BRADFORD’S first film festival dedicated to documentaries will premier later this year.

Organised by the filmmakers behind the successful Drunken Film Festival, which has been held in venues across the city centre the past two summers, the event will see both modern and classic documentary films screened in Delius Arts and Cultural Centre over two days.

The festival has been given a particularly striking name - Doccy McDocfest, and will be held over the weekend of December 2 and 3.

The event is being co-directed by Jax Griffin, who set up the Drunken Film Festival, and documentary curator, Arlin Golden. The plans are for the films on show to include some from the classic British “Up” series, which looked at a group of English children at several stages through their lives.

Mrs Griffin said the idea for the festival came after the documentary strand of the Drunk Film Festival proved to be the most popular with those who attended. She said: “People really loved the documentary programme we had at the festival. We thought there is not that much happening in winter, so we thought ‘wouldn’t it be great to have this small festival?’

“We’ll be bringing the best of modern documentaries from around the world and finish up with some classic British documentaries.

“Delius was one of the most popular locations at the film festival, so we’ve decided to hold it there.”

The festival’s unusual name is a reference to the infamous story from last year where the British public was asked to name a £200 million Arctic research vessel. Rather than choosing to name the boat after a great British figure, the public chose Boaty McBoatface.

American born Mrs Griffin said: “A lot of the festival is about celebrating British humour. That was my favourite news story of the last decade, it really ties into the wonderful British sense of silliness, like Monty Python.

“Documentaries can often take themselves too seriously, but we want to have a bit more fun with this festival.

“We’re not looking to compete with other festivals like the Sheffield Documentary Festival, we want to be something extra.”

David Wilson, Director of Bradford City of Film, said: “This is a great addition to the growing new range of film festivals in Bradford and very welcome. “With more and more people having access to filmmaking equipment and an increase in the skills to use the tools we are seeing a whole new generation of filmmakers emerging and many people turning to documentary to tell their story.

“We are keen to encourage this approach and hope very much incorporate documentary making into our film literacy work in the future as we extend the programme to secondary schools.”

More details of the festival will be announced later in the year. For more information, follow the Facebook page Doccy McDocFest.

Other film festivals taking place later this year include the Golden Years Film Festival for older people in October and the Wide Screen Weekend at the National Science and Media Museum in November.