film canisters and other memorabilia to help with our filmmaking efforts - we even had a builder call us as he was clearing out a house and realised the Super 8mm film reel he found in their rubbish skip had ‘sidmouth festival 1961’ written on it, that’s also in the film’.

"A SMALL QUIET ENGLISH TOWN also tells a story of English Folk traditions through the lens of Sidmouth’s Folk Week using personal testimony from those ‘who were there’. The film boasts key interviews with folk stars such as Ralph McTell, Eliza and Martin Carthy, Joe and Cole of India Electric Company fame, Edgelarks (Hannah and Phil), Sidmothian Lori Campbell as well as a host of other musicians and performances filmed exclusively for this project.

"Now that we have the feature film completed we can move on to following up on the many stories that we unearthed in our research and go to Phase 2. This will be a series of short films exploring characters, musical styles and instruments that in some cases have long been forgotten’. Paul confirms that the film and hopefully all the ‘extras’ (short films, original soundtrack, photobook and more) will be available on CD, DVD and BluRay as well as online via Video On Demand (VoD) ‘streaming’ and that in time there will be a collectors edition of all elements in one presentation box - next year. 

Proceeds from screenings, streaming and DVD sales will go to support the folk festival for many years to come.

To book, call the Box Office: 01404 384050 or visit their website Beehivehoniton.co.uk