Bath Film Festival, known as FilmBath,[1] is a film festival established in 1991, in Bath, England, by members of the Bath Film Society. The organisation has expanded in duration, venues, and titles. In 1997, it was registered as a non profit-distributing company and, in 2000, as a charitable organisation. The festival has also expanded its programme over the years[2] to include workshops for festival-goers, live music accompaniments to silent cinema, and more recently, open-air cinema, starting in 2003 with a screening of E.T. in partnership with the Holburne Museum of Art. Since its foundation, the festival has screened over 1000 films.
IMDb is a co-sponsor of the festival and of several festival awards.[3]
Nicolas Roeg's 2007 film Puffball had its UK premiere at the festival.[4] In January 2014, a special screening of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ at Wells Cathedral (along with a companion screening of The Passion of Joan of Arc at Bath Abbey) provoked some controversy; the church defended its decision to allow the screening.[5] [6]
In 2014 Bath Film Festival's Executive Director Holly Tarquini founded the F-Rating which is awarded to films directed and/or written by women. In 2015 the F-Rating was adopted by dozens of independent film festivals and cinemas[7] including The Barbican. In 2016 Holly Tarquini delivered a TEDx talk about the rating. In 2017, the keyword 'f-rated' was added to over 22,000 titles on IMDb.[8]