EPIC films including Ben Hur and a tribute to Hollywood icon Doris Day are among the line-up at this year’s Widescreen Weekend.

The festival, at the National Science and Media Museum, October 10-13, celebrates spectacular cinema technologies, opening with Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One (2018) from a 70mm print, and closing with a 60th anniversary screening of Ben-Hur (1959) starring Charlton Heston in the legendary chariot race.

Other classics and cult favourites shown in immersive cinema formats include The Sound of Music, West Side Story, a 25th anniversary screening of Pulp Fiction and animation classic The Iron Giant. Guest curator Professor Sir Christopher Frayling presents an Ancient Rome themed strand which, as well as Ben-Hur, includes Barabbas and Gladiator. He will also give a talk on Doris Day, prior to her 1959 film Pillow Talk. Sir Christopher said: “When Doris Day died aged 97 in May it was front page news worldwide: her wholesome image made her ‘the last of the stars of the golden age’ even though she hadn’t appeared in a film for over 50 years. Our screening of Pillow Talk is our tribute to a much-misunderstood, much-loved superstar.”

In Women in Widescreen, journalist Samira Ahmed introduces another Doris Day film, Love Me Or Leave Me, as well as Carmen Jones and A League of Their Own, and Hollywood VFX editor Carin Anne Strohmaier introduces a 25th anniversary screening of Oscar-winning Forrest Gump, which she worked on as assistant editor.

Special festival guest Donald Rosenfeld is former president of Merchant Ivory Productions, at its helm in its 1986-1999 golden decade, with films such as Howard’s End and Remains of the Day. He’ll be in conversation ahead of a screening of Effie Gray written by and starring Emma Thompson, and produced by Rosenfeld.

Otley-born director Clio Barnard will attend a screening of her 2013 film Selfish Giant, shot in Bradford and starring local young actors. Clio will be interviewed by Bradford City of Film director David Wilson.

The festival also features a 360-degree cinema dome; Celluloid Saturday; and sessions on visual technology and the divisive process of colouring black and white films. The museum is one of only three venues in the world which holds public screenings of the three-projector system which heralded the boom in immersive movie technology from the 1950s. This year’s Cinerama highlights are 1958 travelogue South Seas Adventure and the legendary Cineramacana event.

* Visit scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk