Pen*stone Film Festival

20/10/2026

Thank you for joining us and for giving the festival a mention.

We really appreciated you taking the time to chat with our volunteers and directors about the future of events like ours and our beloved Pen*stone Paramount.

Connecting, listening and working together can make a real difference.

We’d welcome further conversations with Barnsley Council about the support needed to keep local events and much-loved venues thriving for the whole community.

With thanks from all of us at Pen*stone Film Festival CIC team.

“Who needs Hollywood, when Barnsley has Pen*stone”

19/10/2026

These guys were utterly superb 👌

Pen*stone Folk Ensemble
Chris Mcshane Music

🎶

We loved every minute.

🥂💚🥂💚🥂

Pen*stone film Festival performance.

19/10/2026

19/10/2026

19/10/2026

PENISTONE FILM FESTIVAL 2026… OUR WINNERS!

All seven award announcements in one video! Please watch to the end for our festival credits – those people made this weekend possible. ❤️

🏆 Minecraft Film Challenge
Buster Keaton in Minecraft – Nipin Dim
Judge: Adam Clarke (Wizard Keen)

🏆 Art in Action
Beyond Reality – Tony Christian
Judges: British Stunt Register Committee

🏆 Best Student Film
STANDBY – Shruthi Trichy Lakshmanan
Judge: Ruby Barker

🏆 Sporting Stories
Day of the Catch – Jared Engel
Judge: Tony Currie

🏆 Music, Sound & Composition
Sonatax – Miguel Anjos & Tiago Morais
Judge: Andy Quin

🏆 The Buster Award
The Weird Guy – Sandy Honig
Judge: David Arquette, representing the International Buster Keaton Society

🏆 Best Picture
The Crossing – Christian Azzola
Judge: Adam Sigal

Congratulations to every winning film’s cast and crew, and thank you to all our judges!

🎬 Special thanks to Noor Hashmi for her work as our historian and presenter, and to Tom Bowen for editing the award videos.

To Jennifer Bulcock, Laura Stevens, Mike McKenzie, Heinz Schmidt, Jeremy Power and our entire volunteer team – thank you for everything, before, during and after the weekend!

Thank you to Film Hub North, with National Lottery funding on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network; Barnsley Council’s Better Barnsley Bond; Pen*stone Area Council; Love Where You Live; Pen*stone Round Table; Sheffield Home of Football; Barnsley College; Quest Taekwondo; RS Builders, and all our sponsors and supporters.

Thank you also to Bill Prokopow, Pen*stone Folk Ensemble, Reductio/Matt Walters, Fools Talk Theatre, House of Logos, Shoot the Bull, Bliss Booth, the Pen*stone Paramount and St John’s Church teams, our guests, exhibitors, photographers and everyone behind the scenes.

We’re a volunteer-run, not-for-profit festival. Every ticket, donation, film submission, shared post and hour of help matters.

Thank you for being part of it. Please share and help us celebrate these filmmakers! ❤️

📍 Pen*stone, South Yorkshire | 16–18 October 2026

19/10/2026

PENISTONE FILM FESTIVAL 2026…

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and supported the festival this weekend!

We’d love to hear what you enjoyed, what brought you along and what could be better.
Honest comments about the facilities are welcome too. Understanding what worked well and what made your visit more difficult helps us plan and make the case for future support.

We love the Pen*stone Paramount.
It’s a very special place to show films.

How comfortable were you during a full day of screenings?
Was it easy to get a meal between films?
What would have made your visit easier?

For us, a smaller second screen and improved food and drink facilities could make a real difference to future festivals as we hire the venue.

Your experiences help us explain what audiences need and what would encourage people to come, stay longer and return.

We were also grateful to the Mayor of Barnsley, Cllr Liam Hardcastle, for attending our opening awards event on Sunday at St John’s Church in his civic capacity and taking the time to speak with our directors. With his own experience of working in film and TV locations departments, it was good to talk about the work involved in bringing the festival to Pen*stone. We hope the visit and those conversations will help inform the council about what our festival can contribute to the town's economy and the wider borough, and the support we need to achieve this.

We’d also love to hear about your time in Pen*stone beyond the festival.

Did you stay in a local Airbnb, hotel or B&B?
Eat in our cafes, pubs or restaurants?
Visit the shops?
Tell us!

These examples help us show how festival visitors support the local economy beyond your ticket to the event.

And if you’re a local accommodation host or business that welcomed festival visitors this weekend, please let us know how it was for you too.

We’re an entirely voluntary, non-profit CIC.
Our directors and volunteers receive no wages and claim no expenses.
That isn’t sustainable in the long term; we need proper funding to keep bringing creative events and visitors to our town.

Your reviews help more people discover Pen*stone Film Festival, and your feedback gives us real experiences to share in funding applications and discussions about future investment.

Please leave an honest review here:

GOOGLE
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZWvouo9H33CSv8rQA

FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567107214575&sk=reviews

If you attended, please complete our BFI Film Audience Network survey too:

https://online1.snapsurveys.com/fxneub?A=HUB&P=NOR9

Please enter Pen*stone Film Festival 2026 and the screening or event you attended where asked.

You’re welcome to share your experiences in the comments below too. Thank you for helping us show what this festival means to its audiences and to the town. ❤️