GAZETTE & HERALD: The Global Village Film Festival ended on a triumphant note with a showing of the silent film Sunrise, accompanied by pianist James Harpham who composed a new score especially for the show.

The 1927 classic, directed by FW Murnau, received rapturous applause from an audience of about 80 in Corsham Town Hall on Friday.

"They absolutely loved it everyone was clapping for ages. It was really amazing," said festival director Oscar Stringer.

Sunrise was the last of eight films shown over a week in the first film festival organised by the leading lights of the film club Film@The Pound.

Mr Stringer and his colleagues, all volunteers, selected an ambitious and challenging assortment of films from around the world to give the audience a chance to see something other than the usual Hollywood blockbusters.

And hundreds of people responded to the invitation in total nearly 700 bought tickets for the eight films.

The programme took a winding tour across continents and through the centuries, from the icy homelands of the Inuit a thousand years ago, through the opulence of 19th century Russia, to the jazz clubs of modern day Cuba and the spectacular Pacific coastline of New Zealand.

Alexander Sohurov's Russian Ark was screened at Hartham Park on Wednesday last week, a single-take full length feature film exploring the art and history of Russia, using 2,000 actors on the way.

The grand surroundings of Hartham Park, complete with paintings, ornate plaster covings and chandeliers, perfectly complemented the film setting of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.

On Thursday the festival moved to St Bartholomew's church in Corsham for the Swedish film The Sacrifice, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky another suitably apposite venue for a study of self-sacrifice.

Other venues used over the week included an arts centre, the Selwyn Hall in Box and the Royal Oak pub in Corsham.

Each film attracted a very different audience, according to Mr Stringer but he was surprised by the enthusiasm of local people to see something a little different.

He said a second film festival would happen next year, following on from the success of this one.

The organisers received a grant of £736 from North Wiltshire District Council towards the costs of this year's events, and they tried to keep ticket costs low to make sure people could come along.

The festival was also sponsored by local businesses.