Reese Witherspoon in Vanity FairSOME of cinema's most memorable villains are coming to Swindon as part of the second annual film festival.

Last year's event was restricted to short films, but this year's week-long programme is a mixture of big screen classics, previews of as yet unreleased films, and short films.

To open the festival Richard Kiel, who played giant bad guy Jaws in two James Bond films, will be attending along with Blanche Ravalec, who was his girlfriend Dolly.

They have been invited to mark a 25th anniversary showing of Moonraker, the Bond film which featured the two actors.

The festival, which runs from November 18 to 25 at Cineworld, Greenbridge, will be closed by one of the oddest characters to grace the silver screen.

Gunnar Hansen's Leatherface virtually kickstarted the slasher genre in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the original version of the gory classic will be shown on the festival's final day.

Other festival highlights include a three-for-one Sergio Leone spaghetti western bill of The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, A Fistful Of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More, and also some specially commissioned short films by the award-winning Aardman Animations of Bristol.

There will also be previews of martial arts film House Of Flying Daggers, period drama Vanity Fair which stars Reese Witherspoon and Ray, a biopic of Ray Charles.

Festival director Peter Snowman said: "Last year was a short film festival and we've really ramped it up this year it's grown significantly.

"I am amazed at how well it's all come together. "I hope it can be as successful as the other festivals in Swindon, such as the annual literature festival and the Old Town Bowl concerts."

Mr Snowman is looking for businesses to sponsor each of the screenings. From £250, companies can have their logo on thousands of flyers, on the festival's website, and projected onto the screen before each film. To find out more, call Mr Snowman on 07919 263000.