Borderlines Film Festival opens tomorrow and runs for 17 days at 25 venues, giving cinema-goers across Herefordshire, Shropshire, Malvern and the Marches the opportunity to catch up on some of the films that have just won BAFTA recognition – and to jump ahead of the game, with over 30 previews of films not yet released in the UK on offer.

At last weekend’s awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall, it was British film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri that garnered the most prizes, five in total, not only Best Picture but also Outstanding British Film and Best Original Screenplay, with Best Leading Actress going to Frances McDormand, and Best Supporting Actor to Sam Rockwell. Three Billboards screens from Friday, March 2 at The Courtyard.

The hybrid of B-movie sci-fi, horror and swooning Gothic romance that is The Shape of Water won Best Director for Guillermo del Toro as well as Original Music (Alexandre Desplat) and Production Design. There’s the chance to catch it during Borderlines at both Malvern Theatres and The Courtyard.

Gary Oldman’s magnificent performance in Darkest Hour won him Best Leading Actor, with acclaim too, for the Best Hair and Make-up department on the film, which effected the amazing transformation of the actor into Churchill. Phantom Thread, a sinister romance set against the backdrop of 1950s London haute couture aptly won the Best Costume Design prize.

I Am Not a Witch, a critically acclaimed and highly original fairy tale of a small Zambian girl who is exiled to a witch camp won Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for its Cardiff-based director Rungano Nyoni and producer Emily Morgan.

I Am Not a Witch, which will be showing at two venues on the Flicks in the Sticks circuit, Brilley Village Hall on Thursday 1 March, and Knighton Community Centre (a new venue for Borderlines) on Friday 2 March is complemented by a quartet of vibrant new films from Africa, originally screened at Film Africa, the Royal African Society’s annual Film Festival: I Still Hide to Smoke from Algeria, Félicité from Senegal, The Wound and documentary Winnie from South Africa.

Winnie, whose director Pascale Lamche will introduce the film at The Courtyard in Hereford on Saturday 3 March, reappraises the career of the controversial figure of Winnie Mandela, a topical and timely counterpoint to the appointment of South Africa’s new President, Cyril Ramaphosa.

The winners of two BAFTA categories, I Am Not Your Negro for Best Documentary and The Handmaiden for Best Film Not in the English Language, both shown at last year’s Borderlines, highlight that the programme on offer at the Film Festival is truly ahead of the game.

Tickets for all festival films can be purchased online at borderlinesfilmfestival.org. They are also available via the Central Box Office at The Courtyard Hereford, in person or by phone on 01432 340555, with the exception of Malvern Theatres, Ludlow Assembly Rooms, Booth’s Bookshop Cinema in Hay and The Conquest Theatre in Bromyard, where customers need to contact these venues directly.

Please check the Borderlines website borderlinesfilmfestival.org for updates to the programme.