Festival hailed huge success

Contributors to The Times and Sunday Telegraph commended the fourth of the annual events to confirm its rising status as one of the town's major attractions.

Festival organiser and founder Bryan Gartside said: 'It is only a matter of time before people sit up and take notice of the cultural regeneration Bognor is undergoing.'

This year's festival only closed during this week's bank holiday weekend but Mr Gartside has already drawn up plans for the 2008 showings.

These will open with a gala night on May 2 with a theme of Russian and Eastern European cinema.

It is anticipated a number of feature films will be premiered during the course of the festival.

The general concensus at the awards ceremony last Saturday,which marked the final large-scale occasion of the latest festival, was that the event is making a considerable impression on the film industry around the world.

The turnout of some 200 people to see the prizes being presented at the Hotham Arts Centre confirmed this far-reaching appeal.

They included representatives of film makers from Italy, France, Austria and Bosnia as well as a number of groups and individuals from the USA.

A small group from the Polish community around Bognor also attended to see how their country's four entries fared.

Subjects featured in the award-winners included war-time drama, people living on the streets of Kiev in the Ukraine and the murder of innocent civilians during the Bosnian conflict.

Music sets from American travelling band The Blue Gorillas kept the guests entertained well into the night.

The awards ceremony was preceeded by the screening of the festival's comedy entries at The Waverley pub on the seafront.

The final section of the 2007 festival will take place at the end of May.

The education awards will see prizes handed out to schools and young people's groups in a ceremony at the Windmill in Littlehampton.