Hawick’s film festival set to be streamed worldwide for free this weekend

Production director Rachael Disbury and creative director Michael Pattison at Alchemy in Hawick.

The three-day festival has attracted hundreds of film fans to the town over recent years, but The current coronavirus lockdown means its cinemas are off limits for now.

More than 70 films are being streamed live online for free, however, so no one need miss out, and the event will in fact be open to many more people than would otherwise be able to attend in person.

This is the 10th edition of Alchemy’s flagship event and it has been renamed Alchemy Live.

In a joint statement, festival orgainsers Rachael Disbury and Michael Pattison said: “At Alchemy, we pride ourselves on hospitality, the warmth we extend every year to visiting guests.

“In digital form, this means taking the many conversations we enjoy each festival – in the Heart of Hawick cinema, at the breakfast table in a guesthouse, over drinks in a beloved cash-only local – to the online spaces we know best – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

“We invite discussion from those who have formed lasting attachments to Hawick, those who long to return here and all the far-flung enthusiasts who’ve never been able to visit, the friends we’ve made and the friends we will make.

“Supplementary materials – liner notes, artist Q&As – are available at the individual programme pages.

“We are, dare we say, excited by the collaborative opportunities that streaming presents for Alchemy and other organisations like ours, by the new infrastructures and modes of discovery that can also emerge from this period of disruption and by the paradigm shifts and forward-thinking conversations that might now occur within and across the arts and film festival landscape as a result.”

The first programme – a short entitled Ghost Dwelling – kicks off proceedings at 10.45am tomorrow, Friday, May 1.

A new film, Soupalunch Heroes, made as part of the group’s community film-making project, is to be shown on Sunday at 8pm.

A full programme, as well as tips on maximising your viewing pleasure while streaming, and how to stream the films themselves, is available on the Alchemy Live website here.