Autumn on the south coast is shaping up to be a good one for anyone who likes the cinema and the sea in equal measure. The Ocean Film Festival is back for its 13th year on the world tour, bringing its curated seaside cinema programme to Christchurch and Poole, and if you want to catch it, the dates are worth pinning down now.
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The festival is run by Snowline Media, the same team behind the Banff Film Festival, and the UK and Ireland tour is built around a programme of short films that pair marine life with seafaring voyages. It is rated 12A and runs to about two hours and forty-five minutes, with screenings starting at 7:30pm across the board, so it is the sort of evening that takes you right up to the end of the night.
Christchurch gets two dates at the Regent Centre, on Thursday 8 October and Thursday 19 November. The Regent Centre, at 51 High Street, BH23 1AS, is a proper all-rounder of a venue — cinema, theatre, concert hall, art gallery and entertainment centre rolled into one — and it has been running in its current form since 11 June 1983, with 509 seats to fill. Tickets for the Christchurch screenings are booked through the official Ocean Film Festival website.
Poole has a single screening at the Lighthouse Theatre on Tuesday 17 November. The Lighthouse, over at 21 Kingland Road, BH15 1UG, is one of the largest regional arts centres in the country and one of Dorset's best-known cultural attractions, so it is a fitting place for a programme that leans on the coast for its subject matter. Tickets there are £20 standard, £18 for concessions, and £18 for groups of six or more, with the concession rate covering full-time students, under-16s, unemployed people and over-65s — proof of eligibility is needed at the door.
As for what you will actually be watching, the 2026 programme is built around a few standout films. The longest is 'The Raftsmen', a 43-minute piece that follows twelve adventurers from seven countries crossing the Pacific on three handmade wooden rafts. Alongside it sits 'Stone Biter: Saving The Arctic Sea Forests', a 20-minute film on marine restoration in the Arctic, and a run of shorter films: 'Tides Of Life' at 16 minutes, 'Ride Of A Lifetime' at 12, 'Granny Grommets' at 9, and 'The Kelp-Collector' at 6. Between them, they cover everything from high-seas adventure to conservation work, which is the whole point of the festival — celebrating the ocean's beauty, power and vulnerability.
Whether you go for the double-bill in Christchurch or the single night in Poole, it is a straightforward evening out: a few short films, a bit of the coast, and a 7:30pm start. With the dates spread across October and November, there is plenty of room to pick whichever one suits you best.
Published Date
19 September 2026
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