My experience today was sooo many times better than Friday night. This time I went to a film of my own choosing – a Danish film called Strings. Billed as the first marionette feature film length movie ever made, and costing approximately ?3m to make, this promised to be sensation. And sensational it was!

The story opens with the suicide of the Emperor of Hebalon. Of course, his evil brother takes advantage of this to blame it on the enemy, the Zeriths, whom the Emperor was actually trying to create peace with. The emperor’s son leaves on a quest for vengeance but along the way finds love and in the end peace for Hebalon and Zeriths. The fact that the characters are puppets is never hidden, in fact, the very existence of their “life” strings is integral to the story.

Although apparently suitable for ages 9+ the story is darker and more adult than any child ought to understand with many levels of meaning and intensity. During question time the producer admitted that it had not been made with a target audience age in mind, but rather, the director had simply gone with the flow of the movie without thought to the final audience.

For fans of the fantasy genre this is a definite must-see.

Total steps taken: 3,702.

PS I’m loving the Film Festival atmosphere. Apart from an opportunity to see films that might not otherwise make mainstream cinema, with most movies being introduced by those involved in the film and question time after the film there this extra level of involvement with the audience that makes the experience memorable. I’m definitely looking forward to my remaining programme.