Whitley Bay Film Festival

Whitley bay Film Festival 2024 launDirector ches onto the big screen with the epic musical of Elton John - Rocketman with very special guest, director Dexter Fletcher.

Rocketman (2019) is a biopic that blended musical fantasy sequences and realism, as well as colorful theatrical elements, to depict the life of rock legend Sir Elton John.

Tickets available here or at Whitley Bay Customer First Centre, (Library), York Rd, Whitley Bay. 

Rocketman made its debut at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and received messive world wide acclaim as well as multiple award nominations, including four BAFTA nominations (amongst them Outstanding British Film), a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture in the Musical or Comedy category, a Grammy nomination, and a SAG nomination for Taron Egerton. Egerton, who performed most of the musician’s songs in the film, was honored with a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Musical or Comedy. Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s original song “I’m Gonna Love Me Again” won the 2019 Best Original Song Academy Award.

BAFTA-nominee Dexter Fletcher is an English film director and actor who has been working in his profession for 50 years. He began his acting career at the age of six however it was his breakthrough role as the gangster kid Baby Face in Alan Parker’s 1976 comedy Bugsy Malone that left a lasting impact on popular culture. 

Fletcher continued to establish his presence in the film industry appearing in seminal productions such as David Lynch’s Oscar-nominated The Elephant Man and Derek Jarman’s indie hit Caravaggio amongst others. He then gained immense popularity for his performance as “Spike” Thomson in the widely beloved British TV show Press Gang and Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Dexter Fletcher has appeared on-screen alongside acting greats Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Robert de Niro, Margot Robbie, Liam Neeson to name but a few.

Fletcher’s films as a director have garnered world wide recognition and enthusiastic reviews, resulting in numerous nominations and awards. His directorial debut, Wild Bill (2011), earned Fletcher a nomination for a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut and two Writers Guild of Great Britain Awards. His second film, Sunshine on Leith (2013), was nominated for five Scottish BAFTA awards. Eddie the Eagle (2015), was the highest-grossing British film in the UK in 2016. Fletcher’s involvement with Bohemian Rhapsody was crucial, as he was called in to complete the film. The biographical rock-music drama about Freddie Mercury and Queen was a box-office hit and won four Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Rami Malek as Mercury. Fletcher’s 2019 Elton John biopic Rocketman was a Best Picture nominee at the BAFTA and Golden Globe awards, won Taron Egerton a Golden Globe for Best Actor and won Elton John and his longtime collaborator, Bernie Taupin, their first joint Academy Award. In 2022 Fletcher’s Paramount+ television series The Offer earned Critics Choice Awards nominations for Best Limited Series, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

“When our festival patron Ian La Frenais calls and says ‘I’d like to bring a guest to the festival’, you never know who he might have in mind. Over the years Ian has invited a wealth of guests to our humble Geordie film fest this year is no exception.

Ian will be here to share our excitement on the 20th August and award winning presenter, broadcaster Chris Jackson will be back to host the event.

This promises to be a really special evening”.

Tickets for the event are available here or at Whitley Bay Customer First Centre, (Library), York Rd, Whitley Bay.